The peas have broken through. Lovely spots of green adorn our garden.
Tender shoots come out to greet the sun
Because we have bunnies in the area, and because they have rabbit habits, we have to install fence around the garden. That’s what we did yesterday.
Safely behind the fence.
That was yesterday. This morning, I went to look for Sylvia and found her inside the fence.
Busy, busy, busy
Do you think you can keep up with her? I can’t.
Come back tomorrow. I’ll tell you what she was doing.
Today, an inspection of the garden revealed weeds. What did I expect? More than weeds were peeking through the soil.
Giant garlic
We’ve nearly used of all last year’s harvest of giant garlic. This is just one of the plants that grows in that section.
I see pie in my future.
The rhubarb was first to appear–just as you would expect. Some folks call it “pie plant” and that’s a good name. Rhubarb pie is my favorite. It also works well with apples in a pie. There are a lot of other ways to enjoy rhubarb. I used to enjoy chewing on the raw stalks, but not everyone likes it that way. Mix rhubarb with raspberries for making a very tasty jam. (We run the berries through a juicer to remove the seeds.)
Sylvia shows of two of her prizes
Earlier this week, Sylvia harvested some of the parsnips she had planted in the spring. They were the largest we have ever grown. I was concerned that they might be “woody.” That was not the case at all.
After parboiling the sliced up parsnips, Sylvia fried them in butter. Oh my goodness! There were heavenly. The best I’ve ever eaten–ever!
In the past we have harvested in late summer. This year we followed expert advice and waited until after the first killing frost. It makes a huge difference.
Other parsnips from this year’s harvest
We now have parsnips in the refrigerator and even more in the freezer. Lots of goodness to see us through this winter.
And I’m not talking about $$ — the folding green currency you carry in your wallet. These are real cabbages that Sylvia grew in our garden.
Sylvia shows off her garden treasures in the church kitchen
No trick photography here. Those three heads weigh in at about 32 pounds. One is twelve pounds and ten each for the other two. Yes, they are quite tasty. :food:
We grew potatoes this year. A double handful of seed potatoes yielded a harvest in excess of 90 pounds of spuds. Yesterday, I posted pics of three of the odd shaped ones, but most were normal looking taters.
Our pepper harvest has also been phenomenal–both green bell and jalapeño. The same is true for cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans and egg plants.
One day’s harvest of egg plants
Hats off to neighbor Meghan who supplied the compost that fed our plants this year.
Dreaming of days of plenty
The garden may be covered in snow, but I can still dream of those wonderful summer days of last year. Warm days and a garden yielding a bumper crop of good eats.
Thanks to Lin for the comment on last Friday’s post. She told how after her foot surgery the doctor had suggested she purchase two pair of inexpensive athletic shoes–one in her regular size the other a size or two larger. I thought about that overnight on Sunday and this morning I drove to Walmart and bought two pair of shoes. For now the larger one goes on the right foot and the smaller on the left. After the next foot surgery, the unmatched sizes will be reversed with the large shoe on the left. I like that I’ll be able to use all four shoes–eventually. 😀 Isn’t that a great idea?
Maggie relaxing on her bed.
It is with sorrow that I pass on last week’s report from Shark of My Quality Day that her dog, Maggie has passed. Shark and Maggie were visitors here at the home of Secondary Rds in early December. Maggie was a sweetheart and a lady. I’m glad that I had the chance to meet her.
Finally, here is a poetic rerun for my cousin, Beverly, who missed it the first time around. Do you remember this bit of fun?
Don’t Wok On My Kitty
Don’t wok on my kitty,
Please don’t wok on my cat.
I love my furry feline friend,
I’m here to tell you that.I do not want her baked or broiled,
Nor cooked up in stir fry.
And if you wok my kitty,
You know I’ll surely cry.You may have exotic tastes,
And go for things like that.
But don’t wok on my kitty,
Please don’t wok on my cat.
Have a good week and keep looking for Spring. I’m sure that it’s coming soon. Isn’t it? Please!
Our garden awaits the arrival of spring.
This is when folks around here are dreaming about spring. We’ve had a few months to pour over seed catalogs and plot our plans and plan our [garden] plots. I’m no different.
