Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Tired of hearing about my garden yet?

Oh, I hope not, since it's become my favorite activity lately. Here's what it looks like today, mid-July 2012. I took this picture this morning on my way to the bus. You can see my garden neighbor Clint's half-circles of radishes (on the left side of my garden), and my recently planted kale (front row) and two rows of collards behind are all doing very well. Clint put the walkway of wood chips between our plots and it's been working very well for both of us. It looks like I should be getting out there and weeding the grass and buttercup plants out of the garden pretty soon. Here's a closeup.
You are actually looking at three rows of veggies here. In front is a cabbage (lower right) that is suffering a bit from my vigorous application of soapy water to kill the aphids, with a marigold plant and some zinnias in the row in front of it. Then in the middle row are two very vigorous squash plants, my very favorite kind too, delicata squash. In front of them are my carrots, which I planted from seed. The squash plants don't seem to be bothered by any of the critters I'm dealing with (slugs, aphids and little green caterpillars). In the row behind, from left to right, are two brussels sprouts plants that have been attacked by all three pests, and the two black kale plants that have been harvested twice now. On Sunday I went out and gathered enough leaves to bring in and make into kale chips, which were so delicious I almost didn't leave any for Smart Guy. They are easy to prepare: wash and break into small pieces, toss with a bit of olive oil and salt, then bake for 12 minutes at 350. I was amazed at how tasty they are.
In the final row, which you can't see very well in the middle picture, is my zucchini squash plant, which is covered with blossoms. That pretty yellow flower will soon be a squash! I am thrilled with the adventure of growing my own food, even though I didn't think I would need to become such an expert on garden pests. Now that summer has come to the Pacific Northwest, perhaps my Asian eggplant will recover enough to survive. They need full sun, and each blossom that has come out has died so far.

And I am definitely talking to all my plants, telling them how proud I am of them, how much I appreciate their addition to my life. I don't think I want to consider how much each of these plants has cost me (it's not a small amount), but the payoff in delicious food and blog fodder makes it all worth it!
:-)

30 comments:

  1. i love that you talk to your plants - make sure you scold those pests something fierce, too! :)

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  2. No, I am not tired of hearing about your garden. It looks really nice. I bet you are just loving the food your are harvesting. I wish I would have planted more. I thought we would be moving, so I only planted two tomato plants. So far, I've had five cherry tomatoes from one plant. They were delicious, so I look forward to having more.

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  3. Good on you, talking to the plants. They hear you! The garden looks wonderful D-Jan. You can feel so proud!

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  4. You bet it's worth it. It's hard to find something more fulfilling than growing your own food. I think your garden is beautiful, makes me want to come and encourage those little plants myself. Kale chips are new to me. I've never tasted kale. For some reason it looks like it might have a strong taste, but then how would I know? I love your garden and the photos. You can go on and on about it to me.

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  5. Ahhh... a plant whisperer! You should bring a portable CD player and play music for your plants to listen to as they grow, grow, grow!!! Might result in even bigger blooms and veggies. Love reading about your garden, DJan!

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  6. smiles on the talking to the plants...it does help...and your garden is coming in very nicely...and i bet it is tasting nice too...food straight from the ground is so good...

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  7. I spotted that little yellow flower in the first photo and thought it was squash. Thanks for the close-up.

    Yum - sliced and grilled, boiled and buttered, battered and fried, sauteed with sweet onions - my mouth is watering.

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  8. Love hearing about your garden. Since I don't have a garden, I let you do my gardening for me. So to speak.

    We have a number of community gardens here; they are becoming increasingly popular, and the city does have vacant land. But an individual allotment is usually only slightly larder than a postage stamp — a lot smaller than your little garden. If I could get a bit more land, I might try it again.

    In the meantime I'll watch yours.

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  9. I never get tired of seeing things grow, keep the stories and photos coming. I've never tried kale chips but you make them sound delicious so maybe I'll make some this weekend. Of course the kale will come from the farmers' market since I didn't plant any this year.

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  10. Kale chips..sounds interesting. No I am not tired of your garden yet either. You really must keep track of what you harvest. You could help pollinate those flowers on the eggplant.. use a soft paint brush to move that pollen around..the flower will dry up and fall off..but you should get the start of a eggplant.. you are fighting humidity it sometimes foils pollination..:)

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  11. Okay you've convinced me. Time to try kale. Gorgeous garden!

