What we have growing in the yard.

Between camera issues (I have 3 kids, the issue is that one usually grabs the camera, drops it and we need a new one) and computer issues (crunked up computer) it has been a while since actually grabbed the camera, went outside and took some photos. But now we have a camera I hide from the kids so successfully that I forget where it is occasionally and a new laptop. So we are good to go!

 

Here is what we have going on in our little section of Sunny San Diego:

 

Black Krim tomato

Strawberries. (Our small strawberry patch needs an overhaul and I just haven't had
 time to do it, so this small container should yield enough for the kids for now.)

Container pickling cukes, and in front of that the seedlings I have had on hold.

Salad mix after a big cut down (I generally don't grow salad greens, but after seeing everyone else's harvest and all the salads, I got jealous.).

Red Potoates

Juliet Tomato (small grape)

My mini patch of bulb onions (red and yellow)

Butternut Squash (Again, something I usually don't grow, but envy made me do it!).

Bush Bean Filet (http://www.botanicalinterests.com/products/view/0228/Bean-Bush-French-Filet-Seeds/srch:bean)

Water Spinach and Ram Ram in container

More Ram Ram

Gold Zucchini (http://www.botanicalinterests.com/products/view/0248/Squash-Summer-Max-s-Gold-Zucchini-Seeds/srch:gold%20zucchini)

Italian Zucchini



Holey Cabbage and dill



Bolting Michilini and Turnips (right)
 



A closer shot of the turnips. What do you make with turnips and turnip greens?





A closer look shows my tiny Bittermelon plants. Third planting for these guys, the transplants
 did not take to the garden bed well, lesson learned.

Another experiment for the year, artichoke. Poor little thing, our dog seems to think it was ok to step on it.

Edible Chrysanthemum sprouts

Thai Basil

Chinese Okra (Luffa).

 

Bok Choy in container. All the bok choy we planted in ground was
 munched on by some critter. I replanted more, I swear!





Look what the hubby got for me! (The shed, not the dog)

 

 

So, other than the perennials in the yard, that's it!  

Its been a while!

It has been a long time since we've talked, sorry about that!  The garden has been doing okay for now.  I have scaled back on the variety of tomatoes in we are growing, basically only Super Sweet 100's (I have one or two other varieties, but no where near the experimenting from the last couple of years). This year's garden will be primarily lead by the boys, I will grow what they will eat. Which is easy for one of them, he eats everything. And the girl will eat all of the tomatoes as soon as she is able to walk and pick them.

So here is what is in the garden:

Super sweet  100 tomatoes
Yellow Zucchini
Italian Zucchini
Snow peas
Green Beans
Pickling cucumbers
Sorrel (they are mad for it)
3 types of eggplant
Bittermelon (ok, this is for me)
Chinese Okra
Thai Peppers (me again)
Butternut Squash
Wintermelon
Chrysanthamum greens
Bok Choy
Turnips
Dill
Cilantro
Beets
Onions
Salad greens
Asparagus
(I'm sure there are more, but I can't remember right now. I'll get photos tomorrow and we can see what is actually out there!)


So I sort of got a crazy wild idea in December... to celebrate 2013, I would run 2013 miles this year. How insane is that?  It didn't seem crazy when I said it out loud. But five months into this challenge and it seems a little nutty.  Anyway, I'm plugging along on that endeavor. You can follow along by clicking the widget on the right. I promised myself that when I get to the halfway mark I would treat myself to something from Lululemon (a brand of clothing I consider way over priced but so pretty). How many miles a day is that  you ask?  It is 5.53 miles a day, every day. EVERY DAY. 38.71 miles a week. Approx. 167.75 miles a month. Gack.

So, what have you been up to?  What do you think I should be growing in the garden?

Fall crops

I'm really not sure where the time goes. But I always mean to post what is coming out of the garden. It just never happens some how.

Yesterday my mom picked 2 beautiful green bell peppers and 2 eggplant for the green curry we had for dinner. And today when I went looking around I came in with 2 Beets, a basket full of super sweet 100 tomatoes and a couple of patio tomatoes, 3 immature zucchini and a lone strawberry.

Lately the garden has been the pepper zone. All peppers all the time. Sounds like I need to do some pepper experimenting!

We are waiting for peas to get taller, fava beans, more beets, and some greens. I don't think our arugula or lettuces are going to grow well with hungry bunny rabbits and birds outside. But I can always try again I guess.

Well, now that those beautiful beets have been picked, looks like I have to figure out what to do with them! Happy gardening :)

Thank You Annie's Granny!

