the things we learned

We learn from our mistakes right? Here are a few of our lessons from this growing season. 

 Our thumbs our getting greener every day.

We learned that we despise the white butterfly. It lays tiny eggs on our plants. Then the eggs turn into caterpillars and eat our veggies.

Luckily they were mostly into the Nasturtiums. I spent a lot of time picking the little green caterpillars off. It was actually strangely therapeutic. We equally dislike the aphids and white fly!

We learned that the tomatoes should probably be planted behind the Zucchini.

We learned our Hyacinth needs more soil to florish. And probably more light. We planted them in the middle of our circle of peas. The idea was that when the peas died off we would pull them down and have a beautiful purple hyacinth vine to look at. No such luck.

We learned that peppers,

eggplants

and watermelon need to be started much sooner.

 There is always something to learn in the garden.

the news from the garden 4

Brandywine and currant tomatoes. We have enjoyed one brandy wine so far, another is ripening in the green house. And we collect a small handful of currant tomatoes each day. Can you believe how cute they are?!  There are hundreds on the plant.

Quite a few Zucchini coming. Not overwhelming yet. The round ones are fun. Scallopinis! All the onions are harvested. Peas are almost done, it is getting a bit hot for them. Beans are just starting. Gherkins are coming along nicely. I will try to pickle some soon, unfortunately all my dill has died!

Marigolds are having a party in the garden. We started them from seed and they are doing great!

Stripey beetroot! Nigel found this somewhere. It says heirloom so we might let the rest go to seed and see if we can get some more of them.

This Yellow Sunsine Pumpkin was the size of a plum when we left for parachute. 10 days later and it is bigger than my head. It is the only on on the vine so far and we are not sure if we should leave it or cut it off and more will grow. Any pumpkin experts out there?

Eggplants are not happening. We had three lil ones on this plant before parachute. When we got home lil worms had made homes in them! So we cut them off to try again. Lots of flowers, but no eggplants yet.

the stuffed zucchini and the wee little chicken

 We have these cute little zucchini growing in the garden. We are about to have an abundance of zucchini as you do. But for now they are still exciting. I thought I would try stuffing them. They turned out yum, but took longer to cook than I was expecting.

I cooked the Zucchini first for about half an hour. Then cut off the top and scoop out the seeds. I stuffed with mashed potato,peas,onion, garlic and cheese on top. Cooked them for another hour and they were just done.

Can you believe this chicken?! A beautiful friend made it for me for Christmas. It just perches on the oven waiting to be used to pull a hot tray out of the oven. Just looking at that cute lil thing makes me smile.

Yum!