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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Dealing with seesaw weather again


These are the raised beds we had built last summer and I'm trying the square foot garden method for the first time. So far, most things are doing well. I've never had kale as big as the two growing in two of the squares, and the potato plants (you can see them at the far end of the left planter), are big and lush. I planted two potatoes in each square, which may be too much; but I read different numbers are different sites; and since I put some really great soil in these beds, and am using a special, organic fertilizer for potatoes, I'm hoping for the best.

The beds are 2 feet deep and totally filled with rich, organic soil. The unexpected hot weather equaled failure for my square of radishes, and beets, even though they were planted early enough; but the lettuce, kale, carrots, shallots, garlic and everything else is going great. The fava beans in two squares look healthy. It's my first time growing these, and there wasn't much square foot gardening information on them, so I may have planted too many in one square (I planted 9). There are beans forming, but the pods look pretty small, so 9 may have been too many, unless these pods are going to get bigger.

We've gone from temperatures in the 80's and now looking at a few days of 50's weather with high 30's and low forties overnight. So I've covered my peppers and basil and brought a lot of planting tender veggie seedlings which I'm holding for my daughter-in-laws garden, indoors for a couple of nights.

Yesterday was a day of baking and cooking. I made nutty fruity breakfast bread - my husbands favorite. It's a recipe I got from King Arthur flour a year or so ago and it's become a regular part of our breakfast diet. They have a scone mix which is really delicious. I've made my own from scratch, before but through it would be nice to try these. The mix saves a little bit of time; but not that much. If you've never made scones and would like to try them, I think their mix is a good one to try.

It was also a day with making pizza. I'm still looking for the definitive recipe. I have a good recipe from a friend; but it's not quite the crispy bottom, yet chewy, thin, but fold-able, crust of the New York pizza I ate growing up in Brooklyn, New York. So the search continues.


2 comments:

  1. Hi ....I found you via June Perry at Shambala Pottery. I too keep looking for a good thin crust pizza recipe. Almost there, but not quite. What do you bake on?

    Your garden looks lush. Our spring has been so chilly that we've only just begun to garden seriously.

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  2. I bake on an old, thick, silicon carbide shelf. Put your pizza stone about five or six inches lower than your broiler. Also, I heat my oven and stone for an hour before baking. I turn my oven to 500 which is as high as it says it can go, but after an hour, the temperature on my shelf is 530 degrees. That makes the crust crispy and cooks the top as well.

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