So what's going on in your vegetable garden right now?!

i understand you need to have a large patch of corn - a dozen plants are not enough.

Planted up my boxes, and my kids' half whiskey barrels today. Swiss chard, Boston and red-leaf lettuce, cukes, beefsteak and cherry tomatoes, white eggplant, orange peppers and basil.

Now you need some recipes! My veggie garden looks very happy after the rain.

Checked the corn - it looks good! Ate some lamb's quarters while I was working on edging the bed with the corn in my neighbor's yard. Can't figure out why I didn't think of that before - edging the bed - makes keeping the evil-stick-grass-weeds out easier. The trout lettuce in my yard looks good and the new lettuce - at least one of them survived the storm. I have some seeds started inside the house (better late than never) but nothing has come up yet. :( Hope the man I buy plants from has some left by the time I get there this weekend.

Splurged on a new rainbarrel for the front yard that looks like a big rock. Hahaha. It only holds 40 gallons, but it is much cuter than the blue 55 gallons drums I use otherwise.

pretty cool

Bought cucumber starts yesterday. I'll be planting today.

Everything planted is up & growing...I find that amazing.

Me too. Nothing is in my garden

Going to sell tomorrow on the side of the road :-) Oh my oh my - cha ching :-)

Good luck! Hope you sell lots.

All my plant growing guy had was some cucumbers - so I bought them. He is going to see if he can find some callaloo to start for me. It is very popular with the Jamaican folks here and he promised that I would only have to plant it once and I would have it forever. :) I'm looking forward to the long weekend and getting in lots of garden (read weeding) time.

you are so adventurous ... wiki says it's amaranth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callaloo

Mustard is like that...plant it once, & it's yours forever!

The garden plant guy said it was amaranth.. Speaking of which, last summer I planted Hopi Red Dye and Elephant Head to decorate the front walkway. Guess what is sprouting all over the yard????

leeks have taken off and bush beans have sprouted.

All seeds are planted. Still need to get pepper plants, probably today. Spent most of the day yesterday working the yard beds, trenching, planting, etc; also compost and mulch. Both DW and I were extremely tired, but it's a good tired.
Heard the folks in south america use amaranth like rice or as a grain for bread, etc.

This message was edited May 30, 2010 6:42 AM

Some varieties of amaranth are used as a protein/carb source throughout the world. From Wikipedia:
Grain amaranth
A traditional food plant in Africa, this vegetable has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare.[5]
Several species are raised for amaranth grain in Asia and the Americas. Ancient amaranth grains still used to this day include the three species, Amaranthus caudatus, Amaranthus cruentus, and Amaranthus hypochondriacus.[6] Although amaranth was (and still is) cultivated on a small scale in parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, India, and Nepal, there is potential for further cultivation in the U.S and tropical countries and it is often referred to as "the crop of the future."[7] It has been proposed as an inexpensive native crop that could be cultivated by indigenous people in rural areas for several reasons: 1) easily harvested, 2) produces a lot of fruits (and thus seeds) which are used as grain, 3) highly tolerant of arid environments which are typical of most subtropical and some tropical regions, and 4) large amounts of protein and essential amino acids, such as lysine.[8] Due to its weedy life history, amaranth grains grow very rapidly and their large seedheads can weigh up to 1 kilogram and contain a half-million seeds.[9] Amaranthus species are reported to have a 30% higher protein value than cereals, such as rice, wheat flour, oats, and rye.[10]
Amaranth grain is a crop of moderate importance in the Himalaya. It was one of the staple foodstuffs of the Incas, and it is known as kiwicha in the Andes today. It was also used by the ancient Aztecs, who called it huautli, and other Native America peoples in Mexico to prepare ritual drinks and foods. To this day, amaranth grains are toasted much like popcorn and mixed with honey, molasses or chocolate to make a treat called alegría (joy in Spanish).
Amaranth was used in several Aztec ceremonies, where images of their gods (notably Huitzilopochtli) were made with amaranth mixed with honey. The images were cut to be eaten by the people. This looked like the Christian communion to the Roman Catholic priests, so the cultivation of the grain was forbidden for centuries.[citation needed]
Because of its importance as a symbol of indigenous culture, and because it is very palatable, easy to cook, and its protein particularly well suited to human nutritional needs, interest in grain amaranth (especially A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus) was revived in the 1970s. It was recovered in Mexico from wild varieties and is now commercially cultivated. It is a popular snack sold in Mexico City and other parts of Mexico, sometimes mixed with chocolate or puffed rice, and its use has spread to Europe and parts of North America. Amaranth and quinoa are called pseudograins because of their flavor and cooking similarities to grains. These are dicot plant seeds, and both contain exceptionally complete protein for plant sources. Besides protein, amaranth grain provides a good source of dietary fiber and dietary minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and especially manganese. People have also found it beneficial to prevent the premature greying of the hair folicles.[citation needed][verification needed]

