What's in the Garden? Edible and Not

Almost bursting open sunflower. As Kevin says, my sunflower jungle is alive!

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

I'm amazed at how quickly the garden is taking over the backyard.

I'm sad that several icky pests are winning and eating as much as they can (slugs, earwigs, pill bugs, and aphids). Since I prefer not to spray my garden with pesticides, it's a daily battle to find those critters. Loss is expected.

Strawberries are still blooming, though they are exhausted!

But mostly, I'm happy to see this dirt produce food and beauty for our eyes, nose, hands, and tummies. I supposed I could add ears to that list, as the bees are a humming, though they classify as beauty not food. At least for us. The cats love to snatch and gobble them up.

Here are some things growing in the garden.

Oregano, much loved by bees, is heading towards full bloom.

Tea roses - beautiful though they were plagued by aphids early on in the season.

Creeping thyme, a walkable plant (you can walk on it). But watch out for bees!

Edible thyme is blooming.

Radishes are tasty and almost gone. Mmmm

Sunset lily. I love the color of these blooms.

Ripening Roma tomatoes.

The pumpkin plants that are threatening to take over our tiny backyard. Soon, it will be true.

Poor, sad, dwarfed okra. I've replanted 4-5 times. This is the best so far.

Wax beans love my back yard. Green beans? Not so much.

Dill entices more bees and is ready for canning.

Part of the sunflower jungle.

Lavender and friend.

Raspberries are coming on strong, much to the delight of the icky pests.

Baby zucchini

The parsley is blooming. Those tiny sweat bees love this stuff.

Garlic. I have no idea when it is done!

 

Kale.

Baby yellow squash. If you squint, you can see someone else was impatient to try it. Go away, bugs!

Sage. This is also in bloom. But there is more than enough to go around. Five times around.

That's my garden so far, all from the backyard. I'd be happy to share, especially the herbs. Has anyone else grown okra? What trick am I missing (other than heat, which I think it really needs)?

Happy tasting, smelling, seeing, touching, and hearing in your garden today!

What's Growing in the Garden?

Strawberries, raspberries, lavender, and radishes fresh from the garden.

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

What's growing in the garden? I mean besides cat fur.

The strawberries are slowing down and I think ready for a big break to build up their energy. Whoa! This was the most prolific strawberry (also known as strawbabies and beebes around our house) harvest I have ever had. Not counting the minimal loss from slugs, sow bugs, ants, and raiding grandchildren.

Raspberries are coming on! Beautiful, tasty, sweet-tart lovely bursts of flavor - be still my heart. I love me some raspberries (also known as raspbabies and beebes at our house).

My miniscule crop of French radishes is nearing readiness for being pulled up, roots and all. I planted a roasting pan with radishes in hopes of avoiding above mentioned pests who annually decimate my peppery red and white treats. Take that, you vermin! Today Donavyn and I pulled up a few to check for size. And we gobbled them all up, just like Goldilocks ate Baby Bear's porridge. Just right.

Lavender, one of my favorite flowering herbs, is starting to bloom strong. I haven't seen many bees this spring, so I am pleased the purple blossoms are attracting several from somewhere. If only a swarm would descend in our area and we could capture it . . .

As always, parsley, thyme, dill, and sage are available free of charge to any and all. The sunflowers look like they will put on a great show in another couple of weeks. Birds delight, but beware the two slinking gray girls who blend in to the bricks and sand beneath your dinner table.

One of my failures this year is okra. I really wanted to grow some for my mom who grew up in Missouri. I've done 3 plantings, and there is nothing to be had but munched sprouts. I guess they taste good?

I've also done multiple plantings of echinacea, or cone flowers, for the bees and butterflies. This last batch is finally showing promise. I may just have to buy half grown plants.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row.

There is always a furry body helping me. This one particularly loves to sleep on the strawberries.

My friends, how does your garden grow?

Container Gardens

Baby kale and lettuce mix win the mobile garden location

By Angie Quantrell Angie Quantrell

Container gardens are the way to go this year.

