Laurafern's garden

[Laura]

I am going to chronicle my gardening this year... and it started this weekend. Tips from the garden pros are definitely encouraged!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/2450542368_3fba732c08.jpg

This is my main veggie garden. I haven't measured it but I'd say it's the size of one of those old, long station wagons. I have some beds on the sides of my garage that I grow food in too, and I think I am going to convert another small area this year, but not sure what I am going to put there yet.

Right now there are some chives coming up but I haven't planted anything yet. This year I got a truckload of composted manure from my uncle's horse stable which I am hoping is going to rejuvenate my soil quality. (It doesn't smell!) Last year for the first time I had some tomato blight, so I want to avoid that. I buy baby plants instead of seeds. I don't have enough light in my house, nor a long enough growing season to make seeds really worthwhile. I do plant cilantro from seeds, because that is extremely quick to grow.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2450542186_53dfb40deb.jpg

Rainbow chard. First time growing this one. I know what it looks like from seeing it in the stores but I don't think I have eaten it so I will be forced to search for recipes later this summer. I know it's colorful and healthy!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/2450542504_d511f76889.jpg

Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs. It smells fantastic and is really easy to grow.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2449717169_6111c8b52d.jpg

Thyme, aka tomillo. Everyone likes this one!

[Laura]

I wanted to say that in the past I have purchased several bags of potting soil to pot all my herbs.... I don't know why I pot the herbs, they just seem to do better. Also, my garden space is completely full sun, and sometimes on the really hot days my herbs get a little hot and I like to put them in the shade for a while. Anyway, this year I mixed some of my garden soil, some of the composted horse manure, and some of my own compost (which I just started doing last summer) instead of buying the potting soil. Hopefully that will work even better than the potting soil.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/2450541896_caee43621d.jpg
I planted this bleeding heart (in honor of my liberalism :bounce:) last spring. It sort of stopped blooming as soon as I got it in the ground but it's doing great this spring!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2450541780_6a8d2191a9.jpg

I have a smattering of low maintenance bulbs and perennials around the sides of my house. I don't plant any annual flowers anymore. That is too much work for me. I would rather just watch stuff come up year after year and focus on my food plants.

At this point my camera battery died. More updates on the weekend when I get most everything into the main garden bed.. hopefully!

[jsierra1982]

ooh those are beautiful flowers!

[xandtrick]

Just my sick mind working here... change your threadtitle to 'Laurafern11's bush' and see those visitors roll in.

[ratito921]

Just my sick mind working here... change your threadtitle to 'Laurafern11's bush' and see those visitors roll in.

great marketing strategy :wink:

[Pinkpig]

Just my sick mind working here... change your threadtitle to 'Laurafern11's bush' and see those visitors roll in.


...well, that should have been X'd out....:D

[jsierra1982]

oh great now every time we want to talk about gardening we're going to be reading about each other's rose******.

loool.

[Laura]

What? How did my innocent garden thread become dirty???!!! You guys are horrible. :puke:

[ratito921]

X did it :innocent:

[Cynthia]

Just my sick mind working here... change your threadtitle to 'Laurafern11's bush' and see those visitors roll in.

:include::innocent:

[Dorothea]

The vomiting smilie makes me happy!
Laura, it looks lovely. I wish I had a patch o' dirt!
Did you add some of your own compost to your garden too? Any organic matter you add will make it better and better! Your veggies will love the horse manure, and not smelling means it's perfect:)
The chard: you can sear it in a pan with a little lemon and salt&pepper, yummy! Or eat it raw as a salad, or even boil it like spinach.... Yum, fresh veggies!

Bleeding heart is my favorite early spring flower...

[Laura]

Yes, I have manure from my uncle and my own compost! I haven't really mixed everything up in the main part yet, but I will add compost around all the plants too.

[DeBenny]

MMM. We will be working on some plants and perhaps growing some vegetables in our backyard, too. We have the room and our land lady is all about it too.

[aguafria]

This looks great!! It has my wheels turning. I've been thinking about what I can do in my backyard and your comments on your initial planting seem easy enough. Thanks for the motivation.

[Marie]

oh wow laura, that looks GREAT!

Do you buy them in seeds or small plants?

[~MP~]

I dont know anything about gardening...but those are beautiful flowers. :)

[losguerra]

ooh, Laura. I envy you. I'd love to grow some of my own herbs.

Looks beautiful!

[Dorothea]

Amy, herbs are easy, right in a pot in your kitchen window or right outside the door! Go for it! You don't have to have any real skills, the just like sun and plenty of water!

