In this edition of my-summer-veggies-mostly-all-died-despite-my-efforts, I made some hummus with our lemon balm, as suggested on the back of the tahini jar. I’ve never grown lemon balm before, but it literally has come back from the dead twice now. Tomatoes and cucumbers acquired elsewhere.
Our strawberries grow in groups of two or three, and are very tiny. So I’ve been saving each one in a bag in the freezer, in the hopes that I can eventually make the smallest, but sweetest, batch of jam.
I hope this doesn’t jinx us… But look at these huge tomatoes! We’ve got quite a few growing out there, and we bet they are going to get some color any day now.
Have you ever tried growing micro greens? We decided they would make our food so much fancier, so we are growing them inside by our sunniest window. We are using an empty salad container filled with some potting soil to grow them, and keeping the seeds moist. Can’t wait to see some sprouts!
Our late summer garden wasn’t too impressive, but to be fair, we have been focusing most of our energy on growing a tiny human. I am looking forward to getting back outside in the dirt though! Especially with my new garden partner. For the fall, we are planning on some varieties of lettuce and kale, along with maybe a broccoli or two. Lots of good green veggies!
I planted a little pumpkin patch in the garden, with some acorn squashes mixed in. I had a fight with some critter who kept digging up the fresh dirt, but now the little sprouts are starting to grow! Fingers crossed for a couple plump pumpkins come fall time!
I am super surprised with how well our spinach is growing! I think it gets some shade during the hottest part of the day, but I’ve also been giving it fertilizer too. I harvest batches of leaves in the mornings, then soak them for a couple minutes in the salad spinner in some cold water and a dash of vinegar. I rinse and spin them a couple times, then let them dry a bit on a paper towel. I measure cupfuls into bags, then keep them in the crisper in the fridge. Our spinach stays much fresher for much longer than the store bought spinach!
1. I managed a trip to the grocery store before the holiday weekend! Going shopping before a big food weekend is always an ordeal. Its so busy, and you get there at the wrong time, they are out of key ingredients. But, I scored a handful of peaches!
2. Our first spinach harvest! I washed and dried it, and put it into bags of one cup. I am hoping to use it for some smoothies we have been wanting to try. And, we went out to the garden yesterday evening, and picked “all” the cucumbers. But, I found these ones this morning. So we are either blind, or they grew magically overnight.
Hope you had some good things today, and have a safe and happy weekend!
There have been ups and downs in the garden. First of all, there was this bugger, who immediately became enemy number 1. So mean and selfish to eat the entire top of the green pepper plant yourself. But I am happy to say that the pepper seems to be growing some new leaves, so I’m hopeful he will recover.
Our cucumbers are still being rockstars. We have tons of pickles to make, and so many lemon cucumbers.
I think our squash plant got a little too moist, and encouraged some bugs to visit. He was doing so well, and then I found a bunch of holes in his stem, and his leaves wilted. I thanked him for his service, and now we have some pumpkins growing there, which I am excited about.
Finally, our spinach patch has really taken off. Its pouring rain this afternoon, but I’m planning to make the first big harvest soon. What shall I make with it??
Most of our plants and flowers made it through all the rain like little troopers. I was worried since most of them are drought tolerant, but they just went with the flow and soaked it all in. (Get it? Rain jokes.) I added this fairy door and walkway to the rock garden a while back, and I think a resident fairy must have been maintaining it during all the flooding. Its held together by magic.
guy and his girl 