Good luck finding a gardener who can move and shake like this

Can you grow a little tiny broccoli at the end of October like this?

What about this?

So cute. Broccoli are like little trees. I love them. I never thought I'd be able to grow them.

This may be my last post for 2011. Thank you for reading and watching me struggle in the garden. I'll catch you at Christmas or in 2012!

First Tomato Harvest: Panzanella Magic

It's Saturday afternoon; we had some homemade bread, some fresh off the vine tomatoes and some basil....

And the magic happened. This is why we do all of the work that we do. The flavors cannot possibly translate visually.

In this bowl is half a loaf of Moosewood focaccia, cubed and toasted; several chopped tomatoes; two chopped cucumbers; 2 tablespoons of capers; a couple of tablespoons of chiffonnaded basil; half a cup of olive oil; quarter of a cup of balsamic vinegar; salt and pepper. Heavenly.

You can add a handful of cubed or grated cheese of your choice. We added cubed yogurt cheese this time and loved it (we're saving our fresh mozzarella for caprese tomorrow).

We also enjoyed the bonito tuna (from Time for Tapas) atop ritz crackers. I highly recommend it.

Food doesn't have to be fussy or formal in order to be transcendent.

Show and Tell

A robin enjoys garden 2; taken from inside my car

I don't know how mature these beets will get, but I like the plants so much that I'll always probably plant beets from now on.

First color!

First pick! This is supposed to be deep purple, but who can wait that long?

Cayennes. They're still not red, but they're so pretty.

Grasshopper. My assistant is fascinated by these and wants to catch them all. I'm curious what it is in my garden that they like so much.

I also saw a Monarch butterfly but it wouldn't sit still.

July 2011 took 20 years off my life, but the plants keep growing.

Deer

Deer. She took a bite and didn't like it. She left four of them for me, though.

Deer. She left tracks all over the garden.

Deer. She took bites out of three green tomatoes and decided that she didn't like them.

Deer. She completely stripped clean the green bean plant that she snacked on earlier.

She also stripped the leaves from this mystery pepper.

My assistant and I grated a bar of Ivory bar soap around garden 3, and for good measure we also grated a bar of this perfumed soap.

Here in America, we don't negotiate with terrorists. Including deer terrorists.

We will be grating more soaps later and looking into other, non-fence solutions. Fences are ugly and I'm not ambitious enough to pursue a fence this year.

U.S.A.!

Squee

There are a few things on earth that incite an excited squeal/scream in me; it's a squeal that startles my husband and family and incites mockery by my fellow humans.

Unexpected mini caprese appetizers at a dinner party.

My first and unexpected view of Brewery Vivant, my admiration of which is its own lengthy pedantic entry.

Cilantro in my garden.

I'm watering this now. It's been dry.

Beautiful Gardening People

Is this a thing?

Are these four items weeds or vegetables that I planted? I don't recognize them.

They look like they could possibly be something.

I Love Company

I particularly love the company that our four butterfly bushes draw. We hosted at least two of these butterflies today:

 

We believe that these are Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies.

Woohoo!

The grape tomatoes from my sister are total cuteness today.

And these must be jalapenos (?), but I don't remember planting jalapenos at all. They will be eaten, that is for sure.

Lookin' good, peas, lookin' good. I flopped the plant to and fro in order to get this photo. What do people traditionally give their peas to cling to? Mine cling to quackgrass and weeds.

Murder

That's the name for what the deer did to our biggest and best green bean plants last night.

You're looking at the left (or south) border of garden 3. I now have lots of green sticks with no leaves on them (and a few weeds).

I wonder what will happen now that my green bean plants have almost no leaves.

The Suspense is Killing Me

I love it when the butterflies drink from the butterfly bush. It's very charming.

We have lots of cute little beets humming along.

 
This was a shock:

I had no idea that two zucchinis are done. But there they are. They've grown four inches in two days.

The tomatoes are so close, and there are so many of them on some plants. I want to have friends over for Caprese every day.

The cayennes look fabulous; they're just getting some finishing size and color, I imagine.

And I have this cute wildflower in my yard...I love the cute little random bird-gifts and preschooler-gifts.

Quick, Real-Time Update

I'll be editing this as I go.

• There's poison ivy by the deck. My holster of Round-Up is ready.
• There's evidence of tomato worms in garden 3, including an amazing moth that fluttered over to the deck. Tomato worms are fascinating, but I'm probably going to permanently make them leave also. I'm not equipped to do that yet.

Notice Anything Funny?

This is the south side of garden 3, the large vegetable garden. Yes! It needs to be weed-whacked badly. See anything else funny here?

I trimmed the grass and weeds a little. Do you see anything now?

Several green bean seeds escaped and headed south to Mexico. They made it one inch of the way before the burden of maturity took hold.

I also have a Stargazer Lily bloom holding on for dear life (and another getting ready to open soon). Yes, we finally got some much-needed rain today.

And my assistant and I finally planted some cilantro in both garden 2 and garden 3. I have not successfully achieved cilantro plants in the past; I hope these seeds become huge, healthy plants.

Pretty Things

Pretty Things

Stargazer lilies. They smell like bacon. What more can you say?

The cayenne peppers are so close to ripeness that you can almost feel your mouth burn.

And there are lots of tomato blooms, which pleases and excites me. I'm so ready to make caprese, panzanella, chili, and cuban beans and rice.

American Dove

It's a Green, Red, Christmasy Fourth

Happy Independence Day! Garden Insanity loves all things America, American, and Americana.

Here are some of today's views.

The hibiscus was a housewarming gift many years ago from my husband's aunt and uncle. I'm very pleased with how well it's done in Michigan (it winters inside). These are its first blooms this year.

We gave it some extra dirt and a lot of water.

It always is very thirsty.

In garden 2, we have a few new sprouts; I think they're green beans.

We found today's requisite lucky clover.

The tomatoes are doing beautifully.

The cayenne peppers continue to do well, and their current color and configuration remind me of Christmas. Spicy, delicious Christmas. It will be like Christmas when get to put some of these peppers in our burritos.