All good things must end

We have had a bumper crop of green beans this year. Here is the last little picking from today. At the peek we were picking 6 times this much. Our fridge is full even though we have been eating and giving them away. It is a good problem to have.

The bean plants still look great but they are pretty much done producing.

I took down the frame and move the chickens over them. It will take a while but they will help turn the plants into nice soil for next year. When they are done with the beans they will help me take out the zucchini and yellow squash, then the tomatoes.

Posted by Nathan

8/17/11

Pumpkins

We planted sugar pumpkins this year. They are supposed to be good for pies. We harvested them a few weeks ago. They are kind of small. Hope they taste good.

Bad seed?

Some of my Brussels sprouts have developed nice long stems. I expect they will begin to produce sprouts soon.
Some, almost half, don't look like Brussels sprouts at all; even given identical growing conditions.
I am beginning to think that I go some bad seed.

Posted by Nathan

End of the Zucchini

Powdery mildew is claiming the zucchini, yellow squash, and pumpkins. We have enjoyed a nice harvest this summer but they won't be able to hang in much longer.

Street Garden

These are pictures of our first attempt at a street garden. The idea of a street garden is to for it to be a tool to promote gardening in our neighborhood by being an example. Street gardens are supposed to be both decorative and food producing. They are established in areas that normally would be devoted to landscaping. I think we have done better on the food producing part than on the decorative part.

We plan to do more with this idea next year. We hope to put in at least one more garden this size. We may add a few flowers to make it more decorative. We plan to include more information; plant names, planting dates, type and amount of fertilizer (We hope to develop a fertilizer based largely on coffee grounds. We plan to give our local coffee shop a nod.), summary of the labor involved, and a way for people to contact us if they want more information.

I plan to talk to the neighbors down the street. They put in a street garden right after I did but they didn't keep it up. It is now over run with weeds. Maybe we can start a movement in our little corner of the world.

Green Beans again

We made green bean casserole tonight. It needed a little salt but was a hit with the kids.
We boiled the beans and put them in a pan.
Added a little cooked onion...
... some sour cream...
and bread crumbs. Then baked the whole thing for 15 minuets and it was done.
Yummy.

Green Beans and Zucchini

We have had a bumper crop of green beans zucchini and yellow squash. Today we decided to make Japanese style tempura.


It turned out great.

Slugs

We love baby choy, but unfortunantly,theres something else that loves it too, SLUGS! If you look carefully you can see six slugs. In fact, theres about six slugs on every baby choy plant.
Over here you can see the destruction they have caused to the baby choy on the bed made of bricks.
We planted more baby choy in this wooden bed and zero slugs have even touched it Maybe because its on the sunnier side.

bonsai

We have lots of bonsai trees in our backyard.
Sometimes we bring them in to fix them up and make them look better.
After fixing them they look good so we bring them in to decorate the house.

spring is coming

The weather is getting nicer so we will be planting stuff soon.

We have started lettuce, baby choi spinach and green onion.

Endive....

The plant with the light green, layered leaves and frilly edges is endive....We ate it recently, flavoring it with garlic and salt. Though the added flavoring did not mask the bitter taste that came naturally with the endive. I personally did not enjoy the taste of endive though....

這種菜叫做endive.我們前幾天已經把他吃了。我們煮的時候，我們用大蒜和鹽巴調味，可是菜還是苦苦的。我不太喜歡吃。