My Garden My Paradise

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Avatar for JonicaBradley
2 years ago
Topics: Life, Gardening, Vegetables, Love, Health, ...

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. –Cicero

View from our back deck

You've already read a lot about my little vegetable garden. Some have asked for updates.

I've been keeping up with photos as we enter the brutal Texas summer.

Replanted "Easter Lilly". These lillies have been grown in green house conditions and have been forced to bloom in April. Their actual blooming period is June and July.

Before we head out to the vegetables, check out our beautiful lilly. Last year, as Easter came to an end, the grocery store has so many leftover Easter lilies in pots that the flowers went on sale.

My husband ended up buying all of them for around a dollar. He took the bulbs out of the pots and planted them in our flower bed by the deck in the back.

I thought they had died and he had wasted his money and hard work. Boy was I wrong!

They not only be back, but also put out more bulbs underground. Now we have a while patch of lillies! I wish you could smell them! Wonderful!

Little baby pepper bloom. I can't remember which type of pepper we planted after the freeze killed all our seedlings. I'll know soon enough when it's ripe.

Heading out to the garden at sunrise is the only way to avoid the heat and, for me the worse part, the humidity. Sunrise comes early. Around 6:30 a.m. but it starts getting light a little bit before hand.

The good part about getting up so early is watching the sun come up.

Sunrise
Rising higher

Of course I realize the sun doesn't actually rise. It is the earth rotating But I like the poetry of a rising sun.

The sky is on fire with beauty as the sun rises

The same morning sky
The sunrise is the reason I don't start work in the dark. I might miss it.

Once it is light enough to see, but still cool, is the best time to start watering and weeding.

Zoom into the middle of this photo and see the delicate beauty of a tiny bloom.
These are the sunflower seedlings I started indoors from seed. I can't wait until I can watch the sun flowers follow the path of the sun. I hope they make big seeds.

The swiss chard is no longer a huge jungle of leaves. The light shining through the veins of the leaves really underlines the reason this chard is called Rainbow Chard.

Red veined chard.
Yellow veined chard.

My husband has set up a system of dams around the plants so we can soak the soil.

I will just set down the house and fill up the "dam" while I run around like crazy person taking photos.

When I see a new bloom or tiny baby vegetable, I get so excited. I talk to the little babies. I'll say, "Aren't you so pretty. You are going to be delicious!"

Adorable baby grapes. Aren't they cute?

The grapevine is doing well this year. It has put on many bunches of grapes. I hope we get some before the birds eat them all.

The grapevine also provides it's leaves for dolmades and sarma. Grapeleaves are so nutrtious as well as delicious. They contain a great deal of vitamins A and K and antioxidants. They're also super yummy.

Squash flowers are also edible.

Some of the flowers on this squash plant will make squash. But some are called, "false flowers." The flowers are obviously real, but they only leave a stalk and no vegetable.

An old wives tale is that if you pinch off the false flower, you will get more squash. This makes a bit of sense because of the plant isn't putting it's energy in growing a flower, it can put that energy into growing a squash.

I pick the false flowers, and though they are edible I don't like the flavor. I feed them to the goats or chickens who love them.

This flower made a squash. These squash are called "yellow squash" or "crook neck" squash. Obviously for their color and for the little bend they get in their neck.

I love squash. I love to get it up in some butter and add eggs. I like roasted squash with olive oil and garlic or cayenne. I add roasted squash to my tomato based pasta sauce. I also cook it in my "magic soup".

My son named this soup. He firmly believe it is magic because it makes him better when he is sick.

The ingredients come straight out of the garden. Anything green. Kale, spinach, green beans, peas, zucchini. Add these to boiling water with a LOT of fresh garlic, a little salt, a little turmeric powder, and a little cayenne powder.

I also make a less healthy garden greens. Also anything green from the garden. The squash, chard, and kale get boiled with a great deal of bacon. So much bacon that it really isn't very healthy anymore. I serve it over rice and baked fish.

My other squash plant is a zucchini. I planted a lot of seeds, and transplanted them to little pots. They survived the hail, but the wind bring all but 2 of the delicate seedling stems.I didn't keep track of which squash seed went where, so was pleasantly surprised to discover which squash varieties made it.

This year the squash beetles came out in force. All the garden pests did. We were forced to harvest all of our cabbage a bit earlier than planned so the cabbage worms didn't destroy it all.

I'm currently fermenting some cabbage. It'll be sauerkraut in a few more days. I used 3 or 4 small heads of cabbage.

I already made stuffed cabbage leaves for dinner last week.

Stuffed cabbage leaves with bacon parmesan linguini

Another result of the pest problem is we had to spray some chemical on the plants to kill the bugs.

