Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Coming Soon to My Kitchen...

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.

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.

They've started ripening!


In fact, last night Nigel and I each had two after dinner. They were quite unlike grocery store berries.

I love the way the morning dew collects on the strawberry leaves


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.

Onions

Lettuce -- we've had a couple of salads so far this spring

Cauliflower plants started from direct sown seed. I really should either move or pull one of them, but I have a soft heart

Kale

My Pak Choi basically went straight from sprouting to bolting -- Bummer!

Garlic and shallots

Garlic scapes


Carrots

Celery

More onions

My Fortex beans are sprouting

This is my first time growing pole beans. I've heard great things about Fortex beans

What beast is hiding inside this plastic shroud?

It's a San Marzano tomato! The tomatoes have been outside under the hoophouse plastic, since about late April.

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.

I have plenty of flowers on my tomatoes


I'm also hopeful for some green or red peppers this year.

My squash plants, and one more tomato, a Sun Sugar cherry, are growing in black plastic pots on the south wall of my house.

Plenty of Zucchini flowers on the way

My artichokes in the gravel garden are doing well, although I probably won't eat them.

I love artichokes, but I usually eat the ones that come in a jar, already marinated.



I don't eat my cardoons, but did you know the stalks are edible?

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.