Growing in my garden

Rondes de Nice

 

What makes Rondes de Nice so perfect is that the entire vegetable can be eaten.

Also known as Rolly Polly Zucchini,

Ready to eat when golf ball size

The entire Zucchini is edible including skin and blossoms.

Dredge blossoms into beer batter and deep fry.

Save a few seeds for next year.

Happy gardening 

Gina

I had to do it.

Traveling these days is not easy.

But Italy was calling.

Innocently, I was checking air fares.

Important tip:

When booking flights check  the "Flexible Dates" box and 
"First/Business Z" category (Delta Airlines) 
You will find days when prices are $500 to $1000
lower.

The destination?  Italy, of course. 

Relais Sant Elena in Bibbona has room for us. 

I need one more pasta making lesson.

And another visit with my favorite friend Mario in his studio in Montelupo, Fiorentino.   

I just had to do it.  

Click, and it was done.  

 It was only 3 months ago, we said that we wouldn't get on another long flight. 

How soon one forgets. 

We will take care of our garden before we go.

and harvest our garden, preserve fruits and vegetables. 
Then in September, we are off. 

Have a great week ahead, dear friends.  

Gina 

Making the Rounds this morning

Making the rounds.

Early this morning.

Sunflowers reaching for the sun.

Showing off against the blue sky. 

Clyde, Lola and Hansel are happy.

Do you recognize these?

I make the most delicious pancake syrup from them.

Cosmos are the first to bloom in my wild patch.

Chickens are happy that I'm sharing our garden greens.

No wonder this chard is called "Bright Lights".

Can't wait for the fennel to mature, for the basil to grow some more so we can make pesto, beans will be ready in a week, savoy cabbage has been enjoyed for several weeks, Parsley is ready for drying.

Annual Poppies are popping up everywhere.

Sunflowers make fine bouquets.

Even when paired with vegetables.

Or all by themselves.  

Have a wonderful weekend my dear friends. 

Thank you for your visits.  
Each and every one of you is very special to me.  

Gina 

Joining http://www.commonground-do.com/2015/

Did we dodge the bullet?

Four nights of below freezing. 

Looks like they all survived, apples, pears, cherries, plums, peaches and apricots. 

The kitchen garden has been planted with leeks, cabbages and onions. 
Vegetable seeds are ready to go in. 
carrots, beets, collards, Swiss chard, basil, coriander, 
corn sald/mache, gourmet blend lettuce, romaine,  spinach, beans,
fennel, cavolo laciniato, arugula, curly kale, turnips, eggplants and artichokes. 

By August it will have provided many meals for us, our friends and even our chickens. 

There will be flower gardens.

There will be tomatoes ripening in the sun. 

 And fruit for winter months. 

Squash and Zucchini for winter baking.

But only if the water holds out. The Old timers say that if Horseshoe Mountain still has snow caps by the 24th of July, we will have enough water. 

But just in case, our spring flows at 39 gallons per minute. 
Plenty of water for cattle and gardens. 


Wishing you a Happy Spring day.

Thank you for stopping by.  
You have made my day! 

Gina 



http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/2014/05/mosaic-monday-moss-and-flowers.html

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

On the way to the Carrots

 We pass by the flowers first. 

On our way to the carrots.

And the cabbage Patch.

Someone has been pulling our carrots.

Ahaa, caught you!

It's Lucy.

And she has taught Charlie.  

Nothing else will do.  

They're just crazy about carrots. 

Have a great week my dear 

Blogging Friends.

Gina 

A juggling act.

This time of year I keep the jam pot boiling and my artist brushes busy.

It's a juggling act. 

The fruit is ripening and needs attention. 

Red Currants first and then the apricots. 

My owl didn't show up this year.  The marauding birds have become very brazen. 
They have eaten every single cherry from our tree.  

Can't make Kirsch Likör this year. 

Have several commissions for hand painted tiles. 

Have finished some of them. 

Rows and rows of vegetables need to be harvested.

Dilly beans, or what I call cocktail beans,  go into jars next. 

A hundred flower pots have to be watered every single day.

 Pots get moved around to add color where needed. 

Choke cherries need to turn black before I can harvest them. 
  Have to cover the tree with netting to save them from the birds. 

Choke cherries make the finest pancake syrup. 

Weeds are outgrowing the crops.

Must pull a few. 

But there is always time to sit and admire Summer.

Hope your Summer is going well my dear 

Blogging Friends. 

I appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you for your visit.  

Gina