In the front yard, the artichokes are coming back from the ground-level hacking I gave them in September. According to a farmer at the Farmer’s Market, they are a year-round vegetable, so I may see artichokes sooner than later.

The Fuyu persimmon tree looks great. I must have purchased one of the new vertical fruit trees (trying to find source, I think I read about it in Sunset magazine). The bottom branches are loaded down with fruit, just in time for festive salads for the holidays.

Speaking of which, the pomegranate tree/bush has 3 ripe poms and it turns out the kids love them for snacks and lunch. I think they look nice sprinkled on a salad with persimmon slices or at the bottom of a Pomegranate Martini.

I also planted several starts of leeks, onions, and chard, and the chard is to the point where weekly harvesting is in order. The parsley is growing despite benign neglect (I am not so good about watering), and is sure handy when the recipe calls for a handful as garnish.

What is growing in your garden this time of year?

Our summer has been cool so far, so my garden is a little behind. I see some of the tomatoes are out, but the heirloom plants I put in back in April have yet to set fruit. My herbs are quite happy, the cooler weather means less have bolted, but my squash and melon are just limping along. At the end of June, I harvested my garlic from the winter crop and it is now in the garage, drying and keeping cool. The pear tree is full of fruit, its second year, and I hope to figure out when to harvest a little better than I did last year. Blueberries are slow, I think the lack of heat might be the problem, and I let my last two artichokes go to flower, just to see the color.

If you are new to Grow Your Own, you can visit the Grow Your Own page to learn more about the event. All are welcome to participate, even if you are new to gardening, foraging, hunting or raising animals. Foraging can even include the bag of zucchini your neighbor leaves on your doorstep in the dark of night! Andrea is hosting again in August, so be sure to send her email if you want to participate. And, anyone who participates is also eligible to host the event, contact Andrea for more details.

Without further ado, here is this month’s roundup, presented in the order they were received:

Passionfruit Pavlova

Passionfruit Pavlova, from Cathy of Aficionado (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Windowsill Dinner

Dinner from her Windowsill, from Amy of A Cook and her Windowsill (London, UK)

BBQ Thai Pizza

BBQ Thai Pizza, from Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok (Portland, Oregon, USA)

Powerhouse Pasta

Powerhouse Pasta, from Heather of Girlchef (South Bend, Indiana, USA)

Phyllo Parcel

Phyllo Parcels from the Garden, from Liisa of Liisa’s New Blahhhg (Medford, Oregon, USA)

Potato Salad with Summer Herbs

Potato Salad with Summer Herbs and White Wine Vinaigrette, from Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (Virginia, USA)

Gingered Beet and Berry Salad

Gingered Beet and Berry Salad, from Linda of Kitchen Therapy (Janesville, Wisconsin, USA)

Solar Beef Heart Scotched Eggs

Solar Beef Heart Scotched Egg on Quinoa, from Sharlene of Solar Cooking for Mainstream Cooks (North Carolina, USA)

Tempura-fried Squash Blossoms

Tempura-fried Zucchini and Squash Blossoms, from Gary of The “Iron” Chevsky’s Wine Blog (Palo Alto, California, USA)

Sweet Refrigerator Zucchini Pickles

Sweet Refrigerator Zucchini Pickles, from Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious (Malibu, California, USA)

and last, but not least, my own entry, Macaroni Salad!

Macaroni Salad

Grow Your Own badge

Grow Your Own Blogging Event

I am pleased to announce that Andrea Meyers of Andrea’s Recipes has invited me to host the July edition of Grow Your Own, a blogging event which celebrates the backyard garden, hunting, foraging and growing your own! On and off for the last year, I have participated in this blogging event, and with summer here, it seems like a no-brainer. Even a pot of herbs on the windowsill can provide interesting inspiration.

To participate, post a piece on your blog highlighting your culinary creation with a link back to this announcement, and send me an email, including your name, location, permalink to your post, and an image (300 pix max, please). Deadline is July 30th, and I will post the roundup soon after.

For inspiration, check out these recent roundups:

Grow Your Own Roundup #39, from House of Annie

Grow Your Own Roundup #40, from House of Annie

Grow Your Own Roundup #41, from Andrea’s Recipes

And here are a couple of my own submissions – Sangria for a Crowd, Grilled Artichokes, Bibb and Parsley Salad with Anchovy Dressing. What are you going to cook up for this month’s Grow Your Own?

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This week, I harvested my first artichoke and decided that grilling would be the right preparation. And since Inger just taught me how to grill artichokes, I thought I would pass the recipe onto you!

