Our late harvest this week

I've been busy lately, and it seems like it is really hard to make time for the garden. But thankfully we only have a small one! (and my camera is on the fritz, so now I'm posting via phone.... Text with pictures to follow).

This week we had the first of the Thai chili's (seeds from Renee's Garden) and mint picked fresh to add to a Thai chicken salad one night. It's fantastic to be able to wander out and just pick whatever I need for dinner (within reason).

We started enjoying our new Super Sweet 100 tomatoes. And also finally removed the scraggly tomato plant from last year that was still pumping out a few handfuls a week.  The size difference between the two plants is pretty significant. The tomato on the right is the old plant, and the left is obviously the new one.

And the zucchini's have started! We picked 3 on Sunday and I see 2 more for the morning picking.

We have been enjoying our kale. This week we harvested around 4 pounds, mostly given away to friends and cooked for dinner.

Also pictured is our most recent guest to the garden. I have seen him every day for the last few weeks.

I hope my new visitor eats some bad buggies! Happy gardening all.

Little helper

Today I headed outside just to check on some plant seedlings, and I heard a loud buzzing noise. As I looked up I saw a swarm of bees less than 10 feet away from the back door! Holy smokes! The dog was immediately called in and door shut firmly until they passed. I've never seen that before. I was very glad that Gray was eating and Haley was napping and not outside.

Ryle was a good garden helper today. He is very interested in the chamomile that we are growing. The first time I picked it he asked what it was for and when he found out you can make tea with it, he has been trying to pick it. Today was harvest #2.

Now I just wish he still liked tomatoes, we should have a pretty good turn-out this year. We won't have the most glamorous variety, but I'm hoping to rectify that soon. We have 1 black prince, 1 black cherry, 1 pineapple, 1 cherokee purple, at least 1 super sweet 100 (and one scraggly plant that is still giving us a handful of ss100 cherry tomatoes a week), 2 'patio tomato' plants and maybe a few more heirloom varieties soon. I'm slightly obsessed with tomatoes, even though we really don't have lots of space.

Every year I try to decide what plants get some of the precious space, but then I get sidetracked and fall for some plant that I hadn't anticipated wanting in the garden. I think we will focus on the typical home gardener favorites this year: tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, eggplant, herbs, squash and some greens. Drool.....

Happy gardening all!

We've been busy

I've been mia from blogger, but we have been busy. Our family has grown since my last post in October. 

We had a baby girl! She is one of the 3% of babies actually born on their due date. Haley Anne was born on April 29 th in beautiful San Diego at 2:05 pm. She's fabulous.

We also added a puppy the kids named Max. We were told he was 2, but I disagree. He acts like a puppy and has grown a few inches since we adopted him.

The garden is sadly neglected and we are just starting to find a home for the seedlings I started. But tomatoes are starting to come in. I am hoping to be diligent about posting more now that spring is in full swing and the house is settling down. Hope you have all been well!

We're still here.... just LAZY

Well, we are still here, even if we haven't posted anything in what feels like forever!  Life just somehow gets away from me and time is so precious.

Since our last post I ran my marathon. It was a pretty good race. I trained and ran with a good friend who I finally convinced to leave me at mile 20 (I tried to get him to scram and make his goal time at mile 15, but he stayed around).  I missed my ideal goal by 12  minutes, but still had a personal best by 5 minutes. Oh yeah... and we found out I was expecting a new addition to the family 2 weeks before the race.... I promised the hubby that I would take it easy and not push myself. And as the expected temperatures started creeping up for race day, I let my goal time slide because I definitely did not want to get over heated. So all in all, I think that it was a pretty good race!

The fools before the race - from left to right- Marvin, me, Gaby and Simon.

Well, we are still standing after!

So now I figure out what race I want to do in 2013 and start sweet talking the hubby into letting me go and leaving him at home with 3 little ones!


In the garden not too much happening, we are trying to get things out so that when we have company for Thanksgiving and Christmas we will be able to enjoy some of the lovely produce from our garden.


I ordered some Spanish Rosa and Korean Red garlic from Burpee Seeds and planted that out last week. Of the bulbs we received, the Korean Red was much smaller and had far fewer cloves per bulb.  So I concentrated on finding mostly space for the Spanish Rosa. 

On left Korean Red and on right Spanish Rosa

We are still getting about half a pound of cherry tomatoes from our single Super Sweet 100 plant.

And whenever we need some aromatics, I poach the garden for some lemon grass and lemon leaf.  It is really nice to be able to step outside and grab the herbs you need for dinner. Now if I could only remember that they are actually there.

And finally the peas are starting to do something. How come no matter how thickly I think I have planted the peas, when they finally come up they look so sparse? The ones in the container are doing much better than the ones in the ground.  We planted out 3 different areas of peas, since the kids love to eat them in the garden and this way we can have some for dinner and try out some pea shoots and tips.

