May 31st

First off, some harvest info.

Here's another picture of some of the potatoes. These have been washed and became part of a pot roast. The insides were a golden yellow and they had a very smooth buttery texture. They had a great flavor too!


I took out the cilantro plant and harvested some of the coriander. There's still a ton to pick off.


Finally harvested some roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. The romas went into chicken curry, and the cherries will go into salad.


Speaking of salad, I harvested two squares (3oz) worth of salad greens, and when I harvest the other two squares, I'll replant them all.

Yesterday, I also harvested a whole bunch of chocolate mint (trying to get it under control), some peppermint, and stevia (natural sweetener). We had a cup of fresh peppermint tea with stevia. It tastes more "green" or fresh or something than dried tea (and the color was definitely greener), and the stevia has a syrupy mouthfeel, like honey. But I didn't put enough mint or stevia, so it was a little weak, but good overall. I've got all the sprigs drying in the garage.


Here's a picture of the whole garden.


And now the mint patch. Compare the first picture with the second and third. The first is before I trimmed all the mint and it was threatening to smother the plants behind it.


And here is the loofah vine. The last two pictures are from today, when the flowers opened.


And there are some more blossoms on my cucumber. I hope I get some fruit soon.


Here's the tomato/pepper patch. Big bertha, mariachi, jalapeno, golden summer.


The corn patch. The green beans have new healthier looking leaves. There's a new squash, and the corn is growing bigger.


The cool season patch. The onions look just about done, which means they'll be ready to harvest soon.


The asparagus patch. The cypress vine is really growing fast.


The former cilantro patch. As you can see, it's gone now and the lemon grass it was shading is growing better now. There's also my first okra pod, and some pictures of the watermelon and canteloupe.

End of May!

Everything is looking better this week. Even though temperatures are consistently in the 90s, I've been watering less. I think was overwatering before.

First off, I harvested 2lb 4oz of potatoes! I think they're all yukon gold. Haven't eaten any yet though. There are a couple of big ones, but most are new potato size.


Then there's the mint plot. The loofah gourd is starting to flower, and I'm getting a couple of young cucumbers. The last picture shows the runners that the two mints are trying to send out. I need to cut them every time I see them before they take root.


The pepper/tomato plot. Big bertha bell, golden summer bell, mariachi peppers (there aren't that many left, I keep eating them), habanero (never grew), jalapeno, cherry tomato (sweet with a nice burst of flavor, can't wait to eat some in a salad!), roma tomato, zucchini (plenty of flowers but still no fruit).


Corn!


I take back what I said about the asparagus never looking different, it's big and really filling in now. Also the cypress vine I planted there is now climbing up the trellis.


The cilantro/parsley plot, tomatillo, okra, close-up of okra flower bud, rue and stevia, unidentified corn thing with lots of parsley in background, a bug on the tomatillo, lemon grass (it's growing veeery slooowly), coriander.


The cool season plot, some young salad greens, two now empty square where the potatoes were, red onions, radishes and sweatpea (the radishes didn't radish properly), red onions.


And some random pictures from the mint plot... an almost ripe strawberry and a view behind the mint where you can see lavender, lemon balm, and rosemary, with strawberries in the foreground.