Pepper Parade

Look at all these buds - We'll be eating peppers soon! Now really I'm probably the only one excited about that in my household, but that's okay. I love to pickle my peppers. Yes, I'm a pepper pickling person. It's so very easy and quite yummy for salads and such.

I'm keeping a close eye on these guys. Some pest was eating holes in the leaves but I recently found a little worm, so once I got rid of him I haven't seen any new holes - one down and a few hundred more to go before summer's over!

Meanwhile, the garden is actually beginning to look like a garden:

The tomatoes in the plantar box are almost as tall as me and the little grape tomatoes in the green box that were sown from seed just three weeks ago will be looking like good sized plants in no time.

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So, on you grow

little garden of mine

we'll be eating your harvest in no time!

New Arrival

The first tomato of the season has now appeared. This little guy is about an inch in diameter but he's looking good. I noticed him two days ago in last year's garden along with many other flower buds. Since the winter garden has been much ignored, it seems that what I have to do to be successful is to pretend like I don't care! Ha! Nature doesn't need me to grow wonderful fruit. This is not the first time I have had really good luck with a tomato plant that lived past its season. Any time I have kept last year's tomato plant alive, trimming it back in spring and letting it go for another round, I have always had really good luck, probably because by then it has a phenomenal root system!

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Sometimes plants are not too old

to rebloom and sprout fruit gold

Old is just a state of mind

for which this plant knows no time!

Yummy!

So what is one to do with too many strawberries? Is there such a thing as too many strawberries? My answer is equivocally no. Since I had a refrigerator full of these little fruits last night, and they were on the verge of declining from their optimum strawberry-ness, I was trying to come up with a creative way to use them with what I had on hand in the pantry. By coincidence there was a recipe for strawberry vanilla cake on the side of Ms. Betty Crocker's cake mix. Now, like most recipes, I doctored it up and changed it a bit to fit what I had and what I wanted. This yummy cake has a strawberry jam filling in between the layers (suggestion of Betty Crocker) but I used lemon flavored frosting and decorated the cake with the remainder of my strawberries. Bill and I couldn't wait until dinner to try it, so we had a piece at lunch. I could hear him making yummy noises from the other room, so I guess we're in consensus that it's really good. However, I guess I've blown my dessert allowance for the rest of the day!

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What a sweet treat

Lemon and berries

but, oh, now how that sugar tarries!

Spring is Sprung!

I am happy to report that all the seedlings are now in their permanent homes. Bill and I spent this weekend putting up window boxes for the herbs (Mint, Chamomile, and Chives). Now I had not intended to buy window boxes this year but Gardeners' Supply was selling the ones I wanted for 75% off, so how could I refuse that? Overnight my little mint rhizomes have just perked up and are looking great. Not to mention that my previously dying spearmint all of the sudden is looking great again, so maybe it was just the cooler weather. Spearmint wanted to be warmer!

Check out my beautiful boxes:

So in the end my garden turned out much like the plan - window boxes included!

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Window boxes all in a row

for the seeds that I did sow

Now on cue, as if for show

Growing tall, the herbs I know

Pop Quiz

Can you name the fruit that
corresponds to these flowers?




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Here are your answers with
fruits in the same order as flowers.




How well did you do?
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Today's pop quiz
on flowers and fruit
was only for fun
and meant to be cute!

You've Come a Long Way Dilly

In case anyone was wondering, little Dill Pill did end up to be quite a good looking plant. He's still got some growing and bushing-out to do, but overall ended up really thriving. This is Fernleaf Dill, so eventually he'll be big and bushy instead of straight and tall like other dills. So the goods news is that I guess I will have fresh dill in my tuna salad after all!

Just think, this little guy was the runt of the litter, the troublesome child, all woe-is-me and what am I to do with this? Rember The Leaning Tower of Dill?

But hey, sometimes we start out slow and end up pretty good. Just think of yourself in high school. You've probably come a long way too!

So here he is

The comeback kid

Standing up and lookin' fit!

Jail Time

Well, my tomatoes are now behind bars! Bill and I finally got down to Lowe's and I was able to pick up some new tomato cages. My three from last year are all still in use (one on that lovely eggplant). Plus, compared to the ones I just purchased, my old ones are very puny! I didn't realize how dinky my old cages were until comparing them to these new ones. The new ones are at least 1.0 to 1.5 feet taller than my old ones, and that's a big deal. My tomatoes were always outgrowing their cages. Talk about an escape...

