Kelli's 2015 Garden Journal

[barefootgardener]

Kelli,
Amazing photo's!! I am drooling over the photo of your pork cutletts with spring pea risotto!! Perfectly seasoned!! Heavenly...

Thank you for the detailed description ( and lovely photo's as well ) for salt curing cilantro!! I am a fan of pink himalayan sea salt, and it is one I need to restock up on, as I plan on trying your method.

I had a garden friend send me a clipping of her chocolate mint to root a number of years ago, and it did well after potting it up for a while, but it died out suddenly.. yes, I somehow killed a mint plant.. I plan on getting another when our local garden center gets them in.

I will keep you posted on the purple vikings..

Ginny

[Reign]

Ginny - I have killed chocolate mint. Twice. Not counting the one I'll get this year. Clearly that sucker has issues.

[tnkrer]

Kelli, As usual great photos! Thanks for sharing
I wanted to follow your potato planting ideas, but could not find time/space to add potatoes to my garden this year. I will keep watching and maybe next year I can get some potatoes in the garden

[RobinB]

Kelli, I'm so glad you're doing this again! I can't wait to visit your garden again!

Robin

[barefootgardener]

Originally Posted by Reign

Ginny - I have killed chocolate mint. Twice. Not counting the one I'll get this year. Clearly that sucker has issues.

Clearly!!

Ginny

[BucksCountyGirl]

Hi All! Thank you for the kind comments!

Ginny & Reign: sorry about your chocolate mint experiences. I had a few other types (Fruit & citrus mints) that died on me so maybe the chocolate just prefers my little micro climate?

Tnkrer: I will most certainly keep you posted! I do have to warn that homegrown potatoes are a slippery slope!

Just a quick update today as I am travelling on business all this week. I did plant out all of my tomatoes and peppers this past weekend (but forgot to take pics, whoops!). I will take a few when I get back home.

I did snap a pic of the first growth from my Magic Molly Potatoes on Sunday and I was surprised by how fuzzy and BLUE the leaves were compared to German Butterball. I think they are so interesting!

The second pic is of the lilac bush that my parents planted the year I was born which makes that bush...OLD. Haha. I love it and every year my mom cuts a huge bunch for me to put on my dining room table.

The last pic is of the birthday dinner I made for my husband on Saturday. The garden pickin's are pretty slim still so I powdered some Blush tomatoes I dehydrated last summer (I just buzzed them in my spice grinder/second to last pic) to make a nice sauce for the seafood (scallops, shrimp and lobster: his favorites). I did get to garnish with some of my fresh chives which are growing like mad!

I hope everyone is having having fun getting ramped up for the season. Cheers!

[BucksCountyGirl]

So, I finally got home from work travelling (only to have to do more this week, right before my ACTUAL vacation) and took some pics of my plants in their final homes.

1)Ping Tung Long Eggplants, 2)Stupice (with a tiny tomato!), 3) Cylindra beets, 4) Sweet and Hot pepper plants, 5) 3 Lime Green Salad in an earthbox, 6) Other dwarf tomatoes in 7 gallon buckets, 7) Cherry tomato bed, 8)Potatoes (before their 3rd hilling) and rosemary (overwintered)

My parents just returned from Hawaii the other day and my Mom brought me a Plumeria cutting! The next two pics are of the cutting and the rooting set up (mostly perlite). I will keep you posted on how it turns out!

The next pic is of the rest of my arugula harvest from my earthtainer (I had to make room for my squash!). There are also a few White Hailstone radishes in there which I had to grow since they are a Philadelphia Heirloom I cut one open and sprinkled it with some volcanic salt (also from Hawaii, thanks mom!). They are milder than most radishes I have had and very crisp.

The last pic is my attempt to use some of that mountain of arugula. I threw it in some pasta with a few shrimp and a metric TON of garlic

I hope everyone is enjoying the great weather and getting lots of garden projects going. Cheers!

[efisakov]

Excellent job, Kelli.

[PhilaGardener]

Looking great!

[Fiishergurl]

I just got a plumeria too although I always called t hem Frangi Pani... :-) my mom has them and they make the most beautiful flowers.

Ginny

[Salsacharley]

Dang!

[BucksCountyGirl]

Thank you, everyone!

I just returned from the most beautiful trip to Mexico I was happy to see my garden doing very well in my absence. There were a BUNCH of greenies waiting for me! Also my curcurbits sprouted while I was gone.

In order:
Ambrosia Rose Cherry
SunGold Cherry
Lime Green Salad (3 plants in an EB, so far they don't seem to mind)
Stupice
Hungarian Heart (SUPER excited to try this variety as it is my first heart)
Meyer Lemons (there are about 6 more babies on the tree besides these)
Mini White Cucumber
Grey Squash

I hope everyone is getting to see some promise of things to come in their neck of the woods. Cheers!

[efisakov]

Girl, you have to post some pictures from that "the most beautiful trip to Mexico".
Your greenies look promising. That Hungarian Heart is setting well and early. None of my hearts are setting anything yet.
Hope this season will be a good one.

[Kikaida]

Hate to break it to you but I think you planted your plumeria upside down.

[BucksCountyGirl]

Kikaida, I know! There were not really planting instructions that came with it so I planted it as I would my fig cuttings. When I was away on vacation I had a sneaking suspicion I had done it wrong so I looked it up and sure enough it was upside down and I needed to replant! I didn't make it home until midnight on Friday and that was the first thing I did when I got there. Haha. I hope I didn't kill it

Hey Ella! I'll post a few for you. It was a really great time!

The first 4 pics are from our resort which is set in the mangrove jungle. Very cool!

We took a day trip and the next pic is from the Mayan coastal city of Tulum.

From there we went and swam in a cenote which is a fresh water pool supplied buy an underground river.

The last stop was Coba which is set about a mile's walk into the jungle. There we got to climb Nohoch Mul which at 143 feet tall is the highest Mayan pyramid in the Yucatan. It was scary but very cool!