Hyancinths Arise

Spring is on the way, and so are my hyacinths! I had to pull them up last summer when we planted a Scotch broom into their pot. (we quickly learned that Scotch brooms are not a good choice for a terrace garden.) I had received a gift of hyacinth blooms several Easters ago from my dear friend Miriam.  Three stems multiplied into close to 20 over the years. I stored them over the summer in my closet in paper bags punched with little holes. I meant to plant them promptly in the fall, in our window box where the impatiens were growing. Of course I procrastinated, (and the impatiens stayed strong through the warm autumn.) I finally planted the bulbs just days before the first frost. And then, well, what a cold winter we had. I wasn't sure they would survive. But here they are, pushing their green tips through the soil. By Easter,the purple flowers should be in full bloom.

 

When to start the seedlings??

A local urban gardener, who blogs at Gardening in the Boroughs of NYC, recently asked whether we'd started our seedlings yet. Good question! Last year at this time, we had already purchased our tomato seeds and I would say by mid-March, our peat pots were on the window sill and little green shoots were sprouting. 
Not this year. We are waiting for two reasons. First of all, we are renovating our kitchen, so our apartment is a wreck and we have no place to safely grow any plants, let alone tender veggies. But we are also waiting until April because we want to start the seedlings closer to when we will put them in their outdoor pots, in late May. Last year, we found that starting earlier didn't make the plants grow better or stronger. In fact, they were  indoors for too long and became long and spindly - not fat and stout.
What about you? When are you starting your plants? When do you put them outdoors?

ALMOST SPRING! (AT LEAST YESTERDAY...)

With New York’s freezing weather giving way to milder temperatures, I can’t help but begin to look forward to spring. For my family (which includes my husband Mitch and my cat Minnie) that means plotting our urban garden planting strategy. Our most important decisions include picking out the heirloom tomato varieties we’ll grow from seed and deciding what other veggies to include this year, our sixth season.


This is always such an exciting time: the possibilities are endless; the potential pain still hypothetical. I can believe that instead of withering heat in July and August, the weather will be just hot and sunny enough to spur a bumper crop. I can believe that the high winds that whip our 20th floor Manhattan terrace, often knocking over our tomato plants and snapping limbs heavy with ripening fruit, will be calmed. I can believe that this year, I’ll find the perfect cucumber plants to grow in pots. (Last year, the variety of choice punked out on me, despite initially healthy vines.) And I can believe that the aphids that attacked my lettuce late last season will not be back.

Of course, just getting the crops started is quite a chore. There’s soil, peat pots and fertilizer to buy. There are trips to make to Home Depot and other local gardening supply stores. We need to test our automated watering system to make sure all the parts survived the winter. If not, it’s replacement time. And, we’ll need to decide whether we’ll add new crops (carrots? beets? catnip?) or stick with the tried and true.

Preparation starts now. After all, we must be ready in April to get our tomato, basil and pepper seedlings on their way so we can drop them into pots outdoor by mid-May.

Yes, there’s much to do, but this is the kind of work one can never tire of. Unlike that office job, work in the garden provides edible results. Now, that’s what I call rewarding!

So, urban gardeners…what plans are you making for spring? What new crops will you plant? And do you predict that this growing season will be especially productive?

Snowy Garden

Just a few weeks ago, New York was still kinda balmy and the last of the veggies, arugula and radicchio, were growing in our garden. But now it's a snowy wonderland...

We won't be dining al fresco any time soon! That's gotta be two feet of snow on that table!

A taste of summer in the dead of winter

Baby it's old outside! So, I know, this is no time to think about gardening. After a long, warm fall, with the harvest lasting far longer than expected (I picked  my last pepper in early December), we finally pulled up the last of the peppers and petunias, brought the rosemary inside, and got ready for the winter. And indeed, winter has arrived!

 It's been a frozen zone here in NYC for the past few weeks. But to break the cold spell, at least psychologically, I browsed my freezer the other day, looking for a container of cherry tomato sauce that I prepared from a bountiful late summer harvest and stored away. I figured it would be a nice reminder of days gone by. When cooking the sauce, I used a recipe I found online at Epicurious, which called for roasting the cherry tomatoes with garlic and spices. To finish the dish last week, I added the feta, olives, capers, pine nuts and farfalle pasta. It was so delicious, it took me right back to the lovely days of summer, when our tomato plants were heavy with fruit and I could just walk out on my terrace and pick off a handful of cherries. I still have one more container of the sauce, so I will be able to enjoy my summer reverie again soon. The recipe is easy to make and if you don't have tomatoes growing, you can probably find some nice heirloom cherries at a decent market like Whole Foods. Or you can bookmark this page and wait till next summer...

