Fresh Garden Salsa Recipe

I have taken and modified my brother Jeff's hot sauce recipe over the years.

3 cans Rotel tomatoes (reserve some juice)
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/3 cup fresh chopped onion
1 1/2 - 2 tbs. chopped garlic
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (gives it the heat)
3 dashes of chili powder
1/4 generous tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt (for taste, I use a little less)
1/2 tbs. lime juice
1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce
splash of white wine vinegar

Pour all into a blender and blend (time will depend on your thickness preference) If its too thick and chunky for your liking, add some of the reserved tomato juice to thin it out.
Will make about a pint of salsa and will last about a week in the fridge.

So over the years I have made this salsa and don't use the recipe as it is.  I tend to add and taste the ingredients as I go, not really using actual measuring spoons.   What I plan on doing this time is using the tomatoes, cilantro, and onion from my garden.   I will throw the big ones on the grill and char them up to give the salsa a more smoky flavor.

Made a pint of the salsa in the Magic Bullet yesterday and Jennie and I polished it off in one sitting.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Tomatoes are a coming!!!

As of today, I have harvested 3.5 lbs of tomatoes from the large cherry tomatoes and some Phoenix tomatoes.  Pulled a few cucumbers as well today because they were looking a little yellow.  This will give  the other ones a little more energy and juice to mature better.

One disappointment for today is after constructing a net tent over the length of the entire beds, I discovered that one of my Brandywines (a little larger than the size of my fist) was just starting to turn red and low and behold, I find a place where something started eating it.  Not sure what it is, the net is far enough away that it couldn't be a bird and its too small to be squirrel, so its got to be an insect of some sort.  The problem is, is that I haven't seen many bugs on my tomato plants.  I will have to do some night surveillance to find the culprit.  I went ahead and left it on hoping that whatever it is will continue to focus on that one tomato and leave the rest alone.

Now I just need to find some good recipes to cook and enjoy my harvest thus far.

Running total of Produce

cucumbers:  12

tomatoes: 3.5lbs

zucchini:   2

peppers:  0

potatoes:  0

peas/beans:  0

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

First fruits of summer 2012

Summer Garden: day 67


Thanks to the extended cool weather, I have been able to enjoy the garden with little watering and some of its first fruits of the growing season.  So far the cucumbers are winning... with eight fruits already harvested for eating.  The zucchini plants have already produced 2 good sized fruits, both about 11" long. What I have been waiting for are the tomatoes.   There are dozens of really big green ones just waiting to turn red.  I picked 2 medium sized a little early, because a third one had already been attacked by a bug.  Jennie put the two in the window and they continued to turn redder.  This morning, I went out to cut the second zucchini and saw a small cherry tomato ready to be picked.

Produce total as of today:
Cucumber: 8
Tomato:  3
Zucchini:  2



The tomato plants have now become a 5ft high dense jungle that has outgrown my homemade tomato cage/grid.  The good thing though is that all the branches are holding on to each other for support (survived a severe thunderstorm with some pretty strong winds about a month ago), plus the dense foliage is hiding the redness of the ripe tomatoes from the pesky birds in my backyard.  I think the squirrels though are a bit smarter and will eventually find them.

5ft tomato plants

                                                    

Brandywine 

Large Cherry tomatoes

another Brandywine

The pear tree has some small fruits on them, but probably won't make it to a worthy size of being eaten.                   

Being that last year was the season of cilantro  (it was everywhere and wouldn't die), well I think it finally decided to call it quit and is flowering everyday.   This season though I have a new friend that has secretly made its way to my garden beds... basil.  I have found shoots spring up in the potato bed, some around the beans, and some below my kale tree.  Yeah the kale plant is about 5 ft tall with leaves as big as my hand.   Jennie and I are doing our best to manage its growth but there is only so much that one can eat of kale chips.

  

 The Aladdin sweet peppers are starting to grow, along with an unknown melon (most likely a cantaloupe.)



The front herb garden is continuing to do well now that its established, thanks to the two weeks of off and on rain we had a few weeks back.  I make smoothies every morning before work and decided to add some chocolate mint and regular mint to the mix....it definitely gives it that real fresh flavor.

 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

A little herbs to make life fresher

 So over the Easter holiday weekend, I spent most of my time re landscaping my front yard.  I made some new beds to put in some herbs like oregano, basil, mint, and some chocolate mint.  I also bought some blackberry plants along with some sylvania plants to attract butterflies. 

 

I actually drew out this design first on paper and then worked on it.  My measurements for the pavers were a little off, but I am happy with the end results.  Now I just have to find some 3/4 -1" gravel rock to fill in the spaces around the pavers.

I reused the large river rock from the side of my house to create a river bed look.  I added some purple fountain grass up front and transplanted my box woods in a triangular pattern.  I built a raised bed to put parallel to the sidewalk to help block of the wind from blowing leaves and trash to my front door.  The only problem, I think my rosemary didn't like the transplant, as it continues to look brown and dead.  The thing about rosemary that I researched on is that it can't be overwatered and it doesn't do well with compost.  So I am sort of stuck on what to do next to help revive it. 

I'm not quite done with the front yard as I have a few more ideas that I would like to try.  Just have to wait for the time and the money to be on my side.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Homemade tomato cages

Week 5, Day 28: April 17

So my attempt to crowd in my tomatoes this year like my brother did last year has me wondering.  There were a few of them that were being overshadowed, so I had to transplant them to an open area.  With the remaining ones, I decided to make a grid of sorts to help keep the tomato plants growing upward and not intertwining with each other.  I used some 36" stakes and some jute cord to create a grid pattern.  Hopefully this will work, only time will tell though.  I have used tomato cages in the past, but its been a 50/50 success.  Most of the tomato plants either grow to tall or the branches break off from the cages.

The potatoes continue to grow, so I planted a few more spuds in the front of the bed a few days ago.  You can see a few little shoots.  Funny too, is that I have noticed a few baby shoots of basil pop up in the potato box and with the Lima beans.

 The peppers are getting a little bit more growth to  them along with the onions in the back.  The kale "tree" has been my longest success to date.  That thing just won't give up.   In the lower left side of the box, you can see a few leaves sprouting from the rhubarb that I had planted about 4 weeks ago.  I wanted to experiment more with some perennials so this was my first.  I want to plant some artichokes and asparagus as soon as I find some to buy.

    

The zucchini now has some flowers on them and hopefully they will make their way to the trellis behind them.  I will most likely have to force them since the sun will be out in front of them.

The new 8x8 bed has had the least amount of new growth.  Mainly because everything was planted about two weeks later than the other beds and I hadn't set up a irrigation system for this one until today.  The 4 4x4 beds have two soaker hoses on them so allow for deeper root absorption and less water evaporation.  As you can see in this pic, I had a soaker hose but upon turning it on, found that it had a hole in it and wasn't quite effective.  So for now, I will be using a simple fountain style  sprinkler, early in the mornings.

 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!