Back in March, when fresh veg was just a gleam in our eyes, I made the wise—if rather obvious—decision to only grow food we want to eat, and not to grow too much of any one crop. Choosing what to grow was easy, but how much is too much? Fortunately the Virginia Cooperative Extension has an excellent planting guide, with recommended planting and harvest dates, which we followed religiously. The guide also included a “How Much to Plant” chart specifying the number of plants to grow per person for each vegetable based on expected yield. We took that with a grain of salt, promptly doubling it, and then began frantically sowing seeds and moving them on from seed trays to pots to beds.
Now we are being rewarded with a lot of … well, nearly everything, which I admit is a nice problem to have. But some might look at me, arms crossed over their chest, and say, in a dubious and mocking tone, “do you really think you can use all this?” In response to this imaginary skeptic, I’ve made it a personal challenge to lean into the glut and find a use for everything.
Conventional wisdom suggests giving produce to friends, neighbors, or office colleagues. I’ve never been successful with this strategy; everyone else seems to be drowning in tomatoes, too. Before we left on vacation it was obvious we could not eat all of our lettuce, and it would become inedible if left alone for two weeks. I took it all to a local food pantry, a process so straightforward that I could easily do it again with other crops. It’s a great way to ensure nothing goes to waste.
I’m also experimenting with ways to preserve the harvest to enjoy during the bleak winter months. I’m not a big fan of canning. It’s a perfectly valid method that has worked for me in the past, and there’s no doubt that a jar of garden tomatoes in winter is a gift from the gods. I just don’t fancy spending hours at the stove in the heat of summer. This year, at least, the freezer is my method of choice. Some crops, like peas, can be tossed into the freezer right away. Others benefit from a bit of preparation. Tomatoes became sauce, which freezes pretty well. Chili peppers were cut in half, seeded, and flash frozen so they wouldn’t clump up in their container. And I’ve tried a few methods for basil: flash-frozen whole leaves, “ice cubes” of ground basil with just a touch of oil, and a pesto base of leaves and olive oil, that can be thawed and finished when the craving strikes.
Of course the most satisfying way to use garden produce is to eat it fresh, picked just before mealtime. Peas were easy—we like them best plain and unadorned. Lettuce required a bit more vigilance. As the weather turned hot we needed to harvest before the plants bolted. This meant refrigerating the lettuce instead of harvesting it “just in time,” and sometimes we didn’t eat it fast enough. Still, we enjoyed a lot of salads and are about to sow more lettuce for the fall.
But I admit the beans got the better of me. We planted pole beans (aka runner beans), which quickly grew to massive proportions and lost their tenderness. I’m lobbying for a return to les haricots verts next year, but I also have to admit this problem was preventable. Keep a close watch on your garden, or you’ll have a mess on your hands.
Just as everything was popping at once, Margaret Roach’s A Way to Garden podcast was the push I needed. An episode on “vegetable bounty strategies” featured Alexandra Stafford of Alexandra’s Kitchen, who’s a real whiz at making simple, seasonal recipes using produce from her garden or farm share.* Ali said,
I really find it fun. I find the weekly challenge of how to make the most of what you get just fun, and it’s kind of like a puzzle and it feels so good when you use everything …
I realized that it just takes a little planning to make this work. I start with a list of what we have in the garden now, and anything that might be ready soon. I add our farm share items to the list, and then I look for recipes to make in the coming week. I rely pretty heavily on New York Times Cooking; Ali’s website is a new source of inspiration. I love entering an ingredient into the search bar and seeing what pops up.
Take beets, for example. I love them, and have a couple of go-to recipes. But we’ve been pleasantly surprised by our yield, so I had to dig deeper into my sources. Most of the recipes call for roasted beets, so each week I pick and roast a bunch to use over the next few days. Here are a few of our new favorite dishes:
Baked beets with parmesan, a discovery in The Great Dixter Cookbook
Carrots are another vegetable we enjoy, but we tend to just roast them with a bit of olive oil and thyme. My recipe searches suggested a couple of full-meal salads with shredded carrots as a central ingredient. But why limit your thinking to main or side dishes? Carrot muffins taste great (and freeze well), and of course there’s the less-healthy-but-delicious carrot cake.
I’m still on the hunt for more ways to use our tomatoes and basil, besides the obvious tomato sauce, pesto, and salads. And soon there will be more crops to consider, like potatoes, parsnips, butternut squash, leeks, and shallots. Plus a few fall crops we plan to sow soon … all it takes is a little planning.
What are your strategies for using and preserving your garden produce? Sound off in the comments!
* If you enjoyed this post, check out Alexandra Stafford’s Farm Share Newsletter:
Riches! Those carrots made my mouth water. I have already put my herbs through the food processor with a drop or two of water, frozen the pulp in ice cube trays, and put them in freezer bags in the freezer to be used through the winter. Squash is lovely made into soup and frozen in tubs. I have serious beet envy. A local chef told me about mixing curry powder, dried dill, and butter to make a sauce to toss with boiled or roasted beets, which is a good, as are baked beet chips. Have you tried buttercup squash? A particular favourite of ours.
Hi! Using the overflow of summer squash to make pies. The sweet kind. Pretty good!