Early Autumn Garden

 Flag flown in remembrance of September 11th

Sugar Snap Peas, the best winter treat.

Rainbow Chard

Romaine!

Dahlias and Coleus bringing cheer to the front porch.

I've also got broccoli, cabbage, radish, mixed baby greens, carrots, and spring onions getting a good start.  Late summer planting is so much easier.  The autumn here brings regular rainfall but still plenty of warmth to encourage quick growth (which means beating the frost in December).  Hands off is just what I need right now.  

Plant Them Well and Let Them Govern Themselves

It's good advice.  Especially if you started with good soil and it rains every three days.  But, even the best advice doesn't come with guarantees.  This is the last cabbage (and Brassica in general) I will plant in the Spring.  In the Spring those little white moths flit around laying eggs in tender leaves which hatch little green worms that feast feast feast on my heads.  

The number of Seven Dust applications needed to keep these cabbage edible is not worth the toxicity.

 Same cabbage, planted late summer/early fall will have no pest damage at all!!  If you live in a climate, where there are 10 growing months in the years you have this luxury.

healthy leeks take a long time to beef up.  i will harvest these for quiche and a potato leek soup this week.

peas are finally flowering

just as with people, some thrive and some seem so stunted for no particular reason.  growing in the exact same soil this little tomato plant is about the height of my hand, while the others from the same seed (see in the rear of the photo) are four hands high.  

Crookneck Zucchini.  I think these blossoms have the prettiest color.  Katy, could you make me a spring dress that flows and glows like a squash blossom?

I love these little bells.  They will get big and be perfect for some gumbo, or stuffed with spicy rice.

This little pod is a baby baby tomatillo.  my first try with these, I'll let you know how they turn out.

Was it the hail or is there a bug in the yard partial to the leaves of my struggling eggplant?  Hmmm.

Tomatoes!  Tomatoes!

If you plant nothing else new in your yard, may I suggest this Verbena Bonariensis?  It adds height and dreaminess to your garden scape.

Hollyhocks, bright and pale pink, another tall bloomer.

we love spiders

I love hydrangeas.  Add lime for pink, aluminum for blue.

Progress

Kitty Litter

Copper River Tomato

Brandywine Heirloom Tomato

The tomatoes and tomatillos are now in the raised beds.  Just in time because the weather is quite warm this week.  I'll put the eggplant in later today. Vegetables like loose, well draining dirt (so do cats, it seems). My only pest (so far) is Linus, the cat next door.  My dirt is so sexy I have him convinced it's kitty litter. 

It's not.  And I sometimes want to shoot his little paws for digging in my beds. 

I won't.  Shoot his paws.  I pulled the bok choy (that had bolted while we were at the beach).  We ate our bok choy for lunch and a yummy easy cauliflower dish that I made with diced up ham leftover from Easter dinner.  I'll give you the recipe as soon as I catch up from Spring Break '11.  

We had so much fun.  Today I've been spot-weeding.  And watering the fig tree.  Dr. Gooch can't figure out where to put it.   A Fig tree gets pretty large so we must choose wisely.

One more thing.  It is funny to me how winter truly makes me forget how LUSH it gets when the ground warms.  I love it.  It makes me feel like our acre is 10 and our neighbors are that many miles away (except of course for Linus).

A Garden Stroll, Pit-Stop Gardening, and Clip and Go

unclipped

filling up a large bowl of succulent spinach

clipping completed, small leave left intact

Clip and Go!  It's the method that keeps on giving!

One of my favorite things to do is take Dr. Gooch by the hand and walk the gardens here at CC.  After the two littles are in bed and the two olders are finishing up homework, we use the last of the days light to survey the progress.  If he's been at work all day I report (brag) on what I've done that day during what I call my Pit-Stop gardening:  Planted lavender amongst the Queen of Night Tulips that will take over flowering privileges come the summer months, weeded the slope by the garage, planted cucumbers to replace the ones I lost to cold temps, etc.  He oohs and aahs and pats my back and we discuss where to plant his new Fig tree!

I call it Pit-Stop because between household chores, meals, and four children, I pick weeds on my way to the mailbox or to feed the chickens, sow seeds during lunch, and prune trees and shrubs on my way to and from errands.  I always spend at least an hour puttering this way each day, but often (usually) two.  In this sense, gardening is not magic.  It does take time and effort, but a little goes a long way. 

