What's Happening in the

Pork Chop says welcome to my mommies page! She grows lots of yummy things, and I get to eat some of them too, even when she doesn't want me too. I stick my big ol nose right through the fence, or I use my ever so slight overbite to grasp the tender leaves and pull them right through chicken wire. I am such a clever boy, and I know my mommy loves me bunches! Right? What's not to love about that?

Fava beans are really easy to grow, nutritious, and have very unique snapdragon like blooms. Everyone should poke a few in the ground just to watch them grow. These specimens came home with me from Carmel California in December. They are not particular about soil, but you need to keep them weed free, and support them with a round cage of chicken wire. The pods are very large and heavy and will tend to make them lay on the ground. I am excited to harvest these yummy treats in a month or so to make a hummus or just saute them and add to a salad!

Chianti anyone?

The Grand Rapids lettuce is liking these cold spells we have been experiencing recently with quite a temperature fluctuation. Friday May 7 it was almost 90 degrees, and then last night they were talking about possible frost?? I had to fight a lot of weeds but have managed to get a nice patch going. I also have several other beds with mixed greens, and spinach.

If you read my last blog, you would have seen this strange empty frame, better known as a potato box. As you can see, in one month the potatoes have been happily reaching for the sky. It is now time to add a few more boards, some straw, and leave only a few inches of green showing . In another month these will reach the top of the box, and I will repeat this process. The potatoes will form under the straw, and after they bloom and the petals fall, I can disassemble the box for easy, dirt free access to potatoes! This is one of my favorite contraptions in the garden!

I recently wrote a blog about how to start your tomatoes with a solid food foundation, before you set them in the ground. This is a picture from that blog when I planted these Roma's only a month ago.

Now here they are today! All grown upish. Notice how green and healthy they are. No miracle Grow necessary, just a few key ingrediants from your local garden store, your kitchen, and your medicine cabinet with do. I will be excited to pick my first delicious Roma's and serve them in salads, roasted, or perhaps in a garlicky pasta sauce.

I started a small strawberry patch, which will grow over the next few years. Here are my first arrivals just ripening, and I am hoping to beat the bugs, slugs, rabbits and other critters for a taste. Strawberries send out baby plants, very similar to the houseplant spider. You can plant these and expect a bigger crop each year. Keep them moist, but off the ground and mulched, and you and your neighboring critters should enjoy lots of lucious berries!

I think that rain we have been promised is moving in, so I shall be moving on, into the house that is.

Nameste~