Yoo-hoo!!!  We have zucchini this year.  I've grown it before, but with NO success.  This year it is doing great!!!

 

I can't help but think about this story:

 

A couple moved into a new neighborhood, and went to church with their new neighbors.  They were advised when they got there to be sure and lock their car.  The new guy said, "I thought this was a good neighborhood."  The older neighbor replied that it was, "but if you don't lock your car, when you come out after church the back seat will be full of zucchini."

 

We don't have THAT much, that we need to leave it on our friends' doorsteps, but we do have enough to cook and eat, and still have some to go in the freezer for next winter's lasagna.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Look at all that Dill!!!  It stands about 4 feet tall, and it's starting to bloom.  

 

The feathery leaves are edible, and we use them along with our salad greens.  We dry it too, for use during the winter.    

 

But the blooms are what really thrill me.  Some of the heads are about 8 inches in diameter.  After they finish with the pollen, they grow green berries, which dry to become seeds.  Well, I cut them and bring them inside when they are in the berry stage.  They don't fluff pollen all over the place, but they still smell good, and taste good too.  

 

Fortunately the cucumbers ripen about the same time as the dill berries, so we use them together to make dill pickles.

 

Look at the picture again; just to the left of the dill.  See the cucumbers climbing the trellis?  Life is good at Crazybrook Farm.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look at the leeks!!!  Aren't they fabulous?

 

Leeks are edible the first year, and the second year they bloom.  The stems get too tough to eat, but this is food for the soul.

 

I usually cut a few and put them in a crystal vase.  I love them so much.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

If you see Tom out today with Sky, be sure to wish him Happy Birthday!!!

 

Flowers for you, from our garden.  

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!!!

 

 

 

I took this picture right after a thunderstorm;  I'm not worried, they'll right themselves tomorrow.  

 

These are my creeping squashes:  Georgia candy roaster and Cushaw.  The flopped over one is a zucchini, see the zucchinis?

 

When the creeping squashes start setting fruit, I'll show you.  I am so excited.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Welcome to Miss Gerry's Garden Center.  These are two flats of marigolds that I grew from last year's seeds, ready to be planted in the garden.  Each flat holds 6 6-packs.  That's 36 plants per flat!!  That's a lot of marigolds to plant.  But you can see that they are ready.

 

When I was out watering the other day I saw this Fritillary sipping nectar from each little flower.  She doesn't use marigolds for her host plant, but it is a great source for nectar.  

 

Later the same day, we saw two of them feeding.  So pretty!!!  I love having butterflies in the garden.  Well, most of them.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

The broccolis are getting huge, and they have started to set heads.  It is so exciting.

 

Believe me when I tell you I check them every day.

 

Mostly, we're checking for worms, but we do it every day.  Cabbage white butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, and when the caterpillars emerge they start eating.  See those little holes in the leaves?  That's where we start looking for the worms, and usually find a few.  Every day!!!

 

It's easy enough, we only have 6 cabbages, 6 broccoli, and 6 cauliflowers.  Oh yeah, they go after the kale too.  Well, it's worth it to check and pick them off, because they can devour it all in very little time.  So we just do it.  Sweet rewards in the end.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Look!!!  My cabbages are forming heads.  I bought a 6 pack of seedlings and planted them back in March.  I was afraid that I waited too late to plant seeds for cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.  So I bought 6 packs.  

 

I go out and look at them everyday.  Sometimes more than once.  I love seeing how fast they change and grow.  

 

We should have cabbage for cole slaw by July 4th.  I think our recipe is in the recipe section;  it's under Vegetables, and called Asian Cole Slaw.  You can use store bought cabbage if you must, or check the farmers market, it should be available soon. 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

Queen Anne's Lace is blooming.  It's blooming in the meadows, and here in my arugula bed!!!

 

It is called Wild Carrot, because the first year the roots are edible.  I'm telling you, they are really tiny and really dirty, and carrots in the grocery cost less than a dollar a pound.  Don't want to admit my laziness, but....you get my drift.  The second year, it blooms.  That's when it is spectacular.

 

They are in the same family as parsley, carrot, celery, dill, fennel.  The greens are edible, even though they don't have much flavor.  But they taste a little like parsley.    I just love knowing what we can add it to our salads.

 

This picture doesn't show you the greens;  those leaves you see are Echinacea.  The Queen Anne's Lace leaves are feathery, like carrots.  

But, aren't the flowers beautiful?

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

The Elders are blooming in our neighborhood.  We've seen one on Stonebriar coming up Clifford's hill, and this one near Bellavista.  They are both beautiful.  And we can see them up close.

 

There are a whole bunch on the hillside as you approach the WalMart in Blairsville.  They are really pretty too, from a distance.  

 

Some people make wine using the flowers.  Never had it.  We like to wait for the berries, then dry them and add them to our tea.  

 

I hope you get to see some Elder bushes in your travels.  When you do see them, think of me and smile.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!