ex gardens

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. I’m continuing to feel a bit better day by day as I recover from my recent surgery. I’ve done a bit of light work in the greenhouse, and my wife continues to help with watering and other chores. I harvested a big head of lettuce last week to use in our salads. And I cut more mixed greens (baby kale, mizuna and pac choi) to go along with the lettuce. Starfighter lettuce salad greens salad with mixed greens I also cut a mix of Winterbor and Starbor kale from the greenhouse planting, which is starting to bolt to flower now. Both these kales and the baby leaf varieties have done quite well in the winter greenhouse and kept us supplied. curly kale And the collards have done well too. They are also bolting to flower, and I got a good sized cutting of leaves from them last week. This is a mix of varieties, mostly leftover plants from my fall planting in the vegetable garden. colla...

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. This will be a short report for me this week, as I am still recovering from my recent surgery and doing a lot of resting. I did get a nice head of Starfighter lettuce from the greenhouse for use on sandwiches and cold wraps. There’s more lettuce ready now out there, and hopefully I will be in the mood for salads again soon. Starfighter lettuce And I got a cutting of Winterbor kale last week for use in soups. This one and Starbor have done very well this winter in the greenhouse, despite our cold winter weather. Winterbor kale I love the kale in soups, and some of this batch wound up in a pot of soup I made with cannellini beans, kale and tubetti pasta, with a bit of leftover rotisserie chicken in as well. It ticked all the boxes for me and my wife. soup with beans, kale and pasta In non-harvest news (or should I say ‘mews’?), Nurse Ally Cat has been taking good care of me durin...

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. It seemed like spring finally arrived last week, and our daffodils began blooming to announce the moment. This clump was here when we bought our place, and they have bloomed every year since. We have more varieties planted, but these are always the first to bloom for us. My wife did find a few crocuses blooming by our front walk as well. early daffodils purple crocuses I got a bit more lettuce from the greenhouse, plus some mixed salad greens that included baby kale, mizuna and purple pac choi. We love adding these “sturdy” greens to our main dish salads. greenhouse lettuce mixed salad greens I also got a cutting of the curly kale I have growing in there. This lot will likely wind up used in soups. curly kale Salads will be on hold here for a bit though, as I recover from my recent carotid artery surgery. I got back home Saturday, and I have big incision in my neck and a ...

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. We had one more dusting of snow last week, which thankfully didn’t last long as the temperature warmed up shortly afterwards. If it seems I talk about the weather a lot, gardeners know how it matters. The temps have been yo-yoing back and forth between winter and spring here of late, and warmer weather is in the forecast for this week. dusting of snow I got one small harvest of lettuce last week, and that’s about all. It was enough for a salad, and I have been busy planting more in the greenhouse for our later use. mixed lettuce leaves I did cook up a batch of vegetable soup last week using our frozen veggies from last year’s garden plus  bit of fresh kale from the greenhouse. The frozen veggies included green beans, squash, tomatoes and cubes of kohlrabi. Vegetable Soup And I baked a batch of Ligurian Focaccia bread last week to go with our soups and salads. Topped with f...

Today I thought I would share some photos I got of recent visitors to our bird feeders. The big pileated woodpeckers have been almost daily visitors, and they are quite a sight when they show up since they are so big. There are at least two, since I’ve seen both a male and female feeding on the suet cakes. They seem to prefer the feeder with the tail rest, and I try and keep it stocked up for them and the other visitors. The male and female birds look nearly alike, except the male has a splash of red on his cheeks. female Pileated Woodpecker male Pileated Woodpecker They also occasionally visit the suet ball feeder, though they seem to have a harder time hanging on to it. Pileated Woodpecker at suet ball feeder The small Downy Woodpeckers seem to do well on all the suet feeders we have out. They are the smallest North American woodpecker, while the Pileated Woodpecker is the largest. Downy Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker I sometimes see several birds feeding at once, and ...

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. Thankfully, the temperatures warmed up enough here last week to melt all the snow we had lingering on the ground. It was actually warm enough one day I worked in the greenhouse in shorts. It turned cold again this weekend, but only back to more seasonal temps and not the arctic cold weather we had last month. I have been keeping the bird feeders filled up throughout the winter, and last week I saw a pair of bluebirds visiting them. They are quite happy feeding on the small seeds I put out as well as the suet cakes. They may well begin nesting in a few weeks, if the weather cooperates. bluebirds at the feeders I was able to harvest more lettuce from the greenhouse on a rainy morning last week. This is Thai Oakleaf and Cherokee, both of which survived multiple freezes in the greenhouse while they were growing. Cherokee is a red Batavian type that is known for its heat tolerance and slow ...