Wierd Weather, Still

The weather people measure California's yearly rainfall from mid October to mid April; frequently there is just a little bit of rain in September --- enough to make the grape growers nervous but not enough for any real consequence. Never do we have rain in August; this year we make that "rarely do we have rain in August". That "unusual drizzle" of which the weather man spoke last week was making noises that sounded a lot like drops hitting the pavement, surprising residents in Oakland, Berkeley and as far south as Santa Cruz.

All this is my way of saying the garden has been moving very slowly. The picture above shows the most mature of the regular sized tomatoes in my garden. The cherry tomatoes are doing fairly well, though it is a race between me and the raccoons to see who gets to them first. The peppers and the eggplants are finally developing tiny fruits. The yellow wax beans are really producing, beyond my expectations. Fortunately, I like them a lot. After I had planted them I read that they tolerate cooler temperatures. That was lucky.

Now, of course, the heat is here. Yesterday the temperature was 95, today over 90 again. It is expected to be hot the rest of the week and beyond. I am so looking forward to picking that green tomato soon.

The beans that Bobbie and I planted are up and going. Tried a little trick that a real gardener told me about. As soon as the beans' little necks were visible I stuck wood skewers in the ground right next to them. The theory is a cut worm actually strangles the young plant and a wooden sewer, parallel to the stem would prevent that. I have had cutworms in other parts of the garden; I don't know about this raised bed, yet. The beans are beyond the cut worm stage now and either the skewer worked, or there were no cutworms. I will keep using this idea unless it fails to work.

Well, a gardener is nothing if not hopeful so Monday I placed an order with Renee's Garden Seeds http://reneesgardenseeds.blogspot.com/, which is how I got the weather report from Santa Cruz. This is my winter order so far:

Sugar Snap peas

Lacinato Kale

Slenderette bush beans

Merveille de quatra Saisons (lettuce)

Heirloom mix, cutting lettuces


I had said I was finished planting beans, but these Slenderettes take only 55 days to maturity and if this were an average year we should be able to get them to picking stage before anything serious happens. Of course, it isn't an average year, but we'll try anyway. ( I think I told you I like fresh green beans.)

Here we can grow lettuce year around most years so I will plant a lot when it cools again. It seems lettuce seeds do not care to germinate in hot weather. I had great luck with the lettuce, Merveille de quatre Saisons, this summer. I planted them in cool weather and they are still in good shape. Let's see in just how many of the four seasons it can do well. I got the heirloom lettuce mix just because it looked interesting. Don't you do that?




The carrots are poking along. This year I thought I planted a patch of rainbow colored carrots, but each time I pull one it is either orange, yellow or cream colored. Where are the purple and red ones? I shared the package with Ell, maybe she got all the colored ones. Those that I have had so far make a nice pale dish, very suitable for a Victorian table but I was hoping for something with a little more pizazz.



Recipes



I have never been fond of soft, or mushy, cooked carrots; I much prefer a slightly crunchy carrot. If you have someone in your family with a preference for raw carrots, this might win them over.



This dish doesn't have color for splash but does have texture and a new herb. I made this one with orange carrots, they just seemed appropriate. If you got some of the red or purple ones, go for it.





















Saged Carrots



2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cups walnuts in large pieces

1 tablespoon oil
4 cups cut carrots
1 medium onion in fine dice
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh sage
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons water

Cut carrots in half lengthwise, then in quarter inch slices. Cut onion into fine dice. Set both aside.

In a very wide saute pan or skillet, melt the butter. Add walnuts and saute until lightly browned. When they have colored, remove walnuts and set aside.

Into the same pan put the oil and when that has heated add onions. Saute for 2 minutes over medium heat, then add the carrots. Stir until the carrots have all been coated with the fat. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Add the sage, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and water. Stir to mix well, cover and cook on very low heat for about ten minutes.