Wow, David, what a productive weekend you have had!!! What a wonderful experience for your kids too, to see the process from seed to sale! If we ever get a decent sized piece of land, I would love to grow some things for market.

I know you probably winged it on the pesto, instead of using a recipe, but can you give me approximate proportions on that? And did you taste it yet? How does it compare with the traditional recipe that uses pinenuts and parmesan?

Some of our peas have ripened, but they don't seem to make it to the table. Me and the boys have been eating them raw right off the vine. Tasty little snack!

In addition to the daily bindweed pulling, I also staked and pruned the suckers off of my tomato plants, and tied the peas to the trellis. Today, the developer mowed the empty lots, which meant dozens of grasshoppers descended on the garden. My 4 year old helped me assasinate the majority, along with my handy flipflops, of course : )

Congratulations on your market success!
Bonnie

Bonnie, we discovered a few years ago 'pesto' as a concept - roughly 2/3 mushed up flavorful green stuff, and the last 1/3 divvied up equally between nuts and cheese. Add some garlic and really good olive oil, and food processor away. So we've made it with both cooked and fresh spinach, cooked chard, cilantro, and basil. The only thing that hasn't worked was frozen mustard greens from the store - yuk.

For cheese, we really like extra-sharp cheddar, and, should you ever be in a Walmart, they sell a 2lb loaf of Cabot Extra-sharp for $7.50 or so, which is a joke.

Nuts - the best are piñion nuts, but good luck with those. We usually get raw almonds or cashews. That can be overwhelming, so it's best to start off with a bit less and add to taste.

What tops it off, and makes all the difference, is the quality of the olive oil. We get the Carapelli Premium, stuff with dark green label that sez "best for flavoring and dipping bread". It costs an arm anda leg, but, at Safeway, about 4 times a year, they have a two for the price of one sale, and we stock up.

My kids just love this stuff - who ever would have thought. Comparing it to the traditional parmesan / pine nut, it has a bit more flavor, maybe not as subtle and complex as the original mix, but not too shabby.

Friends who have tried the cilantro version like it on Mexican style food.

My husband makes a cilantro pesto using roasted pumpkin seeds. It's scrumptious.

Jnfr, that does sound scrumptious. More details please.

David, I apologize for turning this into a pesto recipe thread : )

My cilantro starts to bolt when it gets about 3" tall. How do you manage to get enough of it to make pesto? You must have a large area of it.

One other pesto question. What else do you guys use your basil pesto for, other than pasta dishes?

Bonnie

Re cilantro, I buy seed in bulk, like a lb, and plant it about 3 week intervals. That will last me 2 or 3 years. Even moisture sorta keeps it from bolting, and growing it in the shade seems to help, as well as keeping bigger leaves.

Pesto on whole wheat toast for lunch, with a slice of fresh tomato.

Pesto in grilled cheese sandwiches.

And if you ask my DD, with a spoon out of the jar, theoretically to go on crackers, but there are usually a lot of crackers and not much pesto left.

David, last year, I tried growing the cilantro in the veggie garden, but this year I put it in a container on the porch, the only somewhat shady spot in my yard. I did resow a week or two ago, but maybe I should have used a larger pot, because I don't have near enough for a batch of pesto.

In our family of five, we have one peanut allergy, one cashew allergy, and one macadamia allergy, so I've only tried pesto using pinenuts, but I will give those roasted pumpkin seeds, and the almonds a try. You don't roast them first?

I planted Sweet, Lemon, Cinnamon, Lettuce Leaf, and Opal Basils this year, and have quite a few plants of each, which are finally starting to put on some growth, so it shouldn't be long before I have enough to make a batch. How long will it keep in the fridge? Or do you guys can it? Sounds like you guys eat it all before it has a chance to go bad anyway : )

Now if I can just squeeze a few garlic bulbs into the herb or flower beds, I'll be all set.

