Thursday, June 3, 2010

Spitfires in June


The spitfire nasturtiums are doing their nasturtium thing, namely, growing wherever you put them. A volunteer snuck in at the Narnia gate, so there's a butter yellow one from last year's mix, and the spitfire (which, by the way, bloomed).

The original transplants were planted out quite early and cloched; these are now big enough to start training up the cyclone fence (left). They get almost no sun, but don't seem to care. The largest has leaves the size of saucers. I have to keep cutting back the lilies to give them air and light, but they're going to take off, unless the evil furfaces find them.

I also direct seeded some around a plant stand in one of the vegetable beds, and will train those up the legs. I planted them May 14, and they were sprouting by the 20th.

And speaking of completely random recipes that have nothing to do with nasturtiums, here's some cornbread.

Update: gardengirl came through in the comments with this local Illinois source of cornmeal.

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

Cornbread

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (I made my own using the recipe at Not Dabbling in Normal)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl (for instance a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup) whisk together the honey, egg, milk and vegetable oil. Beat into dry ingredients until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. Learn from my mistakes. (Oh well, still tastes good.)

6 comments:

  1. I'm for completely random, lol. I'm glad I got a photo of my nasty bloom yesterday before the huge storm moved through... it looks a little bedraggled this morning. And cornbread, nom nom nom. Now that IS something I've made (even from scratch, because it doesn't involve much more effort than a box mix but tastes way better). Hmm, I could even make some breakfast today! I have cornmeal from making suet for birds over the winter. (I KNOW! It makes SO SENSE I make my own (from shortening) suet when I don't even like cooking for myself, but I really enjoy doing it. And thus concludes this random comment.

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  2. Your nasties look great Xan, and blooms already - cool!

    I love cornbread. My favorite cornmeal comes from Old Graue Mill. When I run out of it, it's time for a visit to the mill - been buying that same stone-ground cornmeal since my kids were little.

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  3. gg: Thanks for the local tip! Unfortunately, doesn't look like they let you order/ship on line, and Oak Brook is a little far to go for cornmeal. But I let freshpicks.com know about them!

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  4. Holy moly, you have blooms already?!? That's wonderful--great job.

    Mmmmm, cornbread...

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  5. I can't believe people have blooms already! Congrats.

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  6. I'm a little behind schedule in seeing how other Grow project bloggers are doing with their "nasties." So far, I've not been all that impressed with anyone's, mine included. I guess I'm used to a more vigorous viner, one that doesn't need any help from me finding its way up or down something I've put it in or next to. But I've not given up just yet, that don't happen till first frost.

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