I thought you might like an update on the North Georgia Candy Roasters.  They are about 24 inches long, and starting to turn pink.  

 

What I read about them in the seed catalog is that once you've tasted these you will never eat pumpkin pie again.  Hmmmm.  

 

I am taking that to mean that they are sweet and pumpkin-like, good for roasting, and pie-making.  I hope they are good, because I planted 3 plants and have 7 squashes!!!  All this big!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Ever seen purple kale?  Me too.  I planted it this year from seeds, just to see.  Isn't it gorgeous?  The stems are purple and the leaves are too.  It tastes the same as the curly kale that I always grow, but this is just so pretty.  

 

Bonus!!!  The cabbage white butterflies haven't found it yet.  Maybe they don't recognize it as yummy kale.

 

Hey, Julie.  Wouldn't this make cool kale chips?  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I know I've shown you this before, but today is monumental.  I just went over 1000 articles!!!  A few of them repeat the subject, but no two are exactly the same.  No cutting and pasting.  Well, I have reused a couple pix, but all the articles are unique.

 

Mark made this sign for me a few years ago, and bestowed on me this Master's degree:  Master of Bloggery!  I feel like I just earned it.  

 

THANKS FOR READING!!!

 

The tomatillos are getting bigger.

 

See how they look like little lanterns?  When they start out they are empty.  Just a poof of air.  Then as the tomatillos grow, the berry fills up the husk, until the husk breaks open.  You can see that on the bottom one in the picture.  See how the husk is splitting at the bottom?  

 

These bushes are about 6 feet tall, and have a whole bunch of tomatillos set, in varying stages of doneness.  

 

You have to peel off the husk, and wash them because they are a little sticky.  But then we like to skewer a few and grill them for about 5 minutes.  They get soft and sweet.  

 

I've seen them in the produce department, and you could try a few, to be sure you like them.  But they are so easy to grow; just ask Patty.  I gave her a few seedlings a couple years ago, and she still has them coming up all over her garden.  She's the Tomatillo Queen!!!  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look at this beautiful BLUE.  

 

This is Brassica oleracea lacinato, commonly known as Dinosaur kale.  I planted 12 seeds this spring, and 8 plants got put into the garden. They are now about 3 feet tall and beautiful.  I love the deeply savoyed leaves.  

 

We pick leaves from the bottom, and they will keep on growing until the frost gets them this fall.  Some kales overwinter, and then bloom the following spring.  I'll let you know if these do that.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

See how the Jalapeño stems start up then hang down.  That's how most of our peppers grow on the bushes.  That's why those cherry peppers sticking straight up tickled me so.  We only planted two of these.  They will give us, (not us,) they will give Jon hot peppers all the way into November.

 

We planted one cayenne plant too.  Some people like that stuff.  I just like watching them grow leaves and fruit, then turn red.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

My friend, Sheri sent us some cherry peppers last year.  Jon loved them:  HOT!!!  She also sent us seeds that she had saved.

 

So I planted some this spring, and they are starting to bear fruit.  They are about the size of a golfball.  Look how they stand up on the bush.  Funny.  Eventually they will turn red.  Then they will be REALLY HOT!!!

 

No thanks for eating, but I love seeing how different things grow.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

It is time to preorder garlic from the Seed Catalogs.  They ship it in October, but if you want to plant the kind you want, you need to order now.  I just went to the So True Seed website, and several of the kinds I like to grow are already sold out!!!

 

Garlic is so fun to grow.  And it will grow just about anywhere you have sun.  Flower beds, garden, compost bin, anywhere.

 

You plant cloves in the fall, at least by Thanksgiving, and they grow roots all through the winter and early spring.  Then they sprout leaves, and grow in the summer.  Then in early July you get to harvest your own garlic bulbs.  Better than buying garlic in the store, because you grew it yourself.    

 

HURRY, HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Yoo-hoo!!!  My cauliflower is almost ready to harvest.  I planted 6 plants, and 2 have been chewed up by Cabbage white worms.  See all those little holes in the leaves?  That's what cabbage white caterpillars do to all the Brassicas.  I've managed to keep them off most everything, but they got into those two cauliflowers.  Once they get into the heads, they aren't any good.  

 

That's ok, I don't mind sharing, to a point.  Besides, there is plenty of other stuff to harvest right now.  I will try again with cauliflower in my fall/winter garden.  The seedlings are coming along well.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Don't you just LOVE Hydrangeas?  

 

This one is in one of our neighbor's front flower bed, but my fondest memory is of the ones in Nanny's back yard.  I'm thinking back to the 1950s.  

 

There were a few Hydrangea bushes beside the garage.  And the story is that Granddaddy hammered rusty nails into the ground around them to make the flowers turn blue.  Horticulturally, blue Hydrangea flowers are a sign of acid soil, and pink flowers grow where the soil is alkaline.  And if the soil pH is 7.0 (neutral) the flowers are white.  My favorite ones are purple, maybe in transition between acid and alkaline soil.  Or maybe just because.

 

It doesn't really matter WHY they do what they do;  it's just wonderful that they do it, and the sweet memories they bring.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANNY!!!