Thanks for all the info, David!
Bonnie

Bonnie, I read somewhere that the 'raw' almonds are really 'blanched' or someway cooked - roasted would be fine as well. I think I mentioned that I grow cilantro, as well as the basil, in those plastic 'window boxes', which are 4 inches by 4 inches by 4 inches deep, and 4 feet long. It takes the full amount from one of those for a batch, and often, if it is a bit skimpy, two trays.

It's possible to freeze it, but we rarely keep it long enough to do so.

I'd bet a pumpkin seed one would be really good.

I have 100 + pine trees on my place, and underneath it's about ankle deep in pine cones, and I've never seen a pine nut. I dunno when to look.

If you can't get the Cabot cheddar, Cracker Barrel Vermont white cheddar is pretty good too.
If you ever have to chance to get Cabot Private Stock Cheddar, it's REALLY good. It comes wrapped in a black wax.

Being from Vermont, there are a few things I'm partial to... Cabot Cheddar, Ben & Jerry's, real maple syrup, and good sweet corn. I keep trying to grow corn, and every time we move I think, maybe HERE I can grow good corn like at home... I'm going to VT next week, and I hope the corn is ready while I'm there. My husband never believed me that the corn was so good, until I took him home one summer, now he wants me to try and pack some back with me!
So far, my little corn patch isn't looking too promising, since a lot of it didn't germinate the first planting. I'm hoping the replants catch up with the originals, because I'm about at the minimum sized patch for good pollination.

Welcome to the world of direct produce marketing, David. I can now say that I've joined you as a peapicker for the season. We took snow and snap peas to the market today. The shell peas are still a few days off but it was good to have some snap peas for dinner the 1st time this season - they are right at the top of my list of favorites.

You can take the time to inform your customers that leeks should be split lengthways so as to be washed before using. A person's first experience doing this will prompt the thought that leeks are just a "bunch of leaves!" But, guess what? All onion family plants are just a bunch of leaves in the kitchen . . . even the bulbs - just a bunch of leaves.

The Dixondale sweet onions are doing well . . . really well! My own Walla Walla's are starting to bulb up and don't look half bad. I've still got my fingers crossed that they make some size (but they are mostly beyond fitting into a martini glass now :o).

The Touchstone Gold beets from Johnny's germinated just as well as the Red Ace. I'm very pleased since Burpee's Golden didn't do well at all for me. Johnny's has 2 golden beets perhaps just to confuse us. This is a good'n.

digitSteve

Since this thread is about peas, I thought I would show you what I harvested today.

{{gwi:417893}}

I know it's nothing compared to the scale you guys are growing, but it was awesome with some bowtie pasta and shrimp this evening.

Yum!
Bonnie

So, it's not too late to plant beans? I've been planning to plant some when the peas are done, but since we planted peas late this year, I've been wondering if the beans will be too late. Our peas are also mostly ripe now, but like was mentioned here, none have made it into the kitchen yet! We just eat them right off the vine -- only time my kids actually like peas!

We didn't go to market yesterday, because our quality control consultants vis-a-vis peas ate most of them, and then DS thought that a 4 day backpacking trip up La Plata Canyon and over to the Dolores River Basin sounded like more fun, and DD is being chauffeured over to Durango for a soccer camp.

Stevation, As soon as you pull your peas up, plant beans. We do pole beans, and I may do a row of bush beans as well. You'll get a good harvest last couple weeks of Aug.

The peas and basil look delicious, Bonnie! (I had noodles with snow peas this evening, myself. ;o)

I once thought that I could get a crop of bush beans by planting anytime in July . . . I've had a 2nd or 3rd thought since then. My cutoff date is July 15th these days.

One or 2 of those beds of peas in my garden should go by the 15th and then it will be beans.

Back to the peas - - I planted snow peas right around the 25th of July last year and had October stir-fry with fresh pea pods!! (Linked below is the story.) Always before, I delayed planting until too late. I remember staggering around absolutely toasted while planting snow pea seed in July of o7.

I've harvested pea pods when they were covered with frost. That's not a choice with beans.

digitS'

Here is a link that might be useful: cool-season veggies in the heat of Summer!

