So last weekend, in a fit of frustration, a bunch of plants on deck were yanked and became seeds on deck. The Boothby Blonde cucumber, Black Cherry and Isis Candy tomatoes, and all the beans were ditched (more on that later).
In their place cooler weather crops have been oh-so-optimistically planted. 
Plants on Deck 2.0 features fresh lettuce, Franklin Hybrid Brussels Sprouts (technically the wrong planting season, but they almost worked last year), Javelin Hybrid parsnips, Erbette and Charlotte chard, Romanesco, French Breakfast and Long Scarlet radishes (which have already poked their heads above ground), and Winterbor kale.
Champ is still blooming and Mr. Stripey is showing signs of disease but he’s still largely green, so he gets a pass for now. Aphids continue their iron-fisted reign (and four adult brown marmorated stink bugs were killed yesterday) so next up on the hit list are the besieged True Lemon and the newly-breached Charentais.
Between last week’s spinach and this week’s arugula, courtesy of the Greensgrow CSA, a half pound of Champ’s tomatoes (Gold Nugget), and some POD oregano, a pretty wonderful gnocchi landed on the table this week.
You’ll want to blanch the spinach and arugula the night before you plan on making this meal. Gnocchi inspired by Marc Vetri, courtesy of il viaggio di vetri.
Arugula and Spinach Gnocchi with Marinated Tomatoes, serves 2
Ingredients for Gnocchi:
1/2 lb. spinach
1/2 lb. arugula
1/2 egg (be creative, strain off half the whites and half the yolk and you’re good to go)
1/4 c. flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1/4 c. bread crumbs
pepper to taste
- The night before serving, bring a large pot of salted water to boil, add the spinach and blanch for 2 minutes. Add the arugula to the pot and blanch for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Drain the spinach and arugula and dump it into an ice water bath. The shocking will preserve the super green color.
- Once the greens have cooled, drain them again and then process them in a food processor or blender for 3-4 minutes until very, very smooth. You can add a couple tablespoons of the blanching liquid if you need to. The consistency should be pretty mushy — like a wet batter.
- Place the spinach and gnocchi puree in a strainer and set over a bowl. Refrigerate overnight to drain off the excess moisture. This step is annoying, but critical — if you don’t you’ll have heavy spinach and arugula bombs rather than pillowy gnocchi.
- The next day, when you’re ready to make the gnocchi, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Place the spinach and arugula batter in large bowl and add the egg, flour, breadcrumbs, cheese, and pepper. Mix well, your hands are your best tool.
- Scoop the mixture into a sandwich bag, seal, and snip off a bottom corner edge of the bag. (Unless, of course, you have a pastry bag handy).
- Squeeze out little gnocchi-to-bes that are about 3/4″ in diameter onto a well-floured surface. Gently roll the balls around the flour until they’re evenly dusted.
- Drop the balls into the boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Scoop them out and cover with the marinated tomatoes (see below).
Ingredients for Tomatoes:
8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
a generous splash of balsamic vinegar
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. chopped fresh oregano
pepper to taste
- Combine ingredients and allow to marinate for 3-6 hours.
- Top gnocchi with tomato mixture.
- Pour a glass of wine. Eat.
Whitefly Destruction
In case the recent string of posts about garden pests hasn’t tipped you off, it’s been a tough year for the plants on deck. So tough that it’s too depressing to post the monthly update photo. So tough that the only remaining cherry tomato is the Gold Nugget, heretofore referred to as Champ. On the bright side, it seems that blights and fungi were largely avoided this year.
Anyone who says container gardeners don’t need to worry about bugs live a charmed life.
Let’s see, a random nutrient deficiency finally slaughtered the Isis Candy (maybe copper, maybe iron, maybe potassium, maybe all of the above) and whiteflies took out the pampered Black Cherry (pictured left). Next year I’ll make up a batch of yellow sticky traps and see if that doesn’t do the trick. Aphids have taken over and samples of the brown marmorated stink bug have been collected. And oh, yeah, it’s been hot, hot, hot and dry, dry, dry.
And guess what? The rescued Black Brandywine isn’t looking so good. Its calcium deficiency may be terminal but it’s got one lonely fruit that I’m unwilling to sacrifice just yet.
Whitefly close-up
Each year I resist the urge to buy a pH kit to test each container’s soil as it seems just a little too garden-geeky, but let’s face it, the little blue deck has had a blog devoted to it for over a year. If that ain’t geekdom, what is?
Now, all hopes are pinned on the currently thriving Greensgrow Mr. Stripey. Cross your fingers, please.
Glorious Gold Nuggets (and Black Cherries and Isis Candies)! Over two pounds of sweet, sweet cherry tomatoes have made it onto our plates so far this summer. That’s good, not great. But we’ll take what we can get.
The latest crop met its match with the contents of last week’s amazing CSA share from Greensgrow. Delicious spinach pasta from Superior Pasta, POD cucumbers, POD oregano, and Boltonfeta from Hidden Hills Dairy all combined to make a pretty awesome spoof on the traditional Greek salad.
POD’s Greek Salad Pasta:
1 lb fresh spinach pasta, linguine
8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1 tbs. chopped oregano
2 lemon cucumbers, sliced thinly
1 small shallot, very thinly sliced
1/4-1/2 lb feta, crumbled
12-15 calamata olives, pitted and chopped
pepper, to taste
red wine vinegar, (optional) to taste
- In a large bowl, mix the cherry tomatoes and the chopped oregano.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add some salt. Dump in the fresh spinach pasta. Boil for 4-5 minutes.
