My Neighbor High-Jacked My Garden
A lot has changed in my garden. Last time I mentioned that I was uncovering a sidewalk. I was not impressed.
I complained about my poor soil quality to my neighbor, Ernie. It didn’t take long before he swooped in and saved the day.
A couple of weeks ago Ernie told me that he had some extra plants that I could have and he would even plant them for me. He planted 3 zucchini plants and 3 tomato plants in my small garden. It wasn’t what I was planning on planting, but I was still thrilled.
I was hoping for 1-2 zucchini plants, some green beans and a couple of pepper plants.
I hate tomatoes.
However, when your semi-retired neighbor offers to plant your garden for you and give you all the plants for free… Well, you just smile and say, “Thank you very, very much!”
Before we went to the cabin for Memorial Day weekend I casually mentioned our plans to Ernie. I knew that he would keep an eye on my garden and water it for me if necessary. I certainly wasn’t expecting what I found when I came home.
Ernie planted another zucchini plant! Now I have FOUR! I don’t know who Ernie thinks is going to be eating all this zucchini.
Plus he planted an eggplant.
Yep.
My neighbor has high-jacked my garden.
I don’t like eggplant. At least I didn’t like the dishes I have been served in the past, but I’m willing to give it a try again. Please send me your favorite recipes!
So let’s recap, shall we?
- 4 zucchini plants when I was hoping for 1 or 2.
- 3 tomato plants when I was planing on 0.
- 1 eggplant, which I hadn’t even crossed my mind!
- 3 lettuce plants that I actually planted. It was 4 until Grace was “helping” me weed.
Oh, did I mention that Ernie has given my plants two servings of plant food? Or the fact that he has been tying my tomato plants up to the stakes he put in for me?
Did you hear me????
HE TIES UP MY TOMATO PLANTS FOR ME!!!
I wanted a small garden this year to get my feet wet and see how I like it. Honey, my feet aren’t even damp!
Dear Ernie, thank you so much for taking me under your green thumb. Even though this wasn’t what I planned, I am certainly not a fool. This is great!
Help me out folks. How should I prepare my eggplant or thousands of zucchinis??
I will be l inking this to Frugal Gardening 101 because having your neighbor give you all your plants, stakes and plant food is pretty darn frugal!
I wish Ernie was my neighbor! Although my neighbors came over and offered me cucumber and banana peppers last night, so I can’t complain. I’ve been using my zucchini and squash in pasta salad (along with some other veggies). Tonight I’m making stuffed zucchini for supper. I can’t help you with the eggplant, though. I’m growing some this year too and I’ve only ever cooked with it once. (Made eggplant parmesan.)
Kate, stuffed zucchini sounds amazing! What do you stuff it with??
I love it! You’ll have to participate in National Sneak Some Zucchini On Your Neighbor’s Back Porch Day later this summer.
HA! I’ve never heard of that, Jen. Brilliant!
What an awesome neighbor you have! I have absolutely no clue what I would do with eggplant or zucchini. If you’re at a loss of what to do I would say give them away and if you want to use them, I hope you find some recipes. With the tomatoes, I’d say you should make pizza sauce and salsa :). I love tomatoes!
Miranda, I have a friend who makes salsa every year. She has agreed to take me under her wing to help me use up my tomatoes this year. I am very excited about it!
Seriously, that sounds like a good problem to have. 🙂 The “Simply in Season” cookbook has some fantastic recipes for all of those foods (including a stuffed zucchini recipe), although with 4 zucchini plants you should probably plan to start a farmer’s market…
You can shred zucchini and freeze it to use throughout the year in zucchini bread or as filler in meatloaf or soups.
Eggplant is deeeelicious soaked in extra virgin olive oil and some Italian seasonings and grilled until soft inside. There are also lots of great Asian recipes (Chinese and Thai in particular) that use eggplant for a tasty veggie stir-fry. One tip with eggplant is that to get the bitter flavor out of the larger ones, you should slice them and sprinkle both sides with salt and let them drain for half an hour. Then rinse them off and dry them with a towel.
As for tomatoes, is it that you don’t like grocery store tomatoes or that you don’t like tomatoes of any kind? Because I used to not be fond of them myself until I started only buying local ones from farmers markets and then growing my own. They are a completely different food. I LOVE a salad of garden tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil.
Has Ernie planted any basil for you yet?
Melinda, I don’t have that cookbook, but I really need to get it. I love More-with-Less so I’m sure I would love that one too.
When you freeze shredded zucchini do you dump out the “extra” water after you thaw it???
Thank you for the great eggplant tip! How big should I let them get before I pick them?
Also, I don’t like any raw tomatoes. The fresh garden ones are even worse. 🙂 I do like things made with tomatoes though. So I’m hoping to make salsa & pizza sauce this year.
Thanks so much for your comment! It was very helpful!
You can saute the eggplant in with your onions and garlic, (if you cook that way) before you add the rest of dinner. (I.E. Spaghetti sauce) Or fry it up and use it instead of the noodles of lasagna.