I don't prefer to do this and for years I begged my husband not to. But in 2019, money got tight. I couldn't afford to share my vegetables with the bugs any longer.

So last year we sprayed. And we had garden veggies until it got too cold. This year, with all the rain we've had, the bugs came much earlier. So we sprayed.

I hope we won't have to spray again, but I suspect we will.

You can see how we soak the ground, keeping the water in with the "dams" my husband built. You can also see the garden is very close to the neighboring property. All those weeds make a nice home for grasshoppers and moths. The grasshoppers eat the plant and the moths lay eggs that turn into worms that eat the plants.

You can see big tall weeds growing over the wall of our garden. The weeds are home to bugs. If only they would stay home! They don't. They come into our garden and make a new home. There goes the neighborhood!

We put up tin walls to keep the rabbits out. We put up chicken wire to keep the chickens out.

I don't like to cage my chickens, turkeys, goats, or sheep. But I like my vegetables! So, I cage my garden.

You can see my old been and my young turkey hen greeting me as I go to the garden to water and pull weeds. You can also see my garden is caged.
Rosemary. An herb I use to season lamb and other meats. I'm also going to infuse some oil with it. Between my rosemary and my chamomile, I'll have some lovely bath oils.

Back to the cabbage worms. Last year was the first year I've grown cabbage. So I don't know all the ins and outs of it, yet. I have a library full of gardening books, but I never think to read them BEFORE I start my garden. I prefer trial and error. Last year I grew red and green cabbages. This year only green seedlings were available for purchase.

As soon as these cabbage seedling were in the ground, the plants grew and grew. But then I saw something was eating the cabbage leaves.

I went and looked up what to do. It turns out most experienced cabbage growers put a special net over the cabbage plants as soon as the plants peek out of the soil. Or in my case, as soon as the seedlings are planted.

I pulled this photo from an advertisement for garden netting. This is what I will do next year.

Last year I learned how to harvest a cabbage head. There are a couple of choices. You can pull the entire plant out of the soil and take your cabbage head that way. You will then have room to plant something else. Either new cabbage plants or broccoli or something else.

Or, you can carefully cut out the cabbage head.

I carefully cut the cabbage head out of the center of the plant.

When you cut out the head from the center of the plant and leave the rest in the ground, new, smaller cabbage heads will form.

Newly forming cabbage heads. I count at least 5.

These new cabbage heads will be smaller, but you'll get more of them.

Since I didn't use netting, I will have to be very vigilant in looking under the leaves and in tight spots for the dreaded cabbage worms. I call them 'The Dread Worm Roberts." Because when you kill one worm another takes it's place.

The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, do so. It's so good. Even over 30 years later.

You say tomato and I say tomahto.

Also doing well are our tomato plants.

I planted basil around the base of the tomato plants. The tomatoes are growing so big and wild I can't find the basil! Can you?

The basil is hiding in the tomato jungle. Can you find it?

Finally, the watermelon plant is growing. I hope to have some watermelon. It's so good when it's cold. My husband's grandparents would pick the melon and put it in the stock tank overnight. The stock tank is filled with well water. The pump is constantly refilling the tank when the float gets below a certain point. The well is deep under ground. The water is ice cold. It cools the melon so it's ready to split open and eat during the heat of the day.

I will just keep the melon in the refrigerator.

If we get any melons!

I hope this tiny flower will become a giant melon.
These are some cute little strawberries

I looked up the reason for the name of this berry. I thought it might be because straw is often used as a mulch.

I was wrong. It seems the word strawberry is from the middle English words meaning strewn.

This is in reference to the plant putting out long runners and the berries assisting to be strewn on the ground.

You can read more about it here if, like me, you are interested in these types of things; the etymology of words.

I took all of these photos last week. Today, while watering I found some little things to harvest. Strawberries and zucchini. I pulled a carrot to see how well they are growing.

My morning's harvest

I noticed I didn't take a picture of my carrots. I guess I'll have to do that soon and include it in the next gardening story.

Stay tuned!

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If you enjoy reading about my adventures in gardening and would like to help fund next year's garden, I am always on the lookout for new sponsors.

If you sponsor me, you are guaranteed several articles published each week, including the weekly prompt series which had proven to be incredibly popular.

Also, monthly (at minimum) gardening updates as well as tons of goat stories and photos.

I also publish personal essays fairly regularly.

I plan on doing a monthly shout out to my sponsors post. Where I will read and promote articles written by my sponsors.

I also love to give back to the community so if you are in need of a sponsor, let me know. I'll gladly add you to my roster.