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Anyway, I got these guys just in time. As you can see, tomato #1 is already a pretty good size, and if you've ever tried to put a tomato cage on a too-large plant you know it's not easy. It's kind of like trying to put on your pants after you put on tennis shoes - it never goes very smoothly!

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Tomato cages all in a row

support the fruit as it does grow

Hold them up straight and tall

forming one big tomato wall!

Ouch!

So, it's time to be a meanie and start pinching! Tomato #1 has gotten big enough to start getting side shoots. These side shoots will make my tomato unyieldy if I don't pinch those little stems right out of there. Anywhere three shoots meet, it's time to pinch out the middle one, and so I did. In times past I have let these little guys go, and so my tomatoes were bushier and hard to keep staked. However, this year I really wanted to be able to have one strong stalk that I can stake to my bamboo canes, so I must be vigilent in my pinching! The stalk on this guy is really strong and this plant is quite vigorous compared to the other two - almost twice the size. Funny how identical seeds in identical conditions and yet one is so much stronger than the other...mmm...kind of like people...

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I hope that Spring has finally sprung, as we're finally back up into the 70s during the day and mid 50s at night. Tonight my baby herbs will have their first sleepover outside with the peppers and tomatoes. So the garden is starting to get exciting!!!

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Garden, garden, my how you've grown

I'm happy to call you all my own

You are looking great these days

It must be all those sunshine rays!

Now What?

Wow! So it looks like I'm really going to have a couple eggplants soon. So what now? I'm totally unfamiliar with eggplant. Yes, I know what it is but I've never bought one. I know you can make eggplant parmigana, though I'm not sure how eggplant substitutes for chicken (speaking from the chicken-person point of view anyway), and I know its considered a vegetable, but my cooking knowledge on the subject is very limited, so....

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Calling all recipes! Off to Google I go to find something that sounds yummy. Now considering that I'll probably be the only one in my house eating this (and that I have a very limited supply), I found the following recipe:

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Slamtastic Eggplant Sandwich

Submitted By: slamtastic
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Ready In: 20 Minutes
Servings: 4
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This warm and toasty sandwich is made with tender cooked eggplant, basil, garlic, mayonnaise, and feta cheese.

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Ingredients:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
4 crusty sandwich rolls, split and toasted
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
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Directions:
1. Pour the oil into a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Place the eggplant slices in the heated pan and cook without moving until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Flip the eggplant and continue to cook until golden brown on the other side. Remove from heat.
2. Mix together the mayonnaise and garlic in a small bowl.
3. Lay the toasted rolls out, cut side up. Place the cooked eggplant on the bottom half of each roll. Layer the eggplant with fresh basil leaves and crumbled feta. Spread the garlic mayo very lightly over the cut side of the top each toasted roll. Place the tops on the prepared sandwich.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com

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My mouth is watering at the thought of the ingredients, so I guess that's a good sign. If anybody makes this, let me know if it was as good as it sounds.

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I have a while to wait

before this dish's date

to eat something so good

as purple eggplant food

Festival of Food

This past weekend was the yearly Strawberry Festival in Plant City. Now I grew up in Plant City, so we go every other year or so to have a good time and celebrate strawberries and other veggies from the garden (but mostly it's about the strawberries)! This particular vendor you see here is obviously celebrating the fact that our county is number one in the state for production of cucumbers - a fact of which I did not know, but find interestingly satisfying.

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Now we didn't just go for the food, though that's usually my favorite part. We also went to see a concert, as they have really great music at the festival every year. We got to see Third Day, which is a really popular contemporary Christian group. It was awesome, yes, remember the cheer : A-W-E-S-O-M-E...Sorry, sitting in the festival stadium has been giving me high school flashbacks!

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So, there is a song Third Day sings that encapsulates my sentiments about nature and the garden. Beautiful lyrics from the song You're Everywhere:

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Like the rain that falls to the earth below

Watering the seed to grow

So it is with Your precious word, O Lord

It won't return until I know that

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You're everywhere

You're everywhere

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Like the wind that blows no one really knows

From where it comes or where it goes

So it is with Your Holy Spirit, Lord

Falling down on us to show that

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(You're everywhere) Like the rain that's falling

(You're everywhere) Like the wind that's blowing

(You're everywhere) Like the sun upon my face

I feel the warmth in Your embrace

You are everywhere

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My Lord, now I truly know

That I could never go from Your presence

My God, Your are everywhere

From the lowest depths to the heavens

You're always there

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(You're everywhere) Like the rain that's falling
(You're everywhere) Like the wind that's blowing
(You're everywhere) Like the sun upon my face
I feel the warmth in Your embrace
You are everywhere