Another Garden Update and a Pot of Soup

by Kimberly Hickok

Last week was a great week in the garden! I am still winning the fight against tomato blight. Thank goodness! In the fight against the bunnies, however, I don’t seem to be doing as well and have decided to let them enjoy the Swiss chard crop that’s growing in the cold frame.

As you can see the cold frame where I planted Swiss chard had a bunch of sucker tomato plants start growing in it. I didn’t have the heart to pull them and so I’ve got a tomato jungle happening. The bunnies hop in, eat the chard and – for now – are leaving the garden alone.

Score one for me! (top picture is tomato jungle; bottom picture shows the cold frame BEFORE the tomatoes took over)

tomatoes and swiss chard in cold frame tomatoes and swiss chard in cold frame

We got a pretty good crop of garlic but the bulbs were kinda small. I suspect it’s because I waited to long to plant them in the Fall so the bulbs didn’t get a chance to develop in the ground before it froze.

Garlic crop

We also harvested the first zucchini. Always a thrill!!!! SERIOUSLY.

Last week’s crop yielded a few handfuls of kale and Swiss chard, one small broccoli head, ONE green bean, two zucchini and garlic. Sounds like soup to me!

Soup is the perfect way to use up a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Don’t be intimidated. Just go for it.

Here’s what I had on hand:

  • A quart and a half of frozen chicken stock
  • A pound of sweet Italian sausage (in the freezer); thawed and baked it in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet
  • Some garlic scapes, a tomato, onion and celery
  • 2 cans of northern white beans
  • A small parmesan cheese rind

This soup couldn’t be any simpler. I literally chopped up all the vegetables from the garden and tossed into a pot with the stock, sliced up the sausages and threw in the beans. Let it simmer for about an hour and a half.

Summer Soup

Serve with a baguette and a glass of wine. Easy and delicious!

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