Vegetable gardening newsletter #15

Hello,

Sorry for the late newsletter – I don’t know how the week evaporated so quickly!

In these dog days of summer, things in the garden are in a bit of a holding pattern. You should start seeing harvests from most of your plants already, or in the near future, so your garden maintenance should consist of watering (zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers especially are heavy drinkers), weeding, checking for pests such as cucumber beetles, slugs or caterpillars, and checking for any ripe tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, beans.

Make sure to harvest as soon as things are ripe – this is the power of your vegetable garden. You have food that you can pick and eat at its peak. Fresh picked vegetables are among the tastiest and most nutritious foods available. Taking back even a little bit of the control over what you eat from big industry should be empowering. You know exactly what goes into growing these gems and not relying entirely on big agriculture for your nourishment, I believe is a political statement to your own independence and power.

Excuse me while I digress a little bit. I just finished a great book “Ishmael: An Adventure in Mind Body and Spirit” by Daniel Quinn http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227265.Ishmael. The central premise is that the world does not belong to man, but man belongs to the world, and the more space we can share with the species creatures around us, the greater chance we have of saving the world. I feel like ‘greening the city’ and producing your own food is a big step in the right direction.

We are currently planting seeds for your fall seedlings. I am really looking forward to getting the root vegetables, lettuce and spinach in your gardens – and in my own!
Here is my favourite summer recipe for this time of year. I dream about it in the winter time…

Tomato, Bocconcini, Basil salad

Ingredients:
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove crushed
Ripe tomatoes cut into thin wedges
1 220 gram container of Bocconcini cheese cut into chunks
1 cup of large basil leaves torn

Step 1:
Place oil, vinegar and garlic in a small screw-top jar. Season with salt and pepper. Shake until well mixed.

Step 2:
Arrange tomato, bocconcini in a shallow serving dish. Top with the basil, drizzle over the dressing to serve. *Bonus: Drizzle balsamic reduction over the salad instead of adding balsamic vinegar to the dressing. Delicious!*

Tomato Bocconcini Basil Salad

Best,
Tereska Gesing

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