Garden Update

When the garden gives you chard - This has been and interesting and unusual garden year for us, not entirely what we expected.  We started the garden very early after being blessed with mild weather in February and March.  We produced abundant crops of salad greens and the like, then were hit with our more typical Oregon weather in late May and throughout June; namely, cool wet weather. That's when things slowed down. It is also about the time we decided to go on a three week vacation.  The idea was that we'd ride out the wet weather in a more agreeable locale, then come home just in time for summer.  It was a great plan, and we had a fabulous time, but I'm afraid that the garden suffered from the neglect.  In hindsight . . . . . . .  I'd do it again in a minute.

So, our garden seems to be a little slow to produce this summer.  More specifically, that means that we do not have the overflow of ripe tomatoes, zucchini, and beans that we usually have at this time.  What we do have is a much more manageable flow of fresh produce.  Reyn has also been using the garden space differently than in the past.  He has been planting crops successively with the goal of producing food for us year round.  He has just planted tiny baby lettuce and spinach plants, which will be eaten in the fall and winter.  We are enjoying our garden in a new, really,  more civilized way.  Our tomatoes are just now beginning to ripen, we are picking two or three squash each day, and finally, the cucumbers are beginning. We have plenty of carrots, beets, onions, and enough chard to feed an army.  We are eating chard everyday.  Not quite breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but close.  Tonight I made a salad of grated carrots, beets, and scallions on a bed of shredded chard.  It was a very nice combination.  Because I was using the fresh, uncooked, chard leaves, I selected only tender young leaves.  I have really come to enjoy raw carrots, beets, and chard.  I hope you like it, too.

Carrot and Beet Salad on Swiss Chard

1 carrot, grated
1 beet, grated
1 scallion, thinly sliced

1 bunch of chard leaves, stem removed, then sliced
2 TBS roasted sunflower seeds
vinaigrette dressing with sesame oil added

In a large bowl mix grated carrot, beet, and scallion.  Toss with about 2 TBS of dressing.  In a separate bowl toss chard leaves with dressing - just enough to lightly cover the leaves.  Arrange the chard on individual salad plates, then top with the dressed carrots and beets.  Sprinkle with sunflower seeds.  Salt and pepper to taste.  For this salad I mixed the carrots and beets together.  As you can see, the beet juice stained the carrots, creating a subtle jewel-toned salad.