Well, summer has definitely arrived here in Lancaster, PA. This past week's weather featured a steady dose of "hazy, hot and humid". We've had daily clouds and showers, with some heavy downpours and some just drizzle. And while the garden area benefited from the soaking, the containers and baskets still needed a nearly daily watering. Then, beginning yesterday, we've been in the mid to high nineties so it's no longer "nearly" daily, but a "must" for the watering.
A Summer Sunset Over Our Urban Garden
The garden continues to produce. The first planting of green beans is finished with a healthy total of seven pounds of fresh beans. We've been having them regularly with meals and the balance has been sealed frozen in vacuum packages with each weighing 6 to 8 ounces - enough for single servings for just the two of us. We've also put in a second planting of beans.
1 1/2 Pounds of Green Beans
We've also been bringing in cucumbers and squash - 10 lbs of cukes and 17 lbs of squash as of late last week. The first picking of carrots came to 3 lbs. The raspberries finished their first season with just over 4 lbs. A smaller second picking of berries will come in late August.
The overflow of cucumbers and squash has led us to offer the extras in a box on the front stairs to the porch. Neighbors or just passers-by have been taking them very quickly which makes us happy!
Some of the Overflow for Neighbors
The garden continues to produce. The first planting of green beans is finished with a healthy total of seven pounds of fresh beans. We've been having them regularly with meals and the balance has been sealed frozen in vacuum packages with each weighing 6 to 8 ounces - enough for single servings for just the two of us. We've also put in a second planting of beans.
We've also been bringing in cucumbers and squash - 10 lbs of cukes and 17 lbs of squash as of late last week. The first picking of carrots came to 3 lbs. The raspberries finished their first season with just over 4 lbs. A smaller second picking of berries will come in late August.
The overflow of cucumbers and squash has led us to offer the extras in a box on the front stairs to the porch. Neighbors or just passers-by have been taking them very quickly which makes us happy!
Lois is a master at finding recipes for using the squash! One of our favorites is "Poor Man's Crab Cakes" (also called Zucchini Crab Cakes). We've been having some with meals and freezing the rest. We will probably put enough in the freezer to have them weekly for most of the winter.
You can get the recipe for them online. There are several variations. The one we like best uses just one egg with the ingredients, rather than the two egg versions.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again next week!
Chuck
No comments:
Post a Comment