Thursday, July 16, 2009

My garden, to date


My friend Dr. Monkey is enjoying the fruits (and vegetables!) of his labor in the garden. He lives in the South where author Bailey White says vegetation "doesn't know it's place". I'm having some pretty good success too here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota. These images are NOT mine - they are shamelessly stolen from the interwebs. I have lost the USB cable to my camera so my own photos will have to wait.

Daily I marvel at the miracle of seeds, stuck into the dirt, that grow into actual edible plants.

We harvested all our beets - my sister made a lovely beet/red potato salad from them and I pickled the rest. YUM! What this beginner gardener didn't know was to plant several rows about 2 weeks apart. But I have more in the ground now.

The spinach and lettuce just grew themselves. Seriously, if I owned a pig to slaughter, we'd be eating BLT's forever. More spinach will go into the ground at the end of July. Johnny C is making cold frames so we can harvest into the late Fall.

Carrots are up as are onions. I've harvested a few onions, little as they are, and used them in a salad. Italian tomatoes are there, but too green - I suspect this is from this summer's lack of hot sunshine. Cucs are growing nicely on Johnny C's homemade trellis. Peppers, both sweet and hot, are coming along. Three varieties of basil are already in use. We have two baby-size green pumpkins and many siblings on the way. Red raspberries get eaten as we pick them - they rarely make it all the way to the house.

From now on, I can't imagine not having a vegetable garden. Now I'd like to add chickens and some fruit trees. I'm riding the Urban Homesteader wave!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I was going to have a garden like this but pettered out... maybe next year! And I hear ya on the BLTs...my favorite summer time food!

Unknown said...

I love your garden tales! I grew up with parents that always had a garden and good food to harvest. I kill most plants......but perhaps I should try!

Shannon said...

Awesome, awesome, awesome! This is sorta like my CSA experience this summer--I'm in total heaven.

Churlita said...

Nice. If I had a yard, I'd definitely garden. I used to garden at my friend's house, but it was too hard to get there and back and so I gave that up. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing....

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lisahgolden said...

The garden looks wonderful. I'm sorry that the weather isn't cooperating so much.

Avah said...

Wow!! You have nice stuff in your garden... It just fantastic...