Surprise veggie harvest

We were in Idaho to visit family for a little over a week. We didn't plan on staying longer than a week but we took our time on the road sightseeing and having a blast! My husband's cousin live in Eagle, Idaho and it's our first time seeing this beautiful state. This was what happened when we were away, suddenly roma tomatoes ripened in my garden. You all know how long I've been waiting. Having a short growing season in the mountains and being 6,000 feet in elevation made it quite a challenge for a new vegetable gardener.      

Cherry tomatoes are turning red. It was exceptionally juicy and sweet, I tried one straight from the vine while checking out what else is happening in my garden! Thanks to Seeds of Change™ for the certified organic seeds.  

More jalapenos are popping up in the raised bed and container. I made roasted salsa with fresh Tomatoes and garlic yesterday and that was great! Several serrano chiles were growing in the garden too for salsa verde but my tomatillos still only have flower blossoms with no fruit. Perhaps it's true in my research that you need more than one plant to pollinate. We'll see.        

I bought this islander bell pepper at the local nursery a couple weeks ago when I noticed healthy looking flowers. There were peppers in the garden when we came back from vacation. What an interesting plant because the label said purple pepper will turn red. Hmmm I wonder how they taste? Maybe I can add them to fajitas.      

Zucchini were tiny when we left and they grew pretty big. Hubby grilled one for dinner yesterday, so yummy and it can't compare to store bought! Zucchini seeds were from Botanical Interests™

Strawberries are beginning to ripen in the coco basket planter. The Strawberry bed is also doing well, that's sweet news!   

My organic harvest: various leaf lettuce, zucchini, beans, jalapeno, roma and cherry tomatoes all grown from seed. Sometimes leaving the garden behind for awhile can bring delightful surprises! Thank you to my awesome father-in-law for giving me Raindrip irrigation system and to our kind neighbor for watching over my garden.       

Another little sunflower bloomed while we were gone. Vibrant yellow color cheers me up and brightens the garden. Sunflower elves blend grown from seed from one of my favorite company Botanical Interests™ 

Happy Saturday my friends, have a fantastic weekend! 

Leaving my garden for a week

Statice, the newest bloom in my garden have an interesting texture. It feels like paper to touch. I love the soothing color and these flowers are great for drying and preserving. I've been frustrated waiting for veggies to harvest as you all know, most of my perennial flowers weren't in bloom, so my sweet husband said I could add a couple of new plants for the garden. We're leaving tomorrow for an exciting 2-day road trip adventure to Eagle, Idaho to visit family! I'll be taking a blogging break since we'll be away for a week.

I'm very much concern about my little garden, but I'm relying on the new Raindrip irrigation system with automatic timer my father-in-law kindly gave me to water the raised beds. I'm soaking container plants in large plastic buckets with water, that worked in the past when we left for 3 days. I appreciate Gina's advice (Antique ART Garden), a blogger friend who told me about soaking! Upside down water-filled bottles with tiny holes in the bottom also helps irrigate the roots of my plants. I pray everything will be fine and perhaps there will be pleasant surprises when we return!      

Ptilotus exaltatus (Joey), perennial native from Australia. I took it home because it was different. The blooms are soft to touch like feather and it can take full sun.       

Salvia was a gift from my nice neighbor, I planted a few in the ground and they're blooming again. The Bees can't resist them and I don't mind!

My very first organic roma tomato grown from seed. Thanks for the packet of seeds from Seeds of Change™ for the beautiful fruit. Finally, ripen tomato and some are beginning to turn orange on the vine! This was accidentally picked because when I touched the Tomato it fell off, still small but the flavor can't compare from store bought!

I sliced to taste my tomato, the result was perfectly juicy. I'm ecstatic to see more fruit turn red, even the cherry tomatoes are showing signs of ripening. Tomatillo I also planted have tons of flowers but no tomatillo yet, However, many bees are eagerly pollinating the blossoms.

Surprise, we have something new! Zucchini are blooming and I can't wait for hubby (BBQ expert) to grill them. Just when we're leaving for vacation, veggies decided to grow. 

Beautiful bright zucchini flower. I have another plant here in a container but no zucchini yet, we'll see ...

My basil are doing fantastic! This container has red rubin, cinnamon and Thai basil. The scent is lovely and herbs are decorative in the garden. 

I harvested a variety of organic lettuce, cilantro, parsley, oregano, and jalapeno from my garden for a Southwest-inspired dinner. The fresh peppers are for making Mexican cornbread.   

