Garden Update

Bean haul

Digging for carrots

Beautiful Eater

More wildlife -- a mantis!

All the carrots and lavender.  I'll probably try making a refrigerator pickle with the carrots.
Not sure about the lavender yet.

GGGGAAAAAAARRRRRRRRDDDDDDDEEEENNNNNNNN

After a few months and lots and lots of rain (especially just now at the end of June), this is our crazy verdant garden.  It looks kind of like a big, hairy, green monster in our backyard.  It includes pole beans, bush beans, okra, cucumbers (maybe), beets, carrots, turnip greens (and beautiful turnips!), beaucoup tomatoes (see the tiny yellow and red spots in the back right? those are ripe ones I'm going to pick tonight), mustard greens, strawberries, a couple of chard plants, Thai peppers, Asian eggplants, and lots of herbs.  Phew!

Things we have eaten so far (not counting herbs and greens):

Baby carrot with a few wax beans and the first okra pod

Early Girl tomato (first one to ripen) with sweet basil

Baby carrots!

Otherwise, lots of various projects have been in the works at The Ear over the past few months, and continuing on this summer.  Some were small, some will be very very large, and some will be life changing.  Stay tuned!

GAARDDENNN

The time has come...

Four raised beds are better than two, and just in time for spring!

So far, we've got planted: turnips, mustard greens, swiss chard, carrots, spinach, and salad greens.  Now we wait...

Gardening at Night: 2 Years On

A couple of days ago, we celebrated two years of living here in The Ear. We've made so many changes to the house in that time, from stripping off most of the wallpaper, giving all the walls and ceilings a fresh coat of paint, changing out some light fixtures, installing a new sink and cabinets in the bathroom, and of course, the redoing the kitchen, our biggest project yet.

We're always working on improvements outside too, both large and small. Lately we've been focussing on edibles in the back, and our tulips have bloomed as well. It's a beautiful Easter-time scene. Happy spring!

Germinated seeds to plant:


Arugula seedlings:


Lettuce mix seedlings:


Collards:


Strawberry plants!


Mr. MJ keeping the weeds in check:


Dark purple tulips framing our birdbath:


Beautiful tulips:


Next project:

Farm Report: In Bloom

Sunflowers!





And another tasty tomato:

Farm Report: Eating Our Young

In celebration of the completion of my painting project, we ate our first two tomatoes on Wednesday evening.

Yes, I did feel a bit like this:



(Francisco de Goya's Saturn Eating His Young. It lives in the Prado.)

Here are the tomatoes. The large one is a Better Boy. The smaller one we don't know.



All sliced up. Heavenly perfume.



Our little caprese salad stacks with local mozzarella and home grown salad. Tomato perfection.

Farm Report: Judgement Day is Coming. Will You Be Ready?

And lo! The tomatoes did ripen:





These two turned red over the weekend. Another few days and they'll be ready to eat!

Farm Report: Baby Tomatoes!

Aren't they cute?

The larger one is a hybrid Better Boy, and the smaller one is an unknown heirloom.

Farm Report: Success!

Our first Sow's Ear-grown and self-harvested salad, eaten yesterday. Baby chard, baby spinach, argula, oak leaf lettuce. Yum!

Gardening at Night: Part 2

J also convinced me to grow some food stuffs, and she showed me how to ease the process by germinating my seeds before i plant them.

My seeds are in these baggies with damp paper towels. I partially sealed the bags and placed them all inside a brown paper bag on top of my refrigerator for a few days.



I also got some window-box style planters and filled them most of the way up with potting soil. I got four, one for each type of green I am hoping to grow.



After the seeds sat in their bags for a few days (2-4), I had a whole forest of sprouts! These are arugula.



These are Swiss chard.



I stuck my seeds in the dirt, watered them well, and placed them in a sunny spot. Now I wait...

A Sow's Ear Thanksgiving

We roasted our first turkey yesterday.

Before:



After:



Thanks, Alice Waters! Happy Leftovers!