Payoff!

Pulled the broccoli this morning. Then I planted some more squash where it had been along with some nasturtium. Supposedly that will keep the squash bugs away. We'll see. I picked the biggest bell pepper I think I have ever grown today (Sea Minerals?) as well as some pretty good sized jalapeños. The tomatoes are starting to come off too. That means fresh salsa for tonight's game 2 of the NBA finals (Thunder Up!). The strawberries are starting to make again but not a lot. The fridge smells like broccoli so I had better get it eaten or frozen. It is not a pleasant smell.

Gotta go. Thunder watch party at the house tonight!

More Chard

I cut another grocery sack of Swiss chard this morning.  I need to get it frozen before it gets hot this afternoon.  Blanching all that will definitely heat up the house. (I still have the last chard to freeze as well.)  I got another good bunch from my broccoli plants.  I'm not sure if I am ready to pull them ar not.

While the mower was being repaired, we let the goats run the yard.  They stayed away from my flowers and garden for the most part, but they did finally find the tomatoes and gladiolus.  We put some smaller wire along the fence to keep them out of the tomatoes.  The gladiolus are just going to be gone.  I did however reap the benefits of teh goats eating away at the tomatoes.  They knocked off a few green tomatoes and we had that favorite southern delicacy of fried green tomatoes.  I had never had them before.  They were really good.  Kind of a pain and the house still smells like a deep fryer, so they won't be made too often.  Besides, I need ripe ones or salsa.

Drew, the dog, has become much more used to the goats and we actually have taught him to somewhat herd the goats.  I'll have to get video of that.  he is a German Shepard, so that is what he has been bred to do.  For no real training, he seems to be doing it quite well

So, I saw I had a visitor to the site from around my old stomping grounds of Elk City.  Someone from Erick, OK, home of Roger Miller. Howdy!

On a totally unrelated to gardening issue,  here is my kiddo with Kevin Durant before game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.  (He got to high five James Harden, The Beasrd as Elijah called him, as well!)  The Thunder beat the Spurs 107-99 to move on to the NBA Finals!  Thunder Up!

More Mulch

So, I got the wheat straw put down. This straw is much better than last year's because they harvested it first. That should mean a lot less wheat coming up in the garden. I cut some Swiss chard. This year I have white, yellow, and red. I will freeze this first batch since I don't have any plans for it at the moment. The broccoli has slowed way down but I'm still getting a little. I'll give it another week and then I might plant something in its place. I may leave it empty for fall broccoli.

Mulched except for the upper right corner.  I just now planted my sunflowers there.

Lunch

Freezer

last of the broccoli

Guarding the Garden :-)

Lookin' Good!

 

 

 

Broccoli

Now this is a bowl of broccoli. It's the first time in three summers we've gotten any worth talking about. Still more to come too!

It is wild blackberry season right now and today I went picking twice!  Earlier in the day Elijah and I went to one of the local parks and found a patch.  There were quite a few ripe, but mostly there were just turning.  Then later in the day a friend invited me to pick on private property that she had permission to pick on.  Had fun both times.  Lots of talking in the evening and just fun mom/son time this morning.  Here is a recipe I posted a whle back. Grain Free Blackberry Cobbler 

Thanks for the invite, CFW!!

Pomegranate Deseeder

It really worked. It may be better than the mango splitter. Why can’t I think these things up? And yes, I had pomegranates still in the fridge. They are waaaay out of season right now, but they keep surprsingly well. I am making grenadine as we speak.