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  12. Dear DJan, thanks for the link to Delicata squash. I'd never before heard of it and so enjoyed looking at the picture on the link.

    And thanks too for telling us how to make kale chips. Sounds yum! yum!

    I know that when we first began to garden we spend an outlay of money, but somehow as the years pass and we learn more and more, the food we reap costs less and less.

    Your enjoyment is contagious! Peace.

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  13. I'll never get tired of your garde, DJan! Thanks for introducing me to a new squash! I've seen the Delicata squash, but I didn't know that was the name of them! And, thanks for explaining how to make kale chips. My daughter raved about eating them at her boyfriends home (his mom made them!) but she wasn't sure how long to bake them. I recently bought baby kale and I'm loving it in salads.

    Next year I will grow kale. I've been anxious for the zucchini and summer squash to get ready, also the green beans. They are really slow this year. Fortunately, we have lots of blueberries and raspberries. We planted five or six different types of potatoes. Those will be fun to dig up later!

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  14. Oh, I am so jealous! It is so hot here on the East coast a lot of my plants are shriveling and dying, or at least not thriving. Your garden looks beautiful. Keep up the great work!

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  15. The garden looks lush! I'm so glad you're enjoying it...the benefits are so much more than just food to eat. Darn those bugs though...guess they're hungry too. I'm going to try your kale chips...very simple recipe. I like that a lot. I've been using an older counter-top model toaster oven for this summer since turning on the oven on my stove is just not possible with this heat. Love hearing about the garden since the heat has destroyed most of my plants here. Thanks for sharing.

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  16. Awesome that you talk to your plants. My neighbor claims that her husband goes out and wears at her plants!
    One zucchini can produce a tremendous amount. I don't plant Zucchini because I will have neighbors who give me Zucchini.

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  17. I enjoy hearing about gardening from someone fresh and new at it. It's a refreshing perspective.
    We are battling pests too. Our raspberries have worms! This never happened until two years ago. Now that it is late in the season, the tiny white worms are in at least half of the berries. I picked them this evening and I'm going to make syrup out of them, because the juice will be strained. They are no longer appetizing to eat whole and fresh. Ugh.

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  18. Your garden is beautifully tidy. I was noticing last night that our zucchini plants have lots of blossoms but they're falling off and not making fruit. Must be the heat and lack of rain.

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  19. It is always inspiring to read about your garden. It makes me want to visit our farmer's market to find some kale.

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  20. Well, the words you convey to your plants in your garden ....it's working!!! Just look at how vibrant and healthy they are. And NO...I am not tired of reading about your garden. Afterall, that is what blogging is about isn't it? Your life?

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  21. your garden looks wonderful
    I like the path Clint created, good neighbors are a tresure

    the squash flowers are pretty, I just recently learned that they start out this way
    one of the things I love about blogging is how much we all learn for each other

    happy gardening :)

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  22. Definitely not! I am looking forward on the improvements of your garden. I also have that habit of talking to my plants. Well, I guess most gardeners do.

    Happy gardening!

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  23. You've become quite the farmer! I'm sure all the hard work you put into them makes them taste all tha tmuch better! :o)

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  24. I haven't tried to grow any food for several years, so I love reading of your experiences. I'm making mental notes for next year, because it is definitely time to try a few things. And I'm going to try making kale chips...hooray for healthy snacks!

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  25. It's looking good... and not just to the aphids. ;) I like the idea of talking to your plants. I must remember that next summer when I hope to have a garden.

    Isn't it cool that blog fodder is everywhere. Gee that sounds threatening. Like Mario Puzo's The Blogfodder! ;)

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  26. Wow! That's really impressive. I do love watching plants grow. Since I don't have much of a garden here I can enjoy it vicariously through you. Kale chips are really fabulous! Hmmm... maybe it's time to make some again.

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  27. What a fine garden ! Everything looks so healthy! Dontcha just love this time of year?

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  28. I'm so proud of you, Jan!! I mean that with all my heart. I love gardening, and all of us who share these types of experiences smile abundantly together!! :)
    BEAUTIFUL garden!!
    Hugs,
    J.

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  29. No, I haven't heard near enough! I can't garden so I have to do it vicariously with you bloggers who garden. Everything is looking good, Djan. I love hearing about your gardening adventures and seeing pictures of the progress. :)

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