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57 posts tagged garden
Picking radishes from the garden in the rain today
Garden fencing
Our sugar snap peas are already over my head and they’ll grow another 3 feet or so before their season’s over. Year after year people who walk by our house are fascinated by their height and how well they climb the wire. Because so many people have asked about the wire I thought it might be interesting to some of you out there as well.
Not only is this green PVC covered wire a great medium for our peas and beans to climb it’s also great fencing for unruly plants like potatoes. Before we plant our seeds we lay it down on the soil as a digging deterrent for squirrels and cats. Occasionally we’ll get a creative critter who can work around it but not usually. We surround our sunflower plants with the fencing when they’re young mostly for protection from wayward children and their toys. After the last of the garden has been picked it gets taken down, rolled up and saved for the following year.
As I was out taking a few pictures an Oregon Junko very conveniently decided to land on the fencing surrounding the sunflowers. It’s not the world’s greatest picture but I felt it necessary to add because of the coincidental nature of the situation.
In another week we’ll be eating the first of the peas and then for weeks we’ll have more of them than I know what to do with. Like last year, I will spam you with a multitude of photos and recipes that include them. Stay tuned.
Oregon has a love affair with flowers
Have you ever seen tens of acres of blooming flowers? It quiets you. It can almost bring you to your knees in awe at the vast numbers of plants. Each variety creates its own long stripe of color in the fields. The tulips at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm and then in Washington’s Holland American Bulb Farm, Inc. were breathtaking. Last week I wound my way through the magical Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in the Eastmoreland area of Portland.
As I rounded the bend on NE Quinaby Road yesterday I was stunned to see 200 acres of iris blooming in fields of North Salem. Nestled within these acres of Schreiner’s Iris Gardens is their 10 acre display garden which is open to the public. This area not only shows off their beautiful bearded iris, it also includes a huge collection of other flowers of different colors and heights. Poppies, columbine, alliums, lupines are all showing off their colors.
I can give you a few pictures of these experiences but what you’re not getting is the perfumy scent of the flowers or the sound the blossoms make as they make as they bump into each other in the breeze.
Maybe my title should have been, “tango-mango has a love affair with Oregon’s flowers”.
Hostas
They’re growing inches every day.
This miniature gazebo with flowers and moss is growing in a pot about 18-inches in diameter. Some creative person with a lot of patience created it. Lovely.
Winter garden
With nearly a week remaining in the year, 2012 is already the fourth-rainiest on record in Portland, Oregon. Our daytime high temperatures hover around 40 degrees, which I know might sound balmy to those of you experiencing the snow storm in the Midwest, but with all of the dampness it’s pretty miserable.
We planted fava beans back in October and they don’t seem to be minding the weather. It’s a winter cover-crop that adds nitrogen to the soil and provides a green manure when you turn it over in the spring.
We found snowshoes under the Christmas tree, so maybe I can share with you something other than what we eat here or what’s growing in our yard in the near-future.
Pickled green beans from the garden
About a month ago I picked the last of the green beans. We ate a lot of them and I gave some away. The rest ended up getting pickled to be enjoyed throughout the winter. I shared with you a picture of my fresh ingredients, now I’m letting you see the finished product.
Water droplets
Our winter garden is sparkling this morning in the November sunshine.
Meteorologists predicted that our record-breaking, gorgeous weather would come to an end today. So yesterday I was high up on the ladder for a couple of hours picking as many green beans as I could reach before the rain set in. It’s a good thing I did, because today it’s raining, right on schedule.
This is a recipe I found late in the summer but it was great discovery. Every time I make these beans they get gobbled up. Be prepared for people to love them.
Sweet and spicy green beans
Ingredients:
- 3/4 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic chili sauce*
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
Directions:
Steam green beans in a steamer for 4-5 minutes.
In a small bowl mix together the soy sauce, garlic, garlic chili sauce and honey.
Heat the canola oil in a large skillet. Add the steamed green beans and cook, stirring occasionally until almost done. (Taste a bean to check for doneness.) Pour in the soy sauce mixture and continue to cook until liquid is almost evaporated. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
* I use LEE KUM KEE brand chili garlic sauce. You can find it in Asian grocery stores.
Carrots
I’ve always loved them. I bought these at the Beaverton Farmers’ Market and they were sweet and tender and tasted how fresh-picked produce should. After I peeled and cut off their fronds, I put them in a half sheet pan and drizzled them with olive oil and dusted them with kosher salt. Into a 400 F oven they went for about 20 minutes.
I love this time of year.