[Laura]

I really taught myself. I've learned a little more every year. Four years ago I had never kept a plant alive in my life. When we moved into our house it came with a sectioned off garden square about half the size of what I have now (I expanded last year). We pulled up all the weeds that were in there and I went to the Farmer's Market in my area in May and bought some little baby pepper and tomato plants plus some herbs ($1-$3 each for the little plants). I also did cilantro and chamomile from seeds that year. I was pretty shocked how big my plants got. Whatever the Hmong people who owned my house before me had in the ground there was very good for the soil. I also have full sun there and because it's so urban I don't have any problems with rabbits or cats or anything like that.

For veggies, I don't do seeds - too much work, and the growing season in Wisconsin isn't really long enough unless you are going to start indoors. I tried to start some stuff indoors two years ago and it was just too much of a hassle. Nothing lived long enough to get outside in the dirt, so that was sad. To really get good seedlings you need some special lighting or really good natural light in your house. Plus - a packet of pepper or tomato seeds is so many more tomato plants than I would ever be able to use.

I'll probably spend less than $100 on plants and a few garden things this spring, and in July and August I will save at least that on groceries. I'm going to try to can this year too. I think my grandma knows how. I'd love to have tomatoes stored for eating in the winter. Last year at the end of the season when I had so many tomatoes that I didn't know what to do with them I roasted big pans of them and froze them. The result is probably not as tasty as canning, but they were great for making a sauce or soup.

[Cfloresgirl]

Looks great!..your flowers are beautiful!...Thyme is one of my favs too...
This is the first year we are using horse manure in our garden...we usually use miracle grow..other soils..we will see how it turns out...

[gaby]

Hey Laura the flowers look very beatiful and I like what you wrote in honor o your liberalism. As soon as I get approved I will mail the guagillo y chileancho to do the oaxacan cuisine.
By the way yesterday I made a chichen with chile guajillo sauce, ( no fried ) I put in on the oven with potatoes and my husband really like he says that since I am in Mexico my kitchen skills are better

[Laura]

LOL.. Gaby - is your husband in Mexico with you now?

Haha... That chicken sounds amazing. If you can bring me a bag of chile pasilla de Oaxaca I would be the happiest girl in Wisconsin. Pasilla de Oaxaca though, not guajillo or ancho. Those we can get here. :) You are awesome...

How is your HSL coming along?

[gaby]

Yes he is visiting me for a week. the hsl is much better now, we put more info now, definitly the sleep Apnea will be our major issue.
Thaks for remind me the pasilla then,

[Laura]

Oh, that is great that he is visiting! Have a fun week!

[Dorothea]

Yes he is visiting me for a week. the hsl is much better now, we put more info now, definitly the sleep Apnea will be our major issue.
Thaks for remind me the pasilla then,

Gaby, I'm so glad he came to see you!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the greatest news, and really makes my day!

Laura, I apologize for hijacking your thread:blush:

[Laura]

Not a problem!

[Laura]

It doesn't look like much now... but wait two months.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2293/2472815546_6f1c9c1d07.jpg

I have four tomato plants, four assorted pepper plants and a few odd herbs in here now. I am going to seed some cilantro between stuff (because it grows really fast) and in a separate area I have tomatillos and some Chinese cabbage and Swiss chard started.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/2471991199_bc38b7a85f.jpg

[Dorothea]

Looks lovely! Laura, is that just topsoil in there? It looks like double ground mulch!

[Marie]

looks awesome laura!!

[Cata]

I loved seeing all the pics...Thanks...it is very inspiring to start one.

[Laura]

Looks lovely! Laura, is that just topsoil in there? It looks like double ground mulch!

Well, there is a lot of composted horse manure (which I got free from my uncle's horse stable) on top. I tried to mix it up with the dirt below but I didn't mix really well. I don't have a roto-tiller or anything, we just dumped the truckload of manure on top and I moved it around with a rake thing. Hopefully that is okay. :) Around each plant I spend a lot more time mixing the dirt, manure and compost in together so I think it's fine.

What is double ground mulch?

[Dorothea]

Composted or really fine wood:)
Anyway, the horse manure is perfect and it looks like it's composted just right, so your plants will LOVE it! Don't worry about mixing it in in the rest of the bed. The nutrients will still leach into the soil when you water, and the bugs will help mix it in just right too.

[Laura]

Good! That is what I thought. Yeah, my husband was all in a tizzy about transporting the manure - he thought it was going to smell, and it doesn't at all!