•Recipes•

Healthy corn, black beans, and mixed greens salad served with homemade cilantro-ranch dressing. We enjoyed the salad with grilled margarita lime chicken and cornbread. My salad recipe is fast and easy. You can prepare the dressing a night before if you want plus the flavors combine better overnight!  

Salad Recipe: Toss together mixed green leaf lettuce, 1 Grilled corn (or 1 cup frozen and thawed sweet corn kernels), 1/2 of 15 oz can of organic black beans, about 1/3 cup sliced green onions, 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, chopped roma tomato, 1 tbsp fresh oregano, 1 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, 1/4 cup shredded Mexican or cheddar cheese, Mrs. Dash® Southwest Chipotle salt-free seasoning, sea salt to taste, garnish with tortilla strips for that added crunch!  

Cilantro-ranch dressing recipe: I found different kinds of recipes online but I altered mine to make the dressing quick and ready to serve when you're short on time. Combine 1 1/2 cups Newman's Own® Natural Ranch Dressing, 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 1-2 tsp dried cilantro for extra flavor, 2 cloves fresh chopped garlic, 1/4 cup of can salsa verde, 1/2 of lime juice, 1/4 tbsp onion powder, 1/4 tbsp fresh ground black pepper, and sea salt to taste. Blend together well in a bowl or dressing bottle and serve with salad. Enjoy! 

Thank you for visiting, I'll do my best to respond when I can if you leave a comment. I'll be back soon, have a great week to all! :)           

Vegetable garden update

Purple bush beans

I planted tricolor beans from seed and thought we'd be harvesting much more. I didn't plan my veggie garden that well and ran out of room ... I'm new to the world of vegetable gardening but I'm learning. Next time, I'll be planting more beans and vegetables! I'll be writing a list to make the most out of small spaces and taking notes so we can have a productive edible garden in the future.          

My organic heirloom green beans. I'm glad it's easy to grow Beans so I'll be sure to leave room for more plants!   

When I planted organic jalapenos from seeds, I almost gave up. It took around 2 weeks to germinate, it seemed like forever for the plant to grow and bear flowers. I sowed jalapenos for the purpose of making salsa. I thought tomatoes will ripen first but to my surprise peppers are producing faster considering jalapenos can take up to 80 days to mature.   

I'm SO frustrated about my roma tomatoes, they're healthy but still GREEN and I began them from seed since February. Everyone else in warmer climates already harvested red juicy tomatoes in June or July! I'm aware since we moved here in the mountains that gardening can be challenging because of high altitude. We're 6,000 feet up and our climate is dry. 

Roma aren't supposed to take very long for being early varieties. I did my best with tomatoes but I'm still WAITING! We're getting near the middle of August but the weather is gradually cooling down especially at night. I don't get it! Perhaps I'll be making fried green tomatoes instead of sauce and salsa. According to research, I discovered pruning will stress the plants and that will encourage fruit ripening instead of blooming more flowers. Yesterday I pruned the suckers and extra flower blossoms on all my tomato plants. I'm hoping to see red fruits in the next couple of weeks. Maybe!      

I have tons of green roma tomatoes but this one looked like a spark of hope. I noticed it was kind of orange, does that mean it will ripen soon? Any advice are welcome from experienced vegetable gardeners. I truly appreciate it! Gardening is a learning experience indeed, it's all about the journey and simply having fun.  

My wonderful, generous dad-in-law surprised me with irrigation system for my raised beds, he also bought a neat digital timer! The irrigation is the black tube above, I have tubes spread throughout the garden. We can save water, time and I don't have to worry about losing my plants again if we go away for a weekend or something.    

Heirloom tomato I planted from seed, marvel stripe. I don't know if I'll see fruits ripen because we have such short growing season. We had snow in April and it didn't start warming up until the end of May. Oh how I wish someday to live in a climate where we can grow vegetables all year long! We're looking to move, somewhere more affordable than California. My husband's parents have to sell this cabin and we might be moving out of state.      

Swiss chard is doing alright in the garden. I didn't start them from seed but I bought a packet from Botanical Interests™ to plant for the fall. We love sautéed swiss chard, it's super healthy, delicious and a good way to add more greens in our diet. I had great success growing vigorous lettuce with more salad that we can eat but we need a variety of other veggies!

Red pak choi I purchased at the nursery but waiting for them to grow bigger. I plan to stir fry pak choi in sesame oil with fresh garlic, onions, and ginger. Yummy with rice!        

My mom gave me petunias about a month ago. I kind of neglected them and most of the leaves turned brown, I thought the plant was dying. Flowers are blooming in the back porch but I haven't transplanted the petunias yet to my garden.   

