I swore I wasn’t going to dwell on my vegetable garden this year, but I just can help it. It is going crazy!
My corn is way taller than an elephant’s eye (I’m 5’6”).
I can’t reach the sunflowers.
The tomatoes, which were slow to ripen, have now all decided to turn ripe at the same time. I have to beg people to take zucchinis and cucumbers.
We are enjoying my favorite tomato salad every night. (See my recipe below). And then just this morning I saw some red ripe tomatoes way inside the plant. When I reached for the first one, I realized it wasn’t several but just a single gigantic one. It weighs 2.68 pounds! While I realize that is not the world’s largest tomato, I think it is pretty big and I wasn’t trying to grow a large tomato.
I have used my Cuisinart so much that it died on me this morning while I was in the middle of making 10 quarts of tomato sauce.
Let’s get back to my sunflowers for a moment.
Notice in this close-up that the seeds form a pattern of two sets of spirals going in opposite directions. If you count the two sets and divide one number by the other, you will have either .618 or 1.618…….the golden ratio! Also if you count the number of petals on a sunflower; it will almost always be one of the Fibonacci numbers.
Jinny’s Caprese Salad
Slice as many tomatoes as you need and place a piece of fresh mozzarella cheese on top of each one. (Buffalo mozzarella is the best, if you can find it.) At this point, most recipes call for putting a basil leaf on each tomato slice and drizzling with olive oil. We like it better with some fresh pesto on top of the mozzarella. I make a larger batch than I need and keep the rest in the refrigerator for use the next time. It keeps well for at least a week.
Pesto for Caprese Salad
Two cups fresh basil leaves
Two cloves of garlic
¼ cup pine nuts, walnuts or pecans
About ¼ cup olive oil
Dash of salt
Pepper to taste
Chop nuts, garlic and basil in a food processor, while the processor is running add olive oil in a slow drizzle until pesto forms a soft paste.
Happy eating!
My favorite yellow tomatoes!
Jinny is talented in everything, and as a teacher and as a quilter and a gardener
That is an awesome garden…..I haven’t been able to have a garden for a few years…but still find myself saving seeds from fruits and veggies……in hopes of having another garden plot I guess….the sunflower looks like an awesome quilt block…..Have a great quilting day….
Must be some great fertilized soil you have! Go ahead and brag, I would!
OMG!!!! I have never seen such huge tomatoes! They are so lovely ! Your sunflower is inspiring enough to make a quilt of vegees ! What a gorgeous bountiful garden . My dream . We rent and cannot do one , although we have thought of going to our community garden plots..Enjoy !
Jinny will you be making pepper jelly this yr ?? Can we buy it from your store ? Thanks
We haven’t had a chance to ask Jinny yet if she feels like branching out into jelly sales but our guess is that the quilting business keeps her busy enough. It is really good stuff, though, isn’t it?