After staring at the pea flowers for a week, I am finally starting to see some actual peas!

Look at all those flowers!

My side garden is a jungle. The big mess is the Yellow Brandywine, so far we have had 5 tomatoes from this one plant, and they were yummy.  I haven't ripped it out to give the other plants some sunlight because we have one more growing so far and I hope to share it with my in-laws for Christmas.... dreams.  And on the left next to the Brandywine jungle are 3 eggplants. They seem to be getting huge and have really been enjoying the hot temps we have had here lately.  Tucked under the Brandywine are my jalapenos. Steadily producing enough for the family and staying out of trouble, that's my kind of plant.

Side garden

Well, since we planted out the garlic last weekend, they have shot up! One of the blogs I enjoy reading is digginfood.com by Willi Galloway. A few weeks ago she wrote about planting garlic in containers, and since space is a precious commodity in my garden, I decided this was the way to go this year. We had 2 smart pots and a couple of other misc pots available, so I prepped them and planted the garlic. I can't wait to see how they do.  I even over crowded one of the pots so that I could have green garlic in the spring. Whoohoo!

Garlic shoots emerging

Blueberry scones - courtesy of A Growing Tradition

I don't know why I have this insane desire to bake lately.  It isn't particularly cold or grey here.  I just feel like having some baked goods around.

I read about Thomas's blueberry scones earlier this summer, and immediately threw some blueberries in the freezer in anticipation of the day we would bake this.

http://www.agrowingtradition.com/search?q=frozen+blueberries

Finished scones cooling - before I was forced to break off a piece

The recipe was simple, easy to follow and the smell is heavenly.  I just took the scones out the oven and I can hardly wait for them to cool. My almost 2 year old couldn't wait ,  I had to break off a piece for him. (Ok, I snuck a bite since I had to get him a sample). Even without the lemon glaze.... delicious. And the glaze with the scone ---- to die for.  I will definitely be making this again! The texture is light and crumbly and the outside has a satisfying crunch without being at all tough or hard. Slightly sweet and perfect with a hot cup of tea.

Now the question is, do I have enough self restraint to stop at one piece?



Harvest Monday, September 26, 2011

Happy Monday!  Fall is in the air and I can't wait to bake our first batch of pumpkin muffins. Unfortunately they will not be from our home grown pumpkins, since we have absolutely none set..... But the vine is still out there for my oldest, just in case something happens. You never know.

This week we had a nice harvest, not a lot of variety, but the fall garden is too immature for much and the summer garden is winding down.  We had our first Yellow Brandywine tomato harvest!

We have a total of 6 on our plant and 3 were amazingly ready this past weekend. All together we had 1 pound 15 1/2 oz of Brandywine goodness.  My mother-in-law was impressed when we showed her our bounty via skype.

We had one very simply with dinner in a tomato and heart of palm salad. It was very yummy.

And pretty!

There are some jalapenos and habeneros out there I need to pick, but I got side tracked with other garden chores.  I'm pretty sure I went out to pick the peppers and ended up cutting back my neighbors encroaching shrubbery, the gladiolas that have started to die back, the roses, and pulled plants that have needed to go for a while.  I ended up with 4 containers ready to plant and my yard looks much more trim now. Maybe today the scraggly cucumber vines will be cleared away and the spot made ready for some seed starts.

Harvest Monday is a chance to see what gardeners around the world are growing. Pop on over to our host's site, daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com and see everyone's gardens!

Happy gardening all.

Harvest Monday, Sept 19, 2011

It's hard to believe that gardens around the US are wrapping up for the season. The boys and I are extremely fortunate to live in SoCal, earthquakes and all. Our harvest this week? Basil, Super Sweet 100 tomatoes, Jalapenos and Black Beauty Eggplants.


We have been neglectful in photographing our harvests, but here are the  ones we have.

We had 2 come from the garden the past 2 weeks. One was 13 oz and the other was 1 pound 3 1/2 oz. Not to shabby. And no pictures of tomatoes, jalapenos or basil. Ah well.

We also found some tomato hornworms.....

I will admit, I screamed like a frightened girl when I found this one, and I wasn't much better with the rest (my camera is acting up and I can't download the pictures of the rest). They creep me out when they are this big, they remind me of the aliens from the movie... well.... "Alien"....     I really need to be more diligent about checking the plants.  I glanced at the Yellow Brandywine plant that has toppled over it's 5 foot tall tower.... and I am afraid of what I might find in there.... I look, and we get the little guys.... but some always escape... and I always scream like a girl....

I'll think good gardening thoughts, but I really need to go take a peek at the Brandywine. And I'm nervous....

Pop on over to Daphne's site and see what others are getting from their gardens.