I've been working on planting containers this morning and was making good progress. Then I took some stuff back to the compost bin and spotted these radishes, begging to be picked and eaten.So I picked them, photographed them, cleaned them and ate them.They were good.My motto is when the radishes are ready to pick, by all means pick them and eat them.Now that I've had this delicious morning snack, I need to get back to planting containers... break time is over! … [Read more...] about Morning Snack
vegetables
False Flowers, Contradictions in Advice, and Radishes
Not all is always as it seems in the garden. There are false flowers that are real flowers, but called false because they look like something they aren't.These are False Forget-me-Nots, Brunnera macrophylla, blooming today in my garden. This is one of those plants that started to bloom in late March but then the flowers disappeared when it got cold. Now they are back, all blue and tiny and pretty.I don't believe that I've ever known anyone who grew real Forget-Me-Nots (Myosotis sp.) around here … [Read more...] about False Flowers, Contradictions in Advice, and Radishes
What About Peppers?
Yesterday in writing about my grandparent's gardens, I focused on the two things they didn't grow, broccoli and cauliflower.Would anyone like to know what they did grow? Well, practically everything they ate. (Yes, it was a farm, so they also had pigs, chickens, and cattle, which they butchered themselves, but we'll not go into that since this blog is about gardening.)Here's a list of fruits, berries, and … [Read more...] about What About Peppers?
Garden Family History
I’m always interested to hear what kinds of gardens my grandparents had, so I was happy to have one of my uncles call me out of the blue to meet him for some dinner and garden talk. He had come up to the “big city” for business and had an evening free. He went through an extensive list of vegetables grown on the family farm, along with an equally impressive list of fruits, nuts, and berries. They grew almost everything they ate, all of it canned and preserved as it was harvested. Curiously, … [Read more...] about Garden Family History
When the Toad Lily Blooms
When the toad lily blooms, I assume it’s all over for the season. This is the last “new” bloom in the garden for the year. I started these toad lilies (Tricyrtis hirta) from seed, but occasionally I have found them for sale in a garden center/nursery. These grow on the north side of the house, behind some hostas. They aren’t “shout out” showy but are a pleasant surprise each fall when they bloom, since nothing else around them is blooming at the same time. And I love the spots on them.With … [Read more...] about When the Toad Lily Blooms
On Preserving, Freezing, and Canning
I am feeling smug and happy to have some peppers put away for winter stews, chili, and casseroles. I must have spent all of an hour or so cutting up and freezing about 20 bell peppers, a dozen Anaheim peppers, and a couple of dozen jalapeno peppers. And look at my cherry tomatoes pictured here, still putting out the blooms, which hopefully means I’ll be harvesting a few of these every day until frost hits them.I am mostly a “harvest and eat it all right away” kind of gardener, planting just … [Read more...] about On Preserving, Freezing, and Canning
