ZGarden's Garden

We planted 8 tomato plants after March 15. There was a freeze after we planted the tomatoes, so we covered them with plastic buckets to protect them. Fortunately, all but one plant survived. At the March Master Gardener monthly meeting, the speaker was George Kragel who spoke about growing tomatoes. He recommended taking off all the branches of a new tomato plant but the top 2 and planting the plant to the level of the second branch. He said that planting technique encourages the plant to grow extensive roots. I don't know whether to credit the planting technique recommended by George or all the rain Mother Nature has provided this spring, but I have the best tomatoes I've ever had. My first tomato is ripening on the vine this week (week of 5/18), and I have many more to follow. It's pretty exciting.

I am growing squash so I can have squash blossoms for soup, quesadillas and other Mexican dishes. It's fairly common to see squash blossoms in Mexican markets, but you never see them in the stores or markets in our area. I have to pick them pretty quickly because they become squash in only a couple of days. Of course the squash are nice to have too.

I'm a cook so I enjoy growing herbs to use in the kitchen. One of my favorites is epazote which is used in Mexican cooking. (Is there a theme here?) Once you have epazote in the garden, you have it forever. It grows like a weed. It's a warm weather annual that comes back from seed, and it comes up everywhere. If you decide to grow it, you'll want to take off the flower heads to try to avoid having epazote everywhere--beds, sidewalk cracks, flower pots. My favorite recipe for beans uses epazote. It enhances the flavor of the beans and they're delicious. I understand from Mexican cooks that it also decreases the gassy quality that beans can have, and I would agree with that.

Here goes: Heat a small amount of oil in a Dutch oven. Chop one onion and add to the pot. Cook onion until it starts to brown. Add a package of dried pinto or black beans and cover with water. Allow to come to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Continue to add water as beans cook until they are soft. This usually takes a couple of hours. Season to taste with salt and add a sprig or 2 of epazote. Continue to add water and cook until beans are the desired consistency. I like to cook them until they're really creamy. Delicious! Be sure to check your beans occasionally while they're cooking. I burned 2 pots of beans in the same week when I got distracted and forgot to check on them. That kind of destroyed my reputation as a good cook. Remove epazote sprig before serving.