A LITTLE DIY PROJECT FOR MY GARDEN

Just wanted to share a little side project in our back yard. (It's not about food or a recipe but truly another love of mine.)  I've been enjoying my back yard this year with nurturing a garden, playing with my son and having back yard parties with this wonderful weather we are having. 

I love how this easy cinder block planter we put together. You can get these cinder blocks at Home Depot for $1.09 each and the caps for the blocks are just as inexpensive.  

I was inspired by my visit to Dwell on Design last year - their out door living section was A-mazing!  Check out this LINK too for more cinder block garden ideas.

Have a fabulous week everyone!

FARM TO TABLE: EASY CHOPPED SALAD WITH PURPLE BEANS, BROCCOLI, CARROTS AND TAHINI DRESSING

 
This is the second year my sister and her sister-in-law Jean-Marie (who are both contributors on this blog) coordinated our annual Seedling Swap this year.  I LOVE this annual swap.  Last year my garden didn't do so well.  I didn't plan the location of my garden well.  I am happy to report, however, that this year, my garden is doing pretty well.

The basics for a seedling swap is to send out seeds to all the participants to plant and grow at their homes.  And when the seedlings are ready, we all get together to swap them. A gardening party! Each person is in charge of about two varieties of seedlings.   Check out our seedling swap blog HERE. 

friends at the seedling swap

seedlings to be traded

my seedling stash

 My sister got the seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and you can find them at www.rareseeds.com.  They are fabulous!  They have an amazing selection of unusual vegetables and fruit seeds.  All of their seeds are non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented.    If you are going to grow  your own garden, definitely check them out.

This year I decided to do a potted garden on my patio, so that I remember to pay more attention to it and nurture it.  So far so good.  I had my first harvest of purple beans yesterday.

my patio garden early on

my little gardener watering our tomatoes

harvested purple beans

the gorgeous color of the purple beans... apologize for the blurriness

The color of these beans are amazing.  I decided to make a simple salad with it -   A super simple chopped salad with purple beans, broccoli and carrots topped with a simple tahini dressing.  So delicious!

 

EASY CHOPPED SALAD WITH PURPLE BEANS, BROCCOLI AND CARROTS

Equal amounts of:
Chopped purple beans (if you don't have purple beans you can use green beans or haricot verts)
Chopped broccoli
Chopped carrots
Optional chopped jicama and chopped red or golden beets
Handful of sliced almonds

TAHINI DRESSING

1/4 cup tahini
1 tablespoon white miso
1-1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/3 cup water
chopped cilantro optional
dash of tamari or soy sauce optional

Wisk all the indgredients for the dressing in a mason jar or bowl.

Toss all the ingredients except the almonds for the salad together in a medium bowl.  Plate the salad and then top with the almonds and dress as desired.

Voila!


Here are some snap shots of  my gal pal's gardens post seedling swap...  Happy gardening!

my sister's garden

more of my garden basil and tomatillos

garden of my friend Deniz

garden of my friend Britney

 Also, check out Britney's blog post about gardening with her daughter on Family Sponge.  Click HERE to go to the blog post.

Happy Wednesday!