Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans and Other Good Things is definitely not applicable to my garden this year but it would have really come in handy last year when I was covered in tomatoes and grew tired of canning and eating fresh tomato sauce. I know, the absurdity of such thoughts in light of how unsuccessful we were this year.

It isn’t a new book (first published in 1976), but one I recently came across in our University Library. It was sandwiched in the tiny vegetarian section so I decided to give it a look. Within an hour I had tracked it down on Amazon and purchased a copy for myself. The premise is pretty fantastical. Organized alphabetically by garden vegetable, each chapter begins with notes on growing and harvesting the vegetable, how much yield to expect, nutritional notes, and information on cooking, freezing, storage and basic preparation. It also lists complimentary herbs, something I’ve always wanted in a cookbook.

I adore that it has both simple and intermediate recipes. Nothing is overly sophisticated, and many of the recipes are just simple ways to enhance the flavor and enjoyment of your favorite vegetables. They also don’t call for the use of processed or convenience foods. It’s a treasure trove of helpful advice and simple recipes that help tame the tide when your garden runneth over. I highly recommend it for anyone’s collection, foodie or not.

Used copies are available on Amazon (for less than $10), and if you live in Columbia, my copy is due back September 21st.

We finally canned our first batch of salsa for the season last night. It hasn’t been a particularly great tomato year. Last year, we were harvesting buckets of tomatoes in late June and this year we had to supplement our stock with tomatoes from the grocery store just to get our first batch in late August. Our peppers have done great so I guess we still win somehow right? I hope next year goes better but with Missouri, you never know.

This recipe is actually from the book The Food Lover’s Guide to Canning, a great tome if you are new to canning and anxious about striking out on your own with your own ideas and recipes.

Ingredients:

5 1/4 cups dried black beans (we cheated and used canned)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 cup peeled, chopped onions
2 teaspoons salt
7 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 cups seeded, chopped green peppers (we used a mixed assortment)
2 jalepenos seeded and chopped
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (we used apple cider vinegar)
1/4 cup lime juice (we used lemon juice)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar (white or brown, we’ve done both)
1 teaspoon dried corriander
3/4 cup chopped, loosely packed fresh cilantro

We also added:
6 cups tomatoes, roughly diced (you’ll have to adjust pressure if you are using a pressure cooker)
3 teaspoons chili flakes
2 teaspoons parsley
2 teaspoons cilantro
3 teaspoons honey
1 whole Serrano pepper
1 whole Cayenne pepper

Directions:

If you are using dried beans: Cover the beans in water and soak overnight. Drain and place the beans in a saucepan. Add the garlic, onion and salt, cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Lower the head and cook for about an hour. The beans should be tender but not soft. Drain well.
1. In a large saucepan, combine the beans with the corn, pepper and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
2. Add remaining ingredients, return to a boil and cook for another 20 minutes or until thick before ladling into sterilized jars. Leave one inch of headspace.
Process in a pressure canner: 85 minutes at 10 pounds pressure, or in a hot water bath for 10-15 minutes. Great processing tables are available here.

Chips and salsa are a staple item at our house. In the winter there is nothing better than having a gathering or game night and cracking open a jar of summer goodness to share with everyone. It’s also a source of pride considering a few short years ago the idea of canning was daunting and overwhelming. A few of our other friends have started canning as well so it’s fun to share stories and recipes.

I hope we can at least squeeze one more batch of salsa from this garden, because I still want to make a batch with pineapple or mango.

Our pepper plants have been growing like monsters for weeks but only this weekend did we start to see flowers and now…peppers! The weather is out of this world this year. Last year we had no peppers, this year we might not have tomatoes, but we finally have peppers. Oh Missouri. We’re going to try to get in the backyard tonight. It’s been a marsh with all the rain. Hopefully I can snap some more pictures tonight!

Came home to find these little guys hiding in the tomato plants. Can’t wait to can and eat tomatoes till we’re…RED! As you can see, we also have a little spot on our plants. Will we ever catch a break with this weather?

Check out our little veggies. The rest are still growing, but this is a great way to see the progress. We’re still eating tons of chard and salads and the beans are already 5 inches tall. We’re going to be in veggie heaven this summer!

