swiss chard Archives • New Nostalgia

Gardening

Square Foot Garden Update

I am seriously behind in updating you on the progress of my Square Foot Garden! It has been another great year of watching tiny seeds and seedlings become big beautiful plants full of heathy goodness for my family. This process never ceases to amaze me, especially when I am quite the neglectful gardener.

Square foot gardening takes so little work. The soil mixture is super absorbent which is quite forgiving of my infrequent watering. It also takes just one bag of compost each season, which gives my plants all the nutrition they need for the season. I don’t fertilize at all. Oh..and weeds? They do not exist in a square foot garden. There is no room for them.

I ate the above tomato on my favorite Tomatoes On Toast. The cucumber is going into this Sweet & Sour Dilled Cucumbers recipe…one I cannot wait to try!

The last time I wrote about gardening, it was spring and my garden looked like the above pic.

Now…it looks like this:

Whoa, right? Amazing. Those tiny swiss chard plants have been growing leaves bigger than my head. They are great for juicing, blending into green smoothies. Basil is sitting pretty right next to it, and will be made into pesto this week. There is dill in there, taller than my waist. My cucumbers are super happy and just keep growing up, up, up and producing much fruit. I used a pallet as support for my cuckes and it has worked great. There is a pepper plant in there…which is hard to see. I replaced kale with baby pumpkin after the cool weather growing season of spring.

Speaking of kale…I grew a ton of it, but was very disappointed that squash bugs got to it. This is my first time dealing with squash bugs and they are nasty little things! They lay a bazillion little eggs to the underside of leaves. I spent a few evenings out there with duct tape, dabbing at those dumb eggs. I won the battle without insecticide, but they ate most of my kale and one summer squash plant before I won. They have tried to get to my baby pumpkins, but I was not having it and drowned the few adults I found and then went after their eggs with my weapon of choice–good ol’ duct tape.

The above picture is my second 4×2 bed, full of spring time plantings of kale and chard.

I replaced the kale with tomatoes, pepper, more swiss chard and a squash plant. All have done beautifully except my squash plant. May he RIP.

I planted just one cucumber plant, and it has kept us in supply of cucumbers for all of July and August, and it is still producing.

My tomatoes are not as productive as last year, but still holding their own and doing just fine. Ahhh…I’m so gonna miss the deliciousness of a still-warm from- the- sun, vine-ripened tomato. I just made freezer salsa, which made my entire family very happy!

So much leafy beauty and texture! The red veins of this Rainbow Chard is just breathtaking.

The vine of mini pumpkins is just going crazy and taking over my deflated wheelbarrow. I can’t wait to use them as fun fall decorations in a week or so. I envision large glass vases full of mini pumpkins adorning my dining room table.

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What about you? Are you a gardener? Do you want to be? What flourished in your garden this year? What bombed?

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More on Gardening From New Nostalgia:

Square Foot Garden Progress & What To Do With All Those Tomatoes

Last Years Garden Progress

Swiss Chard From My Garden

Square Foot Gardening –Just beginning to grow

Harvest From Last Years Garden

My Square Foot Garden with Dio

Garden Markers

Past Highlights of My Garden

Growing Herbs In Pots

Growing Radishes

Gardening/ Uncategorized

Square Foot Garden 2014

I have been in gardening heaven lately. My Mother-in-Law came and weeded all my landscape beds which left me time to do the fun stuff–like get my square foot garden going! Our little yard is slowly becoming a fun haven for our family, and this year we have spent more time than ever out there. I’ve even been napping in our new hammock.

I’d like to encourage you to do what you can with what you have. You don’t need a huge yard or perfect grass to create an outdoor space to spend time in. Just mow and clean it up. Add touches of comfort slowly, and let go of perfection.

My yard is so small that I didn’t think I’d have room for a garden, but thanks to square foot gardening, I am able to grow lots of herbs and vegetables for my family. We have 2 4×2 beds–yep, super small–but you won’t believe what I can fit in there!

Our SFG’s are in a landscape bed along the east side of our house. It has been a great spot, and uses space that would otherwise go un-used.

Square foot gardening is amazing and so very easy. Weeding is almost nonexistent in a SFG, I’ve had mine for 5 years now and I’ve pulled maybe a handful of weeds in that amount of time…no joke! Watering is also very minimal. The key is the soil mixture, I followed the Square Foot Gardening book to a T and it has been amazing.

