This is a flat of microgreens.  These are seedlings from last year’s curly kale and pak choy.  I planted seeds in this flat last week, and what we are looking at right now are just the seed leaves.  When they grow two sets of true leaves I can start harvesting.  I just hold the leaves in my fingers and cut just above the soil line.  

 

What a great way to get fresh greens in winter.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Not one of my prettiest pictures, but interesting.

 

This is curly green mustard gone to seed.  Each one of these seed pods holds about 30 seeds.  So we will save the seeds and plant them in the spring.  And have more mustard than we know what to do with.  

 

Maybe I will plant them this winter in a flat, and harvest as microgreens.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

The garden is always changing.  The tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchinis are finished, and now the eggplants are taking off.  We have already harvested 55, and you can see that the bushes are loaded.  

 

These eggplants come from the country of Taiwan.  They grow 2 inches in diameter and up to 14 inches long.  I like these best, because I don’t leave them on the plants too long.  I’ve tried growing the kind that you see in the grocery store, but I always left them on the plants waiting for them to get as big as the store ones.  By then they were all seedy.  Not these, they are supposed to be picked small.  

 

The good thing about eggplants, besides their deliciousness, is that they don’t all come at once.  We have 10 bushes, and we can pick 4 or 5 at a time, enough to make something like lasagna or Parmesan, and then next week we can pick more.  

 

We love them cooked on the grill with lots of spices.  Then we freeze the pieces, and use them in the winter, really stretching our harvest.  It’s also nice in the winter to remember how beautiful the garden was in the summer.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Good grief!!!  We did some pruning on this house plant, and dumped a bunch of the vines into the compost bin.  

 

It is still growing!!!  The winter will kill it, but for now it’s kinda pretty peeking out of the dry leaves.  

 

Let me know if you are interested in maintaining a compost bin.  It is real soil science, but not at all difficult.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Another beautiful, edible plant that the deer don’t bother:   this is lemon grass.  

 

Lemon grass is an annual, so we have to get a new one every year, but it is a fabulous plant.  It’s pretty, the deer leave it alone, and we use the stems as a rack under our chicken when cooking on the grill.  It imparts a yummy lemon flavor to the chicken and accompanying gravy.

 

Lemon grass is also effective as an insect repellent.  That’s why it gets this spot near the front door.   

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Sister Linda sent me this, with a note saying, “Gerry, you really should have posted it.”

 

 

Well, here we are circa 1958.  

 

You can’t tell from the picture, but the dresses really were white with blue satin sashes, and our hair really was red!!!  I am the big sister, and Julie is the cute little one.

 

 

THANKS LINDA, AND

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN JULIE!!!   

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers from my friend’s garden.  I told her that today is your birthday, and you need flowers.  

 

She said I could pick them for you. 

 

I was going to post that picture of “girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,” but I figured we have grown up since then.  Well, a little.  

 

I hope your birthday is happy and healthy and full of love.  

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE!!!

 

We still have basil on the front steps.  The deer can reach it, but haven’t eaten it.  There are three pots of it out there.  I love having it close to the kitchen, for easy access at lunch and dinner times.

 

Our theory is that the deer don’t like strong smelling and tasting plants.  OK.  Then that’s what we will plant, so that they won’t bother it.  I would really love to fill these pots with ornamental kale and pansies, but, we know that they wouldn’t last two days before they were discovered and devoured.  Oh, well.  

 

Basil and marigolds are cool, and pretty.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Our oregano is gorgeous right now.  It has bloomed, and now it is just covering up the weeds growing next to the Bee Balm.    

 

I harvested about 30 stems, bundled them, and hung them in the dining room window to dry.  The bundle will take a couple weeks to dry, then we strip the leaves from the stems and put them in a glass jar in the spice cabinet.  

 

And you thought oregano came from the grocery store.  Not necessarily.  It is really easy to grow;  you can even grow it in a pot on your patio.  And anything you grow yourself, tastes way better than anything you can buy.  

 

Grow oregano.  It is easy, fun, and tasty.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

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You can get the rest of the story at:  https://www.farmersalmanac.com/when-labor-day-weekend  Sorry for the ads.

 

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!