Very nice photo. Looks delicious!

No photo from me but we have a beautiful gallon jar of pickled cauliflower, onions, carrots and a coupla jalapenos thrown in to give a little kick. Also have a very pretty half gallon jar of pickled beets with onions. All home grown.

Just finnished all the peas. Had a good crop. Soon to be enjoying brocholi, more turnips, carrots, onions, mustard greens and cauliflower.

I have a big Vidalia I am babying. Almost 5 inches in diameter now but it is showing signs of falling over. Gotta see how big I can get it to grow.

Looks great Silvia, it's interesting that when we are just about done with the cucurbits you are just getting started. I'm getting the last of the broccoli this week, and the sugar snaps are just about finished too, I'll probably pull the last row next week...still have pole beans, onions, and tomatoes. I've got sweet peppers that got started late do to so much cold weather, they will start producing in the next month, and I've got six Sunmaster tomatoes that will be ready the last few weeks of June. That's about it here; I'm going to take the summer off, no okra or yardlongs....

Tom

beautiful, silvia. as usual you're a week or more ahead of me--i have tons of squash on my plants in buckets, and more yet coming from some plants in the garden, but they're only a few inches long now. i'll leave them to get a bit larger.

i have a bit of broc (5 or 6 plants), cauliflower, carrots, tons of lettuce (it's still not bitter thanks to the cool weather), potatoes, beets and chard. my cukes started blooming this weekend, so i expect some fruit in the next week or two. i have lots of beefmaster tomatoes on the vine but still hard and green, and my fortex beans are blooming a week ahead of rattlesnakes. peppers are a week or two from blooming... tons of peaches, blackberries, & blueberries coming down the pipeline, but still a month off. looks like i'll not get any bananas this year... but to make up for it, lots of figs, persimmons, and ONE anna apple.

my pea harvest was LOUSY this year--anyone have advice on a pea variety?

Hi Sumala

Thank you. I am glad to see you posting, you have a great expertise in your garden and I for one like to learn.

That cauliflower sounds yummy! I am going to make some pickled beets myself. And I agree with you on the onions, they are getting huge!

Remember one time you told me that my yard had to much grass? You were right and I am going to present you the new look of the garden.:) Feel free to tell me what needs to be improved, I always learn something from you.

Hi Tom

Thank you. Each season is a new opportunity for learning. You can use the summer to plan, gather information, materials, seeds and other things to beautify your garden.

And finally the river bead path is done. Here it is the finished result.

Silvia

Hi Michael

Thank you. You are so well supplied, you are the living proof that a small garden can be very productive and beautiful at the same time. Congratulations to you!

Remember the mysore raspberry? Here is mine

And my winter squash ready to climb the trellis

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Silvia

Getting a few blueberries, they are just starting. Carrots, lettuce is still going as it is tucked in well under a canopy of snow peas which works very well for extending the lettuce harvest. The 25 or so cilantro plants are producing well and fighting to keep them from going to seed and the snow peas are going gangbusters with about 1/2 gallon a day.

Hi Bamboo rabbit

Your harvest sounds and looks great! I love snow peas and they are very versatile in dishes and the best part they are fast to cook.

You must like cilantro, so do I, I use it a lot in cooking. That is a good idea about growing the lettuce under the peas, is funny but I had the same idea, lol. What kind of snow peas are you growing? they sure are prolific!

Here are my super sugar snaps, lettuce on the bottom

Michael, I forgot to mention the peas. In the beginning of the season when it was cold the yellow snow peas did well for me, after that the maestro peas did excellent, and to the end of the season the super sugar snaps.

Silvia

My veggie garden consists of a couple bags near the front door, but over the weekend we harvested enough leaf lettuce for a dinner party with 6 guests, cilantro for the salsa and basil for the main dish, mint for the mojitos and limes too. The tomatoes are ripening but not there yet.

Even in my little bags I'm having luck with the lettuce growing under a huge mound of cilantro. It protects the tender leaves very well.

Kate

WHgille,

I love cilantro....but more so the rabbits love cilantro, it is their favorite thing in the world. Now that the new garden is up and running the old garden will become the bunny garden for their supplemental feed. So this fall I will double to 50 cilantro as well as many other bunny approved plant types now that I have so much more room.

