Food Garden Friday - Fruits and Veggies

This update took me a bit by surprise. It seems I simply turn my back for a moment and food is sprouting up everywhere! These peppers from my salsa garden came up quickly and they're pretty big so I'll need to pick them soon. I also noticed quite a bit of growth on my Boston Cucumber plant - so much more than last year, it's quite a relief. 

My berries are still growing like crazy! If I'm not out there picking a bowl daily, they'll go to waste. It's a good thing I like snacking on berries. Oh! I also found a few tomatoes here and there among the multiple plants I have.

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Food Garden Friday - Bed For Berries

This was a recent project I started for my food garden. I cleaned up the area and created a raised bed with cinder block borders to plant my favored Golden Berries and a tomato variety. I haven't decided yet what to plant in the holes of the cinder blocks, but that will be figured out in the future.

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Food Garden Friday - April Showers

Unfortunately my carrot and brussel sprouts are showing no signs of life, but the rest of this area is doing quite well, especially the radish. I've never been a huge fan of radish but I have read about a radish soup which I am ready to research and try.

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Food Garden Friday - In Go The Tomatoes

Just a little look at my container with Boston cucumbers and a container with brussel sprouts I planted from seed a while back. I also planted seeds in the ground of black cherry tomatoes, Amy's Apricot tomatoes and some rainbow carrots.

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Local Happenings - Veggiepalooza!

On March 16 and 17, Veggipalooza attracted quite the crowd of "green thumbs" to browse nearly 300 home-garden friendly plants for sale. I managed to buy a few types of tomatoes and beans but it was a hard decision. I passed up Clint Eastwood's tomatoes but will hopefully try them next year. I'd also like to thank my best friend for accompanying me on this day trip.

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Fairy Garden Class - Strawberry Patch

I recovered this plastic container (with drainage holes, small rocks on the bottom and some leftover soil) from a previous garden that died out. I cleared the top level of soil and added some fresh soil mixed with worm casting. I'm really liking the results I've been having since using worm casting.

These three transplanted strawberry plants were purchased at Lowe's for $3 each. 

Purple Orach and Gold Mighty Mustard seeds are also planted in this container. For now, there is a lot of empty space. Once these plants begin to thrive, they will fill in the entire container. For now, we have an opportunity to fill the empty space with a fairy garden.

Grass clippings cover the soil to keep in moisture. A bright red strawberry house will soon enough be surrounded by budding fruits. A few more miniature decorative pieces and a fairy complete this scene and the container has been moved to the food garden area of my yard, nestled amidst young tomatoes. I plan to start doing more fairy scenes in my food garden.

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Unboxing - Seed Bank Box - September 2018

King Richard Leek - Depending on how much you love leeks, or how impatient you are, these leeks can be harvested at 3-4 inches or you can wait until they reach their full length of 1ft. Whenever you choose to harvest, they suggest trying your new leek in mashed potatoes, soup or even roasted.

Walla Walla Onion - Mild and extra sweet, these are not your typical onion! People have been known to eat them "like an apple" but I'm not sure how I feel about that. These along with the leeks will be the first time I've ever attempted growing onions (if you can believe it)!

Touchstone Gold Beets - Have you shied away from cooking with beets because they are known for staining kitchen ware that you do not want stained? Unlike other beets, the Touchstone Gold Beet is notorious for just the opposite - NOT staining things! This fact coupled with their mild flavor makes me more likely to attempt this root vegetable in my garden and hopefully have my mind changed on my dislike of beets.

Green Zebra Tomatoes - If this light green fruit with dark green stripes doesn't catch your attention, the bold, sweet taste surely will! This unique addition to the garden will have visitors requesting to take a few home to try and you'll be able to oblige because this plant is a heavy producer! 

Jewel Mix Nasturtium - This edible flower blooms in beautiful clusters of red, orange and yellow and I'm very excited to plant these in my garden since they are one of my favorite flowers.

Royal Burgundy Bean - I was just getting ready to plant some beans the week this box arrived so this is pretty exciting. After I'm done with that I'll need to sweep my house for cameras and microphones because I don't know how this company keeps knowing exactly what I'm planning to plant!

White Gold Mighty Mustard - To add to my list of "I've never grown this," this particular mustard plant is a jack of all trades! The plant serves as ground cover and suppresses weeds, attracts beneficial insects, the leaves are edible and its deep roots enrich the soil. What a power plant!

Surry Arugula - This fast-growing plant has a spicy kick to it which will be a punchy surprise to add to a salad. Potassium, Calcium, vitamins C, B, K - what a great addition to my garden and with great timing, I'm preparing an area to grow a salad mix already.

Seed Bank Box continues to impress me with their unique plants and vast variety. Like I always say, if I won't eat it, someone I know will (although of course I am willing to give every plant a fair chance). If you'd like to subscribe to the Seed Bank Box and have a mystery box of edible future food delivered to your door, please follow THIS LINK and let me know how you feel about what you receive. If you send me some pictures of your Seed Bank Box garden, I'd love to spotlight it here on my blog.

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First Salad Harvest of 2018

Last month we took a look at the beginning of my food garden, specifically the area where I started my salad garden. This was how the main area looked back in February. 

These young cherry tomatoes grew quickly and have been thriving (unlike some other plants).

By April, my salad garden had filled out significantly, including the cinder block area and three separate pots for leafy greens.

When it came to harvesting the salad, I just couldn't keep up! My granddaughter would come over once or twice a week for a full bag of salad but could have easily made an extra trip each week at the rate my garden was replenishing!

This full salad is made from butter lettuce, red romaine and cherry tomatoes, all from my very own back yard!

These baby carrots are also from my garden - very few grew but they were delicious. Unfortunately the heat of June killed off all the leafy greens (the spinach held on the longest). The tomato and carrots are still holding strong thankfully.

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