Today in the Garden

We have about 14 watermelons still growing on the vine and we have been enjoying eating them as well. I think we will save the seeds from this years crop too. They grow well and produce finished fruit in 85-95 days.
We have a variety of peppers we are harvesting daily.

The one cucumber plant is still producing cukes. We just planted six new plants as seeds.

Now that we have trimmed back the foliage we are seeing the tomatoes turning color.

The summer strawberries are coming in. We do not get as many as the spring produces but it's a nice treat to have them in July.

The Three buddies growing in stockings. (That just sounds weird) It's actually two now as I cut one off this morning. I didn't let it grow to 18lbs like the first one. It still came in at 12lbs. I was thinking how many pies will all these Tennessee Sweet Potatoes make and how many pies can I eat a day?

A shot of the garden looking over the fence to the east.

It's so nice not to have to walk around the ugly stump and have a gate to go through rather than hop the fence.
This is one days take of strawberries. We finally have enough to share with neighbors.
Today I made the tomato cages on one row before it was too hot to be outside. I went to the store and found each stick of 2" x 2"x 48"wood for .51 cents. The stainless steel wire I had on a spool down stairs. Hopefully the other row will be done tomorrow.

Strawberries are here

This is the second day we could harvest strawberries. We have been getting a couple a day but now they are coming in pretty good.
My bride made breakfast this morning. Real maple syrup, organic blueberries, home made bread turned into french toast, strawberries, organic free trade coffee and a glass of orange juice.

Upon our return

So we returned from our 4 days in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We sure do miss it up there. Spring up there has just started but here I think we are going right into Summer. The strawberries flowered while we were away. The tulips are singing the last song
and the lettuce bed is so big, we could feed the neighborhood with it all.

Free Grass (not that kind of grass)

While mowing the yard I have come up against the fact that I need more grass for the compost pile as well as laying down mulch between the rows. So I mow the neighbors yard with my eco mower, making sure everyone knows I really do have a screw loose. (It's only two and a half neighbors and it makes me feel like Forrest Gump.) One such neighbor thought it was so nice of me, that she went to the big city to visit her family. While there her son in law mowed his perfectly grromed, chemically treated lawn and bagged the clippings for curb side pick up. A light bulb went off in my neighbors head and she snapped those grass clippings up for me as a thank you for mowing her yard. She stuck them inside her car and there they sat for a few days. The temp. outside was a nice & warm 75 degrees. We she left her family she drove two hours home with the windows down as it was little smelly in the car. She did bring me those clippings as she set out to do. The only problem in an organic garden, is chemically treated lawn clippings do not work out so well. I put them in the corner of the yard where they proceeded to stink up the neighborhood. Everyone thought my compost pile was bad. I was afraid someone would call the city on me and I wouldn't be allowed to make compost anymore. So I dug them into the ground to stop the stench. My neighbors car still stinks however. While at the Farmers Market on Friday, it became apparent that we have everything in our own backyard. Well except for a bunch of people for Boo Boo to meet and greet.

Right from the garden. Yum Yum.

1st Strawberries

This morning my wife and I went to the garden to pick our 1st strawberries. There are many more just needing a few more days to ripen, but we are having these two this morning for breakfast.

Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside.

The average strawberry has 200 seeds.

The ancient Romans believed that strawberries alleviated symptoms of melancholy, fainting, all inflammations, fevers, throat infections, kidney stones, bad breath, attacks of gout, and diseases of the blood, liver and spleen.

To symbolize perfection and righteousness, medieval stone masons carved strawberry designs on altars and around the tops of pillars in churches and cathedrals.

In parts of Bavaria, country folk still practice the annual rite each spring of tying small baskets of wild strawberries to the horns of their cattle as an offering to elves. They believe that the elves, are passionately fond of strawberries, will help to produce healthy calves and an abundance of milk in return.

Madame Tallien, a prominent figure at the court of the Emperor Napoleon, was famous for bathing in the juice of fresh strawberries. She used 22 pounds per basin. Needless to say, she did not bathe daily.

Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring.

There is a museum in Belgium just for strawberries.

Strawberries are a member of the rose family.

Ninety-four percent of US households consume strawberries.

Americans eat 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries each year plus another 1.8 pounds frozen per capita.

Strawberries are low fat, low calorie; high in vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, potassium

Strawberries, as part of a 5 a day fruit & vegetable program, can help reduce the risk of cancer & heart attacks.

In medieval times, strawberries were served at important functions to bring peace & prosperity.

Folk lore states that if you split a double strawberry in half and share it with the opposite sex, you’ll soon fall in love. (this is what happened with my wife and I. lol)

In France, Strawberries were thought to be an aphrodisiac. A soup made of strawberries, thinned sour cream, borage, & powered sugar was served to newlyweds. (we didn't get this desert, but we are still kind of newlywed so perhaps we will try it with this years crop of strawberries.)

Over 53 percent of seven to nine-year-olds picked strawberries as their favorite fruit. (me too!)