August

August, middle of summer. The weather is dry, sunny and hot. Just as you will expect August in the Extremadura to be. In the vegetable garden the plants are looking on the point of wilting. Top leaves are showing burnmarks, so are the fruits of the paprika and peppers. The sun is beating down relentlessly and it is still many hours to sun set.

Beef Tomato

What happened in the gardens of La Tierra Verde the last few weeks?

First of all, the summer vegetables are finally producing well. The fruits of tomato and paprika are still a bit small, but this is due to the low fertility of the soil. Luckily I found excellent ecological fertilizer, one made from humus and the other from algae. This will improve the growth of the plants and give bigger and healtier fruits.

After a flush of courgettes, the plants are now producing small quantities. This is mainly due to the lack of bees this year. The cold and wet winter seems to have diminished the bee populations. At the moment I´m looking into  beekeeping. By keeping bees myself I could raise the production of fruit vegetables by as much as 50%. And of course there is the honey. However, I have no experience at all with beekeeping, so it will be a very challenging project.

Lettuce under shade cloth

Although this is just my third summer in Alcuéscar, all three were very different. The first was very hot, the second very dry, and this one seems very bright. What I remember of the last two summers is that there were often clouds in the sky. It seemed that whenever I went to the swimming pool for some sun bathing, the clouds appeared out of nowhere. This year I hardly see any clouds. Some days are a bit hazy, or sometimes some clouds appear on the horizon, but the overall picture is very bright and sunny. The plants in the gardens do not like this. The fruit vegetables like paprika, tomato and courgette show a lot of burn marks. The leaves of french beans dry out too quickly and crumble up. Many plants just die or stop growing. Therefore a part of the garden in Malvecino is now under a shade roof. Under the shade the plants are growing wonderful. The establishment is much better and even the lettuce is growing happily. Because I wanted to experiment first, only a small part is provided with shadow. Next summer, however, most of the garden will be under shade in the months of July and August.

What is coming up in the garden?

Planting for autumn and winter has already begun. Broccoli, cauliflower, savoya and Brussel´s sprouts are already growing in the garden. They will take their time, however. For the coming 6 weeks I expect the following vegetables:

Italian pepper

Tomatoes, Roma and beef tomatoes
Paprika
Italian pepper
Padrón pepper
Egg plant
Courgette
Cucumber
French beans
Runner beans
Leek
Iceberg lettuce
Lettuce Hoja de Roble

Occacionally I will have Canary melon or Piel de Sapo.

Juan Canary Melon

Recipes for courgettes

Since there is always a lot of the same vegetable on the market, I want to share recipes with you to trigger your appetite. If you know more recipes, please share them with us all.

All recipes are for 2 persons.

Pasta sauce from courgettes

2 rashers of bacon
2 ts olive oil
1 medium sized courgette, cubed
2-3 cloves of garlic, gut in small pieces
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp cream cheese
some milk
salt and pepper
basil leaves

1. Bake the bacon in a dry frying pan (with lid) until crispy. Remove from the pan.
2. Add the oil, courgette and garlic to the same frying pan. Stir fry for some minutes. Add the bay leaf and put a lid on the pan. Cook on a slow fire for 5 to 10 minutes until the courgette is tender.
3. Remove the bay leave. Mash the courgettes with a mixer or blender. Add the cream cheese and a little milk until it forms a thick sauce.
4. Season with salt, pepper and basil to taste.
5. Serve over your favorite type of pasta.

Crema de Calabacines

Recipe from Alcuescar

2 ts olive oil

1 oniun, chopped
11 medium sized courgette, cubed
1 tbsp cream cheese
water
salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until soft. Add the courgette and fry on a slow fire until the courgette is soft and done.
2. Mash the courgettes with a mixer or blender. Add the cream cheese and water if necessary until it form a soup thickness.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Cool before serving.

Courgette salad

2 medium courgettes in small cubes
garlic, sliced, to taste
olive oil
tomatoes, in slices
salt and pepper

1. Fry the courgettes in the olive oil with the garlic on medium fire. The courgette should not colour brown, only turn glazy.
2. Leaf the courgettes to cool.
3. Arrange the slices of tomato on a plate, divide some of the cool courgettes on top.
4. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Courgette Fritti

2 or 3 medium courgettes
pinch of smoked paprika
3 tbsp of flower
salt and pepper
oil for deep frying

1. Cut the courgettes into even length of 8 cm and cut each into sticks. 
2. Season the flour with salt, pepper and paprika.
3. Toss the courgette sticks in the flour until all sticks are well coated. Shake of any excess flour.
4. Heat the oil in a pan or use a fryer. Deep fry the courgette in batches until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towels and serve in paper cones.

Courgette with feta
3 medium courgettes
olive oil
some sprigs of lemon thyme, chopped
100g feta cheese, crumbled

1. Heat the oven 180 C.
2. Shave the courgettes in thin strips using a potato peeler.
3. Toss in 2 tbsp olive oil and spread on a baking tray. Sprinkle with lemon thyme.
4. Roast for 5 min, so that the courgette has still some bite.
5. Skatter with the feta and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil, if desired.