Mulch: I Never Seem to Buy Enough

This year I am finally getting around to mulching our garden beds. It is something I should have been doing a long time ago but it's taken me some time to get on the mulch bandwagon. Yes, I know that it's great for helping to conserve water, suppress weeds and is aesthetically pleasing but it's a big pain in the butt to get from the garden center to our home. Why? We don't have a truck or an SUV. I have the largest vehicle in the family and that's a VW Jetta. It's not exactly a work vehicle but it does have a lot of truck space. We have used it to haul bags of pea gravel, though that took a few trips to get all the we needed and almost destroyed the car. And, it can easily handle a bag or two of potting soil or compost. But, when it comes to mulch, I have discovered that you always need more than you think you do. For example, the garden bed (partially pictured above) really needed six to seven bags of mulch. I thought five would do it but I was obviously wrong. Hence, there is a big empty spot waiting for its mulch. So, now one of my errands this week is to go back to the garden center and get more mulch. I'm starting to think that I just need to stockpile it.

Slow-Roasting Cherry Tomatoes

This past Friday, since it was the end of the week, I was debating all day about what to make for dinner that evening. And, part of that debate was trying to figure out how to make the best use out of the produce that we had left-over from previous Saturday's foray to the Pasadena Farmer's Market. Lo and behold, we had some cherry tomatoes that were a bit past their prime. I hated the idea of giving them to the worms since they were still edible. But, they were bit too ripe and there was not a lot of them. Really just a couple of handfuls and I have small hands. So, I'm was trying to figure out what to do with them and I finally remembered reading about slow-roasting tomatoes in Molly Wizenberg's book, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. Molly is the blogger who created Orangette. It's one of my favorite food blogs and I loved her book. So, I went searching for the recipe. Well, the recipe is really for roma tomatoes and not cherry tomatoes. But, what the hell, I was willing to give it a try. And, I'm glad that I did, they were delicious on our gorgonzola stuffed hamburgers that evening.

So delicious, that I am making another batch today. This time though, I'm using romas.

Spring in the Garden - Part III

It's still spring but just barely. In just a couple of more weeks, the solstice will bring us the beginning of summer. But, for now, we are still enjoying the spring weather. We have June gloom. It's overcast and cool in the morning and then gets sunny and warm in the afternoon. And, this weekend we are even experiencing a bit of heat wave with temps in this part of Los Angeles up into the high 80s and low 90s. The veggies are loving it. We have harvested our first little bunch of bush beans. It wasn't that many so we combined them some from the farmer's market to make a full side dish for last night's dinner.

Oh, that's not a bush bean. It's a shelling bean. Or we hope it will be shelling beans. They are Jacob's Gold. They are supposed to taste similar to Pinto Beans. We are cautiously optimistic that the plants will produce enough so that we can actually use them for chili at the end of the summer.

Our Dwarf Meyer Lemon has started producing fruit again. I've counted 10 of them so far. And, we are hoping for a few more. Unfortunately, they won't be ready to harvest till late fall or early winter but it is fun watching them grow.

And, last but not least, we are trying to grow at least 9 tomato plants this year. We did end up ordering seedlings since the ones that we have been trying to start from seed were not doing so well. So, this is a photo of an Isis Candy plant that I picked up at the farmer's market. Isis Candy is a yellow-gold cherry tomato with red marbling. They are supposed to be rich tasting and sweet. They are an indeterminate variety, so we are hoping it will produce well all season long.

And, I have good news about some our little starter seedlings, a few of them look like they are going to survive. I may even be able to start transplanting them next week. The more tomatoes the better! I dream of being able to can some my own homegrown ones.

Tangerines

We have waited for months and months for our tangerines to ripen enough to harvest. Finally, the time was right. So I started picking some of them this past weekend. They are very decepetive since they start turning orange in February but it takes until late May for them to develop any sweetness. As you can see from one of the photos, they have a ton of seeds in side. So far, I have only used them for juice but I'm thinking of making tangerine marmalade with the rest. 

...More Bush Beans

I'm very excited. It finally happened, we have beans. Blue Lake string beans and Roc d'Or wax beans to be more exact. Monday, these beans were really tiny...less than an inch long. Now, some of them are over 3 inches long and are almost ready to harvest. Not enough for a side dish but there are a few mature ones. And, there are more to come.

Mixed Berry Buckle

I love buckles. They are one of my favorite desserts. They are easy to make and work with a large variety of fruit, so that you can bake them all year around with what is in season. However, I do have a special place in my heart for the buckles that I bake in spring and summer with all of the delicious berries from my local farmer's market. 

If you are not familiar with buckles, they are a homey, old-fashioned dessert that is believed to have originated back in Colonial times. It is basically a cake with fruit baked into it and has a streusel top. They are great for dessert but they are also wonderful for brunch since they are very similar to a coffee cake.

Mixed Berry Buckle

(adapted from Williams-Sonoma Fruit Dessert cookbook)

Serves 8

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 oz. unsweetened apple sauce

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ cups mixed fresh berries (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry or any combo you like), rinsed

Ground cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling

1. Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350˚ F. Coat a 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pan with vegetable oil spray. Line the bottom with parchment (baking) paper and coat the paper with more spray.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, applesauce and sugar for about 5 minutes. Because of the applesauce, it will look curdled but it is okay. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and mix well. The batter will be thick.

3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Then poke the berries into the batter. In a small bowl combine ¼  teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 tablespooons of sugar, and sprinkle over the top.

4. Bake until the top is golden, the edges pull away from the sides of the pan and a skewer or cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.

5. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Once cool, run a knife around the edge in case the cooked fruit has stuck to the sides of the pan. Then place a large plate over the pan and invert the cake onto it. Remove the parchment paper, then place your serving plate on top and re-invert the cake onto it.  Serve with fresh whipped cream, if desired.

Notes and Variations:

You don’t need to use just mixed berries. You can make this will a lot of different fruits depending on what is in season. I have made this with blueberries (alone), plums, nectarines and pears. I have a friend who has made this with mango.

Get adventurous with adding a little flavor. I sometimes add cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter and not just on top. Also, cardamon is great with pears if you’re making this in the fall. Or add the zest from a lemon or orange.

The original recipe called for 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter. That much fat in a single-layer caked scared me so I have substituted 4oz of unsweetened applesauce for the second stick of butter. But, if you want it full-fat, go ahead and make the change back to the original.

Throwing in the Towel

Yes, I am throwing in the towel this season on growing my own tomato, eggplant and pepper seedlings. I have tried and I have failed. The seeds that did germinate have only gotten tall and leggy. Not one of them has filled out properly. I doubt that they would survive being transplanted. I really, really wanted to grow them from seed this year but I just do not have the correct set-up for this. I guess I really do need to have grow lights and few other things. Using a window and a simple potting set-up is just not getting these little guys off to the right start. So, with my head bowed in shame, I will be purchasing seedlings. From where...I do not know yet. That's the next project.