Garden Buzz

Breakfast Tomatoes?

Recently I had applied my 2nd 20lb bag of coffee grounds that one of my co-workers had brought me for my vegetable garden. Her roommate works at Starbucks and they produce tons of coffee grounds that gardeners can keep from going into landfills.

I was concerned about how much is too much and consulted a friend who is a horticulturist. While coffee grounds are a great way to add acid to the soil, he was a bit concerned about how much caffeine would make its way into my vegetables. We decided that I probably should not add any more spent beans to my garden to be safe, although I am now wondering if my garden will now be caffeinated.

If so do you think there is a market for Hi-Test Tomatoes?


Shucking Peas

This is my first year for growing peas (Sugar Snap Peas). I used some of the early harvest to use on salads; I cut up whole pods before they fully matured. Now that the peas are getting bigger & ripe for shucking, I am realizing how much work must go into each can of peas at the grocery store. If I had to depend on my garden to feed my family, we would starve.

I have a whole new appreciation for farmers!


Dissecting Pine Cones

Earlier this week I traded some yellow squash for Basil with a friend. Some creature has been munching my Basil plants and there is not much to harvest. As we were swapping garden goods, we had a discussion as to the best way to prepare yellow squash. We both agreed that garlic, basil and pine nuts are important kitchen staples this time of year.

I had to ask my friend if she ever harvested pine nuts. I have heard that they came from pine cones and was curious if I could just get them from local pine trees. Turns out my friend had a confession to make. She had several Pine trees on her property and had dissected a dozen or so cones without any luck. She swore she would never tell anyone for fear of being labeled a nut.

I did some research on the web and it looks like only a few species of Pines in North America can produce these nuts used in cooking. If only I could figure out which trees to harvest and if there were any in my neighborhood, I could save some money at the grocery store!

Well time to get outdoors and get some fresh air. I also need to see if there is anything else I can harvest today. Looks like it will be a few more weeks till my Better Boys, Big Boys & Early Girls will be ready. I wonder if they will have an extra "kick" to them......

Happy Sunday & Happy Gardening!

Sunday Morning in the Garden - Happy Father's Day!

Yellow Asian Lily

Sweet Pea

Daisies

St John's Wart (with tiny bee)

Squash Blossoms

Yellow Squash

Snap Pea

Green Pepper

This is my favorite time of year! Every day is like Christmas in my garden. I had to post a few of my favorite pics I took this morning before I left for a local festival. ( If you click on the photos, you can see them full size. )

My snap peas are coming in nicely & my squash looks promising with lots of big yellow blossoms springing up. I also have my 1st green pepper coming in.

On the flower front, Sweet Peas are coming on strong as well as my lilies. I can't wait for my Star Gazer's* ( may be a hybrid of sorts) to open. My daisies are also popping up all over.

I kind of turn this place into a garden blog this time of year. Hope to have some festival photos later.....

Hope everyone is having a lovely Father's Day!

Wordless Wednesday - Garden Report 6/17/09

Cone Flower?

Fairy Forest

Tiger Lilies

Grape Tomato (1st to turn red!)

Pepper Plants

Peas are starting to flower!!!!

Garden Report - May 31, 2009

Lettuce has come in nicely - Lots of salads with strawberries, dill & chives! Yum!

Cherry Tomatoes are on their way.

First Tomato (Early Girl?)

Patriotic Patch

The Ever Elusive Climatis

First Lilies of the Season

My Favorite Flowers - Peonies Have Opened!

Wordless Wednesday in the Garden - Perennial Favorites

The newly planted garden plot. The strawberries have come back in full force, taking up a bit too much real estate.

Looks like we might have a good crop soon, if I can defend against marauding birds, chipmunks, raccoons and other garden pests.

Welcome back, Chives!!!

Lettuce gone wild! This came back from last year. A meager crop but thanks to 2 packets of seeds, more is on the way soon.

Lilac!!!!!! Yea!

Not sure what these are. Looks like Buttercups. Got these last year at the Perennial Potluck.

Peony Plant - One of my favorite flowers!

Garden Report - 6/17/08

Last week Joeprah asked: Is this a gardening blog? To answer his question: Why, Yes! For the Summer, it looks like this is what my blog is turning out to be. Lots of similarities between mothering & gardening. You plant the seeds, nurture, water, feed and they grow. The miracle of life!

This weekend I cleaned out a bunch of weeds and transplanted pepper and tomato plants that popped up around the garden. This is our 5th year of the vegetable garden. Each year I gain new insights and we change the layout and crop selection ever so slightly. I have also gotten better at recognizing weeds and tree seedlings from vegetable starts.

I only bought 3 tomato plants this year and everything else is from seed or reseeded itself. New to our garden is the yellow squash which is planted next to the cucumbers. Last year was a fantastic year for peppers and fair for tomatoes; cucumbers did not fare so well. Some sort of blight. This year I positioned the cukes in the same area as the first year, The Year of The Cucumber, where we had a bumper crop and shared with many of our neighbors. I hope we will have the same good fortune this year.

So far we have had an over-abundance of Dill. I learned a few things about Dill this weekend. Contrary to popular belief, Dill is not a garden bug repellent. It can attract a few pests such as the dreaded Tomato Horned Worm ( looks like Heimlich the fat Caterpillar from Bug's Life ). I did some research on the internet and this is what I learned:
1. Horn Worms are attracted to Dill but the good news is that it makes them easier to spot. I found about a dozen small worms and threw them in the yard waste trash can.
2. Fully grown the Horn Worms turn into Hummingbird Moths. They are freaky looking, similar to hummingbirds but not as cute. We had a few last year and now I know where they came from.
3. Dill can be frozen. Simply wash, dry, cut up and put in freezer bags.

I have cleared out some of my dill by giving to neighbors, freezing some and transferring some to pots to be given away (perhaps left on doorsteps like orphan babies). I hate to let my plants go to waste but will need to clear away more. They are taking up too much space and crowding out other plants such as onions, tomatoes and peppers.

If anyone out there has any great recipes that use Dill, let me know! Right now I use it with Tuna fish and in salads.

First Salad

We had a nice sunny day today, although still a bit cool. I needed to finish getting the vegetable garden ready for planting. I found some chives and rogue lettuce that had sprouted up; just enough for a small salad.
I made my first salad of the season and had to take a photograph. I added some salmon and strawberries with some raspberry vinaigrette. It was delish!

Tomorrow we will go to a garden center and I get to pick out plants for the garden. This is our Mother's Day Tradition. Hopefully I am able to get some gardening done. We're expecting rain.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mommas out there!