Garden party 3: Garden tour

This is the continuation of garden party series of posts after the harvest and the centerpieces. On the day of the party, we started of the party with tomato tasting and garden tour.
I forgot to photograph, the actual tomato tasting(it is hard to be the host and a photographer). 

Small basket full of cherry tomatoes are as party favors to all attending guests.

Part of tomato tasting from on of the guests cell phone

After touring the main garden, everyone headed towards their favorite destination, the kitchen garden. If you are a regular reader to my blog, you know that my kitchen garden is on top of the hill.

 As we headed towards kitchen garden we harvested some ripened figs on the way to snack on. They are as sweet as candy

Left side of the kitchen garden

As you see in frunt of the kitchen there is a picket fence. Without wasting any space, I grow tindora and squash on the picket fence. 

Red spinach

Eggplant

Turmeric plant. Turmeric root grows under ground just like ginger

bitter melon

Ridge gourd vine

Beans on the other side of the fence

Beetroot

Indian cucumber(dosa kaya)

Of course, never ending supply of tomatoes

 Moringa tree

Ripened chillies to make pickle

My guests were very impressed to see all different kinds of vegetables growing in the garden.

After the garden tour, we headed towards farm to table dinner. Next post will feature the dinner.

For more memorable centerpieces, tablescapes, and recipes (including vegetarian, gluten free and vegan recipes),please check out my books, Entertaining From an Ethnic Indian Kitchen and Trader Joe's Simply Indian at my website komalinunna.com.

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Garden party 1: The harvest

This past weekend was my annual garden party. I thought I should do a series of posts about the party from the planning to the end. I am having a wonderful growing season in the kitchen garden this year.  My family enjoys all the vegetables from the garden throughout the growing season. Since the kitchen garden is at its peak, I wanted to plan my annual garden party. I wanted all my friends to enjoy the garden and its bounty. This is the time I entertain with farm to table dinners. My annual garden party begins with planning the menu using the bounty from the garden. 

The first task of the party begins with harvesting all the vegetables.

This vegetable is called tindoora. They do look like miniature watermelons. I fried them with spicy powder.

The following vegetable is called bitter melon. Like the name suggests, it is bitter. But it is a delicacy for many Indians. This vegetable is popular in many Asian countries. It also a very healthy vegetable to eat for people with diabetes. Even the leaves are edible in stir fry.

This is called ridge gourd. It tastes more like zucchini with a little harder skin. I made curry with chana dal. Very tasty!

I harvested many baskets of tomatoes

I harvested gongura, a sour leaf vegetable which is very popular where I come from. I made chutney with it. Calyces from this plant are used to make herbal teas. 

I harvested many baskets of jewel-toned cherry tomatoes.

This is called opo squash, also known as loki in India. I made koftas with tomato gravy.

 I also harvested butternut squash and made curry with it. I forgot to take a picture (not a good blogger).
After harvesting all the vegetables and planning the menu, it was time to plan the centerpieces. The next post is all about centerpieces. 

For more memorable centerpieces, tablescapes, and recipes (including vegetarian, gluten free and vegan recipes),please check out my books, Entertaining From an Ethnic Indian Kitchen and Trader Joe's Simply Indian at my website komalinunna.com.

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Desgning and planting a kitchen garden

Spring is the most exciting time in the garden for me. It is the time to design and plant my kitchen garden. In southern California, we get to start the kitchen garden in March itself. How wonderful is that! 

As I always say, a good garden begins with good soil. It is very important to improve the soil before planting. I mixed the soil with homemade compost. The second most important thing is to rotate the crops. That is the reason I maintain a journal so that I won't plant the tomatoes in the same bed for the next three years. 

Kale and arugula 

I like sit at the patio table with a cup of tea to plan the garden

I have a triangular plot for the kitchen garden. In that plot, we built sixteen raised beds. A lot of planning goes into designing the kitchen garden. With sixteen raised beds, I still feel like I don't have enough space to grow everything I want to.

All cool weathered crops are thriving at the moment.

Cucumbers 

Swiss chard

Perennial Ivy gourd

Tomatoes

Zucchini

 Hot peppers

Colored peppers

Beets

Moringa Tree

Curry leaf plant

Part of the kitchen garden

For more memorable centerpieces, tablescapes, and recipes (including vegetarian, gluten free and vegan recipes),please check out my books, Entertaining From an Ethnic Indian Kitchen and Trader Joe's Simply Indian at my website komalinunna.com.

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Buried in tomatoes

This is a very busy time for harvesting in my kitchen garden. Almost everything is yielding with a vengeance. This year, my tomatoes are going bonkers, yielding a lot more than ever before in my kitchen garden. This the harvest from one raised bed with 7 plants. I attribute my my success to my homemade compost with chicken manure. Now I know that adding  a chicken coop was the right decision for my backyard farming.

This is one harvest

 hom

I like to harvest vine ripened tomatoes on these large shallow baskets to protect them from bruising

Isn't it a shame not to indulge in a caprese salad after such a huge tomato harvest?

I know what I am doing next couple of days, canning and making tomato pickle. I  like to preserve my kitchen garden harvest as much as possible for the rest of year to enjoy and appreciate homegrown goodness.

For more memorable centerpieces, tablescapes, and recipes (including vegetarian, gluten free and vegan recipes),please check out my books, Entertaining From an Ethnic Indian Kitchen and Trader Joe's Simply Indian at my website komalinunna.com.

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