It's funny how I go through fads in my garden.

Last year, I didn't want many containers other than the raised beds and strawberry garden. I relished the empty patio space that left ample room for the grands to race wheeled vehicles around without crashing.

Previous growing seasons bloomed and produced according to my every whim and decorating idea. I loved grouping pots and plantings according to heat and watering zone. Notice I say heat instead of sun requirements. My afternoon garden is all a heat zone and any container has to be mostly in shade or capable of handling the crippling sun rays.

Baby kale

This year is once again a container garden year. But my reasoning is fresh and experimental.

This year I want to win against the garden predators. Slugs. Sow bugs. Earwigs. Aphids. And whatever else is chewing its way through my fresh veggie crop.

For instance, radish is languishing in an old turkey roaster pot that has holes in the bottom, mainly because every time I have planted them in the past, the sow bugs and slugs have eaten holes and rings around each beautiful radish.

Radish seedlings popping through the soil

Lettuce and kale are making a new home in a little red wagon and a washtub. This is my attempt to avoid the slugs and aphids.

Chives and a random sunflower are living in yet another washtub.

Chives and a sunflower plant

Germination has commenced and plants are popping through the soil. What has yet to be found is how successful the plants will be in growing to full-size and giving me tasty treats.

Kale? Check. We've already had baby leaves.

And that's all I know for now. We shall see. Let the experiment commence.

Until then, kale, strawberries, and herbs it is.

Spring strawberries

Beeb Boy Can See Just Fine

I just love preschoolers. Of course that's true, you say, since I'm the Nana. But even with my students, who were not mine other than belonging to my class, I loved them as well.

Preschoolers are cool! They are funny, real, silly, clumsy, investigative, curious, destructive, messy, loud, drippy, smelly, lovey, energetic - absorbent little sponges.

The Beeb Boy, my new nickname for Donavyn, is indeed a toddler/preschooler. He is all of the above. His current favorite food, besides all foods, is beebs.

To you lay folk, that would be berries. Any type of berries. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries. Actually he loves fruit. Period.

The Beeb Boy can spy a strawberry beeb in the garden with excellent accuracy. Sadly, Nana has disgusting irrigation water for the garden, so she has to do the picking and washing first. But Beeb Boy knows what he sees and wants to eat.

Just the other day he noticed the beeb on a shelf over my stove. The beeb in question is actually a red strawberry sugar bowl. It really looks like a strawberry. Today Beeb Boy was noticing the beeb on the shelf. So I pulled it down so he could see it was made of glass and had sugar in it.

What did he do? Yes. Beeb Boy stuck out his tongue and took a lick. LOL

That was disappointing! I'm sure he thought it would be a giant beeb just for him.

Our family has two new names for berries. Strawbabies (Khloe) and beebs (Donavyn). Did you know that preschoolers could enrich your vocabulary this much?

It's beebs and shortbread for dessert tonight, honey.

PS Beeb Boy, who recently had eye surgery - wow, almost a month ago - is doing very well. Thank you, Jesus!

Wilty Lettuce Trick - It Works!

On Saturday we received a lovely gift box with a large variety of produce - fruit and veggies. It was awesome and we are quite happy to steadily eat our way through it.

But the poor lettuce was not happy. I imagine I did not get it put away fast enough to prevent wilt. I didn't want to eat wilted lettuce, nor did I want to waste such beautiful leafy greens.

Aha! The old celery trick might work.

Now see here, I had never tried this before. But it actually worked great!

I cut off the bottom of the lettuce head, filled a fat mug with cold water, shoved the lettuce in the cup, and stuck the whole thing in the fridge.

Et voila! Fresh, crisp, gorgeous lettuce. I'm so excited to find a new way to revive the wilt.

Poor lettuce. It will be dinner. And then gone.

Such is the life of lettuce.

Angie Quantrell loves to eat her fruit and vegetables. She often sneaks veggies in recipes when no one is watching, just so her family will eat well and have a healthier diet. Shh. Just don't tell anyone.