A couple of days ago I asked if you wanted to visit the garden with me… if you don’t want to do that you may want to go to the next blog on your reading list because I’ve been in the gardens with the camera.
Broccoli… I don’t have to worry about ‘W'.’ coming to dinner because we have grown some gorgeous and tasty broccoli this year. Personally I could eat it just about every night, steamed with some butter… no sauce needed.
Yeah I gotta get my boot in there for size and as you can see we have had a battle with squash bugs but this baby head of cauliflower grew into this…
When Bro, Cuz and me went to buy some plants this spring we got the broccoli, cauliflower and two kinds of cabbage, the green and the purple, at a farm store in Chandler, OK, about 15 miles from where we lived. I’ve been sooo excited with how they are all coming on because though I tried last summer where we lived we had rabbits that ate very well and I didn’t even get a taste.
My beautiful cauliflower looked big until I found these three squash hiding under the big squash leaves and, no, these are not the good day/bad day squash. We were given 3 straight neck yellow squash plants and three crook neck yellow squash plants so these came on earlier than we expected.
The green cabbages I planted in the back yard garden and have started forming the heads despite the chewed up leaves.
The purple cabbage I planted in the front garden along with half of the broccoli plants. They, too, have started forming their heads and their leaves are chewed on but not quite as bad as the plants in the back garden.
I got down in the dirt to get this low down view of all the squash blossoms on one of the crooked neck squash plants. See what I do to keep it real for all of you!
I love seeing how these bloom change into something that is so good to eat in so many ways. But you all know how all the stages of growing just fascinate me.
OKRA! Yes, Rick, you can tell your sweet bride that the good Lord willing and the weather is kind to us, no more hail please, there will be okra flying northwest along about August.
This row has okra and black eyed peas planted alternately. The premise is the black eyed peas will climb along the okra stalks. So I guess this will be my little experiment.
Since I have so much garden photos to show you and I don’t want to bore you to death I’ll close for now but I do want you to know that my cousin and I both use this old timey cultivator because we can get between the rows easily and break up the ground enough to try to keep ahead of the grass and weeds. I will try to catch a photo or two of it actually in use.
Next post, besides more garden stuff, I’ll show you the mimosa trees in bloom and we will talk about a bad hair day…
Intrigued?
Yummy! You are a great Gardner!
ReplyDeleteLexi would love to get in there and have some fun!
Thanks Karen... I'm just learning by the seat of my pants but it's sure fun.
ReplyDeleteI am very impressed! First, that you have a garde. And second, how much has already grown. Come visit me. Now. Bring your garden tools, too.
ReplyDeleteThis is so mouthwatering Helen! One of the things I miss the most is eating crunchy vegetables, preferably stirfried with sweet chilli sauce, or just as they come with roasted meat of some kind. My lapband doesn't let me have them though, unless they're liquidised.
ReplyDeleteLove the photos. Moooooore!!!!!!!!
Caroline
Things are growing well back there, in spite of the weather. You really are a "Red Dirt Gardener" Helen...and a good one. Everything looks great.
ReplyDeleteIsn't broccoli great when it's homegrown.
MMMM - that broccoli looks so yummy! We won't see broccoli in local gardens until much later in the summer. My dad grew it every year. I miss his frech produce: broccoli, tomatoes, asparagus, celery, and cucumbers. Yum!!!!
ReplyDeleteThose veggies look fantastic! I can almost taste tha broccoli. I have a bit more space to plant some vegetables this year, so I am trying eggplant for the first time.
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ReplyDeleteWow! Your garden looks fantastic.
ReplyDeleteGreat. Now I'm hungry.
Pearl
Brilliant pics, Helen. My friend is just about to launch her first book about her allotment, fabby pics in it and some great information. Launch day on 7th August, I can't wait. I've seen the book, but not printed and assembled. Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the journey.
Mandy
Oh yum! You got me at Okra though! I loves me some okra - fried, that is. Too slimey otherwise!
ReplyDeleteNow where's this bad hair day we're gonna talk about? You don't have a pic of me, do you? ;)
those squash blossoms you photoed are the dummy blossoms they wont make squash they are male... they are HOWEVER awesome to eat fried :) the female blossoms will have little squashes while they are still blooming :) I LOVE ME SOME SQUASHES!!!
ReplyDeleteCaution, are you going to pay for my gas and put me up for a few days, too? If so we will look towards a visit next spring...
ReplyDeleteCaroline I hate that you can't do the fresh veggies unless pureed. While you might get the flavor you miss out on the texture. More photos were posted today.
Connie I can hardly believe how much better my broccoli and tasted. It surely does make a difference fresh out of the garden than picked early and shipped in. Fresh from the garden everything has such a clean, fresh taste and is so tender when it is cooked up.
Sara I've never tried to grow celery because I've never much cared for it but I may have to try it next year because of the taste difference of the other veggies I've grown and eaten fresh out of my garden. Our tomatoes are just setting on blossoms but it look as though we are going to have to take them to the farmer's market if they produce like they look like they are going to produce.
Hetty you will have to take some photos of your eggplant. I wanted to grow some last year but I must have been too late planting them because they didn't make it.
Pearl I'm sorry I made you hungry... not... especially for fresh veggies. You might not want to look at the post I put up today.
Hi, Mandy. Thanks for stopping by and for the compliments on the photos. You will have to let me know more about your friend's book. Please stop by again and give me a shout out.
Katie I'm with you on the okra. Fried is the way to go. Now check out the post for today and it will tell you that you are going to have to wait just a bit for the bad hair post because I needed to do my good day/bad day squash report and, no, I don't have a picture of you... lol
Laura you are a PEACH!!! Teaching me something about the squash blooms that I didn't know. Now I'm going to have google up some recipes for the dummy blossoms. I'll have to see if this is something I can stump Bro on as I'm always trying to trip him up with some sort of trivia....