My garden has started to produce in the last week or so–late, yes, but I planted way late (June). I picked enough string yellow beans (not sure what they are called officially) earlier in the week to make a salad I found in Chez Panisse Vegetables. My kids and I were out in the garden today, weeding (we have had rain and the weeds are out-o’-control), and I was thinking about family gardens and what kind of family gardener I want to be.
For example, by nature I am a control freak like my dad. I did indeed yell at Sammy 3 different times for stepping on plants and threaten to throw her out of the garden (which is somewhat absurd given how many weeds I have–she’s 2 1/2, how could she tell the difference? But not too absurd since she willfully ignored me a few times). I showed the kids the beans that were ready, but said I was not yet ready to pick another round. I wanted to wait until I could use them even though they wanted to pick them.
Here is a squash plant, moving to the right, which has already gone through and overwhelmed one row of beans and is on its way to the second–the outreaching tendril has already gone through the second row. Ooops.
And here I am, parting the squash leaves, so you can see the purple blossoms of an overwhelmed bean plant. Because it has purple blossoms, I know it was going to be a dried bean plant, but whether navy, black or Christmas Lima I have no idea (toddlers planting, remember?). Not sure if I will find out now.
That is a squash plant, reaching out to the left into a 2nd row of beans.
But hey I do not have deer fencing or even dog fencing yet, so I have been laid back from the start. Witness the bean plants that have been entirely dedicated to critters from the woods. And all of the milkweed I refuse to pull, as long as it is not choking a vegetable, because I want Monarch butterflies in my life (we have found several caterpillars in the garden–my backyard is the best classroom 2 preschool aged kids could have). This garden is first of all a work in progress, but second and most important of all it is about having fun.
Here is my offering to local beasties–some beans plants that are regularly nibbled to the quick and that I refuse to let bother me.
We picked our first 2 Sungold Cherry tomatoes (my only hybrid tomato plants) a few days ago. More are almost ready, as you can see.
The first few baby watermelons have appeared.
The first (of 2) baby giant pumpkin.So tonight, when Alex asked if they could pick and eat beans, I thought of my grandma’s house, where I ate corn straight from the stalk and lima beans (which apparently, by the way, are not good for you raw), straight from the shell. Peas straight out of the pod and beans right off the vine. Maybe it drove Grandma and Grandpa nuts, I don’t know. If so they never said (to me anyway). But it made me want a garden and it made me want to garden, and I want that for my kids as well. So sure I told them. Eat as many as you want.
And they did.
Green (or Yellow) Bean & Cherry Tomato Salad
Adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetable, Alice Waters
1 lb green beans, ends trimmed and cleaned
1 lb cherry tomatoes
1 large shallot
1/3 – 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, to taste
3 T red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped parsley (could sub other herbs, basil would be nice but mine needs to recover from picking)
Blanche the beans until crisp-tender and remove to a colander. run cool water over it (I used to shock in ice water but Waters said it is better to cool in air, I compromised with the water). Set aside.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Set aside in large bowl with cooled green beans. Toss with parsley.
Mince the shallot and put it in a bowl with the vinegar and salt and pepper. Drizzle in the oil, whisking to emulsify. Taste occasionally to see how strong you want it, i.e., how much oil you want. I don’t like a lot of oil. Dress the salad right before eating as the acid in the dressing with discolor the beans. Leftovers are decent but definitely diminished in quality.
I think you are doing great, with toddlers to get anything done is crazy so bravo!
I remember how exciting it was each year when the first fruits of our labor arrived.
Ahem!
Your father says that you ate all his peas every Spring and that he did not get any–ditto with the lima beans in july and august. You did not plant and you would not weed, but you definitely picked!
Oooops. 🙂 Well I honestly only remember doing it at Grandma and Grandpa's. Maybe I got in trouble for it too much at home? 😉
Your garden looks amazing. I could never garden because I don't like dirt or bugs.
I love your garden and the fact that you are letting your kiddos help-they love to know where their food comes from! Hopefully it will encourage them to want to try new foods, and not be too picky. 🙂
So jealous about the sungolds! They are my favorite. Strangely, my yard has self-seeding cherry tomatoes that come back every year, but we discovered that that part of the dirt has too much lead, so I have to throw them away. Oh, and the yellow string beans are called wax beans. My kids think they are SO cool, which I find hilarious.
I had Yael help me plant my scarlet runner beans this year. The trick was to prep things when she wasn't looking, and then to keep her busy between each plant — I insisted on digging the holes myself, but she got to drop in the beans and then pat dirt on top with her shovel. While she waited for the next one, I had her just dig in random spots. But we only planted 1 thing (since the rest of our soil is leaded!), so it was much easier to engineer the toddler-oriented planning. Next year when you are more together, you can plan out a garden grid in February, and then be ready to plant the early crops in March or whenever is appropriate for your zone.
We've had a ton of rain – record amounts – so even though I actually planted on time for once, everything was delayed. This week we finally have our red blossoms on the scarlet runners – hallelujah! Here's to gardening, and to beans and tomatoes!
Wow, your garden looks great! Do you have any problems with deer or rabbits?
Sikantis–yes that is why those bean plants ahve been eaten. however, I have found my garden is large enough that, knock on wood, it has not mattered. It has definitely not mattered with the beans. I guess we will still see with everything else. If it never gets hot here it may not matter for the tomatoes.