A Tale of Two Gardens – Caprese Salad with Fried Capers
It was the best garden year ever, it was the worst garden year ever, it was the age of abundance, it was the age of scarcity, it was the epoch of grazers, it was the epoch of exclusion, it was the season of rain, it was the season of drought, it was the spring of hope, it was the summer of despair, we grew everything before us, we grew nothing before us, we all ate well, we all ate poorly – in short, this year’s period in the garden was so far like the typical period, that some of my noisiest thoughts insist, for better or worse, that on one hand I can solve all my horticultural dilemmas and on the other it doesn’t much matter what I do.
For a gardener, this is the case every year, and within each year you learn to live with contradictions – the good and the bad, the successes and failures, the accomplishments and disappointments. This year has been no different.
The last several years have been incredibly frustrating as the deer population in my neighborhood has grown exponentially. Since I started so long ago, I had to share my garden with these pests, but they always left enough foliage for my plants to grow and bounty for me to harvest. I considered it a necessary sacrifice. Last year, that was not the case. The starving grazers ate everything: lettuce and cabbage, green bean and pea plants, figs and peppers. They even ate vegetation I can’t imagine they liked; my tomato plants were left bare, only with unadorned branches, the leaves and flowers having been nibbled to nothing. We harvested virtually no tomatoes at all.
If I was to continue to garden and not waste my precious time, I knew I had to act. To avoid increasing aggravation as the situation got more severe, I skipped mom and pop remedies and internet conspiracy solutions and went big. I installed a seven-foot deer fence to provide exclusion.
It was a dramatic proposition; one I was not sure was worth the expense. I had to plan it out to minimize disruption to our landscaping, get estimates from numerous contractors, and deal with property lines and neighbors. All while knowing it might be unsuccessful. Deer can jump a seven-foot fence, even if they only do so in extreme cases.
Finally in mid-spring it was installed after the deer had done only minor damage to some of my early crops. I was pleased. It was far less obtrusive than expected, and I could immediately tell on their nightly visit that the deer were being stymied.
Immediately my plants began to grow, especially tomatoes and green beans. They were bushier and thicker than usual, the foliage growing unimpeded. They grew taller than in the past, with flowers blooming earlier, the plants able to put energy into reproduction rather than simple growth and survival. The difference from last year was dramatic.
And eventually it came time to harvest. There were pounds of green beans, enough for meal after meal with plenty to give away to my children when they visited. And I picked more tomatoes than any year in recent memory. The cherries, intensely sweet, filled a huge bowl that magically seemed to replenish itself day after day despite our efforts to eat them all. There were piles of full-size tomatoes, ready for salads, a lunch of olives and cheese, BLTs, and thick slices on a platter as a side dish simply with a dusting of salt, a crack of pepper, and maybe a drizzle of good olive oil and a sprinkling of fresh basil.
The fence was a resounding success; worth every dollar I paid for it. I think for years I’ve been overcompensating for deer grazing by planting far more than I would ever use expecting great losses. With the deer gone I am reaping rewards better than expected (even though the ornamental landscaping outside the exclusion zone still suffers tremendously from their foraging).
But the deer fence did nothing to exclude other grazers, reduce other pests, or provide moisture or sunshine when I needed them most. There were the red cardinals grazing the raspberries, and a squirrel sitting on the branch of a nearby tree brazenly eating cherry tomatoes. Luckily, he didn’t make much of a dent. Yesterday I noticed infestation by a new caterpillar devastating my fall supply of broccoli rabe despite the protection of floating row covers. I couldn’t control unknown bacteria, parasites, fungi, or plant diseases causing early demise of cucumbers, zucchini, and squash. I watered at times of scarcity but had no control when precipitation was extreme. And now I must figure out some way to control the groundhog that’s been showing up occasionally, so far without doing significant damage.
And so goes my garden. I am overjoyed by the protection offered by my new deer fence yet dismayed at the unresolved problems my plot still and will likely always suffer. The contradictions within are apparent; although it occupies one space it’s almost as if I’m telling A Tale of Two Gardens.
Caprese Salad with Fried Capers
Everyone knows and loves Caprese Salad, thick, salted slices of tomato and fresh mozzarella with garden basil and perhaps a drizzle of aromatic olive oil. It is best served in the heat of the summer when the red, ripe tomatoes are warm and aromatic and the fresh mozzarella substantial and chewy.
It gets even better when topped with the salty pop of capers. And why not fry them for a crispy garnish that perfectly complements the savory summer treat? While certainly not a necessity, the reward far surpasses the effort adding immeasurably to the end result.
serves 4 as a side dish or appetizer, 15 minutes
2 Tbsp. capers in brine, drained
2 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for finishing
2 red, ripe summer tomatoes
fresh basil leaves
¾ lb. fresh mozzarella, at room temperature
½ tsp. Maldon sea salt or other finishing salt
- Drain the capers from the liquid in the jar and gently blot them dry on a paper towel.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a very small skillet or saucepan until very hot. Add the capers being careful because any remaining moisture on them will cause them to splatter. Cook, stirring frequently until crispy, about two minutes. Drain and allow to cool on a new paper towel.
- Cut the tomatoes into ¼ to ½-inch thick slices, about 4 per tomato.
- Cut the fresh mozzarella into the same number of slices as you have of tomato.
- Layer each slice of tomato with a slab of cheese and one basil leaf.
- Drizzle on a thin stream of olive oil and add a sprinkle of salt. Top with fried capers and enjoy.
