Miscellaneous

About once a month, my wife and I try to have a date night which is usually a date lunch and more often than not, we end up at the local sushi joint. As we walked into the place, they had crab puffs on special and so we ordered a plate and they arrived as seen above along with a couple other sushi rolls. I have never had crab puffs before but they were outstanding. 

While the rest of our squash was decimated earlier by squash bugs, we were able to save the trellis squash and they have been starting to produce. The one on the right, upo, is a filipino squash that really has no distinct flavor but is used in a variety of dishes as sort of an extender. We picked over a dozen of them on this trip and sold all but one at the asian grocery store on our way back into town.

I had dreams of plants growing clear across the top of the  trellis but due to the cold wet spring that delayed things, I don't think it will happen this year. But perhaps next year.

Our first couple crops of beans died in the cold wet spring and we had an okay third crop. For the first time in my life, we tried our hand at a fall crop and they seem to be doing well though we had some germination issues.

Above was our haul on our most recent trip. The amish paste tomatoes are at long last starting to ripen along with a forgotten large round variety. Our okra has been growing like gangbusters but the tomatillos are finally starting to slow down. The upo are the large green gourd looking things at the lower left. The string beans are also growing on our arched trellis but weren't really prolific this year either. We have a huge apple crop which we started picking. The vines on the left are the ends of the sweet potato vines which my wife picks to force the potato plants to put more energy into growing sweet potatoes. She will pick the tender ends of those vines and include it in some of her filipino dishes as a green.


 We had oodles of tomatoes last year so I experimented and made some pizza sauce for the first time. It was a big hit and went pretty fast so this year I made another batch with the tomatoes seen above. It allows me to have homemade pizza ready in about 45 minutes from the first suggestion to hot on your plate, including crust, so it is a quick meal for us. 

Comments

  1. I envy your harvest! It was a challenging year for gardening (aren't they all?) but it looks as though you did pretty well. What variety are your string beans? I had tried to grow noodle beans the year before, but they proved to be very popular among the insect, deer, rodent community.

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    1. Last year we had a really nice year and had to do very little work to produce around 50 gallons of tomatoes. But this year has been quite the opposite. I don't know the variety of the string beans. They are an Asian variety whose seeds were given to us by someone else.

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  2. You must be blessed with oodles of energy and stamina, and physical strength too.

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    1. I unfortunately don't have oodles of any of those things. But I do have more time than most which helps me compensate.

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  3. It all looks good Ed. I am toying with the idea of trying a fall cropping season this year just to see how it goes. Where we are, one could easily go into November if the crops will cooperate.

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    1. Our falls are so variable that it will probably be a struggle for us. Many times we go deep into October before a first killing frost arrives. Last year, it came so early followed by a deep freeze, I never even got the garden tilled before winter.

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  4. It looks like you still had a decently productive season, despite the late start to Spring there. I would love to grow my moonflowers on that arched trellis! It would be a nighttime showstopper!

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    1. The arched trellis was my wife's idea and I wasn't too keen on it but after seeing the results this year, in a bad year, I'm all for it and think I might even add onto it.

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  5. I am very impressed! Nothing better than fresh tomatoes. Those crab puffs look delicious! (and pretty too)

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    1. They indeed were both. They weren't on their menu but I may ask for them the next time I go in there.

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  6. Geez Ed, these were pretty impressive photos. I loved that restaurant plate at the top, but it was nice seeing your gardening photos and bounty too. And I loved all those jars of pizza sauce, what a great idea :^)~ (I grew up on a farm, we canned TONS of tomatoes at the end of every summer, we never jarred pizza sauce though!)

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    1. This was only my second time so you aren't far behind Doug!

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  7. Great harvest! I like to grow things but alas, I don't cook so they are given away or go to waste. I just bought some soy bean seeds and will give those a go. At least I know how to cook them in boiling salted water.

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    1. I'm someone who can cook when I have too but don't enjoy it like my spouse does. I mostly do the dishes so it all works out.

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  8. You had me at sushi but then you outdid yourself with the garden!

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  9. Wow! Wow! I wish I was a neighbor. I would beg some of that pizza sauce from you. Those crab puffs look awesome!!! I'm not familiar with a lot of Filipino dishes. We have a food court and I notice that the Filipino stand is one of the most popular places to buy from. It's just that we don't know what to order except for chicken adobo.

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