Extreme Companion Planting

My next door neighbor has lost her garden, so I offered to put her plants in an open bed.  I intended to plant beans, but it was more important to get her homeless overgrown seedlings in the ground.
I had one 4x4 bed available, so in went 2 zucchini, 2 broccoli, 2 tomatoes, 7 cucumbers, and 2 romaine lettuce.  After I'd finished, that looked really sparse and unattractive, so I spruced it up with 4 marigolds and 4 zinnias.  Now it looks less... barren.
She came over the other night to take a look and seemed really surprised that I put all those things in the bed together.  She says that "in the old days" they only planted things together...
Yep, monoculture.  One box of cukes, one of tomatoes, one of zucchini...
So here's an average planting box in my garden:

This is a 4x8 raised bed - I've got 7 this size.  The far end is garlic, which will probably come out in the next 1-2 weeks, if it ever stops raining.  The garlic has self seeded cleome and dill mixed in.  Next comes some red curly kale, then eggplant, peppers, zucchini, all interplanted with petunias, marigolds, salvia, zinnias, and lemon balm.  This bed is not as full as some of the others...
I've tried to coordinate all these things so that vegetables that like each other are close and those that don't are separated.  My two main guides have been Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham and The Complete Guide to Companion Planting by Dale Mayer.  And the internet.  Lots of internet.
Who knows how it will all turn out!  Now I know that I made a big mistake in the past by putting all my root vegetables together - radishes are in the cabbage family!  Who knew?
(BTW, I did get Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte, but I did not like it at all.  Maybe just me, but it wasn't what I expected.)
And radishes are the only thing I didn't quite get right this year.  I painted myself into a corner and didn't have space with things that like radishes.  Oh, well.  It's a learning experience.

So after I showed my neighbor a few of my beds and explained the theory, she seemed much more comfortable.  Of course, the proof is in the pudding, so to speak, or the cucumbers, in this case.  We'll see how they do!
I think I see my friendly rabbits in the yard, waiting to be fed.  Time to feed the bunnies!

Swiss Chard Recipes

It's Swiss Chard season again!  Actually Swiss Chard is much more than a season.  If I did everything right (which is unlikely) I'd probably have Chard for about 9 months of the year.

Of course, along with the start of the growing season comes the annual "What do we do with all this chard?" problem.  I probably need a few more recipes queued up.

1. Swiss Chard with Olive Oil and Garlic: Big pot with a tight fitting lid, olive oil in the bottom, chopped garlic, add chopped chard stems, chiffonade and add leaves, close lid, cook on high heat until it steams/sautes/braises.
2. Swiss Chard and Red Lentil Curry: Found on the internet somewhere, a nice spicy curry with red lentils, swiss chard, and chick peas.  Serve over rice.
3. Swiss Chard Enchiladas: Recipe from Fran McDaniel, my photocopy looks torn from a newspaper.  One pot: cook chopped chard. Second pot: make a roux, melt in cheddar cheese. Mix the two together, roll inside a tortilla, put in a baking dish, cover with sauce, bake for 25 minutes at 375.  The original recipe said cover with salsa, but I use Green Enchilada Sauce and I put a pinch of red pepper in my roux.

I've got a new recipe for Swiss Chard and Lentil Soup (ok, I've got 4 or 5 recipes and I'm going to make one out of them) that I haven't tried yet.  It seems hard to make a soup like that when the temperature is above 80...
The other reason I grow Swiss Chard is because it is so lovely to look at.  I'm really thrilled with the beauty of the leaves and stems.  I wandered all over my garden the other morning taking closeup shots of  vegetables and the chard ones were dramatic and lush.  The red kale looks good too, but that's for another day.

Trees

I have seven trees in my yard, if I only count the one's I've planted.

As I recall the first one I bought was the Sergeant Crabapple.  I had a very specific spot that needed a small tree and I wanted something that had flowers and edible fruit for the birds.

Next came the Royal Frost Birch, which I loved for the foliage and the bark color.

Then in the early Spring, I bought 3 trees on sale at Fort Muncy Nursery.  I bought a Snow Goose Cherry, a Celestial Dogwood, and a Zumi Crabapple.  They were all the previous year's stock and were completely dormant when I picked them out.

While I was at Engle's buying plants I fell in love with a Crimson Cloud Hawthorn.  At the time it seemed too expensive and all the stock was covered with little worms, so I passed.  Then Fort Muncy got a shipment of trees and I bought a Winter King Hawthorn.  After much internal debate, I went back to Engle's and bought the Crimson Cloud.

So far the Snow Goose Cherry has given me the most worry.  It seems as if the central leader has died, but now the rest of it looks quite healthy and the flower buds are close to opening.  It isn't terribly attractive right now, but as long as it survives, I'm sure it will fill out and look more like a tree, instead of a stick with leaves.

The Crimson Cloud Hawthorn, Zumi Crabapple, and Sergeant Crabapple are covered in little leaf buds.  the Celestial Dogwood and Winter King Hawthorn are just beginning to look lively.  This year I'm not concerned about the state of the Royal Frost Birch - I remember it had the same absolutely dead look last year.  It is by far the slowest to show any signs of life.