I think my plants might become super gigantic this year.

Re: bugs - This weekend my BIL and my nephew were out playing when I was working and I dug up an earthworm and was trying to show my nephew. Anyway, my BIL was like, "voy por la sal." And I didn't know what he was talking about and then he explained that he was going to kill it with salt! I was like, "What? No, we don't kill earthworms, they are good!" And he looked at me like, esta muy loca...

It's funny, this BIL is supposed to know a lot about planting and crops and whatnot... so maybe there are worms in Mexico that look like earthworms and are bad for plants? I don't know. I was trying to explain that the worms help the soil, but that was hard for me to say in Spanish. :crazy:

[Chapital]

Funny...reminds me of planting last weekend with my daughter. She was most interested in the worms. I had to keep finding earthworms for her to hold and then she would make me did new holes for them to go back to. I am glad she likes bugs/insects, etc.

[FloresFamilia]

maybe he is mixed up with slugs or snails?? They do a number on my mom's plants if she doesn't stay on top of them.

You have inspired me....

[Laura]

Okay, I have a problem!

It's been a pretty cold May. And I think there might have been just a little bit of frost one night, and I didn't cover anything. Everything looks okay, not great, but okay. My baby tomato plants have some yellowing on the bottom layers of leaves, but it hasn't spread and the plants are still living. I was wondering why they are turning yellow like that and we thought about the possible frost (although honestly, I hadn't thought we had actually had frost). I knew there was potential a few nights but being as close as I am to the lake usually it actually doesn't get as cold here as it does farther in the burbs.

Anyway, I was just out watering, and found an alarming amount of some kind of fungus that looks like yellow-tan brains around almost all my plants - the peppers, the herbs, the tomatoes. I should have taken a photo of it but I'm hoping Dorothea knows what this is. :)

It's not all over the surface of the garden, it's only by the plants - maybe because that is the only thing that is getting water? We haven't had rain for a week, but I have been watering a little most days. I didn't see this fungus until today, and I took it all out.

I have never seen anything like this, but I've also never had four inches of manure over my entire garden either.

Is this normal - is it damaging? If you don't know what it is is there a good site to ID something like this?

I'm scared for my babies!

[1MessedUpSourPatchKid]

X did it :innocent:


:lol:

[1MessedUpSourPatchKid]

Those are some pretty good flowers Laura.

I love the pictures too :D You did good!

[Laura]

Thanks - we'll see if this scary fungus eats all my plant though. I need D's help! ;)

[1MessedUpSourPatchKid]

Yeah she is the expert.

Hubby promised he was going to plant some tulips for me since I love them.

I'm still waiting for my tulips. :waiting: You know how men are.

[Laura]

LOL... My husband would never plant tulips for me! If you want them, you should probably do it yourself. It's so easy!

[Dorothea]

Oh boy, I'm suprised you have fungus in your manure...
Okay, first things first, yellowing on bottom leaves isn't frost damage (that would just be die-back at the tips). I think it sounds like nitrogen deficiency... But I'm really suprised, manure should have all sorts of available nitrogen. Uncomposted manure would cause a problem like this, but shouldn't happen w/composted manure. Let me take a look at my notes and see....

And the fungus, I think it would something that came in with the manure. And it would make sense that it's around the plants because it's where you water... If the manure piles sat for a while some spores have probably just been sitting there patiently, waiting for a nice, happy environment, which you are so kindly providing:)
Don't water them as much. I always like to let things get a little on the dry side between waterings. This actually helps them establish stronger root systems (roots go out looking for water), as well as kind of preventing molds/bacteria, etc from being able to establish themselves.
Your plants should be okay, but let me see what I see. Keep removing the stuff in the meantime, and I'll get back to you!

[Dorothea]

Okay, N deficiency could be caused by two things in your case... Probably partially from the chilly weather.
The other thing, try to find out if the person you got the manure from uses wood shavings/chips in the horse stalls. If so then your carbon to nitrogen ratio is probably out of whack. You should feritlize with some nitrogen fertilizer. A basic Miracle grow (or something similar) will work, or some ammonium sulfate... If you want to stay organic use fish emulsion or another organic product...
http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0212.html
That link might explain it a bit for you...

[Laura]

Oh great! Thanks so much. I'm not sure about the wood shavings but I think they do. I will assume that, because like you said, it doesn't make any sense that it is frost damage and there's not really another reason for yellowing. That makes me happy that I didn't let my babies freeze. (Some people have pets, I have veggie and herb plants).