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Grilled Artichokes

• Large, globe artichokes, enough for at least 1/2 per person
• Olive oil

To prepare the artichokes, cut off the stem and snap off the bottom few leaves. Using a serrated knife, cut off the tops of the artichokes. Cut the artichoke in half, through the stem, and using a paring knife, clean out the choke (the fuzzy stuff) and some of the inner leaves.

If you are preparing more than one artichoke, fix a bowl of acidulated water. Squeeze the juice of one lemon, then add the two halves to a bowl of water. When you have fininshed removing the chokes from each artichoke, add them to the water until ready to cook. The lemon juice will keep them from turning a yucky brown color.

In a large pot over medium heat, bring about 8 cups of water to a boil. Add the artichokes and cook until the stems are fork tender, 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the artichokes. Remove artichokes and drain. Artichokes can be prepared to this point and set aside until ready to grill.

Prepare your grill to medium-hot. Rub the artichokes with a little olive oil and place cut-side down on the grill. Roast until nice grill marks appear, about 5-9 minutes.

Normally I like to serve artichokes with an aioli (flavored mayo, examples here, here and here) but this artichoke was so good with drizzled olive oil that it needed no additional accouterments, making it a nice, healthy, appetizer.

How do you prepare your artichokes? What is your favorite accompaniment?

And as I cruised through my garden, I discovered that I had a little dill plant hidden under a tomato, so Dilly Beans were born. I am pleased to have this as my entry for Grow Your Own, hosted this time by Amy of Playing House.

I followed a recipe from my favorite preserving book, Freezing & Canning Cookbook, by the Food Editors of Farm Journal (published 1963). The biggest tip I have to share is to measure one bean to the right size for your pint jar, then use that as the ruler to cut the rest of the beans. I was not that precise with my measurements, but I think attention to this detail leads to a better final dilly bean.

dilly-beans

Dilly Beans

• 2 pounds small tender green beans
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 large heads dill
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup pickling salt (very fine salt, without iodine)
• 1 pint vinegar (5% acidity)

Stem green beans and pack uniformly into hot, sterilized jars.

To each pint, ad 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, one clove garlic, and one head dill.

Heat together water, salt and vinegar. Bring to a boil, pour over beans. Seal at once with two piece lid. Process in boiling water bath 5 minutes. Makes 4 pints.

loading-the-beans

For those of you who live in San Mateo County, the first step is to visit the RecyleWorks website and order your worm composting unit. The County of San Mateo subsidizes the cost of compost bins for residents. For $29, you are able to purchase a Wriggly Wranch Vermicomposting Bin. Residents may also purchase Smith & Hawkin Biostack Bins for a reduced rate (not suitable for worm composting, but good for general garden composting). If you live outside the county, check your local Public Works departments for similar programs – in Santa Clara County offers recycled worm bins for $10 and Los Angeles County offers worm compost bins with 1/2 lb of worms for $65.

After the bin arrives, unpack carefully and check for information about ordering worms. I have purchased mine from Sonoma Valley Worm Farms, two pounds of worms is $49.50, which includes shipping and tax. Sometimes I have found coupons inside the worm compost box, so be sure to check there first.

Find a good spot for your worm compost bin. Mine is outside, up against the house, near the kitchen door, in a spot that is shady in the afternoon. I have heard folks who have had them in the garage. Inside the house is probably not a good spot.

Make sure you have a bucket, scissors and a nearby water source handy.

Attach the spigot, then the legs of the bin. Soak the block of bedding material in the bucket filled up 1/2 way with warm water. While the bedding soaks, complete the set up of the bin, adding the main tray atop the bottom bin.

After the bedding has soaked for about 15 minutes, squeeze out the excess water and add to the main tray. This will be the place where you add your worms and the vegetable and fruit scraps to feed the worms. Add in the worms, along with whatever dirt came with them. Cover with a layer of torn newspaper that is slightly moist. You will always want to have torn newspaper over the worms, as it will help keep the flies away. I have also had success using shredded bills from my office shredder.

When you want to feed your worms, lift up a corner of the shredded material and sprinkle in the food. Worms like their food in smallish pieces, so give veggie scraps a chop if they are too big. Here is more information on how to feed your worms.

The best product of worm composting is the worm tea, a highly concentrated fertilizer that is completely organic. I dilute with water and use the juice to feed my tomatoes and vegetables all summer. Once a year, I harvest the worm castings and mix that into my raised beds before planting in the spring.