A popular cuke at the Greenhouse is the  heirloom lemon cucumber.  When fully ripe, it is a bright lemony color.  It’s small size makes it a great snack or perfect single serving in a salad.  It is never bitter but has a sweet crisp flavor.  When slightly under ripe, it is great for pickling.  I tried it in a recipe for freezer bread and butter pickles and they were terrific.  I shared they pickles with the greenhouse crew at our last Wednesday  worker’s lunch.  We also had Betsy’s dip and Ken’s famous hotdogs.

Here are the directions for the pickles:
Mix 4 cups of thinly sliced cucumbers with 1 very thinly sliced onion and 2 tsp salt. 
Let this sit in a colander for 2 hours.
Meanwhile combine 1-¼ cups of vinegar (apple or distilled) with ½ cup of honey in a sauce pan and heat until the honey is dissolved.
Add ½ tsp ground turmeric and ¼ tsp each of celery seeds, black pepper and ground mustard.  Let this cool.
Pack the cucumber mixture into glass jars leaving an inch at the top.  Pour in the brine to just barely cover the pickles.  Freeze.

Betsy Cabana brought a tomatillo and avocado dip.
Cut up 8 tomatillos and puree them with the juice of 1 lime, pepper and salt to taste, and one avocado. 
Dice another avocado and  a red onion and add to the pureed mixture to add some texture.

Drying Flowers
The greenhouse has cockscomb celosia, globe amaranth, strawflowers, statice and amaranth for drying.

Harvest your flowers after the dew has dried. 
Remove the leaves form the lower stem.
Tie 5 to 10 stems together with a rubber band.
Choose a place to dry the flowers that is dark and dry.  Air flow or a dehumidifier will speed the process.
Hang the bouquet upside down.
It should take between 24 hours and 2 weeks to dry your flowers.

OK Okra!

Have you seen the okra at the Greenhouse?  It is beautiful in the sun.  We sold a lot of it at the Oak Bluffs Open Market, but we are finished for the season.  Come pick some it is very prolific and needs to be picked every 2 or 3 days.   Ellen Desheneux shared a recipe with us.

Sauté garlic to taste in olive oil, add sliced okra (8-12 depending on size, cubed tomatillo (6-8 depending on size) and stir fry until tender. Add one can organic diced herb tomatoes (Muir Glen) for stir fry and two cans for a more stew like recipe. Serve with shredded fresh basil.

If you like a little meat you can add some chicken and stir fry it with the garlic or try Paula Dean's recipe with bacon.  I saw a recipe with great reviews for roasted okra.  Worth a try on the cooler days.

If you are still enjoying your grill, you could try Phylis Jampol's favorite.  Just throw it on the grill!

Check out the Greenhouse Blog for more recipes using vegetables available at the Greenhouse.

The Fall Festival is fast approaching and there is a lot of work to do.  Max King started seedlings that will be good to put in a cold frame.  We will also be having a perennial swap at the festival so start planning and divide your plants to share.
 Meanwhile we need to clean up the greenhouse and gardens.

See you on Wednesday. 

Gazpacho Fever

The Wednesday Crew is gearing up for the Fall Festival.  Cuttings have been started as well as seedlings.  There will be lots of activities including a perennial swap and honey extraction!
Meanwhile, the open markets continue in Oak Bluffs.  Tomatoes, eggplant, okra and flowers have been good sellers.
I have been making a lot of gazpacho.  Most of the ingredients are available at the Greenhouse.
Have you noticed the new sign yet?  We are now "the Greenhouse of Martha's Vineyard."

Here is my favorite recipe for Gazpacho.  Enjoy!

Gazpacho

6 large ripe juicy tomatoes

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 fresh chopped jalapeno or half a garden salsa pepper

1 cut up red onion

            Process tomatoes and garlic until pureed.  Depending on audience I also puree the onion and hot pepper.  If you prefer you can chunk them and add them with the following vegetables.

1 chopped green pepper

1/3 cup of mixture of basil and Italian parsley chopped

1 chopped large cucumber

2 tsp salt

Fresh black pepper

Pulse in the food processor until vegetables are chopped but not pureed.

Comsog is a Hit at the Open Market in Oak Bluffs

Every Sunday at 8:00 AM we meet up at the Greenhouse to pick tomatoes, flowers, cucumber, okra and eggplant to sell at the open market.  The market is from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.  We are also selling plants, herbs and hanging baskets.  Come join us!

Plant and Seedling Sale

Members have been busy this spring.  The greenhouse is bursting with vegetable seedlings.  Heirloom tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplants are looking happy and so are the volunteers.  All winter we have been meeting on Wednesdays at the greenhouse enjoying soups and salads.  There has been plenty of lettuce and kale as well as kohlrabi and swiss chard.  (Click here for a recipe for a swiss chard tart.)
There are lots of flowers this year as well.  We have the usual 6  packs of gazania and portulaca.  We have added cutting flowers and will have a cutting garden at the greenhouse this summer.  We have hanging baskets ready to go but we also have a special sale on wave petunnias and fuchsia for you to create your own baskets.
Our Earthday celebration was a great success.  We had many community members come and donate time.  Lots of winter squash was started for the sale.  Hot dogs, greens, tea and cookies were enjoyed by all ages.  Children had fun seeding sunflowers in egg carton pots.
This year we have some new items for sale.  New tomatoes include Legend and Red Robin.  Legend is an early blight resistant tomato.  Red Robin is a cherry tomato that can be grown in a hanging basket.  Sheepnose Pimento and Tequila Sunrise are new sweet peppers. 

Hot peppers range from the ever popular mildly hot Ancho to the fiery Red Habanero.