Today I've some pictures to share, garden harvest update and a small bit of what I've been up to in the kitchen :)
First up the armenian cucumbers 🥒
The plants gotten nice n bushy, lush and flowered. The bees and butterflies still hanging around are loving it!
Can you spot the hidden cucumber? 😊 they have been trellising very nicely this season with just a Little assistance in training.
Next up, the front wild patch
Ive had to pull a good chunk of the lambs quarter as I dont want too much of it right now. It did not end up flowering or seeding last season so the seed is from last toss out. This season im trying to get more herbs in as I want to collect seed and start drying out more for personal use.
The okra i threw out seems to be stunting a bit, but when/if they get bigger I expect they'll be very beautiful in the foliage as their a burgundy type. The purple basil is very striking already among the green.
More of a close up of the cluster growth. Im going to be leaving most things as is and let the plants have a survival of the fittest thing go on.
Next up the peas and beans row
No beans yet, but the peas did finally sprout and are doing okay. Lots of weeds (chicken salad) I've got to pull soon and what looks a stray cucumber plant. I'll be trellising and trimming that one away from the row as much as possible, but since it's growing, I'll let it live for now
Breakfast radish is up next
I've been pulling out the biggest ones as they ripen. To be honest, i was worried all clustered up they wouldn't grow too great, but it seems my concerns weren't necessary. They've been doing great! I will be seeding more soon :)
Im seeing some flowering come up so with luck some pods will be able to be harvested soon!
The sunchoke is up next, there is a little bug friend in there too
If you cant spot them, here's a lil close up
Im gonna be keeping an eye on these. With luck, we'll be able to harvest a few good-sized ears. But if not, I'll take the lessons learned on it. So far, no ants, which were the doom of our last couple of tries.
That's it for pictures for now :)
🌱🌱Garden harvest update~ 🌱🌱
A small quick blurb on the amount of whats been harvested since the last post :)
Roughly 6 radish each time × 8 harvest= about 48 radishs + greens (I have used the greens to feed both the chickens or in quiche bakes and salads)
Armenian cucumbers = 4 so far. Mostly in salads but each cucumber has spread into about 5 salads each. I do peel them and feed the peels to the chickens.
Green onions, well tbh I've been very bad about collecting data on when I harvest these, but id say I cut at least 5 to the root area every 3 days. So rough guess from last post?
5×5= 25 at least. They are also still growing very strong. I will also be planting some more as it turns out they work quite well in just about every dish and are stupid easy to grow from rooted cuttings (i do grow them from grocery store stock that has roots attatched still)
Chard, ive harvested about 6 leaves each time. 6x4=24 leaves and stems. (Used for quiche omlettes and to feed the chickens.) This time its a lovely red ribbed variety that came from self seeding
Eggs collected since the last post? As I haven't been the one collecting due to health issues i can only give a rough #. We get about 6-7 eggs a day still, so roughly 72 eggs.
In addition ive set up 2 incubation periods (with a 3rd actively going and a 4th waiting to start soon. I would like to stagger hatchouts for a small variety of ages) one batch was 9 eggs, of which 4 hatched. the 2nd was 8 eggs of which 3 hatched. They were all sold off to raise funds for chicken grains. I do count incubator eggs separately from eating eggs (even though all the eggs we have are currently fertalised)
Carrot bread! I got a ton of carrots from a veggie event and made several loaves of carrot bread. I froze a few loaves. From a loaf, i made some French toast with cream cheese frosting to top. And I also made a bread pudding from a large sandwhich bread loaf. Ive also let a few peice dry out see how they'll be as croutons for salad toppings but haven't tried it yet (I do hope they'll be good!)
i also got a lot of tomatoes recently
For those i baked them in the oven with some onion, garlic and seasonings. Cooled, pureed and froze portions for quick sauces. The rest i made into fresh salsa or cut up to eat with salad
Ive also recieved a good chunk of pears,
For those im thinking fruit leather and maybe some hand pies (which I'll freeze some for later use as they wont all be eaten at once)
🐝🪴Happy Homesteading and Gardening 🪴🐝
