My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

7/15/18 Lazy Sunday


Good morning ducks.  Yes I know breakfast is late. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night and slept in until 5:30. Sure heard about being late to feed!  



Mmmmm moved a nest box to discover the mice have totally destroyed the bottom of it. 



Got .3" of rain overnight. Not hardly enough to settle the dust but better than nothing. At least it's cooled off some. 



I had a whole bucket these. They are the little bulbs on the elephant garlic. I tossed them in an empty bed, sprinkled some compost over them and some straw mulch. It will take them about 3 years to become full size bulbs. 



Do you know this plant?  Some call it red root pigweed. I've had them grow 6 feet tall. It is an amaranth and it is edible. The leaves are eaten raw or cooked like spinach and the stems steamed like asparagus. The leaves are very high in vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, calcium, magnesium and potassium. It also has appreciable amounts of other vitamins and minerals. The leaf stems are a bit chewy but it tastes a lot like spinach when cooked. The chickens love it too. 





Pigweed and lambsquarters are generally abundant when we have rain and I often cut them at ground level so they will regrow. They make good greens for the chickens. 



 I had to bail water off the tarps again and refasten a tarp that was coming loose. It was drizzling some more so I went back to mom's early for lunch. 


Did a little housekeeping, scrambled up some old eggs to feed back to the chickens. Went to see mom for a bit. Then back to work. Made a batch of prickly pear jelly. 



I goofed off on the internet a bit. Did chores. Went to my house to do chores. First tarantula of the year. The rain seems to bring them out. 



Then back to mom's to eat, feed dogs and go to bed. Dinner was more tomato salad, this time with some pesto I froze last year.  And now off to bed. 


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