Deck Garden – September 2015

The deck garden going to seed! I’ll have to collect the seeds for next year’s deck garden as the pods dry completely.  The Black Eyed Susans are all seed pods at this point. The zinnias still have some blossoms but about half have formed seed pods. I experimented with a drape from my camera lens (made of a white plastic shopping bag) to photograph this zinnia flower on a bright sunny day.

The basil is going to seed too but it is more difficult to pinpoint went the flower ends and the pod begins. I liked the color of the pod and leaves in this one.

The sunflowers have not done very well in my deck garden and it may be that they like deeper soil. They took a long time to create buds and the blooms were not large. They often look better from the back than the front.

The leaves of the purple peas have a lot of the color of the peas in their leaves along with the green.

The leaves of the sunflowers are just green but pattern of veins. Both of the leaf images were the underside of the leaves.

Through the Kitchen Window

We have a goldfinch that frequents our deck - getting a drink at the bird bath and

Enjoying the Black Eyed Susan and Zinnia seeds forming on the plants growing in pots. I have enjoyed watching the bird - at least I think it is the same one - for the past few days. Rather than going outside to photography him I’ve been attempting to capture his activity through the kitchen window.

The seeds must be very tasty!

Mint Harvest - June 2015

The mint beds are growing profusely this summer - getting an extra boost from the rains in June. I’ve harvested about 70% of the first harvest at this point and will do the rest in the next few days. I put off the harvest because I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to be using it for since I am no longer drinking tea of any kind (part of the behavior change required to eliminate artificial sweeteners); I’ve discovered I like adding dried mint to stir fries and soups! It makes the kitchen smell wonderful and adds a delicate layer of flavor.

The two areas of mint I’ve cut so far are quite different. One is a flowerbed in the front of the house where the mint is concentrated in a huge mound backed by day lilies. It was growing rapidly

And blooming too! I processed both the leaves and the blooms.

The other area was the deck garden. There were several pots thick with mint. One had mint growing on tall stalks. I’ve included and before and after shot.

I rinse off the pile of cut mint in the sink and then strip the leaves. It is a time consuming and tiring process. The NINJA processor is a bit easier to use that then Cuisinart food processor that I finally wore out after many years.

The last load of mint in the processor was combined with 2 lemons (with skins) to use for the apple crisp I plan to make later in the day.

And now the mint is on my white drying tray in a prominent place so that I remember to stir it a few times a day so that it will dry evenly. And then it goes into small soup tureen with a lid; I’m already thinking ahead to all the dishes it will enhance.

Deck Garden - June 2015

Mid - June - and the garden is mostly green. The only plant that is blooming so far is one of the purple pea vines. It is climbing on the peacock pot sticker that the gold finches like to perch on.

There are buds on some of the other plants. By July there should be more color.

I am enjoying the greens at the moment.

Some purple basil came up in the pot that I planted some seeds from a packet that was over 5 years old. More of the seeds were viable than I anticipated! I’ve been pulling seedlings to use in salads so that there will be a mix of green and purple basil leaves in plants that have enough room to grow.

The mint in the turtle sandbox is root bound and can’t seem to grow any more around the edge. I’ll give it a through trim at some point then churn up the sandy soil and start over. There is a very thick mat of stems entwined over the surface so I’ll start the churn with long handled pruners!

I’ve already harvested some of the red potatoes (posted about it here) but there are several more plants from those same sprouted potatoes. My plan is to harvest when any of the potatoes peek above the soil. The pots are probably not large enough to get an outstanding crop….but maybe over the course of the summer they will all yield a serving!  The lighter green leaves of the celery that sprouted in the kitchen window sill is a nice contrast to the the darker greens of other plants.

I was trying to use old seed so I probably have cucumbers in some of the pots too. There were a few seeds left from last year and the cucumbers did well as ‘spillers’ in many of the pots. Thrillers will be whatever is not green. I am anticipating zinnias and sunflowers but there could be some other flowers too from seeds in the soil from last year. July will tell! RIght now i am enjoying the delicate red in the stems of last December's poinsetta!

Red Potato Harvest

Last February some small red potatoes sprouted before we could eat them. I decided to cut them into pieces and root them in a shallow tray in front of a kitchen window along with the stubs of celery stalks. In February - any green plants were welcome relief from the white snow on the ground outside the window!

The potatoes did very well; their roots formed a dense mat in the tray and I planted them in some pots on our deck in late April. The plants grew rapidly - making large leaves and stems. Last week when I was watering all the pots (before the rains came), I noticed that one of the pots had what looked like a good sized potato peeking through the soil. Yesterday I ‘harvested’ the potatoes from the pot. There were 4 of them - a small serving. That's a pretty good crop considering they have only been in the dirt for about 6 weeks. The potatoes were all very close to the surface. None of the other plants have visible potatoes yet so I will let them continue growing…and next time I’ll plant the potatoes in bigger pots!