So, what about the scary brain-like fungi? You don't think it will hurt anything? I can't believe how much I took out yesterday.

I am going to go look at fertilizer today then. Thanks D!

[Laura]

I went and bought some blood meal. I didn't see the fish emulsion and I wanted to get something organic/natural, and this was. It's like 12-0-0 - so I guess that's pretty much just adding nitrogen? Hopefully my babies will perk up in a few days.

[Laura]

Scary fungi -

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2247/2521741327_5c9937aa08.jpg

Any thoughts?

[mlmeja]

I was very excited to stumble across your garden thread today because today has been a gardening day for me too! We just bought our house last August so this is going to be my first year gardening. The ownders before us never did too much with the space. There is an area that is obviously a garden but they just had a bunch of random green cover type things in there. Today we pulled a bunch of it out...transported some to other areas and got rid of some of it and dug up an area for our tomato plants.
Then we went to visit my aunt and uncle this afternoon and got to talking about flowers. Our wedding is in September and my aunt has agreed to help with the flowers. Well....we need to plant some cutting flowers so I think we'll use the other half of the garden area for that.
I'm sure I'm going to need lots of advice as we go along since I've never done this. AND since Laura is skilled in WI gardening I'm sure she'll have lots to share. :)

[Laura]

That's a fun idea mlmeja! I'm not really that experienced, but I'll answer anything I can. :)

[Dorothea]

Laura, my take on the fungus is that it's probably harmless (just ugly!), and wont affect your plants... It's just hanging out decomposing some stuff in the manure. It was probably just growing on the pile.
You can just get rid of it, reduce your watering a bit, and it'll probably just stop growing after a while.

Blood meal will work well. They should perk up in no time, with the help of a little heat and sun!!!

[Laura]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3166/2559932864_ddbaf208c6.jpg

Well, things are definitely going better than a few weeks ago! The blood meal totally did the trick so it was definitely a nitrogen deficiency. All the plants are very green, and although there is a lot of fungus living in the corners of my plot (because it's rained a lot recently) it's no longer hugging my plants and it doesn't seem to be hurting the ones it's close to. I was searching for information about fungi and horse manure and apparently there are people whose hobby is discovering new and "interesting" fungi that grows in horse manure. Who knew!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3267/2559109443_5d36a26efc.jpg

So this baby tomato plant popped up out of nowhere... I'm guessing it's a cherry tomato plant because last year I had so many cherry tomatoes that at one point I let a lot of them fall to the ground and they were in the dirt all winter. This is the biggest one, but I pulled out at least 100 little seedlings today (there's no room to let them grow). I was shocked that they are re-seeding themselves. These things are not supposed to happen in the long, cold Wisconsin winters. I'm not sure what I am going to do with this guy. He's like 18 inches from two other tomato plants. He won't survive here all summer, but I also don't really have anywhere else to move him.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2559932642_514d5eb361.jpg

Manzanilla/Chamomile and my ugly toes. :)

[aprilstorm]

It looks so great!!! The past 5 years I have grown tomatoes and jalapeno's but now that we are in this apartment I have nowhere to plant them :bsad:

[Laura]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2559109143_062efdbb6e.jpg

Never-ending salad in a pot. I have already taken two big salads out of here, and apparently it just keeps growing. (I wasn't sure what would happen to it after I "harvested." I bought these as two little starter sets of "mesclun mix" and I am very happy with how big they have grown in a month and how tasty the mix is. Random side note - I put this in a pot because last year I planted some lettuce in my actual garden and moths or something ravaged them. They don't seem to get them in the pot.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3126/2559933170_feb73da0bc.jpg

Very green (basil) since the absorption of the blood meal (nitrogen supplement).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2559109745_d8e8fe821b.jpg

This is looking sort of too-tall and lanky to me. I don't know if it's just the variety of tomato or if the plant is not healthy... We'll see I guess.

[cherrycandy001]

The Garden is looking great Laura. Cant wait till I have a house of my own I totally want to plant a garden.

[Dorothea]

Laura, it looks great, love your columbine!
The tomato looks great, just had a burst of growth from all the Nitrogen, so it'll fill in. Tomatoes do re-seed if you let them drop in the garden, but if you get the hybrid ones they wont.
Lovely pics!

[Laura]

Thanks D. Good to know.

[Emily]

Laura those are great looking plats:)

FYI- I'm working on a "gardeing tips" sticky, just haven't had time to finish it.

I will post my pics just as soon as my camera is charged and we get sun again:(

Last year I planted alot of prenennials and so this year realized I have barely any room left. In a rose bed I have voodoo lillies ( I think that's what they are), and my 2 tomatoes.

