Gluten-free Gourmand

These gardening ideas might not be strictly new - but they were new to me this year, and my garden is happier for them!  They save my soil, my back, and my time.  This year my garden is better than ever.  Here is what worked for me: 1. I got a  long-handled trowel .

I try to record the first ripe tomato in my garden every year.  This year is a record - June 30th!  It's not even July yet, according to the calendar.  The thermostat on the other hand says differently.  It has been blazing hot in Portland, and it's not looking to let up any time soon. To put this recent heat wave in perspective, I'm usually craving some sun and a hot day on June 30th.  It's usually still reliably 65°f and rainy right about now.  Fourth of July weekend is the first moment a Portlander can expect to see the sun - and she really looks forward to it.

Portland has been unusually dry this summer.  For weeks I've been dreading the day the beautiful weather would end.  It's been one of those eternal summers that makes me feel like warm, beautiful weather would be my privilege forever.  Now I see that tomorrow it's going to rain, and I'm surprisingly happy about it.  Endless summer takes its toll: the ground is dry and hard, there have been wild fires all over the state, and the air is thick with smoky haze.  It's time for this state and this city to get renewed.  The coming week of rain will be like a spa vacation for Oregon. Today was probably my last big harvest day at my garden.  I finally had to rip up the last of the sunflowers and the squash plant that kept on giving like it would never die.  I picked some carrots, and the ones left behind will be happy about the rain when it comes.  I still have lots of tomatoes on the vine, and I picked those that looked full-size.  I have...

Every year, I try to record my first ripe garden tomato.  Here are my results for the last few years: 2011 - August 5th 2010 - July 23rd 2009 - July 17th 2008 - Sometime in September (I got my garden in late) In 2009 I had a bumper crop.  I had tomatoes ripening as soon as July 17th.  Well, this year is looking promising.  I have at least two ripening tomatoes - and it's not even the 4th of July! These are Sungold tomatoes - they're small, they ripen early, and they are bright orange.  They are amazing in salad .  Since I discovered them, they have been my first tomatoes to ripen every year.  They are incredibly high producers and they are indeterminate - which means they flower continuously throughout the season.  Flavor-wise they can't be beat. I had a few other things to harvest today.  My artichokes are the envy of my community garden. They were delicious with dinner tonight.  Here was the rest of my harvest: My let...

I try to always document this day in the year, mostly for my own reference.  Then, there's also that desire to brag a little.  This year, I'm not sure it qualifies as bragging, but I finally have my first ripe tomatoes. These are Sun Gold tomatoes, and they ripen very early.  If you consider August to be early.  Well, the point is that they ripen earlier than other varieties.  Last year my first ripe one was July 23rd.   The year before , it was July 17th.  I posted a Sun Gold tomato salad recipe on July 20th that year.  It has been a cold, wet spring in the west of the country this year.  Snow packs are still high, the weather only just turned warm, and tomatoes aren't exactly getting in early.  Here's a photo I took of Mt. Adams last weekend.  Look at all that snow! Not that I'm complaining.  It's always nice to have water.  Some of my spring crops are still going strong, and I have a ton of beautiful, huge sunflow...

Here in Portland, the gardening season starts pretty early.  In fact, you could argue that it never stops.  I've been trying to budget my food expenses a bit more, so last week I decided I'd only eat vegetables that I already had, or that I picked from my garden.  Here is most of what I harvested for the week: The orange globes in the background are acorn squash I harvested last year.  The big white roots are parsnips.  The leafy greens are cilantro, kohlrabi, kale and mustard greens that I planted last year - they survived the winter, along with the onion.  I don't eat a lot of vegetables compared to some people, but I was able to get some green in my diet every day last week, and it was all from my garden. I already have some seeds planted in the outdoors and they are starting to sprout up.  I've planted carrots, basil, onion, fennel, chard, lettuce, parsnip, broccoli, kale and leeks.  I think I'll wait a few weeks before planting anything e...

It was a rough year for vegetable gardens here in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm finally feeling like I am reaping a good harvest.  I found myself in the vegetable section of the store today, realizing that I didn't have to buy a single vegetable, and I hadn't for over a month.  I stopped by my community garden patch later and harvested this: From the left, there are parsnips, a lemon cucumber, rainbow carrots, a big zucchini, a large crookneck squash, a chocolate bell pepper and some lemon drop peppers, which I've never had before but which are supposed to be spicy. We've been lucky to have temperatures stay pretty warm so far this fall so I'm keeping my tomatoes out until next weekend.  Here are some tomatoes I picked last week: The seeds strewn about are coriander. I'm not sure what to do with these.  It's not quite enough tomatoes to make sauce, but it's too many to just eat in salads.  Maybe I'll roast them to make sun-dried tomatoes...

