Jam jar round-up!

Thanks to the fabulous Tigress I am stoked about making jam, herb jelly and pickles! I've searched every cupboard for all available jars...stay tuned for delicious results. Check out my inspiration: http://tigressinajam.blogspot.com/ and http://www.tigressinapickle.blogspot.com/.

Green Smoothies

Have I mentioned I am in love with green smoothies? They're just blended fruit and greens with a little water or juice. I have been using carrot juice for the past few weeks and really like it. If you're just starting out, try a lot of fruit with a handful of spinach. You will love getting your minerals, fiber and vitamins this way. It's tasty I promise! As you get a taste for things green, work your way up to other types of lettuce, and chard. I've also added ginger and lemon juice with good results. They've been tasting especially nice lately because of fresh greens from the garden. Arugula really knocked me over this week...I love the nutty taste!

Galette with Pear

Slice the fruit of your choice, I used 2 pears as I had ripe ones on hand, but I also love using apples, peaches or berries.

Roll the dough out thin, (Dough recipe follows.) using plenty of flour on the roller so it's very easy. If the dough is stuck to the counter, use a sharp spatula to loosen it and be patient and gentle...then slide it onto your baking sheet.

Arrange fruit on dough, leaving a border to fold over.

Sprinkle with Sugar and wrap the edges up. Dot with butter and brush edges with milk.

Bake for 35 minutes at 400 degrees.

Dough Recipe:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
This is incredibly easy to do in a cuisinart. Blend dry ingredients, then add cold cubes of butter (1 stick), and pulse, pouring over about 3 Tablespoons ice cold water, mix only until dough forms a ball or sticks together. Chill for at least 1/2 hour in wax paper in fridge.
P.S. If you decide to use apples, I would add a good sprinkling of cinnamon.

Bunny Rabbits

I've started noticing a little rabbit in the evenings, eating grass, sunflower seeds from the bird feeder & then, tonight making eye contact with my cat for quite a while...Cheeky little thing!

I Love "To Do" Lists... for Late Spring

Being a very strong right-brained girl, I am always striving for those left brain strengths...I admire someone who puts an item back in it's home directly after use. My lists are one way I attempt organization; I am constantly writing them, referring to them, and it feels great as I check them off.

Julia's List of Things To Do in Late Spring:

Harden off Basil and Tomato starts, gradually outdoors.


Plant Out (Many seeds started indoors in Winter):
Aquiligea (Dark and Light Blue, White)

Basil
Beans (Bush, Green, Lima, Pole, Dry) Wow, who is going to help me eat all this?
Borage (into the Tomato garden, also with Strawberries
Cerinthe
Butternut Squash
Chard Rainbow
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Chives
Cucumber (Lemon, Slicing, and Pickling)
Hollyhocks
Larkspur
Lobelia (many flats started)
Lupine Violet
Parsley (curly and flat leaf)

Peas (I'm quite late on this)
Pumpkin
Rainbow Tomato
Salvia
San Marzano Tomato
Sweetie Cherry Tomato
Sweet Peas
Sunflowers
Watermelon
Yellow Pear Tomato


Water Seeds sprouting outdoors:
Cosmos

Godetia (ruby red seedlings...I love it!)

Larkspur
Lobelia
Papaver (Lilac curly & Red Oriental)
Portulaca
Sunflowers
Zuchini


Seeds to direct sow outdoors:
Calendula
Love in a Mist
Lunaria (too invasive?)
Marigold into the Veg garden
Royal Family Sweet Peas
Shirley Poppies

Remember to look up.


Water newcomers in the garden:
Peace Climing Rose

Mini Yellow Rose

First Bloom


Fertilize:
African Lilies
Azaleas & Rhodies
Lawn
Trees

Continue earthing up the Soil around the neck of the Potato plant:


Deadhead:
Annuals, Violets
Shear back after bloom (now): Iberis (Candy Tuft)

Keep the bird feeder full (notice lovely visiting bird)


Rip out:
Lamium (just looks and acts too aggresive for me)
Laurel start (that is bound to become a giant monster of a tree)

Admire what's around you:





Cut Back:
Mint (pinch back tips)
Oregano by half
Sage by half (should have done this early Spring)

Keep composting!


