watchthegardengrow

9.24.2007

flowers






garlic
crysanthemums (we eat the green leaves in salad)
nasturtium
marigolds
sunflowers

good for the bees
good for keeping the bugs off the tomatoes
good for the eyes

9.23.2007

garlic season





our neighbor charlie has a dog named sasha who barks loudly but is a sweetheart. he also wears a fisherman's cap and has a good moustache...
but really what distinguishes him to this blog is that he has contributed beautiful garlic bulbs for next year's garden. he grows them in his garden and dries them in his big equipment shed. he also goes to the garlic festival every year.

i made a visit a week ago -- i brought him some zucchini and tomatoes and he gave me garlic and the secret to planting it. it hardly seems like a fair trade since really he was doing us a favor by accepting the fruit. at any rate he gave us a big bunch of garlic with the bon voyage of: plant what you can and what you don't put in the ground you can eat.

just so you know -- i did plant a whole bed -- and there's still plenty for hummus, pesto, and everything else

i almost forgot another great contribution that charlie made -- he told me the name of those huge gourd/squash things our other italian neighbor grows from construction scaffolding in his front yard ::
Cucuzzi

eggplants + peppers







this year we put in eggplant.
purple + orange
john already tested out pickling the orange turkish ones.

the peppers are green and hot. they are a crucial ingredient in the zucchini fritter recipe we came up with recently to contend with the fact that the zucchini are making a come back.

pomodore -- zutallore





more tomatoes.

sprawl

















the squash have taken over the far corner of the garden.
underneath all the big leaves and yellow flowers...

cocozelle
white bush lebanese
yellow summer crookneck
carnival winter
nutty delica winter
acorn

9.11.2007

rainy day

rain






finally

the perfect tomato




yes we are always looking for that one, beautiful, tasty tomato.
i think we've found this year's choice.
it is a cherokee purple. just off the vine yesterday.

but it's lonely at the top.
here are a few friends -- a bit more run of the mill heirlooms but juicy all the same.