A tour of the vegetable garden is long overdue. I've been hosting guests, working at my day job, contending with weather, and so on. But enough excuses! At long last, here it is! Vegetable Garden in Late July Here are pictures of some of my runner beans. There are Trionfo Violetto plus some Painted Ladies in the background. From farther away, you can see how the beans are climbing this support. (Below) I think I need a taller one! The flowers on the left are Scarlet Runners. From a … [Read more...] about Vegetable Garden Tour
Food
Beans! Spiced, Pickled, and Dilly
Beans! The bush beans were ready to pick! Joel and I went out to the garden and picked all those that looked big enough. I planted the Blue Lake variety, which are a tasty string bean. We have some pole, or runner beans as well, but they are still flowering yet. Here are some of the beautiful flowers close-up. The first is Trionfo Violetto, a gorgeous purple flower which turns into a gorgeous purple pod. The bean turns green when cooked, however. Next is the Painted Lady … [Read more...] about Beans! Spiced, Pickled, and Dilly
Cabbage Pest Deterrent
Do you have a pest problem in your cabbage bed? There are little critters that also tend to go after other brassica plants as well, such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower, and more. The 1-2" flying bugs look so innocent. I could not get a photo because they move so fast! They are little white butterflies with some blackish spots on them. There is also a cabbage moth which isn't quite as cute. So far, I've only seen the butterflies. They lay the eggs on the underside of the … [Read more...] about Cabbage Pest Deterrent
Spring Planting
Planting in the Spring Here in the Northeast, we are well behind many of you when it comes to Spring planting! In fact, we just went plant shopping in rainy, cold weather. It was a little disheartening, because the winds made the raindrops land on our faces, making it rather difficult to see what plants we selected! At any rate, it could be a fun surprise when planting this year's garden. That said, I'm sort of scrambling to get things set up in a way that will, hopefully, prevent some … [Read more...] about Spring Planting
The Last Move
This will be our fourth move in four years. Yes, that's right. Four years ago, someone was interested in our family home in the suburbs, and since all of our children had finished school, we decided to listen to their offer. It turned out to be one of our best decisions. You see, we'd been dreaming of the opportunity to move up to our 1850's farmhouse full-time, and this was helping us inch closer to our dream. The dream helped us set a goal, and with that goal, we began to make … [Read more...] about The Last Move