Basil Galore

I just harvested literally pounds of basil from my aquaponics garden. It was so big the other plants weren't getting any sun. And what else is there to do with lots of basil besides make pesto








Purple basil pesto on gnocchi. Delicious!

Hopefully I'll find time later this week to turn the green stuff into pesto too.

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One picture

My Dickinson Pumpkin/Squash


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Still no pictures. *sigh* I haven't been home much during daylight hours, but I promise to post pictures this weekend at the latest. Last weekend I dug up the squash bed and planted the first winter vegetables. I cheated and bought starts at OSH and Armstrong. I put in 12 brocolli starts (6 are this fun purple variety!), 6 cauliflower, 6 celery, and 5 purple/red cabbage. Along the fence I put in snap pea seeds. And between the brocolli/cauliflower/celery/cabbage, I planted golden and red beets, Carnival Blend carrots, and Easter Egg radishes. I completely forgot that I've been waiting for this season to finally try growing parsnips. I think I will plant parsnips in a couple weeks after the carrots and radishes sprout and I can fill in the gaps. I LOVE PARSNIPS! I hope I can make them grow.

I pulled three butternut squashes and a very teeny melon out of the garden in the process of cleaning the garden out. I also pulled my Dickinson Squash/Pumpkin out a week or two ago. I am SO looking forward to sharing it with friends in pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. In the meantime, it is a decoration on my front porch.

Haven't had ANY time to post anything new. I'm still eeking a little bit of produce out of the garden by it's time for a major overhaul so I can put in the winter garden. I managed to plant a few sweet peas in hopes that I'll get some blooms by Thanksgiving. I know it's not likely, but we can hope? I also planted a bunch of new pots in the aquaponic bed....mostly herbs and lettuces. Hopefully those will be ready for Thanksgiving too. Hope to post pictures soon!

Gnocci Craving

Having an odd craving for gnocci, so I thought I'd browse Google. I unexpectedly found this: Swiss Chard Gnocci Recipe. Sadly, I just yanked out all my swiss chard the other day (believe me, it was time....it was all old and gross and mildewy), but when the next batch gets going I will have to try this.

Tomato Season Really Begins

Starting to see a few more tomatoes ripen. The sun gold is really going at it.


The opalka produced its first tomato (albeit a small one!) and the mortgage lifter looks like it will have ripe tomatoes later this week!


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Location:San Diego Fwy,Los Angeles,United States

Peas and Beans

The peas are GONE. I yanked them out and hung the plants up to dry. In a few days I'll go out and remove the pods from the vines and shell the peas. I definitely did not get a lot of pounds out of my peas this year, but it was entirely because I wasn't out there picking them every couple days. I should have been snacking on peas at least once a day. Instead, the peas got too old and now they'll be dried peas that I can put into soups and what not.



In their place, I've planted beans. I was having trouble deciding what kind of beans to plant because I would like to grow a variety that I can use in soups and chilis and what not, in addition to the typical "green bean" varieties. I looked for awhile at buying several packages of bean seeds, but since I only wanted a few of each type of bean, I decided the best option was to just buy a bag of mixed soup beans from the store and grow those!

I soaked them for two nights, by which time they all had little roots sticking out of them. On Wednesday, I took them out and planted them right along the fence where the peas used to be, using 3" spacing and trying to mix up the varieties as much as possible. A couple beans are already starting to show some leaves. It will be very exciting to see how the variety looks as it grows!