The Revenge of the Neglected Garden

[vynehorn]

The family and I got back this weekend from a nice week up at Cape Cod. On Saturday afternoon we went to check out our garden (we're once again doing the community garden thing). I'd picked some zucchini and squash on the previous Sunday before driving up to the Cape, but there were a lot of smaller ones that I left one. I thought it would be okay to do so, because my Aunt M. was supposed to come over once during the week to water and presumably pick any produce that was ready.

Um, no. Aunt M. watered, but didn't pick anything except a few basil leaves. I've told Mom that she's fired as a garden sitter. What's the point of not picking the produce??  <sigh> If she didn't want anything, she could have given it to her daughter!

So, when we visited the garden on Saturday, we were greeted by the sight of overgrown basil plants, mounds of yellow squash, zucchinis the size of small baseball bats, and a long row of bush bean plants that were completely full of green beans. Nothing else was ready yet, thankfully, though we picked a few small yellow peppers. After picking everything and divvying them up, I knew that I needed to do something ASAP.

On Saturday night, I made three batches of pesto with the basil, and I still threw some of the basil away because I didn't have the energy to get the hydrator out.

On Sunday, I put my new small batch canning book to good use and made 4 pints of pickled zucchini, 5 pints of zucchini pepper relish, and 3 pints of dilly beans. I also cooked one of the yellow squash and ate some of it with dinner.

Tonight I'm baking two loaves of zucchini bread, which used most of the remaining zucchini. And now I'm wondering what I can do with the rest of the yellow squash.

I'm also afraid to return to the garden....

Comments

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

This is one of many reasons why I don't grow anything in the squash family. Although I'm tempted every year to plant butternuts, I love them so...

[vynehorn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, last year Mom made tons of zucchini bread, and we ate lots of yellow squash, which I love. I guess we kind of forgot the amounts we might get when we planted again this year. It honestly didn't seem like a lot of plants at the time....

This year, we ran out of space for the other squash types. We have one acorn squash plant, which has a lovely specimen growing, and the rest, including the butternut squash plants, went to my BIL's garden. I don't know if the deer have eaten those.

[estela-dufrayse.livejournal.com]

when I grow squash, I cook it and freeze it in sandwich sized ziploc bags. Usually about 2 cups per bag, then all winter long I can use it as I like and not have to come up with ideas all at once. It goes in soups, baked goods a lot of things, but we don't end up being sick of it in short order.

[vynehorn.livejournal.com]

Huh! That's a great idea - thanks! I have a small freezer, but I think I can find room for some squash. :)

[jofglastingburi.livejournal.com]

What's the name of your canning book? My summer and zucchini are starting to go crazy.

[vynehorn.livejournal.com]

It's called Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year Round by Marisa McClellan. She's got a blog called Food in Jars that I've been following for awhile now, with lots of free recipes there. I believe this is her first book.

[galingale.livejournal.com]

Lebanese stuffed squash.
I got a million google hits, or you can drop a line to Rob.

Basically it's ground meat sauteed with onions and flavored with allspice (HUH!? Yeah, really that's what I said!), then stuffed into hollowed-out squashes (hollowed out the long way) and the whole shebang put into a pot of broth to cook. Rob's Mom does enough squashes to stand up in the pot and pours the stock around it.

To quote Hugh... OM nom nom nom.

[vynehorn.livejournal.com]

Sounds very yummy!