Thinning Radishes , Making Dal

So finally thinned the radish rows, since some of them were so bunched up together that they were not getting bigger.

Radish Greens

Making Dal with Radish greens:

Ingredients:

1. Boiled Spilt Peas (toor Dal)

2. Garlic (1 pod)

3. Ginger

4. Cumin Seeds

5. Turmeric Powder

6. Garam Masala Powder

7.Olive Oil

8.Radish Greens

9.Green chillies (2 slit length wise)

Heat some Olive oil in a pan, Add cumin seeds, ginger, garlic ,green chillies and saute.

Add radish greens and saute till wilted.

Add turmeric powder, garam masala saute for a few seconds

Now add boiled split peas and some water (if required),salt to taste and bring to boil

Summer Garden

The Cauliflowers did not make it but here is what survived :

Cabbage

Peas

Chives

Radish

Carrots

Broccoli

Onions

Mint Chutney!

When life hands you lemons , you make lemonade; when life hands you mint overgrowing your vegetable patch, well you head out and get’em and make mint chutney!

Here is my mother-in-law’s recipe :

Ingredients:

1. a couple of handfuls of mint leaves (washed)

2. a small raspberry sized ball of tamarind

3. 2 green chillies (you can reduce this number to reduce the spice level)

4.Garlic (2 pods)

5. Ginger (size of about 2 garlic pods)

6. salt and a pinch of sugar

Steps:

1. roast the mint leaves in a little olive oil till they wilt

2. Add all the above ingredients into the blender and blend to chutney consistency.

3. Taste and adjust salt levels.

Monday Updates : Reporting from the Garden

Cabbage , Broccoli  and Cauliflower going strong so far , tolerating some frosty weather :

Onions , yellow and red

Radishes have sprouted, interspersed with carrots, waiting for the carrots to sprout. I am not a fan of thinning! I am always worried that I am going to end up with no plants at all. Oh well! Will cross that bridge when the time comes.

The mint that was in the patch last year seem to be taking over the patch slowly…. I have to till that area and remove the mint to plant tomatoes , peppers and eggplants.If anyone in Madison, WI wants a mint cutting you are welcome to come grab a few before june.

Planting season

So the planting season begins…

The onions are already out there:

Sowed the peas yesterday , used some old tomato supports as trellises , they were left behind by the previous tenants:

Before and After, What Spring can do!

Next to the peas trellises are chives that survived the winter ,planted before, i just let them be!

These are waiting in the wings:

Seed Starting Update

The Onions are doing good :

Started these yesterday : Cabbage ,Cauliflower (Giant of Naples, Early Snowball ), Eggplants (Round Mauve,Bambino,Little Prince, Udumalapet) , Broccoli

I used the cutlery that came with our last takeout to identify the plants.

Onion Sprouts

It feels like to Spring to me now!

The yellow onions that was sown on Jan 30 have sprouted. I was not sure if they will so I did not sow the red onions, the plan is to do them this weekend.

I placed them on a ‘sunny’ window sill and hoped they would survive the snowstorms we have been having lately. And they did!

On another note, GardenLog 3.0 is available in the App Store. It has a Todo List with ability to schedule tasks as well as set up notifications for the tasks.

 

Seeds Inventory

So I finally found some free time to take a seed inventory for the vegetable seeds. Here is what I am hoping to plant this year:

Vegetable Seed Inventory

The plant names in green are for the container and the brown ones are for the ground.

I will keep that spreadsheet updated as I order some more varieties.I think I need some more tomatoes.

I have some older seeds in the mix as well , I am hoping they will germinate this year.

GardenLog 2.2 – Released

GardenLog version 2.2 is available in the App Store.

Version 3 is in the works …

I need a Garden Todo List , which I think will be an useful addition to the GardenLog.

What would you like to see in the GardenLog?

If you need a coupon code to download the app to check it out, email me at : gardenlogapp at gmail dot com and I will send you one.

 

New Year Restart

So just after I posted about getting my hands dirty out in the backyard in Madison, life took over and there was no gardening for 2010!

But what better time to dream up a new garden than the new year!

Time to take stock of seed inventory, dust off the GardenLog and plot the garden plot.

Challenges this year: A new baby and a new Gardening Zone.

Things to try this year : Composting (since I have access to the great outdoors) and expand the vegetable repertoire.

Its going to be a wonderful year!