rainbow over the garden

I went outside today and looked up to see this incredible rainbow in the sky over our backyard:

spiky cucumber harvest

Disappointed by the cucumber experiment in the greenhouse, I picked up some organic cucumber starts at the local drug store. I bought 4 plants, each about 5 inches tall. I planted them in the raised bed in the beginning of May. Here they are to the right of the massive oregano plant:


Since then they have flourished, growing up and out of the bed. They have yellow flowers that turn into mini cucumbers that grow to a size of about 8 inches. The stems of the cucumber plant are very spiky, I assume it's an adaptation for protection. But the cucumbers themselves are also spiky. Need to remove the spikes before the cucumber is ready to eat.

pierre the cat

A frequent visitor to our backyard, we're growing more fond of Pierre the cat. And I think he's taking a liking to us as well. He'll approach looking for a nice scratch behind the ears. Not sure who his owner is....in my mind I keep telling myself that he's not the cat who used the raised bed as a litter box. And yet, he may be...but he's still so cute.

second radish harvest

I'm a huge fan of these French Breakfast radishes. This is the second harvest, meaning I planted a second round of seeds after the first batch of radishes were harvested. 30 day cycle. The space is now ready for another round...but I have more pickled radishes than I can eat!

dragon carrots

Way back in March I planted some carrots in with the radishes. Carrot seeds are so small, so I planted them just beneath the surface of the soil. The radishes came up so quickly, leaving the carrots behind and crowding out the carrots for sun.


But some of the carrots persevered through two rounds of radishes. They grow slowly but they sure are beautiful when they finally come out of the ground. This variety is called Dragon Carrot. Inside, they are yellowish-orange.

amish snap pea harvest

The peas began as sprouts in trays in the basement greenhouse. They were transplanted to the raised bed and used their tendrils to climb up the makeshift lattice.


The peas poked out of their white flowers. Now that they're big enough they're ready to eat.


A white mold has started to engulf the plants from below and it is slowly climbing up the peas. Need to harvest quickly!

from seed to jar: pickled radishes

The radishes prospered in the raised bed:


They poked out of the soil, screaming "pick me!" It was time to harvest the radishes:


I washed them and soaked them for a couple hours in salt water. Then I toasted some mustard seed and black peppercorns. I simmered them in rice vinegar, water and sugar. When the mixture cooled, I poured the pickling solution over the halved radishes in a mason jar and stuck them in the refrigerator. Lucky for me, I like pickled radishes. Can't say the same for my wife...