2 posts tagged “vegetables”

Tell me - is this not the luckiest cat in all the land?

My yard is THE neighbourhood kitty hot spot.  The plants Miss Zoe is laying on are hundreds of volunteer catnip plants. 

Three year old Dusty boy took the photo on the right - I think it turned out great!


I've been busy in the gardens.  Today I planted a bunch of marigolds and calendula, several types of squash - bush delicata (my personal favorite), yellow crookneck, yellow straightneck.  I still need to get my hands on pattypans - I grew three different varieties last year - starship (zucchini colored), peter pan (lime green), and sunburst (yellow).  All three were super prolific and very tasty, as long as you pick them when they're small.  They will get huge quickly and lose their flavor.  The tortoises got a few last year that were pretty much as big as they are. 

I also put in a few different cucumbers - lemon and national pickling.  I tried the Hmong red variety two years in a row, but I'm not going to bother this year, as the yields were too small. 

Dusty and I also planted the potentilla and petunias that he picked out All By Self at the nursery. 

We've been eating lots of great salads lately, thanks to the mesclun mix I planted, as well as a variety of Asian greens , such as mizuna, mibuna, and tatsoi.  We're also eating lots of butter head lettuce and arugula.  The baby pak choi are coming along nicely now, as is the fenugreek, carrots, cress, and basil.  I still need to get my edamame planted.  I have seeds saved from last year, as well as a new variety I'm trying this year. 

My corn will be going in this week.  I'm going to go with 'how sweet it is' again this year, and probably one other, that I haven't decided on yet.  Also going in later in the week will be amaranth, quinoa, and chioggia beets. 

The Husband accidentally mowed down the patch of volunteer daikon radish - d'oh.  I have lots more seeds, so I'll have to throw those in the ground too - maybe in a safer spot. 

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If you don't listen to the gastrocast podcast, you should start now!  Not only does he talk about cooking, but also sustainable agriculture, organic gardening, and his own little homestead in the San Juan islands.  His shows really motivate me.  I'm making a real effort to not only eat locally grown foods, but to grow the foods myself.  I think I've almost entirely made up my mind not to eat meat until we can raise our own. 

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I was invited to a gathering last night, and it was a potluck - everyone had to bring a vegan/raw dish.  I enjoy eating a lot of raw foods in the spring and summer. I made a raw orange pudding topped with edible flowers, and people really enjoyed it.  It contains only four ingredients - raisins, pine nuts, almonds, and oranges.  you soak the first three ingredients overnight, then throw everything in the blender.  Easy peasy. Plus, my kid'll eat anything if you call it 'pudding'. 

Someone brought a dish that contained rhubarb and blueberries, and I'm not sure what else, but dang, was it tasty.  I haven't had rhubarb in the past few years, and I've been craving it lately - in fact, I believe the craving started when I was listening to the above mentioned podcast, and he was making a rhubarb, banana, and honey compote.  That dish is high on my list of things I want to make - I'm going down the the farmers market in Boulder this Saturday, and am hoping that someone will be selling rhubarb.  I end up kicking myself every year for not growing my own.

This is what my part of my herb/meditation garden looked like last year.  The year before, it was a big mess o' weeds behind the garage. 

This year, it still looks oh so bare - I can't wait to get everything in the ground.   Of course, perennials are popping up and doing well, despite yesterday's lovely hailstorm.  Sage, lambs ear, lavender. monarda (bee balm), catnip, lots of different types of mint, clematis, thyme, chives, onions, flax, yarrow, echinacea, globe thistle, and delphiniums - off the top of my head - are all doing great.  Volunteer sunflowers are popping up, and volunteer borage is EVERYWHERE.  Buy borage seeds just once - you'll never have to plant it again!  Good thing I like it...

I sell salad/green mixes that contain a variety of flowers - violas, nasturtiums, squash blossoms, chive blossoms, borage, and more.  Oh how I love a brightly coloured salad!  It's almost too pretty to eat.  People are always surprised to find out that flowers can be used in salads and other cooking. 

I have so much fun introducing people to veggies they may not have tried before - sorrel, shiso, mizuna, mouse melons, amaranth, taro, fava beans, broccoli raab, mache, to name some of the stuff I grow.
 
Some weeds are even welcome in my garden, as long as they aren't mean to my other plants, and are edible.  Have you ever tried eating purslane or dandelions?  Lambs quarter is nice in salads, or stir fried.  There's also plantain, and garlic mustard and sow thistle.  This website has great photos of edible weeds if you want to identify what's growing in your own back yard.  Our yard contains a lot of mallow.  While it is also edible, I really don't care for the taste.  However, my tortoises love it, so I let it grow for them. 

We also have a lot of bindweed.  Non edible, good for nothing bindweed.   Bindweed can suck it.