A Stroll in the Garden in early May (Part 1)

When I get home from work, I like to change and go for a walk in the garden.  Once the temperatures start rising, it is truly amazing at how quickly things grow.  You can see a difference from day to day.  Let's go to the very back of the garden and work our way forward.  Here is some Swiss Chard of the Rainbow Variety.  It has bright pink stems that catch your eye.  This is a holdout from the fall garden and it is still going strong.  In a few weeks, though, bug pressure and the heat will cause its demise.  Until then we'll continue eating the leaves and feeding the lower, overgrown leaves to appreciative cows.

I have some mistakes I make in the garden that I seem to repeat every single year - planting things too close together and not thinning out plants that I didn't space correctly.  Why kill a perfectly fine vegetable plant, I always say.  Well, the cucumbers are growing like kudzu.  It is truly a jungle to walk near the vines AND to try to locate ripening cucumbers in that jungle.

The cucumber tendrils are impressive to me.  The Eddie Money song, "Baby, Hold on to me" comes to mind as I watch the cucumber tendrils holding on to the trellis for dear life.  It provides an almost elastic springiness when the winds blow, allowing the cucumbers to sway back and forth without falling.

Cucumber blossoms cover the plant, promising an over-abundance of cukes to eat, pickle and give away.  Tricia is not a big fan of cucumbers, but even she enjoys homegrown ones.  She likes to ferment them with whey and salt.  She has a half-gallon of them on the counter now that will be ready in about 3 days.

I have several varieties of corn planted this year.  The variety below is called Glass Gem corn and I can't wait to see the ears.  If they turn out like I think they will, it will be a sight to see.  I found evidence of some worm damage in the corn, and was able to find the little booger and pick him out and throw him to the hens.  They made quick work of the worm.

I have one row of two varieties of zucchini and one row of two varieties of yellow squash.  Since this photo was taken, the leaves have closed in and all you can see is lush green leaves.  Blooms are a plenty and tiny squash sit atop the bed of hay underneath the leaves.

The Contender beans are real strong this year.  Their green leaves and bushy plant spans a 15 foot row, taking up 3 full feet.  I LOVE eating fresh green beans with new potatoes and butter.  It is a favorite of mine.

Since this photo was taken, we picked a half bushel of beans and they need to be picked again.  We'll eat all we can and then blanch and freeze some, can some, and pickle some.  White blooms promise many more.  As these plants play out, we'll plant more so that we have a never-ending supply all summer.

Our bell pepper plants are short right now, but they have nice peppers on them.  Tricia has already made stuffed bell peppers for us.  Delicious!

The jalapeno plants aren't playing around.  They are producing in prolific quantities.  We have lots frozen from last year.  I may have to find some new recipes to use them up.  I saw jalapeno brownies the other day as well as chocolate chip jalapeno cookies.  Interesting!

Finally, the banana peppers.  I used my noggin this year and planted them far away from the jalapenos.  Last year the banana peppers were near-by and they crossed with the jalapenos, making very hot banana peppers. 

I like to pickle these and keep them in the fridge where they are cool and crispy.  They complement rice & gravy perfectly well.

Tomorrow, we'll stroll a few rows up and see what else is going on.