Today's Harvest: Baby Carrots

baby carrots

I've been picking these small round carrots since fall. We've had a hard freeze, but fortunately, they made it through unscathed. They are actually growing in a self watering pot out in the yard. They have a sweet taste, and it is kind of like eating a sweet treat in the afternoon. Love these!

In the garden I have Swiss chard, baby carrots and parsley that are ready to harvest. That's it.  I've grown more items in the Winter in past years. I did plant some peas this weekend, and hope to get some radishes and more peas planted by Saturday. I also have green onions under grown lights as well as sunflower greens.

Delicata Squash in my Container Garden

Last fall, I was in Las Vegas and stopped by Whole Foods, looking for delicata squash. I was able to purchase some, and we absolutely loved it! I saved the seeds so that I could try my hand at growing it.  I've been somewhat frustrated trying to get it to grow past what you see in the above picture. It is growing in pots, so if I don't get the water just right, the little squashes just shrivel up. Image my happiness when I noticed a huge delicata squash growing!

I've finally picked it, and I'll serve it with dinner tomorrow. I will make a post tomorrow on how to prepare it in a simple, delicious way.

Have you had success growing delicata squash? Post a comment if you have and let me know how successful you've been growing it.

My Container Garden July 2012

Unfortunately, I've been remiss in posting these pictures of my container garden. I actually have containers throughout my backyard that I grow vegetables in.

I love how tall the cherry tomato plant has grown. This particular plant came from Costco, and has done very well. At least I've been able to harvest quite a few cherry tomatoes throughout the summer.

On another plant in a different area of the yard, this cherry tomato is suffering. I look all over for the hornworms or caterpillars, and can't find any. Of course, it is in the 90's so it is tough standing in the heat trying to find the culprits.

It is just so easy to grow Swiss Chard, and it is so nutritious! I made a great batch of chili using Giada's White Bean and Chicken Chili recipe. However, I left out the chicken! On purpose of course. It still tastes great! If you do eat meat/poultry, I'd use ground turkey in place of the chicken.

Swiss Chard

Today's Harvest: Lettuce, Tomatoes and Swiss Chard

I love going out to the garden every morning to see what is ready to harvest. Pictured below is one of the cherry tomato plants that I got this year at Costco. They are about 3 feet tall now, and the tomatoes have slowly been ripening the past 2 weeks.

Cherry Tomato Plant in container

Today I was really pleased to be able to harvest some lettuce (black seeded Simpson lettuce). Those plants just keep on giving! I've been harvesting some every week.

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

I washed it all and gave it a spin in my salad spinner. I had enough to fill a gallon ziplock bag.
Isn't it beautiful? It will be perfect for green smoothies (this variety has a sweet taste) and for salads. Next, I took the scissors to a pot of Swiss chard.....

Swiss Chard growing in a pot

After cutting off the stems (I use the stems in smoothies and stirfry), I washed it and spun it dry (lettuce spinner, again!) and had enough to fill a gallon size ziplock bag. There is such a feeling of satisfaction being able to harvest product from your own garden. I grow everything organically; no pesticides.

Swiss Chard

OK, and then on to my mini harvest of tomatoes...

Red Cherry and Yellow Pear Tomatoes

Don't these look delicious! I remember the first time I picked a cherry tomato. It was in our neighbor's garden in Escondido, California. I was 4 or 5 years old, and our neighbor let us come over and pick some to snack on. I will never forget how good those cherry tomatoes tasted. My lifelong love of gardening started right then! Anyway, there is nothing better than popping a cherry tomato fresh off of the plant into your mouth. Heaven! I did just that while picking these and I can say that these are fantastic.
I also have some sprouts growing. I usually have 3-4 different sprouts going on the counter every week. This week I sprouted lentils, peas, garbanzos and broccoli. Here is a picture of the broccoli sprouts....

We've been eating sprouts at every meal this week. Great taste, nutritious and a perfect addition to whatever we're eating. This particular broccoli seed has been some of the best I've ever sprouted. You can order some at  www.sproutshop.net .  Click here for the broccoli seed page.

Today's Harvest: Beets

Today's Harvest is beets! May 22, 2012

The beets that I thinned awhile back are ready for harvesting. The thinnings that I planted are still a ways off. So, now I get to decide what to do with these beets. I guess I could bottle them, or slice them with my mandolin, and bake them for beet chips. I've been cleaning and organizing today, and saw Rachael Ray make a salad with some sliced beets. Think I'll do some googling and see what else I can come up with! When I've decided, I'll be back with the results!

Beets (right) growing in one of my large pots

Pug in the Garden

Today pug got his summer haircut. About 3 times a year we have Pug shaved. It is good for him during the summer because it keeps him cool. Pugs overheat fairly easily. We love to hold him and snuggle with him after he is shaved because he is so smooth and soft! I also love that there is a whole lot less hair in the house.

Here is Luigi greeting Pug after his grooming session with the Dog Mobile!

One of my cherry tomato plants in really getting big.

Close up of some of the tomatoes on the plant.

The yellow pear tomatoes are really coming on and getting big.

And finally, the celebrity tomatoes.

Tomorrow, I'll try to get a chance to load some of the pictures I took of the the herbs and other plants.

