Harvest Monday 5/16/11

Happy Monday! Last week we did a lot of observing in the garden and I did a lot of regretting.  I really regretted not planting any lettuces when I saw all of the bounty my fellow urban gardeners were bringing in.  But maybe once I finally get the soil in the raised bed I can plant some there before the heat gets to be too much in SoCal.

Our harvest this week included  4 Tonda di Parigi Carrots (a petite sized round carrot we grew in containers), more peas (our plants are just about done and we need to just rip them out), and 3 1/2 oz of little Fairy Tale Eggplants.

I decided to conduct a bug search this Saturday since some critter was nibbling on my broccoli leaves.  What I found was nature doing it's thing.  A caterpillar entrapped in a spiders web and the spider hiding behind him after having taken a couple of nibbles our of him. I just left him to his dinner and help looking for others.

Unfortunately you can't see the spider hiding out. But this fat guy was making himself at home in my broccoli.

My earliest Cherokee Purple is really starting to change colors....soon!

And she has approx 30 friends for us as well.








Last week we finally planted the Japanese eggplant seedlings and the shishito pepper seedlings. Unfortunately the bunny discovered them the very same night.  He has been slowly nibbling away.  So our water/soda bottle garden is back. We don't drink many 2 liters, so I don't have really large bottles to protect the plants, so we had to make due with water bottles. Hopefully this will help until they get a little bigger and we can put up a bunny fence.

And for some reason the favas just keeled over. Seriously, just flopped over.  The stems feel strong and it was too early in the morning for the boys to have done them in, so I am confused by what happened.  I just tied them up to some bamboo and metal garden stakes and hope this helps. They are scrawny and only just starting to bulk up.

The smart pots we filled with red potatoes and my green zebra seedling finally got a home. I can't wait to see how each does in the new smart pots. They are some what uglier than a traditional pot, so I hid them by the fence.

And because I am just so amazed that it is actually growing, the sorrel again. We haven't picked any yet, no time to look up recipes to try out in the kitchen.

Now I'm off to go and fight with the pre-schooler about waking up and going to school. Happy gardening all!

Misc mental wanderings

So sometimes I forget things. This was a very rare occurrence pre-kids, but now it's almost daily.  I'm hoping that the boys turn out to be diligent in their studies and have great memories as a result of stealing mine.  I garden like I still remember everything.  Mainly  because those little plant markers seem to go missing when I stick them next to a new planting.  It makes it a little more challenging, but it's kind of like hiding presents for yourself all over the place as pick me ups!  And it makes failures less painful.  Because an open spot in the garden may have just been a spot that I missed planting and not a failed germination.  The glass is always half full, right?

So,what started me on the mental wanderings and trying to figure out if losing my mind was a slow process or if it happened all at once was the discovery of sorrel in my garden! I like reading about gardens and new a interesting new vegetables to try out.   Last year I read about sorrel.  I have ever used it but I LOVE lemons and anything lemony or citrusy. I have attempted to plant this 2-3 times in the past year, and they just never germinated, so I gave it one last try in a re-purposed plastic container. (Former toy holder that was set for the recycle bin when I decided the hole was a perfect for drainage ).  Of course I forgot what was planted there. I assumed when it started growing that it was spinach. We love spinach, and didn't have any growing, so of course I would have planted it.... right? Well..... the red tips on the greens made me wonder if it was spinach and a quick taste test resulted in a spinach like texture with a hint of lemon....SORREL!!!!! I can't wait to look up some recipes.

And keeping an eye on the tomatoes, one of the Cherokee Purples has some blush on it.  And it has set a lot of fruit that are sizing up nicely.  I hope there will be some when the family comes to visit in July.

Another view of my re-purposed container, so broccoli, carrots,scallions and the sorrel. I don't know if it is because someone smooshed the bunny with their car or the elevated growing area, but the broccoli has survived much better than my last attempt. My husband is certain I was the car wielding culprit behind the bunny smooshing, but I only saw him post smooshing. I swear!

And because you can never have to many herbs, and I can't pass up a deal at Big Lots, some window sill herbs. Just in case the 10-20 feet are too far to walk to snip some fresh herbs....

I'm not sure if your house is like this, but in the heat of summer we get a fruit fly invasion!  It's terrible.  So we bought Ryle a cool plant that can earn it's keep.  An Octopus plant.  It is a carnivorous plant that attracts insects using some nectar on its arms and then gobbles them using various enzymes.

And a cute "Sensitive Plant", I am hoping this plant teaches the boys to be gentle on the veggies outside!

And my dirty little secret...I still haven't put so in the beautiful raised bed the hubby built for me...Sigh...

Happy gardening all!