The peas are melting sugar and have been very happy with them though The 8 foot trellis proved inadequate so the new one will be 10 feet. The lettuce under the peas works great. While the peas are small and the weather cold the lettuce gets all the sun and grows and when the lettuce needs protection the peas are there as a cooling shading retreat.

Hi Kate

Any veggie garden is a good idea and is especially great when you can offer your guests the very best and freshest ingredients. Congratulations!

Here are some of my potatoes from the bags, I have all blue, all red and German butterball.

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Bamboo rabbit- I did not know rabbits like cilantro, I thought the only like carrots, lol.

Your peas sound amazing! You will have a lot of peas for the rainy day.:)

Silvia

Whgille,

The rabbits prefer any of the aromatic herbs the best. Cilantro, parsley, basil etc. They like the carrots also both tops and bottoms but the bottoms have a lot of sugar and fat bunnies are not productive bunnies. They love beet tops but don't care much for turnip tops. They don't care much for collards but love Kale and chard.

I wanted to ask you about the mysore raspberry. I bought 3 pots of them early this spring from Lowes and they have taken off well and are blooming quite nicely. The tag on the plants from Lowes showed a red fruit, is that what you get? I had thought the fruit from the Mysore was black??? How do you like the taste of them? I have heard differing opinions on the fruit quality. They sure are a thorny lot.....

The only thing I have harvested so far is strawberries, purple onions and bush beans. My pole beans are growing like mad so I should have some of those soon. I have tons of tomatoes growing but none ripe yet, can't wait! Still waiting to see if I will get any cucumbers and cantaloupe, they are iffy.

Bamboo rabbit- Interesting things about the rabbits and what they like to eat, you must have done a lot of research on the subject. I think they are very cute.

And about the mysore raspberries I bought 2 plants recently, I am surprise they are doing so well. I have not taste them yet, but if I get a lot I can always improve the flavor either juicing or making a jam.

I have them in the place were is the mulch, so the thorns don't bother my pets, everything is thorny in that section, citrus too. I have other berries blackberries different kinds, boysenberries.

My garden is fairly new about 2-3 years old, when we moved here it was only a big patch of grass. Little by little we are changing that.

Hi Sharon

Your harvest sounds good, especially when you start getting the beans. I can not wait for fresh beans to make new recipes. I have the Bean Bible cookbook and it is really good!

And I am waiting for the ripe tomatoes just like you, lol

Silvia

Silvia, you and your garden never cease to amaze me! First of all, your path is just beautiful! I love how it makes nice, smooth curves and how wide it is. It adds a whole new dimension to your garden and cuts out a chunk of grass. Great job and very worth all your hard work. Next, I love the long views of your yard showing your very ornamental veggie gardens and how your structures are pretty also. And your cabbage! And squash already! Amazing. I am learning so much from you, but my efforts pale in comparison. I am getting better every year though. Especially with all your instruction. The potatoes are so pretty, they look like an abstract painting.

Bamboo rabbit, your snow peas look great! I'd like to get one of those vacuum pack thingies someday.

Here are a couple of pics of our veggie area. I have a couple other areas, but they are under construction now.

This is our new box this year. It is kind of the salad box. Recently harvested the last of the tatsoi and oriental cabbage, and a lot of the lettuce is bolting now, but still a lot of good lettuce, evergreen onions, carrots, and a couple of herbs.

This shows some of the tomatoes in earthboxes, the dwarf mulberry is in the foreground, beans and a couple of cucumbers on the trellis on the right, broccoli and collards in the back, some lettuce (a lot is bolting here too), onions, more carrots.

On the other side (not shown), I have three eggplant, three zucchini, swiss chard, misome, and three other earth boxes with more tomatoes. In the banana area I have some peppers, herbs, sweet potatoes started, more carrots. My garden is nilly-willy... not organized like Silvia's. It is doing better this year than it ever has! I am learning!

Anna

Hi Anna

You have a very beautiful veggie and ornamental garden! And I value a lot what you have to say. Thank you, you are very kind.

I am going to include some before and after pictures.

Very first picture, only grass at the house, we put 2 variegated hibiscus

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Making the path...

