what's popping up....

Sunflowers are popping up!

As is the Strawberry popcorn. It's a minature variety and should only get about 4-5' tall.

The radish seedlings look like butterflies.

Yay for bean sprouts!

Tiny little Mexican Sour Gherkins!

Delikatesse Cucumbers

Little summer squash seedling. I cant remember if it is a black beauty zuke or an early prolific straight neck.

Little Kiwano seedlings.

Mici Hybrids are flowering!!

Little volunteer Jack-o-lantern pumpkin!

Little peppers are forming!

How does your garden look?



Everything is finally in the garden

Well, the garden is FINALLY in the ground. It's 45'x30', which is quite abit larger than last year. Also hopefully alot more organized than last year.

To give you an idea here's what's going on in the garden....

64 sqft. strawberry popcorn bed

132 sqft. tomato bed

               - Roman Candle

               - Pink Cherry

               - Striped Roman

               - Ananas Noire "black pinneapple"

               - Pink Brandywine

               - Amish Paste

72 sqft. Giant Cape Gooseberry bed

6' of Easter egg Radishes

20' of cucumbers

                - Mexican Sour Gherkin (Melothria Scabra)

                - Delikatesse

                - Mici Hybrid

25' of pole beans

                - Purple podded

                - Kentucky Blue

40 sqft. eggplant bed

                - Ping Tung

                - Rosa Bianca

76 sqft. summer squash beds

                - Early Prolific Straightneck yellow squash

                - Black Beauty Zuchini

                - Zephyr (F1)

64 sqft. sweet pepper bed

                - Red Marconi

                - Yellow Marconi

                - Red Belgian

15 sqft. herb bed

                - Lemon Basil

                - Cilantro

                - Dill-Bouquet

                - Stevia

18 sqft. Carrot bed

                - Amarillo

                - Chantenay Red Core

50 sqft. Russet Potato Bed

50 sqft. Onion bed

                - white

                - red

                - extra large sweet

8' of Kiwano (Cucumis Metuliferus)

15' of Winter Squash

                - Spaghetti Squash

                - Jack-o-lantern Pumpkin

24 sqft. flower bed

                - zinnia Lilliput

                - Gaillardia Indian Blanket

                - Strawflower Tall Double Mix

                - Brocade Mix Marigold

20' of Mammoth Grey Sunflower

Having tomato plants to check on every morning really makes it feel like summer. It's been HOT and dry here upper 80's but today is supposed to be cloudy and then hopefully a few days of rain.

There was a moment when all the seedlings were really looking zapped but they seem to be getting their garden feet.

Only thing to do is get some straw and patiently wait for all the seeds to germinate!

Hardening off.......

Welp Today was the first day that the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, gooseberries, and zinnias got to experience a couple hours of outdoor livin'.

Just a couple more weeks and everything will be in the garden.

How's your garden going?

And how was your Easter weekend?

It's that time again

The garden has been tilled and the seeds have been started.

So the 2012 summer garden goes something like this:

Tomatoes

- pink brandywine

- roman candle

- striped roman

- ananas noire

- amish paste

- pink cherry

Peppers

- red belgian

- red marconi

- golden marconi

Carrots

- amarillo

- chantenay red core

Cucumbers

- mexican sour gherkin (not so much a cucumber but close enough)

- delikatesse

- mici hybrid

Eggplant

- ping tung

- rosa bianca

Squash

- spaghetti

- black beauty zucchini

- early prolific straightneck

Beans

- purple podded pole

- kentucky blue

Onions

- white

- red

- extra large sweet

Strawberry popcorn

Kiwano

Giant cape gooseberry

Easter egg radish

Cilantro

Dill

Lemon basil

Mammoth grey sunflower

Frosted queen mix bachelor's button

Double tall mix strawflower

Brocade mix marigolds

lilliput zinnia

Gaillardia indian blanket

It's been in the 80's and sunny here lately and I love it! It's been raining almost every night so I've not had a dry garden to get into. though forecasts say rain tonight and then clear the rest of the week. Hopefully I'll have a bunch marked off my to-do list by this weekend.



2 delicious pumpkin cakes from one batch of batter

I'm starting to put a dent in the large stock of frozen pumpkin puree that's taken up all my freezer space.

Here we have a chocolate chip pumpkin sheet:

And a pumpkin bundt with a lemon glaze:

Pumpkin cake:

Ingredients:

6 eggs
3/4C vegetable oil
1/2C melted butter
1 1/2tsp vanilla
3 1/2 C pumpkin puree
3C sugar
3 1/4C all purpose flour
1 1/2tsp. baking soda
1 1/2tsp. salt
I dont measure things like spices so just go by preference. I'd say a general of about 1 1/2tsp each;
cinnamon (I added quite about of cinnamon, just 'cause I love it.)
clove
all spice
nutmeg
ginger

semi sweet chocolate chips
lemon juice
powdered sugar

Preheat oven 350*.Mix eggs, oil, butter, sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin. Mix in dry ingredients.

Pour half of the batter into an oiled sheet cake pan and evenly sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Pour the rest into an oiled bundt pan.

Put both cakes in oven and bake about 30 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test.
The bundt will take alittle longer because its thicker, about 40-45 minutes.

Cool completely.
Remove bundt from pan
mix together about 1/2C powdered sugar and 2 tbsp. lemon juice. Add more lemon juice until it's pourable and pour evenly over completely cooled bundt.

DELICIOUS!

baby carrots and the beginning of the end of the Fall radishes

The weather here is finally starting to get Wintery and I love it. We had alittle bit of wet snow but it only lasted about an hour.

The garden is still kicking. The kale is big and the lettuce is colorful. The beets are a couple weeks away and I'm down to my last few rows of radishes. Here's this morning's gatherins'...

These radishes are probably gonna go into tonight's stir-fry.

The frost is slowly starting to get at the leaves but theyre not dead yet.

The carrots are big enough, that theyre thinnings are nice garden treats....

Theyre bite size and SOOOOO sweet. I have high hopes for the atomic red, but since some pesky animal decided to dig the day after I put out the cosmic purple I can only hope for a handful of them.

We dehydrated some of the tender young kale which was heavenly!

Theyre perfect chip size and delicious dipped in salsa, or crumbled over soup or pasta.

I just washed them, tore off the tougher stems, soaked them in olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, garlic powder and salt for about 30 minutes. Then threw them on the dehydrator racks and let them do theyre thing for a couple of hours. rotating the racks periodically. So Tasty.

Not keeping up with things

I have been very bad at keeping this thing updated... so here's a quick catch up.

No pictures though. I've been very lazy it seems.

all the Easter egg radishes have been harvested. And the watermelon radishes are about ready. the carrots are slowly starting to get established, and the beets are beginning to form.

The kale is big and begging to be fried in bacon grease. And the lettuce is still thriving. My sad excuse of a row of potatoes was killed by the frost, but getting to eat the fried new potatoes was a treat.

Our thanksgiving was wonderful, the first year it wasnt dozens of hungry people crammed into a small house.... We rented a 3 story cabin. A definite new family tradition.

How was your Thanksgiving?