State of the Garden (Here Come the Beans)
I’ve been eating young tender beans a few at a time when working in the garden, but now comes the week or two when they are abundant.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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State of the Garden
I went out into the garden right after I sat for meditation this morning. Even at 7 a.m., the air was hot summer thick. I harvested cherry tomatoes, a handful of green beans, a cucumber, a red onion, and some garlic greens, basil, and a jalapeno pepper. Then I went back inside and practiced some asana and cleaned house in anticipation of a guest arriving for lunch. I weeded a little, but did not fully plunge into all that could be done.
I have lots of epazote. Anybody need some for planting or for cooking? I let only a little go to seed many years ago, and it comes back in force every year. I let it grow wild between the bricks of my patio, but keep it out of beds and containers. It could be a real challenge in a more open garden, but in my constricted, urban setting, inviting the useful, invasive plants to grow where nothing else will grow is a good use of space.
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Yesterday’s State of the Garden (Before Andrea)
Tonight in the moist tropical air of Andrea and her wake, the garden is outrageously blowsy. It will be a marvel when the sun heats it up again.
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State of the Garden
The white flowers growing with the tomatoes and cucumbers (cages) and the beans (red supports) are coriander that over-wintered, and gave lots of good leaves from late winter through mid-spring. I’m now letting them go to flower and then seed. I like to use the flowers as a garnish. Still green and newly forming coriander seeds minced, along with whatever greens are still tender on the plant, are delicious in lightly cooked young vegetables. Almost flowery, like some Persian cooking. The fig in the right foreground, alas, has no buds this year. It wants to be planted in the ground on a sunny side of someone’s house. Local readers, if you want a healthy fig tree, comment or send an email.
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This Evening on the Catio
The snow pea shoots were
Especially exquisite.
And the kale flowers.Hydroponic tomato from one of the farmers at the Penn Quarter Thursday market and organic avocado, tossed in tahini and then sprinkled with fine balsamic vinager, supplement sprouts grown on the counter and an assortment of tender garden greens.
Cool infusion of peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, and licorice mint.
The season has turned.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Mostly Anticipation (State of the Garden)
It changes daily this time of year. In the sink, the last of the spinach that over-wintered. Making way for new plantings. A garden can only be this full at the beginning, if there is a commitment to thin constantly; otherwise the garden would suffocate itself. This kind of gardening plans on picking shoots and baby vegetables, while things that need to mature progress. A constant harvest, though because of the limited space, I need to supplement–mostly from local farmers’ markets for produce.
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Blooming Around Town
A particularly prickly-looking tulip just north of the Capitol.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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State of the Garden
There was one week with highs below freezing and nights in the teens fahrenheit, but other than that this winter in my garden has been perfect weather for greens and root vegetables.
Tyrone came for a quarterly check for various vermin (yes, I know that rats and termites are no less divine than anything else, but it’s much easier to think that of them when they are not in your dwelling place). I followed him out into the garden. He said that last time I gave him some carrots that he ate in the truck.
I found a couple of good carrots and enough turnips and kale for both of us. It is time to eat up the vegetables that wintered over to make way for new planting.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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State of the Garden (And Anecdotal Evidence of Extreme Weather Occurrences Due to Global Climate Change)
Scheduled to arrive some time tomorrow is one of those impossible to forecast until it is happening because how fast the storm travels and a variance in its track of even 50-100 miles north or south, or east or west can make the difference between just a bit of rain, a lot of rain with a little snow, and a little rain with a lot of snow, or perhaps the dreaded wintry mix. What I would do for the garden would be different for the various scenarios. The best for continuing to thrive would be a 2-4 inches of snow that didn’t entirely melt when it hits 50F on Saturday and acts as a blanket when it is forecast to get below 20F. I harvested the tenderest of the greens and the last handfuls of unripe tomatoes (they need to be cooked and spiced–it’s way past the date they should have been able to grow). I left the hardier greens and the root vegetables. I will be watching for the true hard freeze right before which I will need to harvest everything. The extreme weather occurrence is not, however, the coming storm, but the fact that I still have this much growing without a cold frame in the middle of January.
turnips, arugula, grape tomatoes, chard, snowpea shoots, kale, roses, assorted lettuce, cilantro, carrots [not shown, but also growing: spinach, green garlic, mint, parsley]
