What are You Eating from the Garden?

[digitS']

Amaranth just in for today's cookin'. (Of course, the pineapple, bananas and avocados in the picture are also from the garden ... makes me wonder about @catjac1975 and her sunroom .)

This was the ornamental amaranth that I grew last year after checking online about it being suitable for the dinner table. I think that I will just try to forget about the "ornamental" status. Sure, it's pretty. If it could handle shade, I could transplant some today beside the driveway where some gomphrena is struggling.

That would be a poor choice, anyway . There was room for the silly gomphrena. These purple things will grow to be HUGE. I would not be able to climb outta the pickup! Harvesting as a veggie has to with the knowledge that they will get away from me with growing if'n I don't pay attention.

Steve

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

I wonder if strawberries could grow here in Bama. I am sure a contrivance would work but I am thinking outside in a strawberry pot because for some reason we actually have a clay strawberry pot.

They grow like crazy in north Alabama on sand mountain.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Lots of kale and collards. Have been making "eggs and greens for breakfast and my husband really enjoys it. Kids not so much. Also lots of zucchini, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, herbs, couple of cups and lots of flowers for the house.

 

[catjac1975]

View attachment 36045

Amaranth just in for today's cookin'. (Of course, the pineapple, bananas and avocados in the picture are also from the garden ... makes me wonder about @catjac1975 and her sunroom .)

This was the ornamental amaranth that I grew last year after checking online about it being suitable for the dinner table. I think that I will just try to forget about the "ornamental" status. Sure, it's pretty. If it could handle shade, I could transplant some today beside the driveway where some gomphrena is struggling.

That would be a poor choice, anyway . There was room for the silly gomphrena. These purple things will grow to be HUGE. I would not be able to climb outta the pickup! Harvesting as a veggie has to with the knowledge that they will get away from me with growing if'n I don't pay attention.

Steve

Nice to be thought of, Digits. Lovely looking....how did they taste?

 

[digitS']

eggs and greens for breakfast

Hmmm . Americans are so anti-green vegetables for breakfast. Oh, we can go for a little tomato catchup on our hashbrown potatoes ... and, that is about it. I do like quiche and frittatas ...

@catjac1975 , these "greens" are great. DW has this thing about red and purple. She won't eat beet greens altho they are one of my favorite veggies. These purple amaranths leave as much of a purple puddle on the plate - or, the rice, which was the way I had them. The flavor is very mild and it would be a crude comparison to set them side by side with pigweed. And yet, I'm okay with those weeds for dinner.

The variegated amaranth is growing. I think DW ate some of that last year. The green amaranth would be perfectly okay except I never found a variety that made much growth before bolting to seed.

What a family! The contrast between all of these - toss in the spinach, chard, beet, lambsquarters relatives - the plant breeders must have a lot of fun.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

@digitS' i have a similar contention with Mom. she just doesn't like anything "odd" even if it is perfectly edible. i tried to get her to try some purselane. nope. no luck. she likes beets, but doesn't like beet greens or chards, chards however do come in plain green kinds so perhaps DW would like that? i think it is also called silverbeet...

i tried a bit of plantain while i was weeding. not bad, but not edible, too old and leathery i guess... have tons of it along the edge i'm weeding. turning it into worm salad. a few days of roasting in this heat and it will be well browned. the nutsedge i put out last week is completely dried all the way through already.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Becky made a yellow squash casserole, okra tomato and more squash, Green beans and corn. To offset my vegan imbalance I am currently at the altar of meat products, hoping to redeem myself before the spirits of good steaks. It looks like I have to sacrifice a beef tenderloin.

 

[flowerbug]

i snuck another few pods from the Large Podded Green Beauty peas - they're huge pods (about 4-5cm wide, 10-14cm long, 1cm deep but where the peas form it gets plumper), crunchy, juicy, not too sweet, but good enough for me. had to show them to Mom this morning. i'm struggling to leave pods to get seeds and am glad to see seeds in them so once they start drying down i'll pull them out of the garden before the animals start taking them off to storage.

i'm surprised this heat hasn't shut the peas down completely yet, some are still blooming. i water them pretty good several times a week.

 

[Marie2020]

Still waiting for a carpenter to arrive to help me build some raised garden beds, I was lucky too have acquired some decent wood and now need to get some more material to patch up a thrown together green house. Hopefully this will all get done after this lockdown finally ends. This morning I made up yet another mash of avocado with local grown onions coriander and chillies for breakfast, it went down well with eggs from my girls. Last year I grew a lot of broad and green beans in that green house but haven't got going at all this year. Just keeping my chickens going for now and trying to get started on this garden of mine. I do envey you all with your growing talents and hope this will rub off on me to.

 

[digitS']

Finally decided to pick a few chard leaves.

These aren't called chard in the seed catalogs. This is "perpetual spinach," which is neither perpetual nor spinach. (I think that I already said that somewhere .)

I had a few plants of these several years ago. I remember having leaf miner problems. That may have been the year that I decided that I can just take those leaves off and put them in the compost. No mo' leaf miner pests! Anyway, it was Verde da Taglio chard that brought me around to chard, just a few years ago. That seed is hard to find whereas "perpetual spinach" seed is more commonly available. It just hasn't been in my garden so I was curious and picked a few leaves from the slow-growing plants. (i think i'll give 'em a little fertilizer this week for encouragement as we move into summer temperatures.)

Along with the chard, I had snap peas. Yum. Ya know, I predate snap peas! Indeed, I remember when they first showed up on the market. Here's a little something about the guy who came up with them: LINK

Steve