Garden Update - It's been a long hard summer

As many of you know we lost Pippin a month ago. I've been very sad as she was a very special kitty. It was hard to get back into the garden as she had quite a few favorite spots and would always run to me from them when I would go into the yard. It's still a little hard for me not to get teary eyed when I go out there.

This has been a tough summer, it began with my mother's death, with a drought in the middle then closed with the death of Pippin, let's just say that 2011 will be a much better year for the garden



So... Today was my first day back and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. We had lots of Kentucky Wonder Beans and I have to say they are absolutely delicious. if you come across any seeds they are a definite go.

We also decided to pick the peppers we had since it's now getting cold. These beauties were grown from seed. And while we only got about 4 -5 peppers all summer, I still feel a little proud that we were able to grow them.

In addition to the peppers, we also picked all of our tomatoes, all the green tomatoes, including a few that were from seeds, if any of you have recipes, please share! I picked some dandelion and sauteed it with loads of garlic, shallots, peppers and green tomatoes. I also added some earth balance to thicken it up and boy was that yummy. Ha, we ate it before we could photograph!

I did manage to pick a couple of ripe tomatoes but the pickin's were slim

I also was able to get seeds off of our radishes and the collards that went to seed. It's fun to let something go to seed because now we'll have for next year. It makes so much sense to save seeds. So when you are eating a great vegetable that has seeds, save them! It's always worth a try to see if they will sprout. You can put a few in a moist paper towel and if they sprout then you will be good to go. We store our seeds in airtight containers in the fridge and they keep pretty well.

Radish & Collard seeds in pods

The collards and Swiss chard we planted this year were from seeds we kept last year.






Lemongrass makes me very happy and our lemongrass that we planted in the yard has done beautifully. But now with temps dipping into the 30s we need to bring it in. Jared was inspired and has started making lemongrass tea. WOW! I have a new love, and it's lemongrass leaves steeped in hot water, so simple yet so delicious. I highly recommend it.

From lemongrass bush comes lemongrass tea







Last but not least, we can't forget that our little Lola has been such a saving grace during this difficlut time. And while she's starting to do a lot of things Pippy did she's got her own sweet personality. Here's a phot of her hitting jackpot with a nice big pot of catnip.