Today's Harvest: Lettuce

I've been enjoying lettuce (Simpson Black Seeded Leaf Lettuce), Swiss chard and beet greens from my garden over the last several weeks. Above, I cut enough to fill a heaping amount that came way over the top of my large Tupperware mixing bowl.

Leaf lettuces are considered greens. They are a good source of vitamin A and C, calcium and fiber as well as essential minerals such as potassium. Here I am chopping up some washed lettuce for a salad. I also will add some of the Simpson Black Seeded Leaf Lettuce to smoothies. It has a sweet taste.

After washing the lettuce, I like to use the lettuce spinner to remove any extra moisture before cutting it up for a salad.

After washing and spinning the lettuce leaves, I store whatever I'm not using in a dish towel, and then placed in a air tight plastic container. The leaves are then ready to go when ever I am ready to chop them up for a salad, or put them into a smoothie. They will stay good for 10-14 days this way.

Garden Report Jan. 5, 2012

If you are trying to get more vegetables into your diet, the best way is to grow your own. Not only will they be fresh with better nutrient values, but they just taste better. Fresh vegetables are better in any recipe. You can grow most vegetables in pots if you don't have space for a large garden. Gardening is also a great hobby!

 Garden gnome from my friend, Char watches over my vegetables!

I've always enjoyed gardening. I remember as a 5 year old, visiting our neighbor in Escondido, California who had a wonderful garden. He allowed my siblings and I to pick cherry tomatoes off of his plants, and we'd pop them in our mouths. Delicious! Perhaps that is when I caught the gardening bug!?

I have a year round container garden. Here is how the plants are looking as of today:

These are beets. I have two pots of beets and they are doing very well. I might clip some of the greens for our stir fry tonight. I am so tempted to pull up a plant and see if I have any actual beets.

Swiss chard. I love this stuff. Great for smoothies and in stir fry. I will definitely be clipping some of this for tonight's dinner.

Peas. I have 2 pots of peas. Since the garden is covered in plastic, I think that these took a bit of a hit. Too hot under there. I took the plastic off for the day. Temps are in the 60's daytime and low 30's nighttime. Fortunately, they are making a come back.

Here are the sunflower greens I'm growing in the kitchen. I love sunflower greens. Awesome taste and so nutritious! They are delicious on salads, sandwiches and scrambled eggs.

This is a picture of the black oil sunflower seeds I get from Sprout People. 

Winter Container Garden 2011-2012

Another Winter, another container garden! I am really hoping to start tearing up my back yard in February and begin putting together my raised bed garden. I think I will get better yield from my plants with the raised bed garden.

However, what I have currently are a half dozen very large pots that contain Swiss Chard, Beets and Peas.  Here is one of the pots of beets. I will be using the beet greens in a stir fry this week. I like using the beets in smoothies.

I have Swiss Chard planted in several pots, by itself and along with other vegetables.

The lighting is a little strange because all of these pots are in a mini greenhouse of sorts that I created. This is last year's set up. This year I have a larger space.

Here in Southern Utah, our day time temps in the Winter are in the 50's and the evening temps are in the 20's to 30's. The plastic greenhouse allows me to grow all kinds of crops such as Swiss Chard, Spinach, Kale, Bok Choy and Peas. I haven't tried lettuce in my green house, but I'm starting some from seed this week, and I'll pot some up here in a few weeks. I'm also starting more spinach.

Favorite Garden Spots!

I'm putting my garden together for the season. This year will be bigger and better. Hopefully it will be more productive as well! I was doing some blog hopping, and came across some pictures that gave me garden envy. Hope you'll love them too! The first one I found on HGTV website. I love how lush that raised bed looks.

A pot of lettuce seedlings from HGTV website. Here is one from Hazelbloom, and I just love how she turned a small corner of the yard into a garden spot. Here is a raised bed garden from Better Homes and Gardens. My garden is full of pots...a container garden. I'll take some pictures tomorrow.

Winter Container Garden

I was just going through pictures on my computer. I have to get 3 to the high school for a senior slide show during graduation. Anyway, I found pictures I had taken in December of my container garden that I meant to share with you. I bought 2 packs of panels from Lowe's for $24.99 each. These hook together. I bought them to keep Pug and Luigi out of the "garden", because they were eating my tomatoes and cucumbers. I bought some plastic at the garden center to cover the thing once it became cold. I've been harvesting Swiss chard, spinach and bok choy ever since. Which reminds me, I need to get out there and water today :) I used office paper "clips" to keep the plastic from blowing off. Below is my awesome pot of bok choy. Great for stir fry! Top left is 2 varieties of Swiss chard, and another Swiss chard plant on the top right. Bottom left is spinach, and bottom right is the bok choy.

As you may recall, I brought my tomatoes inside and put them under a grow light. I had cherry tomatoes all winter. I recently just moved it outside, where it froze. It was covered with a spider mite, which I couldn't get rid of. I have my garlic and green onions under plastic on my patio table, which is on the patio. It gets sun, but it is covered. I'll endeavor to get some pictures of that as well. I need to get some seeds started by Saturday. Feb. 14 is the official planting day here in St. George for early crops.