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Planting My Garden, May 2020

It’s finally time for me to plant. I spent hours researching plants, finding out what can and cannot work together, researching gardening techniques and styles. I’ve watched days worth of YouTube videos by different gardeners, and I was waiting for now. Memorial day weekend is plating time where I’m from. Before then, there is a constant risk of frost or even snow. I planted my onions, some Parris island lettuce, and my radishes about 2 weeks ago, and they got snow and frost. But, after Wednesday night, we are out of the frost zone! I planted another 1/3 of my lettuce row with seeds, I planted 4 Swiss chard seeds, I planted 5 indeterminate tomato vines, and Josh and I made stakes that are 1 in x 1 in x 6 1/2 foot for my tomatoes. We plated 5 clusters of cucumbers, and added cages around them, because we hope to grow them vertically, and finally, Josh made a trellis for me using chicken wire, and I plated green bean pole beans along the front of that. Our beds are 8 ft by 4 ft.

I did a lot of research leading up to this. Different staking methods, high density spacing, harvest conditions and seeding conditions. I grew some plants from seeds, however, I also purchased many plants. I’ve never really gardened before. Josh grew up with a garden, but I’ve only grown the occasional cherry tomato. I have house plants, but even they are hard for me to manage all winter. I’m hopeful. I put lots of time into this project and I’ve learned so much about these plants. I know I will be disappointed when something doesn’t work, but I’m hopeful, and I hope to share lots of canning posts this summer on here and Instagram.

Things I did differently

According to my plans, it says beets, but it was always radishes. I just say beets sometimes, I don’t know why. The other thing I’ve done differently was how I planted the beans. I wasn’t sure if I was getting a trellis, so I planned for a teepee. Instead I planted the beans 4 inches from the edge of the bed with about 6 inch spacing between them. I still fit 12 plants along the 6 foot of trellis Josh put up. Finally, I haven’t planted my carrots yet. I am currently using their pots to hold a few other plants I still have. I plant to plant my decorative plants soon. I also am thinking of keeping my early crop of Romaine in the pot. The white hanging pot has changed from onions to cat grass, and the 2 other pots in that photo are large cucumbers. Of which, the reason I didn’t plant the carrots is we need for dirt for out fabric pots, and I plan to fill 2 more for my 2 large cucumber plants. This will mean 4 fabric bags of plants.

If I could do things different

I guess I would make the raised beds slightly narrower. Because, I get quite the ab workout leaning into the center of the bed from the side. I would also plant all my onions together, and plant them at the outer edge of the beds. On my cucumber bed, I planted a row of radishes against the edge of the bed. They are doing fine, but I won’t be able to plant anything in it’s spot when I harvest in less than a month. I would also actually follow spacing for the radishes, instead of planning to plant high density like the lettuce.

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Megan’s Cheeseburgers

I love cheeseburgers. Cheeseburgers were one of the first things I ever cooked. I like mixing the meat, picking the flavors, and the wonderful smell as the burgers cook. I started making normal cheeseburgers, but over time I started experimenting with topping. I found topping a burger with speedied mushrooms and caramelized onions to be one of my favorites. I also liked covering them with Cooper sharp cheese and covering them to fully melt the cheese before plating. After a while, I began placing the toppings under the cheese and that is my preferred method today.

  1. Place a pound of ground beef into a medium sized bowl. Add 2 tbsp A1, and about 2 tsp worcestershire sauce. Mix together with your hands. Divide into 3-5 pieces.
  2. Begin heating a small frying pan over medium low heat. Add 1 can of strained mushroom stems and pieces. Add 4 Tbsp Italian dressing or speedie sauce.
  3. Heat another large frying pan on a second burner over medium heat.
  4. Each piece, roll into a ball. Press these balls between the palm of your hand. Make them thinner in the center, and wider than you want them. They with get thicker in the center and shrink on the edges as they cook. Place each patty onto the large heated frying pan.
  5. Cook on the first side until it is browned about 3/4 up the side of the burger. Flip your burgers and cook just as long on the second side. Top flipped burgers with a dollop of A1. Once you only have about 5 minutes of cooking, top your burger with mushrooms, then top with cheese.
  6. Let burgers rest for 5 minutes before placing on buns to eat.
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Hamburger Buns

Bread is becoming one of my specialties! These burger bun came out crisp outside and light and fluffy inside. This bread was very easy to make, and made so many of these beautiful buns. I decided to divide my dough into 8 rolls, these ended up about 4 inched in diameter, and about 2 1/5 to 4 inched tall. If you wanted you could probably add some decorative cuts in the top, or you could brush with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds. Perfect for a hot or cold sandwich, or just butter and have as a side with your pasta!