Another plot is my herb garden where I have strawberries, rosemary, lavender, grandfather sage, pineapple sage, dill, mint, spearement, chives, parsly, french basil and thai basil, and cilantro

Started another plot where I have 12 stalks of corn plated so far.

Planning to put peppers, sweet peas, snow peas, onions, carrot, and a bunch of other but have no clue where it's all going to go:(

[MMGCA]

its looking good laura!.....

[Laura]

Laura those are great looking plats:)

FYI- I'm working on a "gardeing tips" sticky, just haven't had time to finish it.



Cool! I can't wait to see that.

[Laura]

Well, after a few weeks of waaayy too much rain for these parts, things have calmed down and just about everything is flourishing. The only hold-out is this sad eggplant, which should be at least twice this size right now. I don't know what's wrong with him.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/2609211478_c7aa2b8258.jpg

I don't know there these two squash plants came from... Well, I guess I know, they came from seeds that were in the ground all winter. Again, this is not supposed to happen in Wisconsin. But anyway, I don't know what to do with them. I don't have room for squash but I feel bad taking them out now that they are so big, so I'm thinking I might try to direct them onto the little patio area to grow along the fence. I don't know.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3295/2608380967_594711af17.jpg

By the time I come back from my trip I will have almost have my first cherry tomatoes!!!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/2608381923_244ae20ee7.jpg

[ojos_de_alicia]

oh fun! love ur pics... looks like so much fun ... if i had a garden that is :) good work laura!

[aprilstorm]

It's looking great Laura!!!!

[veroyjulio]

your garden looks great, I would love to start a smaller version of yours since I lived in an apartment complex.

I would love to have some calla lilies. : )

[1MessedUpSourPatchKid]

That basil is looking so good for a yummy pesto sauce.

But as always you get me with those fantastic pictures you take.

[1MessedUpSourPatchKid]

your garden looks great, I would love to start a smaller version of yours since I lived in an apartment complex.

I would love to have some calla lilies. : )

Oh the calla lilies are my thing together with white tulips :D

[Marie]

Laura, it's looking awesome!! I bought a tomato plant that I still need to plant. I'll have pictures next year or stuff. things aren't happening on my timeline..lol

[raquel]

All that basil is AMAZING. Do you have any tips on how to get it to grow well inside? The environment in my apartment probably won't permit it (don't even get me started), but I really love basil and love making homemade pesto, but basil is so freaking expensive at the store!

[Laura]

Hmm.. I kill most plants inside and am pretty good with those outside, so I unfortunately don't have tips. They do like a lot of sun, and I know people who keep herbs indoors, but it's best somewhere sunny. It's hard (impossible?) to get them to grow that large in a pot indoors. I will have so much by the end of the season that I won't know what to do with it. I am going to try and freeze some pesto this year.

[raquel]

Darn. My balcony doesn't have a lot of light and neither do my windows. Plus my neighbors cat upstairs throws up on my balcony all the time (in addition to other things). I guess I will have to resign my hopes of growing basil.

But when I do, did you start out with seeds? Also, do you have your pot in a south lighting type of area? Do you fertilize the plant? And does it ever need to be removed out of the sun because of heat?
Edit:
Oh! And bugs! How do you keep evil pests away from ruining the plant?

[Laura]

Darn. My balcony doesn't have a lot of light and neither do my windows. Plus my neighbors cat upstairs throws up on my balcony all the time (in addition to other things).

Ew. That's nasty.

Well, I have done basil in pots and in my actual garden (in the ground) and both have worked although if you want a lot of basil to do pesto I suggest putting them in the ground because the plants will grow really big. I leave them in the full sun and they do great. I just check and water lightly any days that it doesn't rain. I don't usually fertilize although this year I did because of the nitrogen problem that D helped me with earlier. I don't really start plants from seeds anymore, other than cilantro, because it's hard to do and you get way too many plants than you can fit. I go to my local farmer's market and buy my herbs and plants from a nice man named **** Krauss. He knows all about herbs and usually has like 15 types of basil to choose from. I'm guessing if you go to a farmer's market in May you will find all sorts of food plants to put in your garden.
Edit:
Bugs - that is hard. I need to research that. I have some pest problems on my cabbage and chard, but I'm not sure what it is. When D comes back I will pick her brain about that one. :)

[raquel]

Fantastic. That will help a lot. Basil is like heaven's herb, I swear.

