As our Garden Grows!

Our son called the other day and was talking about the garden.  We showed him the garden using face-time.  While talking to him he couldn't believe how everything was looking. Here are some of the goodies we showed him.

The onions are about the size of base-balls.  We have to admit it is exciting because this is the first year we have tried these types of onions.

The Swiss chard is still growing strong.

Our Fennel is doing great and we planted some more because we love to roast it with some olive oil sprinkled with salt and pepper then garnished with some freshly grated Parmesan.

Spring Is Here! And a Garden Tour!

Back home from seeing our little Grandson. He is gorgeous! :) He weighed 7 lbs. 13 ozs. While we were gone, Pickles and Stella had to go to the kennel. When they got home with us, they quickly began to enjoy the familiar comforts of home.

Pickles picked a cozy spot on the bed

And Stella gave us a look like she had been abandoned and left homeless. She does look pretty rough right now. (Time for a bath and grooming). She would follow us around the house and just stare. You know the look -"How dare you"!!!

It is a good feeling to be back in one's own home and bed.  And with one's own stove. Oh the comforts of home! Our daughter has an electric stove, so it was a trick to try to adjust.  But we made do and were able to put out some tasty meals on it.  Now that we are home, it was time to get into our own kitchen to make something to eat.  First we will get a few things from the garden. 

By the way, when we got the call our grandbaby was going to come early, we were right in the middle of painting our kitchen and repairing our dishwasher.  The kitchen was completely torn up!  So we had to leave it, and of course, it was waiting for us when we got back, tired and hungry.  But we put our aprons on and got to it, and had it put back together all spic-and-span in no time.  How nice to have a shiny clean kitchen and a dishwasher working like new!

We felt like some fresh pasta, sauteed swiss chard, and chicken with mushroom sauce.  Mamie wanted something sweet, but did not want to add yet another dish to make, so we bought an Italian Cream Cake.  It was pretty good.

Doesn't take long to mess up the kitchen when we get busy in it!

Making your own fresh pasta is so easy, everyone should try it!  So much better tasting than store bought!

Four burners in action at one time!  We have had almost all burners going at once before with something in each oven! 

Swiss Chard just picked from the garden- It has quickly become one of our favorite greens. Oh, did I say garden? Lets go take a look.

Lettuce looks great. We need to get busy eating it! This type is nice and sweet.

Some of the Swiss Chard growing nicely. While we were at our daughter and her husband's place, we wanted to make some sauteed swiss chard for them. We drove all over creation trying to find it, and most of the people did not even know what it was.  We finally found some at a Whole Foods-we gained a new appreciation for our garden and it's bounty!  Next visit, we will put some in a cooler and bring it with us.

Shallots, looking happy!

More lettuce.

Pea's.  Better get to putting up a trellis for them!

Fennel. They are so cool and cute!

Spring cabbage.  It is also time to plant our various peppers and eggplant.

Blueberries here.  Walking the yard, you can hear the bees busily buzzing. Yes, spring is finally here! :-)

Pear tree blossoms.

This was a quick trip around the place. Later, as we settle back down from the adjustments of having a new grandson and seeing our kids together in one location, we will start posting some of the happy events going on in our lives. Yes, we do have a bright future :- ) Hopefully you enjoyed this little sneak peek.

Our daughter's silly kitty, Jewel.

See ya soon!

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Trying to be up-BEET

We decided to try our first attempt with growing beets. So out to the Garden area we go to survey where would be a good location, and see how things are faring outside. It has been rather cold, yet the sun is shining. Because of the cold it's better to leave little Pickles inside. As you can tell see looks so happy when we make her stay in.

Don't let those eyes fool you. She'll get over it!!!

First to the compost piles. The oldest and small pile that we have left uncovered has a volunteer red potato plant showing a beautiful green top. We dug around the roots a little and found a bunch of small potatoes, about the size of almonds. Cool!!! And crazy. So I guess we lost that pile to the potatoes.

Now over to the other piles. The oldest under the tarp has cooled yet it looks great with worms in it. So this will be the first to go to work for us.

Now the second pile had some steam come out of it when we turned it. It felt warm so it still needs more time to break down. It will be ready in a few months.

The largest and newest was hot yet it felt a little dry so we turned it a little and dampened it up again. We have had a problem with ants on this batch. So we are trying to keep it a little wetter to get them to leave. It appears to be working because this time there was only a sign of a few ants.

Then we stopped to play with the small girls. We put a few in the garden area where the cover crop is growing. It was funny because they acted as if they were afraid to move. So back to the safety of their coop. (They really live up to the name of being a chicken.)

Finally to the Garden! We decided to use our middle raised bed for the beets and a few other items. So we prepped the bed by first removing a few weeds that love to take over if we ignore them. (We are really good at growing weeds!) Then we added a layer of compost.

Next we added cottonseed meal and a little rock dust and raked this in.

We finally planted the beets. We chose beets called Chioggia and Bull's Blood.  The Chioggia are very pretty with white rings on the inside, and the Bull's Blood are very dark maroon including the leaves which you can eat.

Around them we added 3 different kinds of lettuce and  some fennel. Finally we watered. 

 So hopefully we shall soon see the garden showing signs of FOOD! It is hard to imagine how in just a few weeks we will see lots of new growth with the awakening of spring.  Even though we have patches of green with the Rye and Clover cover crops, it is still brown, gray, and dreary here. But with each seed put into the ground, we have the promise of good things to come. In the meantime we will keep you posted, and Stella will keep watch over the garden plot.  (Perhaps she needs her bangs cut?)

Winter Garden Tour with Muscles

Over cast winter garden tour. And here comes our tour guide.

The weather has been a bit dreary, yet a trip to the garden always makes us look forward to spring. So it is nice to see whats growing and hopefully what we can eat in the days to come. As you can see the cabbage is about ready to harvest. It always looks so pleasant when you see the rain drops still on the plants.

Next we see the Brussels sprouts are about the size of a large pea.

Then there is some lettuce and whats left of the swiss chard

Garlic is making a good showing

Next we take a short trip to our small green house. The parsley looks great (need to trim it back) some jumbo green onions, and our experiment with fennel.

Then we noticed something on one of the blueberry bushes!!!

Is it confused???

But at least beside it one of our rosemary bushes is trying to compete.

Its hard to see but the blooms are tiny purple flowers.

Well, lets say goodbye to the tour guide. He says he has another engagement. Just to introduce you, his name is Muscles, the outside farm cat.

"Hope you enjoyed the brief tour.  Come again."

PS. We do have a full time gardener helping. He has been busy planting acorns all-over the place. I guess that is to surprise us.

(He did surprise us already by helping himself in the garden)