Mother Earth's Garden

Our Ohio weather has been setting records for the coolest summer on the record books. I’ve actually been wearing long sleeves in July and August. I can’t remember when I ever wore a sweatshirt in July!
I’m not really complaining, for the most part the temperatures have been very moderate, when they’re usually very hot and humid. The weather’s been great for outside activities (when it’s not raining).

The cool rainy weather is really causing a problem for my tomatoes. The smaller tomatoes are still ripening, but the larger varieties are rotting on the vine before they get ripe.
I’ve …read more

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The garden’s cranking it up the last few days, here’s a photo of last nights haul. I’m starting to get tons of peppers, a few red tomatoes, cucumbers, and yellow squash daily.

I’ve been plucking onions almost daily for cooking, and my potatoes are ready to dig. I probably need to get them dug this week.
There’s also a couple eggplant almost ready (another day or two). They’re yummy on the grill.
The tomatoes that are getting ripe are the smaller ones, I have red, yellow, and a dark purple variety here. They’re smaller than the peppers, but they’ll be wonderful …read more

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This was the haul from yesterday from the garden. It doesn’t seem like much, and it’s way less than I usually have this time of year. We also have onions ready, but I’ve been going out and plucking them as I need them for cooking, since at this stage they’re still growing.
 
I’ve been picking the tomatoes when they start to turn ripe, because by the time they get ripe they start splitting and rotting on the bottom. I think it’s from the damp cool conditions we’ve had this summer.
I do have quite the variety of tomatoes going on though. …read more

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I haven’t done a vegetable garden update for a couple weeks now. We’ve had a very cool summer this year, and it seems like my garden is a little behind where it should be.
I’ve only had two tiny ripe tomatoes so far, and a tomato worm ate half of one of them, before he found the bottom of my shoe.

I do have quite a few green tomatoes, and blooms, but nothing is turning red (or pink, or yellow).

My peppers are doing great. I have both bell peppers, and some hot peppers I planted. Both are producing …read more

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Asparagus season is almost here in my zone 5 Ohio garden. My favorite way to cook asparagus is on the grill. I also like it tossed with olive oil, and a little parmesan and either grilled or baked in the oven until it’s tender.
Did you know you can eat asparagus straight from the garden? If you haven’t tried it, you should sometime. It has a different flavor, and a great crunch.
Asparagus is easy to grow, and the only care it really requires is a little dividing every few years. Set new asparagus crowns up in a sunny …read more

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My sister and I were talking about growing potatoes in an old tire, or old barrel last fall. I’ve never tried it myself, but I’ve heard you can get more potatoes per plant by planting them this way.
Plant your potato at ground level in a barrel with the bottom cut out, or an old tire. As the potato plant grows, add dirt around the plant, and fill the tire or barrel with dirt. When your plants are mature, just remove the container from around the plant, and you have tons of potatoes that you don’t even have to …read more

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First Juice (yep they’re the one’s giving away the juice sample box you can sign up to win, there’s a bonus pack of purple carrot seeds in the box, so you can try your hand at growing your own purple carrots) gave me the fun scoop and the history of carrots, and in particular the purple carrot.
Carrots originated in Ancient Persia, then spread slowly through the Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe. Carrots were originally yellow, white, red, and purple!!! The Dutch turned them orange in the 16th Century to be patriotic for the royal family, the House of Orange.
…read more

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I’m still working on putting together the information for beginning gardeners I promised the other day. In the mean time here’s a video series from Monkey See that is a great tutorial for beginning vegetable gardeners.
Here’s the first video in the series:

 
Check out the rest of the vegetable gardening series here. It’s a wonderful series by Ed Bruske is a Master Gardener and president of D.C. Urban Gardeners.

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I love Tomatillos for salsas and chutneys, combine them with cilantro and you have what I think is one of natures perfect flavor combinations. The new Pineapple Tomatillo from The Cook’s Garden sounds very interesting.
From The Cooks Garden:

You will not believe the flavor of these little gems. The golden-yellow fruits, about the size of a large blueberry, taste just like pineapple. Low-growing plants produce huge yields of tomatillos surrounded by papery husks that turn from green to brown and split open when they are ready to harvest. Pull back the husks and dip in melted chocolate for a surprising …read more

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Check out these really cute veggie art people. See what happens when you play with your food? You end up with vegetable people.

Some of these would be fun to use as a centerpiece, or table display for Halloween or Thanksgiving.
I like the last one the best, which one is your favorite?
All veggie art images (c) Linette G all rights reserved
Technorati Tags: veggie art,vegetable art,veggie people,people made out of vegetables
 

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