Here is what happened in the garden in the month of May, 2014:

Planted Mid-May

Kale – 8

Swiss Chard -8

Basil -1

Dill-1

Planted-Late May

Tomatoes -3

Cucumber -1

Summer Squash -1

Mini Pumpkin -6, going to thin once they sprout

I also have an herb pot on my front porch:

Planted Mid-May

Basil

Dill

Parsley

A Patunia for pretty

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I used mint as the focal point of 2 of my flower pots, I kept the mint in its pot but took off the bottom, hoping the sides of the pot will help contain it as mint can be a bully & space hog!

Planted Mid-May

Mint

I used what I have for plants that are going to vine (squash, pumpkin, cucumber & tomatoes–not yet planted in above pic. I have a pallet for them to grow up on, a nearby fence, tomato cages, and a part of our old swing set turned on it’s side. I will tie up the plants as needed, using strips cut from an old pair of tights I have or just use some jute.

I am eager to share with you how much the garden has already grown…the leaves of the plants in pics above are about 3 times the size already! I will do a June garden update soon!

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What are you growing? Is there anything keeping you from quality time in the yard?

Gardening/ Healthy Eating/ RECIPES/ Sides

Swiss Chard From My Garden

This photo was taken about a week 1/2 ago. You would not believe the size of the swiss chard leaves now! I have been very pleased with how fast and easy it is to grow swiss chard. I’ve enjoyed it raw, cut up in a salad,(using the lettuce pictured above), and just recently I learned how to cook it.

I scoured the internet looking for ways to cook swiss chard. I have heard stories of swiss chard tasting bitter once cooked, so I was skeptical that I would like it, much less my kids!

I found a recipe at Simply Recipes, (recipe below). It caught my eye because it was simple and easy to prepare, plus the author had this to say about it:

” I never liked Swiss chard, until several years ago I had some that had been freshly picked from a friend’s garden. It was so sweet and buttery I couldn’t believe it was actually Swiss chard. It was then I learned that freshness was the key determinant to whether chard was delectable or detestable.”

“Sweet” and “butter” is all I had to hear to get motivated to cook up these garden greens.

I think swiss chard is such a beautiful vegetable! The stalks come in different colors and the leaves are such an amazing bright green. The stalks remind me of celery, but a bit more bitter. I didn’t care for the stalks, but I liked looking at them!

These nine, good sized leaves cooked down to one palm sized serving of chard. I was flabbergasted! Guess I need to plant more next year! Can you imagine the content of vitamins and antioxidants in that one palm full of cooked chard?? Impressive.

Nutritional Profile

Swiss chard is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, manganese, potassium, iron, vitamin E and dietary fiber. It is a very good source of copper, calcium, vitamin B2, vitamin B6 and protein. In addition, Swiss chard is a good source of phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc, folate, biotin, niacin and pantothenic acid.

Here is the palm full of the finished product. I loved it. It was mild, sweet and buttery. I told my girls that I made it for me, but I would let them have a taste. They skeptically tried a small bite, and within seconds I had 2 (my oldest one was not into the texture) little bird mouth hanging open for more bites. Now that excites me!

Here is the recipe:

Swiss Chard Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard
1 small clove garlic, sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp water
Pinch of dried crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon butter
Salt

METHOD

1 Rinse out the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly. Remove the toughest third of the stalk, discard or save for another recipe (such as this Swiss chard ribs with cream and pasta). Roughly chop the leaves into inch-wide strips.

2 Heat a saucepan on a medium heat setting, add olive oil, a few small slices of garlic and the crushed red pepper. Sauté for about a minute. Add the chopped Swiss chard leaves. Cover. Check after about 5 minutes. If it looks dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Flip the leaves over in the pan, so that what was on the bottom, is now on the top. Cover again. Check for doneness after another 5 minutes (remove a piece and taste it). Add salt to taste, and a small amount of butter. Remove the swiss chard to a serving dish.

This post is linked to:
Made It Monday @ The Persimmon Perch
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative
Making The World Cuter Monday @ Making The World Cuter
Tasty Tuesdays @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam