Eat your greens!

That is not something that my mother ever told me (she would give me “the look” instead), so if she were here to see how I eat now, I know she'd be thoroughly pleased. My 2nd sowing of radish seeds grew nicely despite the fickle weather, but for some reason the roots never developed into round orbs like the last batch. Instead, they were red and thin, and the leaves were the only ones taking off like wild. It might've been too nitrogen-rich where I planted (the sweet peas were there before them), or it could be the couple handfuls of horse manure pellets that I mixed in before sowing. In any case, I pulled them out for the compost and picked the youngest and most tender leaves for cooking. A good amount of the radish tops had already been nailed by cabbage moths and their offspring leaving all that tiny dark poop...

From garden to table

Ever tried pumpkin or squash vine shoots? In Italy they're called tenerumi and I believe using them is more common in southern italian cooking. I picked a few off of the sicilian serpent squash to cook along with the radish tops and a hot chile pepper from the garden. The flavor of both the radish tops and pumpkin shoots is mild (no bitterness) and doesn't really stand out, but when cooked in olive oil and garlic, it makes a nice accompanying dish to braised pork shanks with rice or potatoes. We went heavy on the vegetables last night and I made some fava bean puree, a side dish of halved cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced rounds of raw zukes dressed in lemon juice, evoo and s&p - the later two from the garden which really felt like an accomplishment. An article by ElPerfecto.com has great photos and video on edible pumpkin leaves.

About the sicilian serpent squash...

This is the first time trying to grow these but already I see that something wicked is at it again in the garden....a couple new holes found in the ground means the poison isn't doing all of them in. A third of the squash vines are dead - damn rodents!