My new community garden plot is coming along.  The plants themselves aren't that big this year, but they are bearing fruit.  I grew kohlrabi from seeds this year.  The leaves are really beautiful. My eggplant is flowering but not bearing fruit.  In previous years  I've had to pollinate the flowers by hand.  Now it might be too late.  The plants are still really small. Next year I'll make deeper beds and use more compost and topsoil.  This garden was a parking lot last year so it's amazing to have anything here at all!

For those of you who were worried, you will be relieved to know that my garden has been doing much better with the nice weather we're having here in Portland.  I even have a ripe tomato! The tomato plant is still really small, but I bet I have the first ripe tomato in Portland. I also have some diminutive crookneck squash growing.  They are tiny, can you see them? How is your garden doing?

Last year by this time I had done plenty of posts about my garden.  This year I haven't done one until today.  I have a community garden plot this year and it is a brand new garden; last year the space was a parking lot.  On top of the challenge of starting with fresh beds, my garden hasn't liked the cool wet summer we've had this year.  My tomatoes are kind of sad, even though some of them have fruit on them.  This is my Sun Gold tomato plant:  It was just too cool for them in June.  This was my Sun Gold plant in the middle of July last year:  I already had ripe ones!  You can see last July's garden post here to compare. I have had better luck this year with more cold-loving crops.  This pretty volunteer has already been eaten. Tonight I thinned some of my rainbow carrots.   They are doing so well that even the little ones I was thinning out are big enough to eat - even if they are only a nibble.  These will be my s...

Today was one of those glorious days. I woke up to sun and a blue sky, but when I stepped out to go to the farmer's market the sky turned black. It dumped rain for hours. I never made it to the farmer's market. Around 3:30 the rain came with renewed vigor. The sky was again dark as though the sun were going down. Then, all of a sudden, it was sunny and warm. I made pesto. I started taking out my garden once it warmed up today. My basil had never done as well as I wished, but there was enough of it today to make one last batch of my favorite sauce. I never measure anything for this recipe, but if it's your first time making it, or you just like measuring things, you can start with this recipe: 2 C fresh basil from your garden 1/3 C pine nuts or walnuts 1 clove garlic 1/4 C grated Parmesan (if you can't do dairy, I've subbed pancetta to get that full flavor, or a little bit of dry gluten-free bread for texture) 1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil 1/4-1/2 tsp ...

After an entire summer of bountiful tomato harvesting, things have suddenly slowed down. We're really lucky to be having such a beautiful summer here in Portland, but the extended sunny days may end soon and the weather has cooled enough to discourage my tomatoes. Here is my harvest today - literally a handful of produce: How is your garden faring in the autumn weather?

I just picked my first carrot from the garden. It was a bit of a shock. Does this qualify as food porn? I don't care what anybody thinks. It's gluten-free!

I should start calling this the Gluten-free Garden Blog. I'm continuing to be amazed at what my garden is producing this year. Last year I waited until the end of September to get any tomatoes - then some pests ate my first ones! This year I got my garden in much earlier, and voila! Tomatoes galore in mid-July. Here is what I harvested today: four lemon cucumbers and all these tomatoes of different varieties. There were Sun Golds, Sweet 100's, some romas (they are coming out very small) and a bloody Butcher (also small). There's also lots of basil and other herbs that are doing well. One of my tomato plants is suffering from blossom-end rot. It's an Opalka tomato plant. I'm planning on putting some lime down to combat it, but it's weird; the blossom-end rot is only happening on 1/2 of this one plant. All my other tomatoes are fine! Not that I'm complaining. How have you handled blossom-end rot or other tomato ailments?

Today I ate the first fruits of my garden . My Sun Gold tomatoes are ripening up quickly, and I just had to have a tomato salad with dinner. These orange tomatoes have a sweet and slightly tart flavor. The skins may be a bit tougher than other tomatoes, or that could be due to season or growing conditions. In order for my salads to pair better with wine, I often leave out the vinegar. These tomatoes are flavorful enough without it. Ingredients: Sun Gold or other tomatoes, cut into pieces or sliced Salt Pepper Pistou or other variety of basil from your garden olive oil Directions: In the order that they are listed, place the ingredients on a plate. The olive oil should be drizzled or spritzed over the top of everything, but I accidentally dumped it all in one spot. It was still delicious!

I'm sure I have more recipes and gluten-free ideas to share, but lately I've mostly been thinking about my garden. I have tons of flowers now. This is my lemon cucumber: My eggplants have been flowering nicely, but they don't seem to be getting fertilized. The flowers tend to just shrivel up and fall off. Do the bees find their downward-pointing flowers problematic? I'll start fertilizing them by hand soon using a small paintbrush. Last year this technique was responsible for granting me one whole eggplant! Perhaps this year I'll have better luck. My Sun Gold tomatoes are already starting to turn orange! This is really early for Portland. Some of the cilantro I planted early has started to flower. I planted these calendula (marigold) flowers from seeds this year. I'm planning to harvest the seeds for planting next year. I have several "volunteers" in my garden. They are either seeds blown in from a neighbor's yard, or seeds that were in m...