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes, halved

1/3 cup olive oil

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

1 pound farfalle (bow-tie) pasta

1/2 cup halved pitted Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives

1/4 cup drained capers

6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 1/4 cups)

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparation:

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Combine tomatoes, oil, garlic, vinegar, and crushed red pepper in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast until tomatoes are tender and juicy, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Stir in oregano. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Return to pot. Add tomato mixture, olives, and capers. Stir over medium heat until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add feta and stir until melted and creamy, about 2 minutes. Divide pasta among 6 plates; sprinkle with pine nuts and serve.

The tiniest cucumber

My cucumber plants were anything but bountiful this summer. I pulled them up a few weeks ago, after they had pretty much died. Here's a look at the last of the little suckers, and I mean little!
There's not much growing in the garden right now, though a bunch of bell peppers in various colors are hanging on, as is one lonely eggplant. The arugula is carrying on too.
Some flowers have sprouted on what's left of the cherry tomato plant. Even the eggplant has new flowers. My husband Mitch says they will never bear fruit. I, on the other hand, can't help but hold out a little hope.
Still, if it gets any colder than it was today, I may be out of luck.

Fall surprise - fried green tomatoes

After a two week vacation, I didn't know if I'd find any tomatoes when we returned to our garden. But despite it being mid-October and despite the fact that the plants were pretty much spent before we left, some fruit still hung from the stringy vines. I pulled the ripe ones, and even picked a few green ones from the dead stalks. That gave me a good excuse to try out a recipe for fried green tomatoes. I had made some earlier this summer, winging it, but they were a bust. This time, I followed some easy instructions and the fried tomatoes came out tangy and tasty, with just the right crunch.

Here's the recipe I used from Epicurious.com:

 Ingredients:

4 large, firm green tomatoes, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup finely ground cornmeal

1 teaspoon paprika (I skipped this)

2 eggs, vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. Sprinkle the tomato slices with the salt and pepper; set aside.

2. Combine the cornmeal and paprika in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs.

3. Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with 1/2 inch of oil, then place it over medium-high heat.

4. Coat the tomato slices in the egg, then dredge them in the cornmeal mixture.

5. Fry as many tomatoes as fit comfortably in the pan until nicely browned, about 2 minutes a side.

6. Transfer them to a paper towel-lined platter. Repeat until all the tomatoes are cooked.

Martha Stewart digs NYC Gardener

Anyone following this blog knows that I have been writing about all the yummy tomato recipes in the Septemeber issue of Martha Stewart's Eveyday Food. Well, her peeps have noticed. Check out this post on the Everyday Food blog, giving a high-five to this site!

Mmm mmm good - Fresh Tomato Soup

I figured I'd try one more recipe from Everyday Food's September issue, and I'm glad I did! Tomato-Bread Soup was so simple to make and maybe the best of the three recipes I've tried from the digest-sized magazine. We had it last night for dinner and there was enough leftover to freeze for a fall day when the temperature actually feels like fall...
Here's the recipe (Modification: I used just over 2 cups of water)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 large yellow onion, diced small (2 1/2 cups)
Coarse salt and ground pepper; 2 garlic cloves, minced; Red-pepper flakes (optional); 3 pounds very ripe tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
6 ounces day-old crusty bread, thick crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces (4 cups)
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn if large
Directions
1.In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and pinch of red-pepper flakes (if using) and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until they begin to break down and release their liquid, 5 minutes.
2.Add 3 cups water and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then add bread and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until bread is soft and soup thickens, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3.To serve, divide soup among serving bowls, drizzle with a little oil, and top with basil leaves.

Bountiful late summer harvest

Fall is in the air, but my garden is still producing tons of tomatoes. Yes, they're cracked and gnarled, but they are still tasty. We've got so many coming off the vines right now, we can't keep up with them all! I'm planning on making a roasted cherry tomato sauce this weekend that I can freeze and enjoy when the plants truly are a memory.  I figure by the end of the month, just a few stragglers will remain.