Thanks David and "the Steves" for the discussion on bean planting dates!

Yesterday, I got fed up with the broccoli, because it's almost the middle of July and there was still no sign of any heads forming, which would have been tolerable if it weren't such a space hog. I ripped it out, and threw it into the empty lot next door. Didn't even bother to carry it to the trash can on the other side of my house, I was so irritated with it : )

Anyway, I'm planning to sow more lettuce sometime next week for a fall crop. Last year, I waited until mid-Sept, which was a bit too optimistic. With the broccoli out of the way, there may be enough room for a few bush beans there too. Of course, the canteoupe plants still haven't been transplanted yet either, so things may get overcrowded again before the summer's out.

One day I will have a veggie garden large enough where all of my growing decisions won't be based on space limitations, but on how much we can actually eat or process.

Going to bed with dreams of acreage dancing in my head,
Bonnie

Well, today I ripped out the last of the lettuce, and planted a few bush beans, Roma II and Royal Burgandy. The DTMs were 58 and 51, so theoretically, I have time for a crop, as long as the first frost holds off until the first week of October like, it did last year.

I remembered this thread, and wondered if anyone else put in a late crop of beans?

Bonnie

Ummmm, I did ;o)

Altho', I've stopped risking the attempt late in the month, snap beans have produced from plantings right thru July, Bonnie. I was tempted to plant some more today! Instead, I stood & admired the little, bent seedlings just now emerging from planting on the 15th.

Here's wishing you the best of luck.

digitS'

Well, my row of Fillet Beans had two plants out of 300 seeds show up.

Oh well.

The pig weed is doing nicely, however.

Now why would that be, David? Germination was excellent for both beds of beans I planted in July. Now I'm not saying that they'll enjoy the bake oven weather we are having today but . . .

The bean germination difficulties were back in the Spring where even planting twice has left one area looking really ratty.

Pig weed has its uses.

digitS'

These seeds were at least 5 years old. Maybe 8 years. Anyway, big crop of Kings Banquet on its way - right now things are growing sooooo fast, I went out and tucked the bean runners first thing in the morning, and just came in from doing it again. I'd swear the things grew 18 inches already today.

Yes, the way to avoid all this mid-season silliness of 2nd cropping is to plant a fine climbing bean. You can shrug your shoulders at whether one can scratch a furrow in a scorched earth and expect a bush bean seed to germinate . . . or not. In all likelihood, & IMO, the bush bean is substandard to the pole bean.

Recently, there was a RMG question about cover cropping. I suggested that the gardener consider planting a Winter cover crop NOW rather than wait for cold weather to set in. Winter rye can make remarkable growth thru the cold months if it has a couple of warm months to get established.

John Jeavons (of How To Grow More Vegetables fame) suggests that something like 60% of the garden space be used for growing compost crops. This would establish and maintain optimal soil fertility. It leaves 40% of the garden for vegetables!!

After my experience growing Winter rye over a number of years, I had an idea: What if I grew vegetables thru 40% of the growing season and a compost crop thru 60% of the season? And, wouldn't that essentially be the same thing as Jeavons suggests??

I could have a vacation from gardening from mid-July onward!!

I just can't bring myself to do it . . . . I see bare ground . . . I've got seed . . . plant it!! And, lose out on all the late season crops - tomatoes, sweet corn, melons? (Shudder!!)

Sorry about those fillet beans, David. I know how tender they are but HURRAY for those Kings Banquets! And with a healthy stand of pigweed to turn under here in a few weeks, you probably have the best of all worlds.

d'S'
Silence separates people more than distance does.

The days between the 20th of July and the 13th of August have the highest average daily temperatures of the year. Therefore, tomorrow I shall plant . . . snow peas!!

You see, there's this ground that grew lettuce and kohlrabi and except for a couple of kohlrabis, it's empty. I'll need to carry the fertilizer over there. The soil's not especially fertile and that'll give those tiny plants a big boost! They'll be racing uphill to make pea pods before heavy frost puts a stop to 'em. Charge!!

d'S'