Greetings community garden members!
Spring is in full swing- sun, rain, seedlings, and flowers! But also tiny slugs, weeds going to seed, and last year's vegetables bolting. Have you visited your plot to see what's changed?
The Spring planting cut-off is on Tuesday, April 17. This is a hard deadline, which means warnings will not be issued. If your garden hasn't been tended and has weeds (including miners lettuce
and chickweed) and/or vegetables flowering (i.e. kale, arugula) you will not get a
warning, but will forfeit your plot. Pathways around garden beds also need to
be weeded.
Next week is our last week of evening garden visits- Baker Beach gardens 3+4 on Tuesday, and South Baker Beach on Thursday. The next Garden Resource Day is Saturday, April 14: all the leftover seedlings will be available from 10am-1pm. Come by and plant a few in your plot! Map to Ft. Scott Garden
Spring pests- while watering and harvesting, spend time looking for (and removing) pests
on your plants. Look closely for aphids, leaf miner eggs, and Cabbage White
butterfly caterpillars. Snails, slugs, earwigs, and pill bugs (roly polys) all
do significant damage to seedlings and tender plants. Keeping a tidy garden bed and weeded paths
helps control pests by reducing habitat for them; removing or treating problem pests before the population explodes is key to a healthy harvest.
Wondering what to do with those chard and kale towers as they bolt? Harvest the greens before pulling them out! This recipe for Chard, Mushroom, and Ricotta Torta can be used with most cooking greens. Taylor taught her fellow interns how to make it last month and it was a hit!
Chard, Mushroom, and Ricotta Torta
Ready in 1 ½ hours; Serves 6-8 people
Ingredients
- 1 pound frozen bread dough, thawed (can substitute pizza dough or puff pastry)
- 3 pounds chard
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup sauteed mushrooms
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Preparation
1. Separate the bread dough into two pieces. With floured hands, flatten both portions into disks. Cover both disks with wax paper and let stand while preparing filling.
2. Rinse chard and tear leaves from stems, compost stems.
3. Pour oil into a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat; when hot add garlic and stir about 1 minute. Add chard and stir frequently until evenly wilted, 12-15 minutes. Transfer mixture to a strainer and let drain until cool enough to handle. Squeeze chard to remove all liquid and then coarsely chop.
4. Slice mushrooms thinly and place in the 12 inch frying pan that is on medium-high heat. Add a pinch of nutmeg and stir until mushrooms are evenly cooked, 10-15 minutes.
5. In a bowl, mix chard, 1 egg, ricotta, mushrooms, lemon peel, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
6. With a lightly floured rolling pin, on a lightly floured surface, roll the larger portion of the dough into a 12 inch round about ¼ inch thick. Fit the round into a 10-inch cheesecake pan (though any cake or pie pan will work) and fold excess dough down so that edges come about halfway up sides of pan; press dough gently against sides of pan. Add chard mixture and spread level. Roll remaining dough into a 10 inch round. Center over filling and pinch with the sides to seal. In a small bowl beat remaining egg. Brush top crust with the beaten egg, discard remainder.
7. Bake in a 375F degree oven until top is richly browned, 35-40 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes, then run a small sharp knife between tart and pan to loosen. Use a serrated knife to slice into wedges. Serve warm or cool.