As much as we love the process of Gardening, however tumultuous, the pure joy and excitement still comes from seeing and eating the results! We’re not all the way there yet, but we’ve had 4-5 homegrown green salads, tons of herbs, chard and now raspberries! They are sweet and small and are perfect to nibble on. I hope the the next family who lives here will dote on this bush as much as we have. The tomatoes are also blooming, the peppers are nearly doubling in size every day and the bush beans are in the ground.

Our yard is truly enchanting!

Yup, our first salad from our garden-harvested lettuce. We channeled our best Alice Waters and made a Spicy Asian Salad with Fried Tofu. It ended up being more of a kitchen-sink salad though as we also tossed in some artichokes, dried cherries and Kalamata Olives. In any sense, pure joy!

…And the Heavens opened up, and God said “Your tomatoes shall be reborn!” Okay, it didn’t exactly happen like that. Last time you saw our tomatoes, they were looking pretty bad. Some were worse than others, but we were skeptical that we’d have any seeded tomatoes this year. We even went so far as to call their time of death. I’m happy to say we were wrong, not in all cases, some are still looking pretty dead, but we were able to salvage 20 or so gorgeous rebounding tomatoes. Sadly in all the shifting, I have no idea which 20 are what until they flower. I’m hoping all 20 aren’t cherries or Roma’s.

With the freak window of nice weather yesterday, we decided to transplant a few of our tomatoes in the ground. We planted 12 of the best about a meter apart, and will stake or cage them once they have a week or so to acquaint themselves in their new digs. We also transplanted some of our tiny peppers. They’ve been pretty well stunted because of the weather, but we hope the hot and humid forecast this weekend gives them a bit of a boost.

We planted the mild and hot in separate beds to hopefully prevent cross pollination and we hope their new home next to the driveway gives them better and hotter sun. Our full-sized peppers never fully matured last year and we’re thinking it’s because it just didn’t get hot enough. Here’s to hoping for lots of salsa and great veggie meals!

These are very obviously not from this week. I’m starting to forget the last time the sun was out, but it’s definitely been close to a week. I miss our yard, and it’s slowly slipping into the depths of weeds and tall grass. Hopefully the sun will peek out a bit this weekend and we can get some work in. Still so much left to plant!

Our tomatoes after the first rainstorm

So we’ve finally decided to cut our losses with our seeded tomatoes. They were doing really well in the first half of April. Temperatures were unseasonably warm, so much so that I made my first batch of sun tea and we pined that we might have blossoms by June. In the third week however the weather returned to almost March-like temperatures, and after a soggy storm the third week, the tomatoes never recovered because they lacked heat and sunny days to keep them growing. They’ve languished, completely blight-ridden as the weather remains cool and soggy.

The weeds and grass seem to be having few issues with all this rain

This can happen to the most experienced gardeners, and it’s important not to beat yourself up when things like this happen. Weather varies from year to year, and what works effortlessly one year may test your patience the next. Here are a few things you can do to rebound your enthusiasm after a setback:

1. 1. Plant something new: Whether it’s store-bought or you try your luck at seeding again, give your garden another go and don’t stay mad. I recommend trying something easy: a potted herb, beans or a lettuce container. That way you can get excited knowing that barring a real natural disaster you’ll have success.
2. 2. Compost your seedlings: Turn a negative into a positive and compost your seedlings back into your garden bed or compost pile. They’ll make good soil additive and maybe even rebound in your compost pile, …as we learned last year.
3. 3. Give your garden and yourself some TLC: Pull some weeds, dead-head your flowers, feed the birds and just spend time in the garden. Have a backyard bbq or throw a Frisbee around. Life is still good!

I think with the resurgent emphasis toward gardening, there is an underlying pressure to be perfect and grow everything in the garden. It’s just not realistic, and it’s important not to beat yourself up if you aren’t a super-gardener right away or if your garden gets a little weedy and your lawn isn’t perfectly mowed. It’s supposed to be fun, and a great way to add local foods to your diet. So keep having fun and learning more, and with every setback will come many more successes!