LADYBUG SAYS ... RATATOUILLE GIVES VEGETABLES FRENCH FLAIR

Ratatouille is a colorful, delicious, easy to make fresh vegetable dish that comes to us from the Provence section of France. What is so appealing about ratatouille in addition to the already mentioned attributes is that you have to go no further than the summer vegetable garden to find the ingredients.

Ratatouille is a marvelous mix of peppers, eggplant, zucchini and cucumbers topped off with a tomato sauce.

Not too long ago, one could look into a gardener's yard and see a special spot for vegetables; another for annuals, another for cut flowers. Each area was distinct, separate and never the three would meet.

Not true today. One can find cukes with the snap dragons, potatoes with petunias and tomatoes with marigolds. Vegetables and herbs have become an integral part of the landscape. No longer stuck in the vegetable garden, they also are making their way to porches and patios. They lend themselves graciously to landscaping with edibles. There is a local vegetable garden where tomatoes are brightened by adding dwarf French marigolds.

Container grown vegetables mixed with annuals bring color and taste together. Choose vegetables whose shape and color will heighten the effect.

Eggplant in a container alone with pink cascade petunias is most distinctive. For an unusual combination, try Better Belle pepper with Masquerade ornamental pepper. Better Belle fruits mature to a bright red and Masquerade produces fruits which change from purple to orange and then red.

Back to the makings of ratatouille, here's how to grow the ingredients for preparing it:

Sweet peppers, generally harvested when they are green (although they can be allowed to become red) are an ornamental addition to the vegetable garden with their glossy green leaves and compact, bushy habit of growth. Besides their use in ratatouille, they can be stuffed, stewed or used raw in salad and with dips.

Garden authorities offer a word of precaution about growing of peppers. They warn not to set them in the ground until all danger of frost has past and the night temperatures do not fall below 55. Not adhering to this will cause plants to stop growing and suffer damage. When it becomes extremely hot during summer, peppers need to be mulched to keep the soil cool as they will not set fruit when the temperature climbs above 85.

Hot peppers, a close relative, can be used to spice up ratatouille and are becoming most popular with the increasing rise in love of Mexican food. One needs only a plant or two of hot peppers for an average family. To tone down their spiciness, use them fresh or remove the seeds. Ornamental peppers are petite, compact pepper plants that produce hot fruit while adding a decorative touch to the garden.

Eggplants, like peppers, are not set out until after the ground has become warm, as they are very tender. They are highly ornamental, bearing bright purple flowers with a yellow eye and colorful gray-green foliage. The purplish-black fruit, once it starts forming, adds color to the garden. It is best harvested any time from one-third to full maturity.

More advances have occurred in cucumber development than most other vegetables. Now, varieties with restricted vines bring high production in small space. Also there are varieties which do not need pollination to produce fruit. Cucumbers require a steady supply of fertilizer applied to a well drained soil. There are many new varieties, including a Japanese variety that some local gardeners have had great success growing. They grow on a trellis or fence, and when the trailing vines are tied, the luscious long, slender, sweet cucumber hangs gracefully from the vine. Another interesting characteristic of these cucumbers is that they are straight and all about the same length, about 8 to 10 inches.

Zucchini is one type of summer squash, which is a vegetable whose fruits are eaten when immature in contrast to the winter squash which are harvested in fall and have a thick skin. Zucchini grow on bush type plants about three feet in diameter.

Like the other ingredients of a ratatouille, they like warm soil and warm days to produce their best.

If early flowers of zucchini do not set fruit, do not be disturbed. All squash bear separate male and female flowers, and only the female flowers produce fruits.

Making ratatouille is easy. Cut the various vegetables into bite sized pieces and saute in a small amount of butter or oilve oil. Season to taste with onions, garlic, oregano or other spices and top with a tomato sauce.

Growing ratatouille is easy.