Japanese Eggplant Disease

I'm not sure what is wrong with my Japanese Eggplant. The leaves are turning brown in the margins and curling up. I still have blossoms, but more and more leaves are turning brown. I've been spraying the plant with copper sulfate at the same time I treat my tomatoes (for late blight). I'm not sure what else to do at this point except wait, and hope to get an eggplant later this summer.

Indian Cooking: Dal Recipe (with green chilies from the garden)

Dal is a very common dish in India that is often served with rice, Indian breads, and different curries. Dal are lentils, peas, or beans that have been split in half. There are many types of legumes used in dal curries, but this one is masoor dal, which is a type of red lentil. Dal can be compared to a thick pea or lentil soup, but with a spicier flavor.

I made a double recipe - the leftovers reheat really well.

Here's what you'll need:

Notice the green chilies from my garden!

(Substitutions: You can use yellow split peas from the grocery store, and you can also use butter instead of ghee.)

First, rinse the dal a little bit. Pick out any debris.

Add the dal, water, and turmeric to a pot. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until soft.

1 cup dal

2 1/2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Get together the next group of ingredients:

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 cup chopped onion

1-2 cloves garlic

1-2 green chilies

1 inch piece ginger

Pour the vegetable oil in the pan and heat it pretty high. Then add the seeds. Once they start to pop (watch out!) add the rest of these ingredients.

Stir-fry until the onions are soft.

Now add the tomatoes and some salt and cook for a couple minutes.

1 cup tomato

1 teaspoon salt

Add a little ghee for flavor.

1-2 Tablespoons ghee

Now the lentils should be ready. Taste it to make sure it is soft and then mash it a little with a large spoon - add water if needed. Add the other ingredients to the pot and mix together.

You can serve the dal with some steamed basmati rice, vegetable korma, and naan. Mmmmm - healthy and delicious!

Julie's Garden

I visited a friend recently and had to post some pictures of her charming garden. On one side of the yard she has a nice sized vegetable patch protected by a picket fence. I can see basil, beans, carrots, lettuce, and parsley growing inside.

The fence is lined with chicken-wire type material to keep out those woodland creatures who like to feast on our veggies. At the back end of the patch she has the wire fencing covered with climbing sweet peas, which are doing extremely well and should soon be blooming.

Moving to the other side of the yard is a very natural looking rock wall that edges a raised bed. This is where the tomatoes are planted. Once again, we have the cute picket fence detail to tie it all together. Also, notice the thyme growing over the rocks - it's doing really well in this location! When Julie needs to tend to her tomatoes, she steps right on top of the thyme and it releases a wonderful scent as she does her chores. Afterwards the plant bounces back into its original shape. Pretty nifty!

Wait, there's a new addition to the yard! A lovely fountain which sounds like a babbling brook (or a strong rainstorm) just outside the back door. Leading up to it is a beautiful sandstone path lined with perennials. I think Julie's outdone herself this year!

Cucumber!

A nice crunchy cucumber to enjoy today!

Notice the hummingbird feeders in the background? There's a hummingbird war going on for the red and yellow one. I heard a really loud huuuummm/Bzzzzzzz and saw two of them fighting in mid-air over the feeder. This is why I have 2 feeders - I read that they were territorial. These hummingbirds need to learn how to share!

Progress in the Garden

I'm almost ready to pick my first cucumber - this is Boston Pickling cucumber.

The cayenne peppers are turning red. We already tasted them in a spicy omelette the other night, and they are definitely hot.

The first pea pods are forming. Who says that you can't plant peas in mid-June? Here in Michigan the hot weather may never arrive, and you can have peas all summer long!

The Dusky eggplant has blossoms...

And there are plenty of green tomatoes, but I'm still waiting for one that I can eat!

What is going on here?

I came home after a couple days out of town and found this! There were two smaller tomatoes with the same problem. It could be tomato hornworms, but after extensive searching on the plant, I can't locate the actual worm. Tonight I will go out there with my flashlight to see what is happening. This is a lot of damage so I know that whatever it is, it's BIG!

Tomatoes at the Roofline

So, my tomatoes keep growing taller. I've already expanded my staking system once - you may remember that I had to exchange my 5 ft stakes in the Ultomato staking kit for 6 ft stakes. Now my plants are reaching 7 ft, so I ended up adding an extension to the top. Sungold tomato is the tallest with Brandywine not far behind.

I used zip-ties to attach a thinner stake to the ones already in place.

Then I added side supports with this soft wire.

Now the plants can climb up to the roof!

Bunches of Basil

What should you do with all that basil in the garden? Make basil pesto, of course - it's easy and well worth it! The scent given off by the basil as you prepare this dish will fill the whole kitchen with an intoxicating aroma. And enjoying fresh pesto is absolutely a treat to savor. I could eat it plain, by the spoonful, because it's so delicious.

The ingredients are:

2 cups packed basil

1/3 cup pine nuts

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (or similar) cheese

salt and pepper

Blend 2 cups (packed very tightly) of basil and 1/3 cup pine nuts.

Add 3 cloves of garlic. Blend.

Add 1/2 cup olive oil a little at a time. Blend.

Now add 1/2 cup freshly grated cheese - parmigiano-reggiano, parmesan, romano, etc. (If you plan to freeze your pesto, then don't add the cheese - you can add it directly to your dish later, or combine it in the blender with your pesto once defrosted.) Blend.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend.

Basil Pesto!

Now have a snack before dinner...

Are you still hungry for dinner?

For a variation on this pesto, substitute 3/4 cup sundried tomatoes for 1 cup of the basil and you will have a delicious sundried tomato basil pesto recipe. It is also delicious mixed with pasta, or spread it on sliced bread for a mouthwatering treat.

Bamboo Teepee

My pea plants were not able to climb the stakes that I originally had in place because they were too big in diameter. I was using 6 ft green plastic stakes. After I replaced them with these very skinny 6 ft bamboo stakes, they were able to grab on and start climbing. I made a teepee out of 9 stakes and tied the plants to the stakes to direct their growth. So far, so good!

Garden Log #3

The front yard garden bed was planted on July 12 with the following vegetables.

Seeds:

Kohlrabi Purple & White Vienna Blend (Brassica oleracea)

Radish French Breakfast (Raphanus sativus)

Turnip Purple Top White Globe (Brassica rapa)

Bok choy White Stem (Brassic rapa Chinesis Group)

These vegetables were chosen because of their short growing season and the limited amount of time left in Michigan before frost.

I also planted these transplants:

9 Cabbage Bonnie Hybrid

1 Sweet Banana Pepper

1 Mammoth Jalapeno

1 Jalapeno

2 California Green Pepper

3 Black Beauty Eggplant

1 Japanese Eggplant

28 Little Gem Lettuce

Butterhead lettuce transplanted on June 30

Herbs planted July 16:

Lemon Thyme

Silver-Edged Thyme

Chives

Greek Basil

Dill

Italian Parsley (4)

Rosemary

I also planted a variety of annual flowers in the bed including impatiens, marigolds, petunia, allysum, and vinca.

All transplants, except the lettuce, were fertilized with a sprinkle of time release fertilizer in the planting hole.