I am afraid Tyra Banks may just have to move over. I have a bit of a burgeoning model on my hands. When I asked Piper to “smile,” this is what she gave me:
These are her pea plants – finally donned with actual, real live peas. Get ready, Princess, it’s nearly dinnertime! Mwahahahaha….
The garden is responding quite nicely to the sun and warmer temperatures we’ve been having. My cucumber plants are coming along, slowly, but surely.
I have a handful of Early Girl Tomatoes bulging in size…
And my bean plants are rallying well, in spite of being nibbled on by a creepy, unidentified pest…
And we have the first of the strawberries blushing pink and turning red…
The onion bed is looking fabulous. You can start to see the bulbs popping out of the soil. Have you ever grown onions? If not, I recommend it. Not only are they incredibly easy to grow, they are absolutely full of flavor. (My husband and I love to grill them up!)
My bed of greens and herbs is filling out beautifully. I love to come out and pick a salad or a green smoothie concoction. The pests haven’t damaged too much – and I’ve decided I can tolerate a few bugs and bug bites in exchange for an organically grown garden.
Romaine lettuce looking absolutely beautiful! I’ve also planted a couple heads under my trellises for a quick crop before the vines grow tall.
Lacinato Kale also has survived some initial interest from cabbage worm. Isn’t the color beautiful? Kale is a cold-hardy plant and I will be planting some in July and August for the fall and winter. I hear it can tolerate some frost.
In my last update, I was puzzled if I’d planted cilantro or parsley here. It’s cilantro! About a week ago, it really started scenting up the garden. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled cilantro this flavorful. It is delicious!
And my favorite red leaf lettuce continues to grow! I’ve just been snipping the leaves, and it’s been hanging in there nicely and doesn’t show signs of bolting yet. (Knock on wood.) I’ll be planting some more here soon.
The chard has popped up beautifully! If you’re wondering what the whitish splotches are – it’s a mixture of flour, salt, and baking powder I put around the plants to treat the cabbage worms organically. Did it work? I can’t say – but I’ve not seen any caterpillars in awhile, so that’s something to think about, isn’t it?
Here are the same dry-shelling beans I’m growing in the garden, chilling on my deck. We’ll see how this goes.
And my Thai pepper plant that I bought for $0.75 a few weeks ago is doing rather nicely as well.
I’ve hardened off my celery root seedlings, but I think I’m going to let them chill in containers a few more weeks before transplanting. I’m sorta shocked I’ve not killed them yet. I hope this will be one of those gardening successes for me – I adore celery root!
Over the weekend, my son was able to harvest his first radishes!
Here’s a view of the entire backyard garden. The Princess is picking mint for her grandma.
I picked a few additional things to bring her today:
How is your garden growing?
For more on gardening, see my rosy update, my not-so-rosy update, and Erica’s recent urban gardening update.
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If you need something to do with the chard, saute a can of white beans and garlic in two table spoons of olive. When the white beans are crispy wilt in the Chard. Top with parmsen cheese (or nutritional yeast if you want to make it vegan) just before serving. It is one of my family’s favorite side dishes.
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