Fried zucchini? YUM!!!!!! You can’t have too much of that, it always goes fast. Pick the zuc’s SMALL!!!!! Can’t emphasize that enough. Not only do they taste better, you won’t have such an over abundance issue. : )
Katie, eggplant instead of lasagna noodles!?!?! I never would have thought of that.
: ) I have lost my recipe! 🙁 I have been asked for it many times! From people who thought they would never like the stuff. LOL But here is one to get you started, I forgot that it is called Eggplant Parmesan. Of course you just make it as it sounds good to you. Good luck!
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/eggplant_parmesan/
Thanks for the link! Looks yummy…. except of course that it has eggplant in it…. I’ll have to see if I can get past that this summer!
Neeighbors like that are the kind you want to keep! I would find people that like those veggies and bless them! I agree with the salsa thing-I would maybe even do that with someone that knew what to do, of course!!
Lisa, I am thrilled that I moved next door to Ernie! He has been such a blessing. After I get my salsa lesson, maybe we can give it a try sometime!
Jody loves tomatos if you need to get rid of any. Or… you could make Salsa, marinara sauce, etc…
Perhaps Ernie chose veggies he loves, in the hopes that he’ll reap the benefits of your garden?
If you end up with a zillion zucchini, you can always trade with other gardeners for their excess crop. Then you’ve gone from just a garden to basic co-op… how very frugal and green. 🙂
Melinda, Ernie totally planted what he loves, but he has enough in his own garden! You should see his garden. It is amazing. He puts mulch in his garden. He is such a professional.
Fortunately for you, your mother-in-law likes them all…problem solved!
Fantastic! 😉
Rebekah definitely fry your zucchini. What we do is cut them to about 1/4 inch thick (pick them when they are about an inch to an inch and a half thick) and after cut into circles, put them in flour and then lay them on a griddle with a little hot oil on it. They will fry up brown and a little crispy. Put them on paper towels and salt them a little. They are sooooo good!! Derek and I have 6 zucchini plants and I am really hoping they all produce because we have zucchini growing out our ears in the Summer from all we eat! I have a recipe for zucchini bread and it takes 2 cups of shredded zucchini and i freeze shreded zucchini in 2 cup baggies so I just have to thaw and dump in the winter! Great!
I did not know if i liked eggplant either but I tried some when we were on vacation and they appeared to be fried up like we do zucchini and they were wonderful!!
Good luck, gardening is great fun if you keep up on it. I have to go out and water every nigt and I will hoe about once a week. But obviously it is worth it when we get green beans, jalapenos, bell peppers, peas, sweet corn, tomatoes, squash, and zucchini!! Mmmmmm makes me mouth water already!!
Katie, thanks for the great idea about frying zucchini. Now I have a silly question for you… When you hoe your garden are you doing that instead of pulling the weeds?? I’ve been going out and pulling them out from time to time. Should I just use a hoe instead?? I’m so clueless. Ernie didn’t give me a weeding lesson! ha!
Rebekah, I have a very large garden and I hate getting on my hands and knees for the whole thing so I hoe down the rows so there are no weeds in the middle of rows and then I will hand pick if need be around the plants. You could hand pick if you want, but if you have a large section, just hoe it up!
Katie, I would not use the word large to describe my garden. 😉 Thanks for the tips though.
🙂 Well that’s the way to do it. Hopefully it inspires you for next year.
Try this http://goodcheapeats.com/2010/10/vegetablebolognese-with-eggplant/ It looked good to me 🙂
Lee, that does look good! Thanks for the link.
Your Ernie sounds like my gardening friends! I’ve got a whole PAGE of zucchini recipe links. 🙂 I shred a bunch, too, and sneak it into pasta sauce and baked goods. And give away a ton to anyone who will take it. 😉 Have fun!
Here is the page of zucchini recipes that Amy mention: http://amysfinerthings.com/zucchini-recipes
I just checked it out and it really is a huge list. Be sure to scroll down past her tips to see the complete list. I have already decided that the cheesy zucchini crisps and chocolate pudding zucchini muffins will be on my must-make list this summer!
Thanks, Amy! Next time don’t be so shy to share your own links, silly girl. 😉
The only way I really like eggplant is battered and fried, or rolled in cornmeal and fried. But with tomatoes, too–sounds like you have the makings for future eggplant parmesan, with a side of zucchini and some zucchini bread for dessert!
Charlene, can I hire you to do all my meal planning for me?? 🙂
You are blessed to have Ernie as a neighbor. Wow! Those plants all look fabulous, too.
I really don’t know how big my plants should be this time of year since I’m new to all of this. So I’ll take your word for it that they are looking good. 🙂
Could you send Ernie over my way? What a great neighbor! 🙂
Ha! You can’t have him! He is all mine!! 🙂
I wish I had a neighbor like Ernie, I would eat any of it 🙂
Ernie has definitely proven to be a huge blessing in our lives. We are lucky indeed!