Like my six spinach plants.  They will give me spinach all season and probably into the fall.  Sometimes, here, spinach will even "winter" and come back again next spring.  I'll do the same with my lettuce mix. Though lettuce will not winter.  

Take a stroll, garden in spurts, and cut and go!!  My triple tips for the day.

After Rain

I have a question.

If I didn't know they were weeds, would they bother me as much as they do?

Speaking of weeds, the chicks are growing like one.  After a whole day spent in the yard they learned:

 how to run away from the older hens who got a bit bossy with these newbies, 

how to drink from the waterer, and 

how to seek shelter under the coop when it rains.  

I think they are ready and will go out full time starting tomorrow!!  Aren't they pretty with their black and white feathers.? Can you spot the rooster of the bunch?

First row is leeks.  They have a ways to go before they are ready to be sliced and made into potato-leek pancakes (just dreamt this one up, we'll see).  The two rows behind are the green onions.  I find quite a bit of pleasure in plucking a few out as the need arises in the kitchen.  Am I weird?

This is a tulip who has lost its petals.  But, at our house, they are suspiciously seen around the house being used as magic wands.

Finally, THIS is blooming.  It is such a show off plant, covering itself with these delicate little rose-like creamy yellow blossoms.  It is a perennial (vigorous) plant.  Ben (my brother studying landscape architecture), I cannot seem to track down the name, any ideas.

I spoke with a friend the other day about what to plant.  We both shared the opinion that perennial trumps annual any day.  There is nothing more rewarding than watching your garden come to life in full color without having to plant a thing.  This is ours out front, the day after a night of lovely rain.  Hardly anything is blooming yet besides the bulbs, but look at all the different colors of foliage!

Roasted Cauliflower and Spring Onions with Bacon

I hosted a small lunch with four fine ladies.  We had an Asparagus Gruyere Tart and this scrumptious dish.  Sweet tender cauliflower, just dug green onions and bacon.  Mmmm, bacon.  You can't mess this one up if you tried.

Roasted Cauliflower and Spring Onions with Bacon

8-10 slices thick cut bacon

1 Head cauliflower, stem and leaves removed
1 bunch spring onions
3 Tbls Olive Oil
Salt and FGP


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Arrange bacon on tinfoil-lined baking sheet.  Cook in oven for 15-20 minutes or until evenly browned and crispy.  Drain bacon on paper towel, let cool.  Stack and slice bacon into 1/2-inch pieces.  This may be done ahead of time.  Warning: your whole house will be filled with the intoxicating aroma of sizzling pig.


Slice trimmed head of cauliflower in half.  Then slice each half into 1/4-inch slices.  Place on baking sheet.  Cut off just the root portion of the onions.  Slice onions diagonally into 2 to 3-inch pieces. Toss with cauliflower.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and FGP and toss.  Roast in 450-degree oven for 20 minutes (carefully turning a few times) or until browned and tender but not soft.


Add bacon, toss, and serve warm.  Serves 6.

©Sweat Bread 



*For dessert, I must add, we had Smitten Kitchen's Big Crumb Cake with Rhubarb.  The cake is all hers so I can't take credit here, but I'm proud to say, the Rhubarb was all mine.  Make it and weep.

Quick, Butter-Braised Cabbage

For March 17th, I wanted something Irishy.  Braised cabbage.  Because I love cabbage.  But the recipe I looked up was brazenly asking for 2+ hours of my time.  It was already after 5:00.  So, here it is, a quick braised cabbage for all you Irish Procrastinators.  It was very satisfying.

QUICK, BUTTER-BRAISED CABBAGE

1 Head green cabbage, chopped into pieces

1 onions, chopped into little moons

3 generous pats of real butter (maybe 4-5 Tbls)

Salt and FGP

1-2 tsp red pepper flakes

Melt butter over medium heat in skillet.  Once melted, add cabbage and onions.  Salt and FGP to taste, add pepper flakes.  Cook for no longer than 3 minutes or until it looks like this:

Eat with potatoes and corned beef or solo.  Eat more for lunch the next day.  Serves 4.