Oh snap. She is a darn amazing woman! I came out of the garden on Friday with a monster zucchini (really, who hasnt at some point or another?)  I really didn't feel like baking a stuffed zucchini today.  Plus I have been hearing all about zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, chocolate zucchini bread, etc.

A quick site search and bam! got my project for the day (nope, not cleaning, running, gardening or anything else that needed to get done).  Let's face it, who doesn't want an excuse to eat some chocolate muffins? Annie's Granny has a recipe for zucchini fudge cake that I have been meaning to try out for a while. But I didn't want a whole cake, and muffins are just easier to divide up and give away to friends.

Ok, into the kitchen! I followed the recipe (go figure) and baked the muffins for 20 minutes (closely monitored by my sous chef). Barely managed to allow them to cool before cracking one open. Delicious! Didn't even need the frosting. Just the cake/muffin was sweet enough for me. (and obviously the middle.child as well as he inhaled one quickly).  The question is, will any make it to my running group today?

Happy gardening all! Now go eat your zucchini!

Hearing the sizzle outside

Holy bells and whistles. It is hot out. Our estimated temperature for yesterday was supposed to be 93, and the hubs kept getting texts from the office notifying him of ever increasing temps. At the peak yesterday it was 103. Today we reached 104. What happened????

I did go for an extremely short and hot run after dropping the boys off at their schools yesterday, I did 2 miles and I was so glad to be done. Today I gladly gave up my alone time yo the hubs so he could play basketball, it was 96 degrees at 930!

I managed to sneak outside this morning to check on the plants. Last night the fava bean seedlings were flopped over and the mint looked like someone had tried to dehydrate them in the pot. The mint rebounded, but the favas might be a goner....

I also found an abandoned zucchini on the plant. Oops!

I didn't realize I lived in an oven. Gasp!

Fridge Challenge

Michelle over at From Seed To Table asked to see my fridge. And I'm not sure why, but here they are.

The indoor fridge

 The top shelf in the indoor fridge is mainly made up of misc condiments that we 'need'. The first large shelf contains some super old aloe juice that I drank when I was pregnant to help alleviate my blood pressure (turns out it was the fact that my legs were dangling off the exam table that caused it to be so high....thanks Doc for freaking me out) [and yes, my daughter is 4 months old, so that should really be tossed], 2 blocks of tofu (we love the stuff!), more condiments, half a watermelon, fridge pickles, some chicken..... and the lower self contains eggs (it is really amazing how quickly we go through eggs!), leftovers from the week and fruit. The two drawers are jam packed with veggies (store bought) and whatever we have managed to bring in from the garden.  The bottom skinny drawer is mainly my guilty pleasure drawer, cured meats, cheeses, pate..... yummy stuff that I couldn't eat when pregnant but love. And a fruitcake. I LOVE fruitcake....

The garage fridge

This was supposed to be the husband's beer and work lunch fridge. I commandeered it. And this is before I added milk, eggs and strawberries to it!  This is the fridge that I make sure is mostly empty when my Mom comes to visit, because one trip to the Asian market and out fridges are overflowing.

So I showed you mine....

Harvest Monday, August 27,2012

Ok, I know it is actually Tuesday, but I still wanted to post my harvests. I didn't weight anything, and I'm sure there were actually some that escaped photographing, but here is most of what we harvested this past week.


Most of the things coming in from the garden are arriving out of necessity, which I am very proud of. I usually give away most of our yummies and hardly use any, I have no idea why.  I think I am just too used to making grocery lists and using what I buy that way and forgetting that I have a kind of nice garden outside. The eggplant and tomatoes were immediately cooked up in a Rogan Gjost that I have been craving. The eggplant were wonderfully sweet and melt in your mouth good. And the home grown tomatoes added a depth to the meal that is usually absent in store bought tomatoes.

Another night I did use store bought tomatoes to make a dish called chicken Nartaya with the jalapenos and bell peppers from the garden. Yum, yum, yum!

And this whole lot almost escaped being photographed.  I finally got my mommy morning to run sans stroller and brought these to my friends. The box of tomatoes went to the nice lady who volunteered to watch baby girl while I ran my 7 miles. I figured I could be away from her about an hour, but not the usual 4 hours I am gone on Saturday morning with driving, running, gabbing and grubbing. It worked out well, I got almost free childcare!  The same lady is coming over this Friday to watch all three kiddos while we go to see Les Mis with some friends. Wish her luck!

I spend a good amount of time pulling out still productive plants that were covered in buggies and removing roots from areas that (hopefully) will be planted soon. More on that later!

I hope your gardens are all doing well, and hope on over to Daphne's Dandelions to see what others are harvesting today (ok, yesterday).