Now We Are Cooking… with Summer Vegetables!

Summertime is full of sunshine, blue skies, and the EXTREME temperatures that veggies love! The Professional Gardener (PG) student veggie plot is thriving on Red Lion Row (known fondly by the students as “The Row”) and we have been harvesting produce three times a week. It’s wonderful that the produce can be delivered to Longwood’s Terrace Restaurant within the hour of being picked from the field. You can’t get any fresher than that!

Snap Peas

During the early season, when things were a bit cooler than today, we harvested an abundance of snap peas and numerous kohlrabi heads. We began harvesting snap peas on June 5 and finished harvesting them in late June. Although it was a short season, we reaped a total of over 30 lbs, which everyone was pleased with.

Once the snap peas were spent they were replaced with cucumbers and summer squash, both started from seed in the ground. Since it has been so hot outside we have had to water these precious seedlings at least twice or sometimes three times a day to keep them moist and happy.

PG Vegetable Plot on Red Lion Row

Along with the heat comes watering the plot, a common everyday task for the Junior PG’s. We find it best to water early in the morning or late in the evening once the sun has gone down to support better water retention. Something to keep in mind when watering your own garden: Watering in the evening is not always ideal because the leaves remain wet and that prolonged dampness can encourage disease.

Currently we have been harvesting Swiss chard, carrots, summer squash and cucumbers—all of which are warm season crops that we will be able to harvest through September. Within the next few weeks, we will start harvesting eggplant, tomatoes and peppers. Last week, while I was watering the plot, I noticed that some of the Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes were starting to turn yellow. We are already harvesting a substantial amount of them, which is very exciting.

Swiss Chard

Summer Squash: Golden Zebra (left)/Ronde de Nice (right)

Jason Belkov, Head Chef of the Terrace Restaurant at Longwood Gardens, shared one of his recipes that uses our summer squash. This is something you can taste while visiting Longwood, or we hope that you will make it at home with produce picked from your own garden!

Summer Squash Lasagna

Ingredients

(about 2 medium) yellow squash, sliced 1/4 inch thick (in lieu of pasta)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup cooked sautéed sliced button mushrooms
20 spinach leaves
2 small tomatoes, cut up
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 garlic clove, minced

4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Grill squash until tender and set aside. Pan fry onions & garlic with the olive oil and add carrots, mushrooms and bell pepper until veggies are tender. Add the spinach, tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, thyme, water & pepper.  Bring this all to a boil.
2.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until reduced to 2 cups.
3.  In small bowl add ricotta cheese & half of shredded cheese.
4.  In (1 1/2-qt.) baking-roasting pan arrange half of the tomato mixture. Top with half of the summer squash, half the Parmesan and all the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with remaining tomato mixture and then the squash slices.
5.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
6.  Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake 10 minutes longer.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
* Serving Size: makes 4 servings

A total of 220 lb. of produce has already been harvested from the plot, and we are only 7 weeks into the growing season! With how things are progressing, we expect to have a great season and look forward to learning more about vegetables by raising them, and sharing all of that knowledge with you!

Since the profits from the veggie plot benefit our class trip, I wanted to let you know that the Professional Gardener Class of 2012 will be traveling to China in October 2012, and we are very excited!

PG's in the Veggie Plot

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Have Vegetables, Will Travel

 

Tomato & Egglant Salad, and Nicoise Salad on the menu now at the Terrace Restaurant

During Longwood’s two-year Professional Gardener Training Program, the students choose a country to travel to for a 10-day study abroad experience. Each Professional Gardener (PG) class is responsible for raising about half of the trip cost through plant sales, weekend work at local gardens who donate money, and whatever creative ideas we may think of!   

This year, the students came up with a new idea—sell fresh, locally grown produce to Longwood’s Terrace Restaurant. After meeting with the Terrace Restaurant Head Chef, the Restaurant Manager, and the Senior Gardener for the Idea Garden (Longwood’s Idea Garden has been providing produce to the Restaurant for several years), everyone decided that the goal was to produce high-quality and fresh, locally grown vegetables, using low-input/organic methods.  

The Restaurant’s Head Chef put together a list of crops that are needed to support the seasonal menu, and then the students decided which vegetables they would be able to grow most efficiently. From there, students selected several reliable cultivars of each vegetable in order to have the widest possible variety. The crops include: different varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, summer squash, winter squash, beans, Swiss chard, kale and others. In addition, the students are growing a few different herbs commonly used at the Restaurant such as Russian tarragon, parsley, cilantro, and purple and green basil.  

  

 

Some pepper transplants, among many other plants that were started in the greenhouse from late January to late March.  

  

Newly cultivated and planted fields in Mid-May.  

Many of the long season crops were started in the student greenhouse, located on Red Lion Row (known fondly by the students as “The Row”). The Row is also home to several fallow fields that we cultivated and used for planting the transplants around mid-May, after the frost-free date. About three fields were designated to the vegetable project, each about 50’ x 50’.  

 

Some of the early season crops such as carrots and peas were harvested in May and June, while the others did not produce much until mid to late June. Since then, we have been harvesting several pounds of beans, squash, tomatoes and cucumbers every few days. The chefs always say,” Whatever you bring us, we will use!”  

  

‘Rattlesnake’ pole bean that were harvested in early July!  

This experience has been a wonderful educational opportunity for the PG students, and we learned several lessons that we will pass along to future classes: focus on a few different, major, indeterminate producing crops, and carefully consider the time and labor required to operate a vegetable garden on such a large scale!  

Fried Green Tomatoes--on the menu now in the Terrace Restaurant

Not only will this project raise money for class trips (such as our trip to Spain this past June, and provide students with experience growing high-quality, low-input produce, but our guests benefit as well! We hope that our visitors can learn about our gardener training programs while enjoying fresh, delicious menu items in the Terrace Restaurant. The PG students are excited to continue harvesting vegetables for the Restaurant for the remainder of the season!

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