I really like the part about preventing graying of hair! I have cooked it but the seeds are the size of poppy seeds and the kind I had cooked up into kind of a gelatin. I prefer quinoa which is another little known vegetable protein source.

Neat!!!

But Celeste, my hair is still turning gray. :(

Ha ha . mine too...at an alarming rate!!

Not mine!

Nor mine. But gray might be better than dish water blond.

Garden is growing. Still have to build the tomato trellis for the left overs....DH bought way too many starts so I have taken the extra and am going to try to grow them in grow bags outside the veggie garden. Pretty much all planted. Patti

I need stakes for the matoes....hope my son feels creative.

Made a good amount of money on plants, I wasnt going to plant. Today I am going to an auction to try to get my hands on this vase. I have around $500 max in my pee brain head that I will bid up to. What are the flowers?

A vine for sure....morning glory? Cobaea? It's very pretty. I hoed the garden last night....not too many weeds, too dry!

Congrats on the sale, Sherrie. Nice vase.

Sherrie I really have no idea what that flower is. If a vine it could be a moonflower vine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/listentothemountains/2556486127/

But the flowers themseves remind me of an Easter Lily or Gloxina..but neither are vines :(

I know I could of resold that vase on ebay for at least 1400. I threw in the towel at 750. I lost Whaaaaaaaaaaa :-) You have to know when to hold em, and know when to fold em. I folded.

It happens, but you did your best, Sherrie!

I'm hoping I still have a garden when I get back to Pa. I didn't even get everything I had started planted before we had to leave for Florida. Our youngest son is staying at our place so his wife and son can enjoy the pool since school's soon out. I'm just hoping that they are keeping our nursery area watered Ric

Don't count on it! When I had my broken hip, the family came to pick the veggies, but didn't weed or water.

Well - I got stuff to save the gooseberries and now the currants are decimated. But the corn is doing well. Widh I liked corn better than gooseberries. . .

I was gone for a week and my brother picked 'some' peas, but not enough, nor did he water well. Thankfully, it doesn't look too bad. I spent a lot of time yesterday watering and picking peas. Some were a little too ripe. Oh, well.

21 tomato's total (no 91 like last year and loose them). cherry, roma and super beef. They could not sustain in a 3" peat pot any longer.

Zuchinni, summer squash, straight 8 cukes and picklers. 2 - egg plants - never grew them and never ate them.

Next will be green bells, sweet red bells, jalapeno's and BHUTS!

This year I did not measure anything or pre-planned anything. I threw it in :-)

Sherrie, cut the eggplants lengthwise, brush on olive oil & soy sauce, & grill them....yum.

Put them in tinfoil?

No.....right on the grill.

the cute little chippies bit the stems of all the cukes i planted - coyote pee is out and i have back up cukes growing inside - the little b-------ds!

replaced a tom the my mil stepped on while weeding -politely did not point this out as i have back up tom's for this occurrence.

I know where that cute chippy is going soon. Sorry about that. Nice that you gave your weeder a break. Patti

I didnt get everything staked. I wonder if they all have flopped over with heavy downpours