The Garden Grows

It’s an overcast cool weekend after a week of summer temperatures and I went back to the garden this weekend to continue Jerusalem artichoke eradication and plant a few more flowers.  I worked on the border between the fence and sidewalk, my garden, the small Plot Against Hunger garden, and the large outside garden.  I was there for a few hours.

The irises have come out in their full glory.

The nice thing is I’m getting all sorts of greens–lettuce, spinach, arugula–for meals.  The oregano is also going crazy, and overwintered kale is providing leaves and florets as well.  Tonight I had a lovely pasta dish with oregano, kale, spring onions, arugula, tomatoes, and some Romano cheese.  Yum!  I love it when I can put together a dinner from the garden.  I didn’t grow the tomatoes, but…

It’s so nice not to buy salad greens! More arugula in that line of green behind.

In my garden the squash and cucumbers are coming up.

I put these in last weekend.

The irises are magnificent.

The beans are coming up in their enclosure. Radishes are maturing, if being shared with sow bugs.

Each year I share radishes with the roly-polys.

I took some more Jerusalem artichoke roots home to put into a saute.

Not very appealing now, but very nice washed, sliced and sauted.

It was starting to rain when I put in some marigolds, hoping to protect my eggplant when I transplant it in later this month.

This showcases the bean enclosure and the oregano as well as some irises. If you look closely, you’ll also see roses coming out.

The rain was just a sprinkle and short-lived, so I went out to the big garden and planted wildflower seed in one bed where the asparagus hasn’t come up, and winter squash in the other. I noticed the blackberries are blossoming.  We may have some berries this year.  The poor blueberry bushes are a bit stunted by the cold, I think.  Meanwhile the rest of the large garden is positively overtaken with larkspur and will be glorious in the near future.  I can also see other flowers coming up and hope for a glorious flowering this summer.