Country Cooking Summer Style

 Markets are loaded with the best of summer fruit and 

veggies right now

Usually I decide what to cook for dinner 

 based on what I haul in from the garden...

it really has changed how I cook 

(weird but true)

 herbs and lots of them

and usually an odd assortment of 

squash, onion and eggplant 

 beets or some other root or big green thing
(note to self...be more specific)

 while a squash and pickle don't seem to work 

just pick 'em

and get on with it...
no need to argue about it right now

  I love the shapes and colors 

food photography is pretty darn fun

(note to self..you are not a food photographer...bummer)

 but lets cook some dessert...or better yet 

lets have dessert for dinner

  no need to worry about a centerpiece...

summer flowers are everywhere

 enjoy a little slice of summer heaven this weekend like this 

crostata

with peaches and blueberries

 this is Ina Gartens basic crostata recipe 

found here

 the peaches are from our trees 

and the blueberries came from my local market
(AKA Vons) yes I love and hate my Vons

 we had some guests over 

so I thought I should pretty it up 

(ice cream is good)

 geranium blossoms, raspberries and blueberries

and I tucked a bit of lemon slices in there...

can't any one ever leave here with out a lemon under their pillow!!!

guess not!

 sending lots of 

 summer

lemony  love 

eat well 

xx

kelley

The Polished Pebble Garden Gazette: August Issue

Summer is finally taking a bit of a nap...things slow down and it gives us more time to 

enjoy the long days 

and the beauty of all of our hard work in the garden 

For me, 

it means lots of vegetables and fruit 

and

the excitement of beginning to plan for fall

We have had a very mild summer,with below normal temperatures, 

which has made the lettuce crop amazing...the tomato plants however,

 are not so happy

I  direct sow my lettuce either in large 2 ft x 4 ft sections 

or long rows 

It's nice to mix up the plantings to create patterns 

and fun color variety in every bed

This summer I planted little micro greens which are meant to be harvested when they are very tiny...well not quite this tiny, but wow are they tasty in a salad

Salad greens are picked in the morning and washed a few times in the salad spinner.  I only pick what we will be eating in a day or so because the taste of fresh lettuce is unlike anything you can purchased in a supermarket.  It tastes like lettuce...!

  little spaces in between the lettuce beds are the perfect spot

to sneek in a few radish,

which take up a very small amount garden real estate
and grow really quickly 

My favorite radish right now is a beauty called 

de Avignon

easy to grow, tasty 

and very pretty

These sort of look like a potato because they got a bit big

 but the flavor is mild, sweet and tangy

All of the apples are harvested and we had a bumper crop...

the squirrels and raccoons really enjoyed the apples too

I recently purchased a juicer and have been juicing apples every morning...so delicious

and finally after waiting  three long years 

we have our first really nice crop of grapes 

In addition to being wonderful to eat 

they are just beautiful in these long cascading bunches 

This variety is called Niagra and has seeds 

but is wonderful for juicing

When I walk to the grape arbors you can smell the grapes...heavenly

One of the raised beds is full of herbs and edible flowers like nasturtium,

 which you can add to your salad greens for color.  

Nasturtium blossoms are really spicy!

They look pretty trailing over the sides of the stone beds and 

are very easy to grow from seed

Remember the crazy new tomatoes I ordered called "Super Sauce"  

well this is what they look like...they are huge!

I have only picked about 4 tomatoes off the plants this summer, so I'm not so sure about these guys

but the tomatoes are so big that the plants can barely support the weight of the fruit

We also have chives popping up and some really scary hot peppers...

I'm not sure what to do with the peppers yet?  

any ideas?

In preparation for fall I have two old wine barrels, which have been planted 

with butternut squash and Yukon gold potatoes 

These are young spanish onion and I started some garlic too 

which will be ready to harvest next spring

And if you need  a sweet little taste of summer try this recipe 

for strawberry ice cream

printable version

you can make this ice cream with fresh peaches too and it is so seriously good!

Hope you enjoyed this issue 

of 

the polished pebble 

garden gazette

in case you missed the first issue you can read it 

here

happy harvesting