It's finally drying up in Southwestern Ontario

Category: Vegetable and Flower Gardens | Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:51 am

I am back after being away for 9 days and am pleased to say that the garden looks great. The zucchini plants have grown new leaves and are acting as if nothing happened at all. If zucchini had water glasses they would always be half full!

I had a friend pick some things while I was away and she brought in 2 nice sized zucchinis. She also picked a half full 4 quart basket of cherry and grape tomatoes so we had those for dinner as follows:

From the Barefoot Contessa at home cookbook by Ina Garten (great name huh?)

Garlic and Herb Tomatoes

3 T olive oil
2 t minced garlic
2 pints cherry tomatoes
2 T chopped fresh basil
2 T chopped fresh flat leafed parsley
2 t chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Heat the oil in a saute pan large enough to hold all the tomatoes in one layer. Add the garlic to the oil and cook over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, basil, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5-7 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to lose their firm round shape. Sprinkle with a little fresh chopped basil and parsley and serve hot or at room temp.

I actually added zucchini to the pan after I scooped out the tomatoes and that was delicious too.

There have been 7 or 8 full size tomatoes ripened up over the last week and they are delicious. Most of the ones with the hail damage rotted on the vine except a few which I'll cut up into something.

Check out the bean below, it was left on the bushes and I just found it today. It's about 9 inches long! My kids split it in half and ate it...a little fibrous???
The snow peas are still producing even though the vines are drying up.

I dug up my 3 potato plants that were in the garden today and this is my harvest. We had some for dinner and the flavour was so much better than the ones I grew in the 2 black pots.

I had a pleasant surprise today as well as seeing the good harvest, my raspberries are starting to ripen. I bought some canes from a nursery a few years back and have moved them at least twice trying to find a spot that I like for them. This year they grew very large and they seem to be a really late variety. They ripen in Sept. I live near Toronto and that is about 6 weeks later than the usual raspberries around here. I'm not sure what variety I bought, I'm just happy that they are going to make fruit!