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The gardening season
in Springfield generally starts in late
March and ends in early October, depends
on
what you are planting. Since we moved to
Springfield, I have gone through three
seasons thus far, each
was a learning experience. First of all,
I was overwhelmed by the many types and
varieties of
seedlings
available at
the local nurseries. I planted two
varieties of tomatoes, three varieties
of bell peppers, and
three bitter
melons—seeds compliments of my
father-in-law. The first garden was a
lucky garden. The
tomatoes
were plentiful to the point of being
overwhelming; the bell peppers were also
plentiful but did
not grow into
yellow, red as expected. They were all
stalk-to-stalk green. The bitter melons
were also
bountiful and near
perfect. We saved the seeds for next
year. Overall we had a good season.
My second season of gardening was just
bad and disappointing. We blamed it on
the bad weather and
the
hungry Japanese
Beetles. I attempted
a crop of snow-pea pods and string
beans, complete disaster.
The
bell peppers were plentiful but
undistinguished. The tone of the second
season was really set by the
crop
of bitter melons attempted. First,
the seeds harvested from the first
season refused to germinate on
time
for the spring planting. When they
were finally planted into the ground in
late May, only one survived.
The yield was pitiful. As a learning
season, the focus was on getting rid of
weeds. Weeds and gardening
can not co-exist. I spent much of my
time conditioning the rather heavy soil
and developing a game plan
for eradicating weeds. Weeds can take
over a golf course if you don't get
ahead of them.
This is the third gardening season for
me and my vegetable garden, so far so
good. I am just happy to see everything
growing according to plan. May be I do
have a green thumb after all. I am amazed at
how easy
it is to grow zucchini. The leaves and
flowers are so big and very pretty, impressive.
I was forewarned
the zucchini plant is a
prolific producer. The more you pick, the more
coming.
So far we don't have that
problem yet, but too
many big leaves for sure. We definitely have
enough
zucchini to make delicious
stir fry and super
good and good-for-you zucchini
bread. Everybody loves it. My wife is very happy
that
I help her with the cooking. She is
helping me with this gardening post.
We stay busy all the time.
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Zucchini Bratwurst Stir-Fry
Recipe by Leslie, 2009
Makes 4 servings. Slightly different
flavor from the traditional
Chinese
stir-fry, but still very tasty and easy.
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Ingredients
1 pack (14 oz) cooked bratwurst (any
flavor), thinly sliced
4 medium or 2 large fresh zucchinis,
thinly sliced
2 medium fresh hot peppers, cut into
thin strips
1 medium red or yellow onion, cut into
thin strips
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
Olive oil, salt and black pepper
Directions
1) Warm up 1 tablespoon oil in
skillet, cook bratwurst til
slightly brown, remove and put aside
2) In same skillet, add a little more
oil, saute onion, garlic,
pepper and basil, 2 minutes
3) Add zucchini, season with salt, black
pepper and oyster
sauce, cook 5 minutes, return bratwurst and juice, mix
well, cook 10 more minutes until zucchini soften |
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Do you know there are two
holidays associated with zucchini? I just found
out:
August 8 is National Zucchini Day.
National Zucchini Day was originally called
"Sneak Some
Zucchini
onto your Neighbor's Porch Night" and
was established in Pennsylvania by Tom Roy
to encourage sharing
of excess zucchini due to
overzealous planting.
April 25 is National Zucchini Bread Day.
This is a
day to enjoy Zucchini bread. They hold this
at a time
when you are not sick of all that
zucchini available in the summer. Very
interesting. We enjoyed this bread! |
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Cranberry Zucchini Bread
Recipe by Leslie, 2009
Directions
1)
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
Grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.
Sift
together flour, baking powder, salt,
spices and baking soda. In
a large bowl,
beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add
sugar, and continue
beating until well
blended. Stir in oil, applesauce,
vanilla, zucchini,
pecans, cranberry,
and orange zest. Stir in sifted
ingredients. Fold
batter with a spatula
then pour into prepared loaf pans.
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Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1 tablespoon white sugar
1¼ cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups grated
fresh zucchini, drained well
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup orange flavored dried cranberry
1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2)
Bake 55 - 60 minutes (find out for
sure after first time),
or until a skewer inserted in the middle
comes out clean.
Remove loaves from pans, cool 30 minutes before slicing.
Serve alone or with cream cheese.
Yummy!
Makes 2 loaves. Plenty to share with
friends and neighbors.
Wrap it with tin
foil and freezer bag when put in freezer. |
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