First Garden Harvest of 2010 - Spinach!

Weeks of hot weather and ample rain has resulted in, albeit a weedy, but still very healthy-looking garden over at my house!

My tomatoes are huge and have resisted the bugs pretty well so far. A former boss was a tomoto farmer, and he once told me to clip off the bottom branches and the plant will focus on making more tomatos. I've been following his advice, and I'm looking forward to lots of flower buds soon! My cherry tomato is already full of flowers, so yummy tomatos are right around the corner!

I picked spinach for a chicken & spinach salad tonight. In fact, were it not for the avocado I threw in, my entire salad would have been Ontario-grown. Even the apricot-lemon dressing was made with local, apricot jam (an entertaining staple in my opinion). I seasoned the chicken with lemon-pepper before grilling, then tossed with spinach, tomato, mushrooms, green onion and avocado.

Normally, I would throw in seeds or cheese, but tonight I opted just for dressing and it was perfect! Give it a try if you're looking for a semi-sweet dressing for fresh greens.

Savvy's Lemon-Apricot Dressing
Serves 1. All measurements are approximate, so adjust to taste.
1 tbsp spoonful apricot jam (or jelly)
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp cider vinegar
Salt & pepper
Lemon-pepper

Back to my garden. My potatos are a disappointment. Not one sprouted. I didn't expect all six to sprout, especially since a couple were "old". They had gone soft, but they still had eyes (those are the sprouts potatos grow when they're in your cupboard too long), so I thought it was worth a shot. All six rotted in the ground. Perhaps, it was too wet?

Since I have space, I may try to plant a fast-growing vegetable still, however it's getting pretty late in the season (and hot) to be planting. Anyone have any suggestions?