- While the pasta bubbles, toss the shallots, olives, and feta with the tomatoes. Stir in some pepper and a splash of vinegar.
- Drain the pasta and pour the piping hot pasta over the cheese and tomato mixture. Stir thoroughly.
- Ladle into plates, top with cucumber slices, and season to taste.
Posted in Container Gardening, Dinner's On, Melons & Cucumbers, Tomatoes
Tagged cherry tomatoes, greek salad recipe, greensgrow CSA, greensgrow farms, Hidden Hills Dairy, lemon cucumbers, spinach pasta, Superior Pasta
So, POD hasn’t been entirely happy with the whole alternating weeks of fish emulsion/worm casting tea fertilizing routine. All sorts of secondary deficiencies have been cropping up in POD’s ever-suffering tomatoes. Like magnesium (helped by the addition of epsom salts) and calcium (maybe, or maybe not helped by egg shells) deficiencies, and who knows what else.
A desperate plea was recently lodged with a charmingly hairy farmer guy at Greensgrow. He was incredibly helpful. He suggested this stuff:
Here’s hoping it works.
Ah, summer. This cucumber, mint, and tomato salad incorporates so many of POD’s favorite things:
6 oz. cherry tomatoes (in this case, Isis Candy, Black Cherry, and Gold Nugget)
5 cucumbers (in this case, boothby blonde and lemon cucumber)
mint
scant tbs. excellent balsamic vinegar
pinch of salt
Show Your Stripes
He was FREE, okay?! Blame the good people at Greensgrow, with their rack of “Please take me home” tomatoes. It would have been cruel not to, right?
Besides, Mr. Stripey was the very first heirloom tomato that got this whole container gardening bug going, many years ago. And he was sweet and delicious. (And the next year when a Mr. Stripey the Second was planted it did miserably, but whatev.) Based on a welcomed recommendation from Startin Yer Garten, he’s enjoying a huge pot. Wish this latecomer good luck and bid him welcome.
And don’t forget to water…and then water again several hours later. It’s hot out there, in case you hadn’t noticed.
These aren’t the kinds of smiles you want to see radiating from any of the plants on deck.
Turn this frown upside down and it's still a frown.
POD’s pretty sure this is a nasty case of blossom end rot. Which, essentially, is a calcium deficiency. The good news? It’s not contagious. The bad news, there’s a chance there’s not much to be done at this point.
So, in the hopes of avoiding this next year, what caused this nastiness? Well, external stress like lack of water and excessive heat could be a factor. (It was pretty brutal a couple of weeks ago and with a vacation nibbling into obsessive-compulsive gardening, the plants were only watered once a day, rather than twice a day). Honestly, that’s what we’re really, really hoping for. That can be immediately addressed.
Also worth noting, this is the only tomato planted in Miracle Gro Organic soil (the Isis Candy, Black Cherry, and Gold Nugget were planted in either Organic Mechanic or Coast of Maine — both of which seemed like much richer, less mulchy soil blends). And, because this fella’ was a rather late and unexpected arrival, I just can’t say for certain whether or not it received the crumbled egg shells its compatriots enjoyed. Next year, the soil can be gussied up with a shot of bone meal, too. And yes, maybe it’s time to invest in that Ph kit to make sure the soil’s around 6.0-6.5.
Calcium, it does a body good.
Its slightly curled leaves add further evidence to the diagnosis. While adding milk to the soil and spraying with the powdery mildew mixture (which contains milk) is tempting, it probably won’t do much as calcium isn’t immediately absorbed. Which isn’t to say both “remedies” haven’t already been applied. It’s worth a shot.
Wow. Impressive. Apparently Isis was, indeed, suffering from a Magnesium deficiency. It’s hard to believe that just a week ago this plant:
It's a June Miracle!
Looked like this:
Magnesium Deficiency
To achieve this miraculous result, mix 1 tbs Epsom salts and 2 tbs organic fertilizer (like the stinky fishy stuff) with 1 gallon water. Spray the hell out of the plant(s) and dump the rest on/in the pot(s). I threw a handful of worm poop on the soil for good measure.
It’s always something. Each week these spoiled beasts receive a dose of fish emulsion or compost tea. (They also live in cushy organic soil that was further enriched with a generous handful of worm casings at planting.)
After consulting a few trusted sources, it appears as though this Isis Candy has something of a nutrient deficiency. Magnesium, perhaps? It may not affect the yield (fingers crossed) but we do hope that some epsom salts will do the trick.
Tell POD Tomato Miracle Gro is bad. Tell POD to be strong and resist the urge.
So last weekend, in a fit of frustration, a bunch of plants on deck were yanked and became seeds on deck. The Boothby Blonde cucumber, Black Cherry and Isis Candy tomatoes, and all the beans were ditched (more on that later).
Plants on Deck 2.0 features fresh lettuce, Franklin Hybrid Brussels Sprouts (technically the wrong planting season, but they almost worked last year), Javelin Hybrid parsnips, Erbette and Charlotte chard, Romanesco, French Breakfast and Long Scarlet radishes (which have already poked their heads above ground), and Winterbor kale.