Out in the garden, under a blanket of snow a layer of rotted manure has been leaching into the soil since last fall. In a few weeks, I’ll mount the tiller on the tractor and churn it up for Sylvia to plant. She’ll put out all of our favorite veggies, but this year there will be fewer tomatoes. We still have plenty of canned tomatoes in glass jars from last year’s bounty.
I’m looking forward to spending time outside. To feel the warmth of the sun and the cool breeze upon my skin.
Spring is coming. The signs are there. Have you seen them?
This was our garden last year:
Last year I marked the space for the new garden. Then I sprayed Round Up on the grass where we wanted the garden. You can see in the photo that the grass is dying. This spring, the grass was completely dead. We applied some rotted manure to the soil and then I tilled. Sylvia planted lots of good things to eat and some flowers for our eyes to feast upon. Then we put up fence. I setup the water hose with some accessories including quick disconnects.
Then we watered and waited . . . repeated that process several times. And today the garden looks like this:
The butternut squash went a little bit crazy, but who cares. It tastes just as good if it grew outside the fence as it would have done growing inside. And that means it tastes great!
The cucumbers are done and the zucchini is nearly so. Eggplants and peppers are still loaded as are the tomato vines. Plenty of carrots, onions and beets are ready. The second planting of green beans have recently come to maturity. They taste great when freshly picked and steamed.
We’ve had so much produce this year that Sylvia has twice had to purchase more glass jars to preserve the goodies. We will probably remember 2012 as the year of the garden.
Without a doubt this is the year of the garden. We like having it located closer to the house where we can see it better and where a single length of hose is long enough to water it all. The plants like the new location too.
I’ve wanted to get pictures of the eggplants. The problem is those luscious purple fruits grow almost hidden below and behind large leaves. But I try . . .
Sylvia brought two more of these beauties into the house yesterday. Actually, she picked them and I carried them in. I went out to take a look at progress. Sylvia was already harvesting from the bounty. She had these waiting just outside the fence.
As I finished shooting the basket full of food, I was talking with Sylvia. That’s when we realized we had an observer.
Can you see her? She watched intently as the humans continued to talk to each other. She eventually decided they were mostly harmless.
Then she turned and walked away. We lost sight of her as she disappeared behind the cattails. Do you suppose she was upset with us for invading her territory?
I was not feeling well yesterday, so I spent most of the day in my recliner chair with the heating pad for company and comfort. Sylvia went out to check the garden in the afternoon and harvested the expected zucchinis, peppers, green beans and tomatoes. To her surprise, the beets were growing like crazy so she harvested some of them too.
This morning I told her that I wanted a picture of one of the beets. Only one because they were all dirty and I didn’t care to take time to wash them all just for a photo to share with you. She agreed–if I’d hold the beet and she took the photo. What could I do?
Last night, we did a stir fry with eggplant, zucchini, onion, mushroom and green beans served on a bed of brown rice. For seasoning, Sylvia used adobo, which is a combination of garlic, oregano, cumin and pepper. It was fabulous!
We will remember 2012 as the year of the garden. We’ve never had such good results in our many years of gardening. Sylvia might not want similar results next year. She’s in the kitchen smiling and canning string beans this morning and will turn her attention to beets after lunch.
We planted some squash in one corner of the garden. We left plenty of room for the vines. Or did we?
At first we checked each day as the vines began to grow. Some days Sylvia and I would each visit that part of the garden. As vines began to grow through the fence, we would carefully pull them back inside where we would aim them in a different direction. Then something happened. We missed a couple of days. Vines had escaped. There they blossomed and began to set squash.
At least we tried . . . I decided to let them grow. I’ll mow that part of the lawn next year. Besides, I’m particularly fond of butternut squash. It can’t hurt to have a few more of them is what I say. 😀
I also took this shot so that Rosanne could see how well the rhubarb is thriving in its new location. (We were given the plants by Rosanne and Dale earlier this year.) I think the secret is the 5 gallon bucket full of llama droppings that we applied to the rhubarb.
The squash vines are encroaching on the rhubarb. They are also invading the jalapeños, cabbages, tomatoes and green beans. The motto seems to be, “Squash Rule ~ You Drool.” I suppose I do salivate when I think about how nice that squash will look on my plate, fit on my fork, taste in my mouth and satisfy my hunger.
What about you?