The cabbage that you like

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One of my favorite beds, It has golden runner beans,celery, ornamental corn, soybeans, in the back purple fava, cilantro, hot peppers.

Silvia

Looking GOOD Silvia!!!!!!

How are Your Passies Doing?
My Foetida's Growing for England MeFinks.....

Hi NC

Thank you. Only granadilla passion fruit survived the winter, I have at least 3 coming back to life. Are yours fruiting?

Here is one of mine

And today's harvest, beets and I am going to pickle them.

Hi, Silvia,

From your last e-mail, I have dying to see the pictures of your "new Garden"!

First thing I checked when my Internet got fixed:
Wow!...Wow!..WowÂWhat a beautiful place. Great job!

And your vegetables look yummy.

Thanks for sharing,

~Freya

My little Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) bush is fruiting now. Pretty tasty berries.

Tomas

Hi Freya

Thank you. Remember when you come back from the trip, you have to come and see the garden. It is always nice to see you and Art.

And I picked my first pole beans today along with more kale, zucchini and beets.

Hi Tomas

Are your cape gooseberry similar to ground cherries? If so, I like them too. And if you get a lot, you can make them into a pie or jam.

Silvia

Silvia - absolutely amazing, I love the different textures of the walkway and English / European style fences you've put in, since my property slopes down toward the lake I'm not certain what I want to do or how to keep it safe.

What are those low-growing flowers in the picture below the red cabbage?

Anna - WOW! It's obvious you've been getting pointers from Silvia ;-)

Tom

I love most any kind of pickled vegetables and before the year is out I hope to have some pickled green beans, eggplant, peppers and maybe some kraut.

And yes Silvia, your yarden is prettier now that you do not have so much grass.

Thank you Tom, we at the house were waiting for your review, very, very important to hear what you thought. You are always nice and have bright ideas.

And other people that came to the house also mention those flowers, I started them from seeds that I got at Renee's garden they are Honey-Scented Alyssum Gulf Winds, they took the freeze and are taking the heat well. I remember them as a child my aunt gave me cuttings and I planted them along the border on the side of the house. They filled in nicely and were perennial there.

Also like this ground cover that I put along the path

And in Phoenix I had different color gazanias that took the heat very well

Here is one that I have now

Silvia

Hello Silvia,

I have never had ground cherries so I don't really know. Cape gooseberries are sweet so I like your idea to make a pie with them. I haven't thought about that. Thanks!

Tomas

My Passies Not Fruiting Yet Silvia... Give it a Few Weeks and I think the 1st Flowers Might be here...
Can't Wait to Taste!!! Yum, YUM, YUMMY!!!!

Hi Tomas

They are the same and you can make a pie.

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Hi Sal

Wow!!! You have some nice looking veggies, you have a green thumb and your fig-cucumber-tomato was very funny. It is good to laugh.

Your cucumber looks like an oriental I grew past season and I am also growing now.

What are you going to do with all the harvest? If you like pickles you can make dilly beans, zucchini and cucumber pickles. I don't process them only refrigerate them and last me a good time. I just made some pickled beets and came out great.

My tomatoes today

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Hi NC

Make sure that you take a picture when they are fruiting, good for you! You have a reliable and good quality passie.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: cape gooseberry, ground cherry

Wow, Sal, that's quite the harvest. Your plants look great too! Quite the cuke!

Silvia, I really like that groundcover. Do you know what it's called?

Anna

Sal - I'd say you definitely have down Florida gardening...very nice healthy looking veggies!

Silvia - I'd swear you're cheating, what kind of steroids are you using on those plants ;-)

Tom

Anna - I asked the guy that was selling in the Winter Garden sell and he did not know either. Somebody that came to the house said is some sort of jasmine, it is so pretty and it goes with anything because it has so many colors.

I got this other ground covers that one looks like miniature zinnia and the other one I think is Artemisia, I am not sure. Again I asked in the nursery and they did not know and had no tag. :)

Tom - I am running out of people to give away the veggies, the more I take the more I have next day, lol

Those squash look gigantic! Every day they keep getting bigger.

And the tomatoes, I probably have to loose weight to fit between the plants. Big tomatoes are in the back, in the front are planted later.