While watering my plants, a hummingbird flew by. It's still difficult to get a photograph but I take chances whenever I'm out there with the camera. This is the last of that red stuff nectar! From now on we're going to make our own sugar water since red dye is harmful to the birds. Check out Associated Content for more info.

I'd love to hear exciting things that are happening in everyone's garden. Hope you all have a delightful Thursday!      

All about nature

I love birds and nature, we're surrounded by wildlife in the woods! We have our bird feeder near my garden tied with a twine way high up on the tree (to hopefully prevent Squirrels from stealing seeds). Here a red-headed woodpecker landed on the feeder, luckily my husband was able to photograph him from the living room window.      

Looked like he was going to fall ... the feeder slowly spins around and the woodpecker just goes with it! 

This bird loved munching and we were entertained.

Yummy seeds, I'll be back again!

My awesome dad in-law took this picture of a beautiful mountain quail near the creek, they've been around often with their babies. I'm hearing tons of birds outside singing and happily chirping as I write. It's a nice sunny afternoon, I'm going to relax with tea. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!   

August blooms and family dinners

Tuberous begonias add striking color to our front porch. These garden beauties last long and the more I pinch, the more flowers bloom! The carnival shade of vivid orange with yellow is one of my favorites. Begonias can be grown indoors or outside but prefer partial sun to shade. We receive morning sun in this location of the cabin so my plants are doing well. You can't over water begonias and they need well-draining soil. Allow the plants to dry in between, otherwise they rot.

 

Trailing phlox are still in bloom but I haven't seen much of the butterflies near them. I miss the butterflies around here!   

My little sunflower, elves blend bloomed a couple days ago. I planted it from seed in early spring and kind of left it there so it surprised me that it popped up. With my small garden, I can't plant huge amazing sunflowers I admire. I'm already cramming in whatever I could in tight spaces! The variety I sowed are perfect for small containers or balcony gardening. 

A packet of sunflower elves blend from Botanical Interests™

Duranta erecta aurea, yellow. I adore foliage of all shades and shapes. This lovely plant hanging on a coco basket is very bright!    

Last time my strawberries were ravaged by bugs. These were fine and although tiny, they were sweet! 

I planted leaf lettuce from seed, summer European bouquet red and greens. Seeds are from Renee's Garden. Look closely at the beautiful texture. It was crispy, buttery and delicious!  

Oak leaf lettuce are growing quickly, we have to eat them before they bolt! My husband and I are having more salads than ever before.  

Red sails, leaf lettuce. Seeds are from Botanical Interests™ These are interesting and delightful. I love the burgundy-ruffled edges, attractive and tasty as well! It's heat-resistant and won't bolt fast in the summer.  

An idea I read from a book by author Gayla Trail, creator of www.yougrowgirl.com Normally cloches are made of glass, you can simply make affordable plastic ones to protect little seedlings. I created mine with Coffee-mate® creamer bottles. Just cut the bottom with a sharp knife and cover seedlings until they're ready without them! The cloche was like a mini greenhouse that shielded my lettuce from the blazing sun, wind and bugs.        

The result of using cloches was outstanding, I had no problems with my harvest. My organic romaine, little gem seeds from Burpee www.burpee.com was tender and beautiful.       

A basket-filled with a variety of leaf lettuce and herbs from my garden to feed a family of 4. My awesome mom and dad-in-law are visiting here for a week and they enjoyed fresh lettuce I grew for the first time with homemade vinaigrette dressing. 

The wonderful bowl of salad with herbs and candied pecans, yummy!

I didn't grow these (I wish!) I'm still waiting for my tomatoes and other veggies but I thought I'd share the picture of a healthy meal. Hubby made tortilla soup using the Vita-Mix® Blender. Combine hot water, vegetables, natural bouillon and tortilla chips then you have hearty soup in a flash. It was delicious, a fantastic vegetarian dinner! Making it this way is efficient and the blender we own breaks down fiber in the cellular level. Talk about great nutrition. 

I baked biscuits from scratch and prepared honey butter with a dash of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Dinner was excellent and time spent with family around the table laughing together was precious.   

Another special meal with family celebrating 6 sweet months with my incredible husband. He grilled the lemon thyme chicken, my own recipe that turned out juicy and moist. I made my rosemary pan-fried potatoes and a new recipe I found: lemon-dill green beans. I altered the recipe by adding some French fried onions and sliced almonds for crunch. 

     

What a sweet ending, homemade chocolate chocolate chip cookies. We all couldn't get enough of the cookies that was chewy on the inside and crispy around the edges. Chocolate is absolutely divine!  

"Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life." ~Georges Blanc