This is what garlic looks like when it comes out of the ground.  Not too pretty.

 

We have to let it cure in a dry, well-ventilated space for a couple weeks.  Then we can cut off the tops and the roots, and strip off that dirty layer of skin.  

 

You will be surprised when I show you the finished harvest.  Stay tuned.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I know this is a funny looking picture, but I want you to see the difference in dill berries and dill seeds.

 

The seeds have turned brown.  Not exactly the same as the beautiful green berries worthy of a crystal vase.

 

But they are important.  This is next year’s dill crop.  And, now is the time to start sowing the seeds.  Dill is a hardy annual, and the seeds that fall on the ground now will wait for the spring to germinate.  So I can start sprinkling dill seeds all around and next year in April and May they will start coming up.  How easy is that?

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Remember the Romanesco cauliflower?  The weird cauliflower with the green spiral curds?

 

Well, we harvested two heads, and within a week, they started to bolt.

 

You can see the green spirals down low near the leaves, but look up above them and you can see that each spiral is growing a stem.  I had no idea what would happen, but I guess this is logical.  Cauliflower does this too if you leave it in the ground too long.  Just like broccoli, it grows stems under the buds, then the flowers open.  

 

I tasted the stems, and they aren’t too tough to eat, so I guess I can still harvest these weird cauliflowers.  It was interesting and fun, once.  But I think I will stick to white cauliflower, preferably a variety that is slow to bolt.

 

 

LIVE AND LEARN!!!

 

Ever wonder what broccoli left too long looks like?  Well, those little flower buds that we call a head of broccoli are really flower buds that haven’t bloomed out yet.  You can see some unopened buds;  they are green, and the flowers are yellow.

 

You will never see a broccoli like this in the grocery store, but you can eat the opened flowers.  They taste like…broccoli.

 

This is why we plant broccoli.  Because we like to eat the whole plant:  the leaves, the buds, and the flowers.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Jon picked our first “mess of beans.”  Yoo-hoo!!!

 

The garden is so happy with all the rain lately.  Well, not the peppers, but everything else is lush and producing.

 

We are happy.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

Here is Nancy’s Crocosmia still blooming and being beautiful.  I saw a hummingbird flying around in it.

 

I guess that stinky deer stuff really works.  Otherwise it would be GONE.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We have seen this turkey a couple times in the last few days, always in the same place.  Usually, we notice it in the middle of the road as we are climbing the last stretch up to the top of the mountain.  Then it steps off the road for us to go by.

 

This particular day, it waited for me to get a good picture.  Oh, I guess I can call him:  “him.”  I can see his beard now.  

 

How fun!!!

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

 

 

Here are the mullein flowers up close.  They bloom up this spike, just a few flowers each day.  Then the flowers produce hundreds of seeds, some with the ability to germinate for up to 100 years!!!  I read that in the Wikipedia article.

 

I hope you enjoyed the article on mullein;  I thought it was very interesting.  What a fascinating plant.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I saw this the other day when I was inspecting the garden.  The beans are just starting to bloom and make beans.

 

We have a section of meadow fence about 20 feet long at the bottom of the garden.  This is where we plant beans.  That area gets a little shade in the afternoon (which beans love) and water flows downhill, so it gets plenty.  

 

We love to plant rattlesnake beans.  Not because of the name, but because they are pole beans and you can stand up and pick them.  They also show some purple coloration which makes them easy to see.  

 

They are looking great so far. 

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

  

 

Here is my beautiful wild common Mullein (rhymes with sullen) that we dug out of our friends’ garden.  It was growing as a weed there, so Jon dug it up and I put it in a big pot.  I intended to plant it on one of our hillsides, but never got a round tuit.

 

So we just watched as it grew from a 10 inch rosette of basal leaves into this magnificent specimen.  It is almost 7 feet tall.

 

Here’s what I read in the Magic and Medicine of Plants book:  its botanical name is Verbascum thapsus, and it is also called Bunny’s Ears, Flannelleaf, and Jacob’s-staff, along with many other common names.  It is in the snapdragon family, and has been used since antiquity for many purposes:  some religious, some medicinal, some cosmetic.  I especially liked the practice of putting the leaves inside thin-soled shoes for added warmth.  

 

Here is a link to Wikipedia if you would like to read more about mullein.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus

 

Anyway, the next time you are out for a ride, look around roadsides, waste places, and country fence rows.  You may see mullein blooming now.  They really are pretty.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!