Food!
I seldom post about it, but I do grow edibles in my garden. I have two lovely, quite large, raised beds in my back garden, where I grow all sorts of yummy food.
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| Strawberries, growing in two big rectangular pots. I got the strawberry plants -- ten of them -- from Jenni at Rainy Day Gardener, at the Portland Bloggers Plant Swap a couple of months ago. |
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| They've started ripening! |
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| In fact, last night Nigel and I each had two after dinner. They were quite unlike grocery store berries. |
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| I love the way the morning dew collects on the strawberry leaves |
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| I also grow sugar snap peas, but I ignored them a bit, and so they've gotten kind of rowdy. Half of them are willing to climb the trellis, the other half seem to want to head for the ground. |
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| Onions |
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| Lettuce -- we've had a couple of salads so far this spring |
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| Cauliflower plants started from direct sown seed. I really should either move or pull one of them, but I have a soft heart |
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| Kale |
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| My Pak Choi basically went straight from sprouting to bolting -- Bummer! |
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| Garlic and shallots |
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| Garlic scapes |
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| Carrots |
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| Celery |
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| More onions |
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| My Fortex beans are sprouting |
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| This is my first time growing pole beans. I've heard great things about Fortex beans |
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| What beast is hiding inside this plastic shroud? |
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| It's a San Marzano tomato! The tomatoes have been outside under the hoophouse plastic, since about late April. |
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| I don't have quite enough drip lines for the bed, so I've been trying out this Plant Nanny from Lee Valley Tools. It's a terra cotta spike that you put in the soil near the plant's roots, and then attach a plastic pop bottle full of water, which over the course of a few days seeps into the soil. It seems to be working exactly as advertised. |
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| I have plenty of flowers on my tomatoes |
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| I'm also hopeful for some green or red peppers this year. |
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| My squash plants, and one more tomato, a Sun Sugar cherry, are growing in black plastic pots on the south wall of my house. |
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| Plenty of Zucchini flowers on the way |
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| My artichokes in the gravel garden are doing well, although I probably won't eat them. |
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| I love artichokes, but I usually eat the ones that come in a jar, already marinated. |
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| I don't eat my cardoons, but did you know the stalks are edible? |
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| Did you know Nasturtium leaves and flowers are also edible? I might give them a try, I hear they're peppery, like arugula. |
Well, that's a quick look at the state of my food crops.