[DeBenny]

Pesto? Yummmm!!!! I wish I was eating some Noodles and Company pasta w/ pesto:daydream:

[Laura]

Okay, just took some new pics.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2640540432_b5c339050f.jpg

This is the time of the year where everything gets sort of unruly. My tomato plants exploded while I was in Vancouver. They all have green fruits on them now.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2639712129_12a8c61ef5.jpg

Cilantro - but I think I got the wrong variety. It looks different than the stuff in the Mexican stores. Oh well, it's still fine.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/2640539978_dd40f1bb6d.jpg

---

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2129/2639711837_7f87b889c0.jpg

Out of control zucchini plants. I ate some of their flowers in a quesadilla the other day though. Yum!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3028/2639711659_9797e108eb.jpg

Just some pink flowers on one of my perennial ground covers.

[Marie]

Laura, what do you suggest as support for the tomato plants?

[Laura]

Laura, what do you suggest as support for the tomato plants?

I have a cage now, which works well. It was cheap at Home Depot. I also have the spirals, which work well. I staked the first year, with the twisty tie things to attach to the stakes. That digs into the plants as they grow, so I don't like that as much.

[Marie]

i'll look for cages then at HD. I never saw them there.

[Laura]

Come to think of it, I might have gotten those spiral things at the local garden center. Sometimes they have more selection.

[Emily]

wow laura those look really good.

[arcoiris]

Good job, Laura!

[Laura]

Well, no news here has been good news. Things are looking big and green and I've been eating the benefits of my spring plantings. I had cherry tomatoes starting a couple weeks ago and now I'm getting plenty of regular tomatoes too. I picked really nice red varieties this year. They are heirlooms and so tasty. I'm going to be eating tomatoes for the next four months or so. It's about time to get out a big pot to make some of Raquel's ragu sauce....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3268/2750809043_f56246660c.jpg

-------
Squash flowers that I made into a soup today....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/2751639636_f01ddbfaec.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2751645452_9df67a81c5.jpg

the soup
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3214/2751633906_942c8e14d7_o.jpg


I do have a little blight or something yellowing my leaves. This has happened the last couple years, but I've still had a lot of fruit, so I don't worry much about it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2751638216_22aa4bd4e1.jpg

thai basil plants - doing very well...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2258/2751636766_7eb9f1b1b7.jpg

[losguerra]

OH. Wow. It's all so beautiful and delicious-looking.

[Dorothea]

I don't know how I missed this. It looks beautiful. Tell me more about that soup!

[Marie]

wow Laura, it's gorgeous. I've given up on mine for this year and will try next year.

My dogs have trampled most of it. I'm ready for next year.

Do you put any ferts on it?

[Laura]

Oh - garden talk is a good escape from my law-school-orientation-filled brain.

The soup is really simple and tasty. Everything is seasonal. You basically saute onion, then add a cut up potato and 4 cups or so of stock. I use chicken, but of course you could use veggie and it would be just as good. After it cooks for a 20 minutes or so, you add half the chopped squash flowers (say 12-15 flowers) and cook for a few minutes. Then you puree the broth. Put the broth back on the stove and add a cup of milk and two roasted/skin-and-seeds-removed poblano peppers. Then you cook for a while, adding corn (preferably cut from one cob) a chopped zucchini, salt and pepper. Cook for a little longer, then add the other 12-15 chopped squash flowers and half a cup of heavy cream or creme fraiche or even soul cream works.

This is off the top of my head - the book is at home in Milwaukee. It's a Rick Bayliss recipe. It's really simple and tasty. :)

[Laura]

wow Laura, it's gorgeous. I've given up on mine for this year and will try next year.

My dogs have trampled most of it. I'm ready for next year.

Do you put any ferts on it?

So sad. But yeah, I can see how dogs would mess it up. Or toddlers. Haha... I have tomatoes coming out of my ears now. This weekend again I am going to make sauce and soup to freeze. Free food for law school!

[Marie]

I have one tomatoe that is starting to rippen. How do you know when to take it off?

I'm going to have to do what I don't want to and put things all around all the gardens I have back there. *sigh*

I'll be ready for next year. I am still watering. Maybe i'll get 3 green beans..LOL. The radishes died. The herbs didn't do anything at all.

The squash and green beans are flowering so I'm waiting. One of my tomato plants has 5 on it, the other has nothing.

[Cfloresgirl]

Hey Laura..I missed your new pics..your garden looks fabulous! And that soup..I will definitely be taking down that recipe..looks and sounds delish!
Happy gardening!