Garden Sun Notes

First week in July
6:00 front veggie garden in shade
6:45 south half of front veggie garden in sun
7:15 all of front veggie garden in sun;
     --nb: stake shade is 2.5x its height, adding a 3-ft eastern hedge would shadow all the garden!!
7:15 all of back garden in shade
7:45 southern half of back garden (lawn side) is in sun
8:30 back garden in full sun except for tomato plant closest to gate.
9:05 still: back garden in full sun except for tomato plant closest to gate.
10:00 all the back veggie garden in sun, including tomato plant closest to fence.

1 pm full sun everwhere
2:40 front yard: the lilac is making a shadow into the front garden, but the roofline shadow hasn't reached it yet.
2:40 back yard: back 2/3 of veggie garden in shade; front half of garden along fenceline are getting sun; grassline along "triangle" has sun for those plants.  Tomato addition along fence to gate in full sun.
3:30 roofline shadow at border of front garden.
3:30 backyard tomato area along fence in full sun;
        some dappled sun on corner of main backard garden

Garden recommendations for next year for us

Broccoli was great--do that again, but don't delay harvesting broccoli.  It's fantastic just as it comes ripe/ready.

four zucchini plants, but no spaghetti squash next time.  It's all too much summer squash.

Pumpkin was fun.  Do it far away from the summer squash.

Peppers were fun.  Jalapenos came ready in September.  Mild peppers a few weeks before.

Do cucumbers.  I missed them this year.

Eggplants--I'm still waiting.  They just started to flower.

Kale is delicious but the bugs are eating it so I don't get much.  Lacinato is delicious but very vulnerable.  Russian a little more resistant.  Find a normal curly kale, see how that does?

Tomatoes--right number, but too inaccessible the way we have them planted.

End of Cilantro

Second day of the kids' school--thought I'd put some fresh cilantro on the fajitas, and discovered that the cilantro is over--all dried out, down to seed pods.

Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce, Fresh Tomato, and Kale.

Why not Linguini?  Because I don't have any in the cupboard.

I went with Ree Drummond's Alfredo Sauce recipe from her t.v. show.  The Alfredo from her blog adds the shredded cheese with the pasta, instead.  We joked that we were having ice cream for dinner; it's pretty rare for me to serve something so rich.

My daughter was worried that tomatoes were going to ruin the Pasta Alfredo.  Because the juices might dilute it.  So for her, I got the juice and squishy parts out of the tomato and chopped them.

The kale I cooked separately in an iron skillet, with some store-bought pesto to season it.

The adults mixed the pasta, tomato, and vegetables in together on their plates.   Some children ate their vegetables as solo side dishes instead.  The surprise was the kale went first.

I think it's funny that the pesce-vegetarian in the house loves Pioneer Woman Cooks recipes.  Ree Drummond lives on a ranch and does a lot of meat dishes, but the vegetarian dishes are often hearty.