Relocate pot of Mint to the Tomato garden
Divide creeping Thyme and spread around to cover ground
Add compost to ground surfaces, especially the Rose garden

Weed...everywhere

Most of all, keep following the yellow brick road. (your bliss of choice)

Indoor Seed Starting Trays

Here's my lucky find from last weekend's garage sale hunting: Seed starting kits from Lee Valley! More flower seeds started indoors on: 5/19/10...

(Plants in lists are located right to left & front to back in trays).
Tray #1
Yellow Alaskan Poppy from Helga
Papaver Orientale, red oriental poppy
Echinecea, Purple Coneflower
Rudbekia, Black eyed Susans
Cerinthe 'Purple Bells'
Hollyhock 'Black Watchman'

Tray #2:
Fairy Wands (2 rows) (I gathered this seed from the plant I love).
Cerinthe (2 cells) and Pickling Cucumber (2 cells) from Reese
Cerinthe 'Purple Bells'
Yellow Alaskan Poppy from Helga
Echinecea, Purple Coneflower (I always crave this plant but it runs quite expensive. I just realized you can start it from seed-I can't believe I never knew that!)

Tray #3
Branching Sunflowers: Pro-Cut Peach, Pro-Cut Yellow Lite, Goldburst, Pro-Cut Bi-Color
Branching Sunflowers: Claret, Soraya, Indian Blanket, Stella Gold
Slicing Cucumber (2 cells) Lemon Cucumber (2 cells)
Unknown Poppy (seed collected from old house)
Nasturtium 'Alaska'
Canna Lily from Helga

Tray #4
Aquiligea, Columbine: Light Blue or White
Delphinium 'Dwarf'
Pink and red Hollyhocks from Helga
Nepeta, Catnip
Branching Sunflowers: Chianti, Aura Gold, Lemon Eclair, Floristan
Branching Sunflowers: Moonshadow, Ring of Fire, Cherry Rose, Lemon Sorbet

Left under the warm kitchen counter lights to sprout...

I have one tray left that is waiting for the sunflowers that I am testing for sproutablity in wet paper towels. If those sprout, then I will also have the following starting indoors:
Pro-Cut Peach
Gold Burst
Soraya
Lemon Sorbet

Hello Limas!

A newcomer to the veg garden...Lima beans! I raised these from seed on my kitchen window sill. I figured it was time to plant them when they started trying to undo the window latch. They demand a long hot season, so PNW gardeners are warned not to try them. I think we may be in for a hot one this summer though, it is an El Nino year, and we may have a drought ahead by the look of our modest snow pack in the mountains. So Limas do your best.

Spring Gazpacho

I used red onion in this batch and turned the lovely soup purple. However it still tasted like a Bloody Mary so I was happy.

4 ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
3/4 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp pepper
1 T peanut oil
1 large garlic clove, mashed
1 small onion, chopped
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T lemon or lime juice
3/4 tsp fresh Oregano, chopped
1 tsp Salt

Bring the chopped fennel to a boil in 1 1/4 cups salted water. Reduce to simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, adding the spices, garlic and onion. Cook gently for 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients including the fennel and the boiled water. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Blend slightly and chill for at least a few hours before serving.

Lettuce Harvest!

I'm so happy to see the mesclun salad mix has not been eaten here in the garden. Looks like it's about sandwich time.

After the Rain

The Japanese Iris bloomed today. It's a dark blue in person, the afternoon light tinted it violet.






A large patch of Japanese Iris in the back garden, about to bloom.

Peony in bloom.

Centaurea, a gift from Helga's garden.

Iris Heaven