  1. In a bowl, mix together 4 cups flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsp active dried yeast, a pinch of salt, 1/2 cup warm milk, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1 egg. Beat until it comes together. Add in 2 tbsp oil and mix. Add up to an additional 1/4 of water if needed. Knead until dough is soft, elastic, and smooth.
  2. Lightly oil a bowl. Form the dough into a ball, and coat with oil. Place in oiled bowl and let rise till doubled, about 1 hour.
  3. Punch down dough. Turn out onto a clean work surface (flour the surface if your dough it too tacky). Divide your dough into 8-10 pieces. Form into a ball and hide all seams.
  4. Grease a large baking sheet. Space out dough on sheet and let rise till doubled about 45 minutes. Towards the end, preheat oven to 350 F.
  5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Let cool for 15-30 minutes before eating.
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Homemade Mini Bagels

This may seem like a lot of steps, but it’s worth it for these beautiful bagels. The light and fluffy interior and the chewy exterior makes these bagels a classic bagel. I made mini bagels by making 12 with this dough, to make full sized bagels, divide the dough into 9 or 10 pieces instead. I used a spatula to flip the in the boiling water and that’s why they are somewhat misshapen. I would recommend using a knife or chop sticks to reduce damage. Finally, these bagels are rather crisp outside, so take your time cutting them!

  1. In a bowl, combine 1 Tbsp Sugar, 1 1/2 tsp yeast, and 1 1/4 water. Wait for your yeast to bloom.
  2. Once bloomed and foamy on top, add 2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt. Mix the dough and slowly add an additional 1 1/2 – 2 cups flour until it becomes stiff. You will have to knead it once it becomes too tough to stir.
  3. Form into a ball, coat a bowl with non-stick spray, turn the dough in the bowl. cover and let rise till doubled, about 1 hour.
  4. Once risen, punch down dough. Flour your counter, and spray non-stick spray on a large baking sheet. Roll the dough out into a log, and divide in half. Out of each half, cut 6 pieces, giving a total of 12 balls of dough. Create a hole in the center, and make it larger then you expect since it will shrink as the dough expands. Set on greased baking sheet, let rest until doubled, about 1 hour.
  5. Turn on your broiler, and bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Broil your bagels for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip and broil the second side for 2 minutes. Then remove from oven.
  6. Once broiled, turn your oven to 350 F. Add your bagels to the fully boiling water. Boil on each side for 1 minute, then remove to a metal drying rack. Let dry for 5 minutes before returning to your baking sheet. Then, bake your bagels for 40-50 minutes until golden brown exterior.
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Hotdog Fried Rice

Fired rice can be made with almost any ingredient. I like to have at least 1 protein and 1 veggie along with the rice and eggs. I like to use leftovers in this dish. I used new hotdogs, but the potatoes are my salt potatoes I made days ago, and the peas were leftover too from another meal. This was a huge meal and makes 5-6 servings. Add salt to taste.

  1. In a medium sauce pan, make 4 cups of rice.
  2. Thaw half a package of hotdogs, 5 dogs. Slice your hotdogs into 1/2 inch pieces.
  3. Heat a wok over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup oil and heat till shimmering. Add the hotdogs and cook till both sides are fried. Add any other ingredients that need cooking time (potatoes, fresh carrots, diced onion, anything that can handle stirring).
  4. Cook until additives are hot. Add 4 cups rice, and 2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce, stir and heat.
  5. Once rice is hot, add any of your softer veggies, and add 2 eggs in a well in the center. Heat until eggs are fully cooked, about 1-2 minutes. Serve.
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