Garden Update: How's it Growing?

I took some photos today to share our progresses with you! We are very close to summer. Historically, there is no risk of freeze after June 1st here, but there is lots of warm sunshine in my Southerly Exposed picture windows so the seeds that were started in March are getting kind of big. Hang in there, little fellas!

The herb garden. Planted March 8th. The dill and sage have been very abundant so far. The basil and oregano, not so much. The chives not at all. Strange they grew in order like that. I turn the pot daily so it gets even sun.  I finally gave up and  I replanted chives about 2 weeks ago but still no show. The front row is all calendula. The two outer plants were planted Mar 8 along with a bunch more that never germinated. The little ones in the middle were planted about 2 weeks ago and started just fine. Beats me.

Chamomile, planted April 26. The seeds are like dust and the starts are so wee and cute!

I filled some empty coconut shells with dirt and started more calendula there. I'm hoping to get plenty of flowers.


Note to the vegan police :) Yes, the planter next to says "ice cream". Sadly, I do NOT live in a vegan world no matter how much I want it. Luckily for me there is no cooking of animals in THIS house but the guys still eat animals products such as ice cream and I can't bear to throw those perfect plant starting boxes out. I don't eat the products, but I AM in charge of waste management in this house and I re-purpose some of the trash that is created when the people I live with buy and consume animal products. I have thought hard and I feel very deeply about this and I think using the containers to grow plants is the best conclusion to two bad situations: the eating of animal products and the disposal of the wrappers that they come in.

The cucumbers have flowered. Is it just me or does that sound like a spy identifying to another spy?

There are actual BEAN PODS on my bush beans.

 This is a tomato I started last year. It gave me HUNDREDS of cherry tomatoes. I grew it in a pot. I brought it inside and cut it back at the beginning of winter except for one branch that was still flowering, I let it continue. Immediately it leaves branches and tiny flowers that didn't produce started growing back. I kept watering and feeding it rocket compost all winter in the warm, sunny window and now it has three wee tomatoes and lots of flowers on it!!! Has anyone else ever had a tomato plant grow for more than one season? I didn't think it was possible.

Here is a full view of the 2nd season cherry tomato:

See the stumps where it was cut back?

Ahoy! Cilantro!

More basil.

I want to have too much basil this year. I don't think it's going to happen but I will keep planting.

Bell Peppers. I hope I have as good of luck with peppers this year as last.

Flax and fenugreek in the yellow pot. The pods are fenugreek.

Orange pot is pumpkin which is also starting to bloom.

I put some fennel seeds to germinate April 27 but I don't see anything yet. I know from sprouting them that it takes a while.

There are more but uploading is a... very slow thing so that's it for today.

1 more month until we begin planting outside. I'll post another garden update around that time. So, how's things growing with you?

Garden Photos and Some News

First the news. We are moving. The house owner's wife is very ill and they want to move back into this house. So, like it or not we have to move from this lovely dwelling. In 27 days.

We have found a place we want so send me good wishes and hopefully we will get it. (hopehopehope)


Garden Photos!

Not much good zukes. (thanks, cocoabean. I will take your advice next year and maybe we will get some :)















I sure got a lot of pretty blossoms.
































It wasn't a bumper crop but I got a few good looking tomatoes















The lettuce bolted.



















The peppers are turning color. Hurry up, peppers!















Wee eggplants. There are three of them.















There are a few cukes but this is the best looking one.















Pretty tomatoes.
















Ok, I hope you enjoyed the photos and please send some good vibes my way. We will be packing, cleaning, searching for a new home (hopehopehope we get the house we need) remaining calm and loving at all times (yeah, right) ok, most times.

Cherries!

Today's Juice was 1 strawberry, six small carrots, 9 ribs celery















I swept all the leaves from the front steps














Our front porch is peaceful.


Mickey Kitty was watching.















The owner of this house came yesterday (while I was folding sox) and turned on the sprinkler system for the yard. It made the screened in porch like a swamp cooler.
















The plants were loving it and so was the cat. And me. But it made the trampoline wet. Boo.


Now, if you will excuse me I am going to eat these cherries














The dryer is broken. It's a belt. I think the man is going to try to repair it so today my project is to clean out the laundry room. Yay!

Have a Happy Monday. I am going to go hit the mat for a while. Namaste!

How do you like the blue?

Todays smoothie was cantaloupe seed milk, cantaloupe and raw nettles. I used the very tops of the plants, the tenderest parts that haven't even made leaves yet and blended them with the milk and some cantaloupe meat.















Tasted just like cantaloupe.


The man is home, he has strained his back and needs to rest it for a day or so. He should be able to go to work tomorrow.

I got my packet from eggindustry.com. They sent me a couple of pamphlets, a go veg magazine, a couple of stickers and a "vegetarian starter kit" which is a magazine type deal with hints, tips and reasons to go veg, along with some nutritional facts. I suggest you go sign up for it, even if you are a vegan, you can still show your support, encourage others to go egg free for a month and Noelle from Compassion Over Killing is Very Nice and sent me a personal email thanking me for sending in my eggless breakfast recipe which was Vegan Benedict.