Do you have questions? Let's talk! Please feel free to comment.

Got veggie recipes? Publish them and tag me! @JonicaBradley

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Avatar for JonicaBradley
2 years ago
Topics: Life, Gardening, Vegetables, Love, Health, ...

Comments

I don't like to wake up early but it would definitely be worth to do so once and awhile to get some great sunrise pictures. Your garden is doing well and I am not much for vegetables but I think one day I will try growing cabbage and spinach just because they are good for me. I have done well with my own squash plants. I look forward to having squash soon as I currently have two baby squash plants growing up nicely. I have books on gardening I haven't read either....but I plan to sit down one day and read them. I enjoyed the article and the pictures .

$ 0.50
2 years ago

Seriously? You got a very beautiful garden! I guess you don't do groceries that much because of your veggies.

Also this one is quotable, I laughed hard and realization hits me, "Of course I realize the sun doesn't actually rise. It is the earth rotating. But I like the poetry of a rising sun."

I'm just a newbie in this community and I don't know if it is already possible for me to have a generous sponsor like you. Thank you for this nice article with such nice photos as well <3

$ 0.05
2 years ago

I buy some groceries. But at the height of harvesting time, I don't buy any vegetables. I harvest and cook and freeze the things I've cooked for use in winter.

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2 years ago

I'll check out your posts.

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2 years ago

Thank you <3

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2 years ago

Oh my gosh. I've been dreaming to have that kind of life. A garden full of beautiful plants and vegetables and a view where you can witness the rising of the sun. I love sunrise so much 😍

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2 years ago

Your garden update made me smile. Someday I would tend a garden too. I'm starting little by little.

Also, the yellow flower looked familiar. When I read on, yeah I was right, it was a squash. We love that in our vegetable soup.

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2 years ago

I've seen it in soups and salads. I don't particularly care for the flavor raw. I image it would take on the flavor of the soup.

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2 years ago

A fascinating read and I love those sunrise pictures. It has made me realise how much I miss not growing vegetables anymore. The courgettes or as you call them zucchini are my favourite vegetable, and cooked in butter yes that is heaven on a plate. My dogs use to pull tomatoes and squash flowers off the plants, so they were the pests not the bugs haha. Thank you for such a wonderful read Jonica.

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2 years ago

Thank you for reading. I think I'm make some fritters soon, out of the zukes. I'll take pictures and post. I have a couple of other gardening articles of you're interested. They are there, under my profile.

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2 years ago

Oh yes please do, I will have a look for them this afternoon

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2 years ago

Today, it's going to get up to 38Β°C. So I'm not sure cooking is going to happen.

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2 years ago

Yes don't cook, it is too hot.

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2 years ago

I truly enjoy roaming around your garden as you tour us with your article. It nice to know that you grow garden outside for it signifies healthy living. God bless to your garden and to your family. I will share our garden here too soon. ☺️

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2 years ago

"The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and the beautiful of all". I love that Easter Lilly 😍😍πŸ₯°.

I don't want to accept the earth rotation over the rising sun too πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ€£πŸ˜‚. It's more poetic this way than the other way round.

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2 years ago

Isn't she beautiful?

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2 years ago

Absolutely, beautiful πŸ₯°πŸ₯°πŸ₯°

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2 years ago

Those sunrise photos are completely unedited and untouched up. Taken with my Samsung Galaxy A51. The only thing I did was use wide angle lens on some.

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2 years ago

Outstanding photographs! As a photographer I must say, the view ypu captured is awesome. The photos of sunrise is looking like i'm dreaming. Ypur place is really very nice dear ❀️ Love it

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2 years ago

Wow!!! I see beauty all around you. The plants and even your birds are lovely.

I pray you will get much sponsors to help in raising more funds for the garden next year.

I'd have loved to sponsor you ma'am but I haven't gained my footings yet. I'm also in need of sponsors too.

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2 years ago

I'll go check out your articles. See what I can do.

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2 years ago

Yes ma'am πŸ‘

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2 years ago

You have got really nice view in your house,nice.

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2 years ago

Yes. It's very beautiful here. I feel like I've died and gone to heaven.

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2 years ago

πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚you can't now,you still have a lot to bless us with

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2 years ago

True. I wouldn't want to disappoint my readers. Maybe I should become Ghost writer. LOL!

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2 years ago

πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

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2 years ago

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2 years ago

It's not that long. It's mostly pictures. Those are the most time consuming part. You know your always invited here.

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2 years ago

I love visiting my garden just because of the scent I do get from there it so lovely and attractive to me

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2 years ago

I call them the stinky flowers. Not because their odor is bad but because it is strong. And lovely.

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2 years ago