Look at this beautiful row of red cabbage.  They are starting to head up.

 

When we cut into the head of cabbage, it is red;  but right now they are the most gorgeous silver and purple.  And when it rains, the water puddles up on the leaves, making them sparkle.

 

All from seeds that I planted.  :)

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

The Borage is blooming.  This isn’t a great picture of the flowers, but I love that you can see all those hairs on the leaves and stems.  

 

We love to add the pretty blue flowers to salads, pizzas, etc.  They taste like cucumber.

 

I have read that Borage leaves are edible too, but is that something you want in your mouth?  Nah!!!  We’ll stick to the flowers.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Yoo-hoo!!!  My cauliflower is almost as big as the ones in the grocery store.  OK, maybe the medium size ones.  But isn’t it gorgeous?  

 

You can see that it has outgrown the wrapper leaves, the close up leaves that keep the head protected from the sun.  But I broke one of the larger leaves so that it drapes over the head completely.  Don’t want sunburned cauliflower.  

 

I love cauliflower.  I eat it every day for breakfast.  I add Brussels sprouts and brown rice to a chicken broth base, drop in an egg, and let it cook for 5 minutes.  Egg drop soup, essentially, with rice and vegetables.

 

Tomorrow I can eat cauliflower that grew in my garden.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

These lilies came here with us from Virginia, in 2004.  One of my students gave me a 4 inch pot with a single flower as a going away gift.  When we got settled in, we planted it, and hoped it would survive the winter.  

 

Well, it did.  In fact, I dug it up, and there were a whole bunch of bulblets, so we planted them too.  For the next few years they were beautiful every June.  Then the deer discovered that the beautiful flowers were edible and tasty, and we lost the ones that weren’t protected by a fence.

 

These live inside our “wild garden.”  The garden is fenced and is wild with Solomon’s Seal, Fire pinks, Bee Balm, Butterfly weed, Black-eyed Susies, and yes, wild with Virginia creeper.  I don’t love that, but it is hard to keep it out.  

 

So, now you can see how long Asiatic lilies last in our climate.  I have about five good plants still, and they bloom every June.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I showed you radish flowers yesterday, and owned up to my gardening laziness.  

 

But I want you to see the seed pods too, these interesting green radish-like things.  My plants are covered in them right now, and they are sprawled across the walk path on row #3.  Don’t care.  We just walk around them.

 

And we love eating the little crunchy things in salads, or dipped in something cream cheesy.  Try growing some in your garden, they are delicious.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know you know what radishes look like in the grocery store, but do you know that they bloom and set seeds?

 

Radishes are in the Mustard family, and the part we usually eat are the roots.  Well, in order for the roots to grow to a size that’s fit to eat, the seedlings have to be thinned so that each little root has room to grow.  

 

I am a terrible thinner.  I love sowing the seeds, but thinning them is not my best thing.  So radishes in my garden never produce tender roots.  They go to seed, making the roots tough.  

 

Well, here’s the good news:  all those flowers and the small seed pods are all edible, crunchy, and taste just like radish.  And just think how much easier they are to clean than roots that grow in the soil.

 

So I still grow radishes, for the flowers and seed pods.  ;)

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We saw this Fritillary enjoying the marigolds.  I guess she didn’t care that they weren’t planted in the garden.  

 

These marigolds are still in a flat waiting to be planted.  That’s my plan for today:  to plant 36 marigolds into the garden, and into a few pots.  You know, the deer don’t like them, so I can actually leave them unprotected.  I may even bring a few flowers inside to put in little vases.  

 

Marigolds make me smile wherever they are.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

For all our friends who can’t ride by the haybale, here is the latest one.  Patty arrived late on Friday, and the haybale was already done by Sunday, for us to enjoy a whole week before Memorial Day.  Sorry it’s taken me this long to show you.

 

Thanks Patty and Bill.

 

HAPPY JUNE!!!

 

Another sweet smell of summer:  honeysuckle.  It is blooming now too.  

 

Your nose will probably notice it first, then look around and you will likely find honeysuckle somewhere close by.  I love to pick off the open white flowers and add them to my water bottle.  Sweet!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Have you noticed the smell of summer in the air lately?  We have on our trips to Blairsville and Murphy, and on our walks around the neighborhood.  The Ligustrum is in bloom.  This is the deciduous one up near Bella Vista, and there are a couple other ones on Stonebriar.  

 

I love that smell.  It reminds me of youthful summers in Norfolk.  

 

Now that it is semi-officially summer, I hope you are out and about, and enjoying all the joys of summer.  

 

HAPPY “SUMMER!!!”