Yay! for community and sticking together and spreading the word that not only is eating eggs cruel, it's totally unnecessary for good eating and that complete nutrition is possible and delicious without eggs.

Ok, then.

Today I made a recipe that came out of one of the vegetarian starter kit. It was for eggplant manicotti (no irony intended). I changed the recipe of course. It's in the oven now















Thinly sliced eggplant with a filling made from nettles and onions and some seitan sausage, baked in a cheese sauce. I didn't use any nuts but there are sunflower seeds in it.
howI will let you know how it comes out and post the recipe later :)


The topsy turvy tomato plant has two small tomatoes on it.


















Squeeee!!!















Can you see them?

















Does anyone know what these plants are called?















Or these















How about...












I'm wondering if any of them are edible. The last one, lacy with white flowers smells like carrot or parsely when crushed.


I know what these are and cannot wait to see and smell them...














I cut some large leaves off of the nettle plants and I'm steaming them for the tea to make my home made shampoo/body wash. The man uses it. I'm tryna wean him off the commercial stuff. I will have to find the recipe and I will post that here later today or tomorrow.

How do you like the blue? I was tired of the dark color and wanted to lighten it up a bit.

More Nettles!

I gathered some more nettles this afternoon. I wanted to cook more for dinner and also to juice the stems and save some of the tender tops for a nettle smoothie.


I juiced them with an apple and lemon.


I call it Nettle Lemonade.












I had this around 4 pm. Around 2 pm had a small collard wrap with some cooked nettles and vegan sausage and a slice of my zucchini bread with earth balance. It was a very satisfying snack.

I'm really glad that the boy eats my sneaky zucchini bread. I will have to write up the recipe.


My juicer isn't the right kind for juicing leaves and stems but I got about a 1/4 cup out of the stems in the bowl shown in the photo below. I'd say it was about a cup of stems. I wore rubber gloves and cut them up with scissors in about 1" pieces so the fibers wouldn't get stuck. Long fibers like with celery and beet stalks, etc do not get along with my juicer, either. boo.

















I put the rest of the large leaves in a pot with some water and leeks to cook up for dinner.

There are the little spikes that cause all the trouble.














I brushed my forearm with some but it was after I had rinsed them in hot water and I don't think they were active anymore so no rash, no burning. I'll keep trying.

Nettles Cooking on an Open Gas Flame...

Peppers in a Pot with Tulips














Pelicans paddling on pristine, picturesque Klamath Lake














Nettles and Leeks slowly simmering on the stove for soup supper















I put on my garden gloves and a long sleeve shirt, grabbed my garden clippers and large colander and stepped out in the yard. I snipped off the tops of about 7 plants ranging between 2 and 4 feet tall. I took them inside to the sink, with gloves still on and washed them with hot water, pulling the leaves off of the tough stems. I composted the stems this time, but I will juice them in the future. With gloves still on, I chopped the leaves with my big rocking cleaver. I love that thing.
They are now cooking in a pot with some leeks. They smell wonderful and taste really green and good. I will add potatoes to the pot later this afternoon.

I think we are gonna eat a lot of nettles this summer. I don't remember ever being stung by them and I want to touch them just to see what it's like. I can wait, though.

Today's question is:

Do you eat any wild edibles? Please tell me about it!

Anyone know anything about MUSHRooMS?

I have a bunch of plants in pots. I have red lettuce and chard and some onions, too.

Yesterday I noticed a mushroom growing in my onion plant. No one else got any.

Don't worry, I don't plan on eating them. Of course the first thing everyone around here thinks, magic mushrooms! but I highly doubt it and do not condone the sampling of strange mushrooms, ESPECIALLY if they sprout up in your house. Gak. I bought the starts at the local grange co-op and the dirt is just regular potting soil that I believe came from the wal store. You know, the Mart of Walls? ok.


They are sitting out in the sun on the back porch, that might just kill them off. I hope they don't ruin my onions. There are new tiny baby onion sprouts in there, see em?

Happy mother's day. Celebrate it by not eating anyone's mother. Or anyone who has a mother.

Home Grown Green Smoothie

The green smoothie is so good and so delicious. It's an amazing tool in anyone's quest for a highly nutritional diet.
Frozen banana, fresh mint from the yard, lettuce and chard from the small plants and some celery hearts from the store.















I chopped up all the celery and put all of every thing in the blender















Then I found some broccoli and cauliflower stems that I had been meaning to juice.
















I washed and trimmed them but...















There was just no room in the blender














So I juiced the stems in my Acme Juicerator and added the juice to my smoothie.














with some Renew Me! and some E3AFA


















And here it is in the jar there, next to the plants it came from.
















My very own, homegrown, green smoothie!