July 4, 2007

pumpkin flowers

Lots of big orange pumpkin flowers have begun to bloom this week. They open early in the morning. All male flowers so far. Last year I planted pumpkins in a big pot and they shriveled and died in the heat of mid July. I told myself, no more potted pumpkins. But here it is – pumpkins in a pot. (Where did I read about the folly and eternal optimism of gardeners?) This year they are in a bigger pot, nice potting soil (instead of last year’s garden soil) and they…

July 3, 2007

lettuce

I haven’t bought lettuce for a month! (since June 2nd) I am regularly harvesting black-seeded simpson (my favorite), escarole, endive, oak-leaf, and baby romaine. Also, I’ve started pulling baby beet greens this past weekend. I add garden herbs to our salad: usually dill, cilantro or parsley. I will try some borage soon. (I ran out of arugula and am waiting for a recently seeded crop to grow). We are big salad eaters and its great to have fresh tender greens available daily. Lactuca sativa

July 3, 2007

a birthday dinner

I was lucky to have a big harvest and plenty of veggies for making a nice birthday dinner. In the morning I picked a large number of snap peas, some baby beets greens (that badly need thinning) and broccoli, lots of lettuce (I haven’t bought lettuce in at least a month now), and some parsley, cilantro, thyme, dill and arugula. The menu was appetizer: grilled shrimp, dinner: tortellini salad with snap peas, broccoli and greens, rotisseried chicken, and grilled corn-on-the-cob. Of course dessert was birthday cake.

July 2, 2007

blooming eggplants

topic: eggplant

July 2, 2007

seven things meme

Wow! 7 random things about us? Skippy and I got tagged in the 7 things meme (by both Ali at Henbogle and Marc at Garden Desk and and we need to list 7 random things about us. You can skip right to the next blog now, before you read on. Its your last chance…. The problem is, it seems most people aren’t doing random things (like my favorite color is …). Oh well, here goes. 1. My favorite color is blue. (Skippy likes bright yellow. I think. He steals those…

July 1, 2007

borage blue

I don’t think you can beat the beautiful blue color of borage.culinary herbs

July 1, 2007

fat purple pea pod

My Capucijner peas are getting plump. The vines have grown well past my four foot trellis and are climbing on my garden fence. Lots of fat purple pods are hanging on the vines. Most pods are deep purple, but a few are mottled with green and white. My dad did tell me that he used to eat soup from this Dutch pea as a child growing up in Heiloo Holland. He remembers that his mom and his grandmother used to make it. He remembers his uncle saying “Heerlijk Capucijner, Jo”…

June 30, 2007

summer

A row of common orange daylillies (Hemerocallis fulva) grows along side my vegetable garden. Its bright blossoms are a true sign of summer. Last year they opened on June 29th. This year exactly the same timing!

June 30, 2007

veggie martini’s

Another true sign of summer is a fresh garden martini! Especially ones that are shared with friends and family. Aahhh. Cheers to a bountiful harvest. Topic: martini!

June 29, 2007

pretty peas

I harvested a little crop of green peas and made a few nice servings for my summer guests. This is probably all I will get from my back row of pisello nano peas. It is a short variety. (I thought they would be tall and produce more – but they only climbed 1 foot up my 4 foot trellis.) Though I’m complaining a little, I’ve actually I’ve never had such a good pea crop, so I’m very pleased. Pisum sativum

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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