Here is another view from the back

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And my golden runner beans are flowering and the ornamental corn is showing its tassel, I have 1 jade corn that you sent me, it is about the same size than the ornamental, I will take pictures soon of the corn.

Golden runner beans

Silvia

Silvia, I just love seeing pictures of your garden. You have a downright farm there! Those runner beans have such pretty flowers. Your tomatoes are huge!

Ninecrow, that's amazing you can grow that indoors! That's a lot of buds. Thanks for showing us.

Anna

Anna Those are Unripe Fruit, Thet Ripen into this....

Ninecrow, Wow! I don't think I have ever seen or heard of that fruit. Very interesting looking and so healthy.

silvia powis castle artemesia... beware!

Silva

Your garden is amazing. I want to come on a field trip to your house :). I've got a couple of the mysore raspberries that are starting to flower. My blackberries haven't done anything yet. I'd sure love for those to do well as I love blackberries. I've picked strawberries and blueberries, and will soon be able to get some lettuce. Of course I've got herbs going. Oh and I've picked a couple of tomatoes too!

NC - Long live your passie!

Anna - I took more pictures for you to see it in what stage are the veggies. Time for the squash.

Michael - I will be careful, is it invasive or poison? lol

Julia - Thank you, and you can always come on a field trip to see the garden. Congratulations on your harvest of different berries, herbs and tomatoes. Keep up the good work.

Peppers in the front, summer squash in the back

Summer squash

Costata Romanesco

Butterstick zucchini

Scallop

Winter squash

Pole beans

Ornamental corn

I will keep updates on every veggie and review them on the taste.

Silvia

I love the nature shot of the Winter Squash, did you realize you had the critter in that shot? ;-)

Yes Tom, I saw the gecko around the knee-high. The winter squash is a Japanese kabocha type, they are all doing well, one of the pictures is Table Dainty.

I am growing Galia melons that you sent me they are flowering now will take pictures when they fruit.

And I am also growing more than 10 different beans, bush and pole.

Silvia

I never heard of butterstick - how is the flavor?

Everything looks superb, Silvia. Oakland should start a large community garden with you in charge.

When I can get Pater to take some shots of my florida plots I'll post them here. I planted some beans that came from our Colombian friends and apparently they are growing ok.

Thank you Pat, and I am going to be waiting for your pictures.

I was introduced Butterstick zucchini last year from Tom, they are really good tasting and make a nice contrast to the Romanesco.

And I keep harvesting swiss chard, kale, onions before the heat. Friends and neighbors love those bags.

And today's pictures are

Assortment of beans

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Galia melon

Silvia

silvia I just love your threads, thanks to you and the other photographer/gardeners who inspire me.

I'm harvesting mr stripey, roma, green zebra and cherry tomatoes but all the plants are on their last legs now, these all took hits during the cold fronts but recovered. A homestead tomato I planted after the cold which is suppose to tolerate heat has succumbed to something.
Squash and cukes are flowering but i haven't seen any fruit set as of yet. harvested the last of the lettuce, bolting and bitter now. onions still growing, one batch of carrots also still growing. I have one bell pepper almost ready to be picked, jalapeno, cayenne and marble peppers are all blooming. eggplant also flowering.

I've been picking the occasional blueberry and strawberry and my peas were also sparse, not enough of any of those to truly enjoy.

Wow, Silvia, I'm always amazed at your photos! You must consider doing that for a living! Anyway, it appears that you do a lot of container gardening for your veggies. Maybe we should try that. My only harvest so far are the peas, the Alaska variety, which we have harvested 4 times this spring, they are on their way out now. I failed 3 years in a row, planted them in January this year and it was the first year that I got anything out of them before it got too hot. I will be yanking those out very soon and planting pole beans in their place.

Hi Leelee

Thank you. This season has been hard on all of us with the cold, and now it got hot. I am picking my cool season crops as fast as I can.

My peppers are starting to get ripe.

Japanese winter squash

Hi Ritaweeda

Thank you. I do a combination of amended soil in ground veggies, raised beds and containers.

Here is an example:

Squash and pole beans on a raised bed

In the front marjoram, in the back peppers and onions planted in amended soil, eggplant in containers

Silvia