8.27.2011

Overall, this summer's garden has been more bountiful and more satisfying than last year's garden. Since returning home from our road trip, I have regularly been harvesting early wonder and chioggia beets, green beans (that are purple until cooked) and pencil pod golden wax beans (which are now about done), poona keera cucumbers (also almost done), and an occassional carrot and artichoke. My sunflowers, grown from collected seeds from last year's flowers, have grown taller and with more success than last year. And now, my tomatoes are ripening, and tonight we enjoyed a large salad of cherry and isis tomatoes with basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Yum. I'm still full. I did prune the tomatoes violently today, in hopes of focusing the energy on the green tomatoes before our days of 85 degrees and sunshine fold over to cold and rain.


Tonight, while watering, I noticed that the borage that I planted by seed is blooming in my strawberry patch. Borage is supposed to grow well with strawberries, and of course, the honey bees LOVE borage. Love, love, love it. Plus, the flower is edible and supposedly has a cucumber-like flavor.

I attribute my successes not to weather but rather to better planning and better soil (thank you, chickens and composting). I mapped out my entire garden on graph paper, really considering the light and the hardships and fails of last year.

Sorry about the crappy photo above, from the cell phone. My camera got caught in the nude in a rainstorm in Montana and hasn't been feeling up to working since. I have another and better camera that I am trying to learn how to use, after having misplace, then found and simultaneously replaced the battery. So, I'm hoping to improve my understanding of photography with that venture when there's time.

Life's about to get crazy. There are many changes afoot. I will be updating soon, but this blog, likewise, will probably undergo some changes as well. Until then, let the mystery continue.
Posted by Jessica at 9:16 PM
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3 comments:

  1. EmilyAugust 28, 2011 at 9:02 AM

    i'm glad your garden's doing better this year! i never noticed the cucumber flavor in borage flowers, they just taste sweet and nectar-y to me, but you can definitely smell cucumber in the plants. i trimmed a bunch back the other day and was momentarily confused, wondering who was slicing invisible cucumbers right under my nose.

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  2. JessicaAugust 28, 2011 at 7:24 PM

    That's interesting. How do you usually eat the borage flower? I've heard of sticking it in a pitcher of water, if I'm remembering my You Grow, Girl correctly.

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  3. EmilyAugust 28, 2011 at 9:12 PM

    i just grab the little pointy part and pull, pop it in my mouth. that way you only get the petals and none of the fuzzy stem/calyx. sometimes i suck out the nectar instead of eating the whole thing. you can put the flowers in ice cube trays, fill with water and freeze them for decorative ice cubes.

    the young leaves are also edible but they really don't appeal to me personally. not sure if you've yet had the delightful experience of borage pricklers all up in your epidermis--the thought of that on my tongue, ugh. they can be used in tea, too, another thing i haven't tried.

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