What are You Eating from the Garden?

[Rhodie Ranch]

LOVE LOVE LOVE parsnips. Never been able to grow them tho.

 

[GottaGo]

We've gotten yellow squash and zucchini already, and marble sized tomatoes forming. Little teeny weeny (Blue Lake) green beans to!

 

[Phaedra]

salad greens, asparagus, eggs, cherry radish

An energy-saving, delicious, and balanced meal!

 

[Eleanor]

Lamb's Quarter - one of Mother Nature's nutritional powerhouses often overlooked.

 

[Zeedman]

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Lamb's Quarter - one of Mother Nature's nutritional powerhouses often overlooked.

I probably picked several thousand of those out of my garlic bed. Too small to use though - and I had no intention of allowing them to get bigger & choke out the garlic. Apparently the soil I had brought in for that bed was heavily contaminated with seed. Guess I'll have to add lamb's quarter to the list of weeds introduced to my gardens by contaminated soil or mulch. I'm still dealing with ragweed & shepherd's purse from previous batches of contaminated hay.

 

[flowerbug]

I probably picked several thousand of those out of my garlic bed. Too small to use though - and I had no intention of allowing them to get bigger & choke out the garlic. Apparently the soil I had brought in for that bed was heavily contaminated with seed. Guess I'll have to add lamb's quarter to the list of weeds introduced to my gardens by contaminated soil or mulch. I'm still dealing with ragweed & shepherd's purse from previous batches of contaminated hay.

i would rather have lambsquarters (and i do) than the mints, speedwells, etc. like plantains they provide good forage for worms and birdies. supposedly the seeds from lambsquarters are edible by people too but i've never tried them.

 

[flowerbug]

brunch today is baked beans with half the beans coming from the gardens.

 

[Zeedman]

I actually enjoy lamb's quarter as a cooked green (in spite of the digestive issues). But the worst thing that can happen is that I allow a plant or two to go to seed - because then the plant population would be an insurmountable challenge to continued gardening. DW & I went through that with the ragweed & crab grass infestation, and it took two years of enormous & persistent labor to knock it down to a tolerable level. If something like that were to happen now, I would be unable to defeat it alone, and would just abandon that garden to grass.

I'm blessed that we were able to defeat all the perennial weeds in our gardens. They might make a brief reappearance if reintroduced (as yellow dock did last year) but I make a point of eliminating those plants on sight. Other than the grass which persistently creeps in from the edges, all of my weed issues are annuals. Our initial battle against thistle and creeping Jenny was only decided because we outlasted it.

 

[flowerbug]

I actually enjoy lamb's quarter as a cooked green (in spite of the digestive issues). But the worst thing that can happen is that I allow a plant or two to go to seed - because then the plant population would be an insurmountable challenge to continued gardening. DW & I went through that with the ragweed & crab grass infestation, and it took two years of enormous & persistent labor to knock it down to a tolerable level. If something like that were to happen now, I would be unable to defeat it alone, and would just abandon that garden to grass.

with injuries i've had to let some gardens here go fallow again until i can get them back under control. with a scraper/stirrup hoe i can keep all our existing bare dirt gardens clear now, but it does take some time to do it. i can knock back 900 square feet in a half hour if the stems of the weeds are not woody (i.e. get them early and it goes quicker) - otherwise i mow them first and then part it out (working from uphill towards downhill) as i get time.

to me it is much harder to bust sod to get it back to gardens again so i won't let it go back to grass if i can help it. cover crops are good for that. quack grass in clay is a real booger. i have the whole back area i'd like to reclaim but i won't be able to get back to that until i'm done with planting beans.

beans, peas and cowpeas make excellent cover crops. if a garden is inside a fence then buckwheat, turnips and radishes also make excellent cover crops. the deer will eat it all here if i plant it outside the fences.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

First small harvest of broccoli! Added what little I harvested to thai red curry which we will have for dinner.

I also harvested one music garlic and ithink it needs to grow for a bit long. The tips are turning yellow tho? This variety is new to me (music). My usual garlic turns yellow/brown starting in the lower leaves when it's ready to harvest.