2015 Garden Notes

In 2015, we had our first "real" vegetable gardening experience ... Like most new gardeners, we were a little too ambitious but it was a great experience!

2015 Garden Planning

Gary designed & planned a 20' x 20' in-ground bed.

I wanted nothing to do with digging in the ground, but did have my heart set on container gardening a little closer to the house.

I mapped out our beds using an online garden planner that I found on the Mother Earth News web site. It was fun to play with but didn't work at all on my tablet, so I was tethered to my desktop if I wanted to use it..

This was a subscription based service ... not sure I'll use it again once our subscription is up, but it was by far, the best online planner that I found for the 2015 season.

Online Vegetable Garden Planner

We ended up recording everything in a 3-ring binder but found the planner to be a great tool when thinking about spacing and layout..

Chili Paste

I found this wonderful recipe at the Teeny Tiny Kitchen web site and it has become a meal staple in our household... It seems to work in any dish that needs some pizzaz ...

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 oz Chili Peppers, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp Garlic (Minced), or shallot
• 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1 salt, dash
• 1 tsp Vinegar, (white, rice or apple cider)

Directions

1. La Jiao Jiang
   3-5 hot peppers (Go with a pepper that fits the degree of heat you’re looking for.)
   
   
2. Chop the peppers finely or blend them roughly in a mini food processor. Do not discard the seeds. Dried chili peppers can also be used if you rehydrate them. Finely mince the garlic or shallot.
   
   
3. Heat oil and a dash of salt in a small sauce pan or wok. *Important cookware note: if you use cast iron, like what is shown below, future things cooked in that pan will have a spicy note! The heat from the peppers cooks into the seasoning of the pan!
   
   
4. Add the peppers and let them sizzle for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Once the peppers have begun releasing their juices and fragrance, lower the heat and add the garlic. After a few minutes add the vinegar (don’t overdo it!) and cover. Let simmer for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until peppers are dark red and gorgeous.
   
   
5. Let cool and store in an air tight glass container.
   
   
6. Amounts in this recipe are variable, so feel free to play around, and also larger batches are a great idea if you’ve got the extra hot peppers to do it.
   
   Refrigerated your la jiao jiang will keep for 2 weeks or more, but a batch this size probably won’t last that long. If needed, you can also store it indefinitely in the freezer, and separating smaller amounts into plastic wrapped bundles makes it easy to pull out individual portions.

 

* the links were valid when this page was created ... most likely, I won't check beyond the creation of this page to see if they're still valid...