The Big and the Small of it

As all of you veggie growers know . . . sometimes you get lucky with your crops and sometimes you don't. 

Sometimes you get a plentiful harvest . . . and sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you can grow an extra large veggie . . . and sometimes you get a paltry looking specimen. 

And, so it goes with my garden . . .

This past winter we enjoyed watching our super-sized Georgia collard green grow and grow and grow  . . . 

We ate off of another collard green plant while we enjoyed the beauty of this beastly-sized collard in the garden. Oops, when I took this photo I didn't notice the teenaged Lubber grasshopper on the gigantic leaf. He wouldn't dare touch my prized collard! Would he?

and then there's the other side of the coin . . .

One of the potato plants that we planted on Valentine's day died back. Hhmm, that shouldn't happen until sometime late in June, so I decided to take a look to see if, just perhaps they were ready to harvest early.

And, what do I find? Two miniature dime-sized little potatoes. Definitely not enough to fill one's hungry belly. Oh well, I can only hope the other potatoes still in the ground can go the distance. 

And, that's the BIG and the small of it in my May garden.

Oh, How I Love Spring!

Oh, I dearly do love spring. 

Let me count the ways . . .

How about you?

What's blooming in your spring garden?

One Little Packet of Seeds

One little packet of seeds = a ton of fun!

Last autumn I decided to grow my pansies from seed, so I ordered a packet of "mixed" varieties. Much to my delight here's how it turned out . . .

Who knew that 1 little packet of seeds could be so much fun!

Non-Stop Veggies

It's been a wonderful winter for growing veggies. The cold-season crops such as kale didn't seem to mind the milder temps, while the pepper plants, that won't tolerate a freeze, have kept producing peppers all winter long. 

 The raddichio (above) and the Red Sails lettuce (below) have been excellent in not bolting through some mid-80 temps.

Florida onions are coming along nicely in the background while the adorable little nasturtians are adding a happy note to the front of the  veggie beds.

Georgia collards are great for eating and for adding beauty to the border.

Swiss chard 'Bright Lights' is keeping company with the parsley beside it.

I've lost control of the arugula which long ago decided to spill over into the walkway. I've just recently read that this plant is a perennial. Not sure if that holds true for Florida, but I'll give it a haircut at some point and wait and see if it makes it through a Florida summer.

Broccoli 'Packman' was very prolific this winter but has since gone into bloom.

 One nice surprise has been fresh tomatoes all winter long due to temps remaining above freezing and no frost. This Early Girl was a bit of a disappointment. She was a prolific producer but the fruits took forever to redden and, I'm guessing, it's a meatier type which isn't juicy and remains firm. It was however, good for making fried-green tomatoes of which we made quite a few.

But the Black Cherry (above) and the Sungold (below) kept our salad bowls filled with sweet, juicy little tomatoes. This spring I'm planting only these two varieties. So easy and so delicious! 

The sweet little strawberries are ripening and fortunately the birds have not discovered them ... yet.

 We had a nice supply of Eureka lemons and ...

'Pink lemonade' lemons, too.

And, now that winter is ending the citrus is in full bloom and as you can see below, the cycle begins anew with tiny little lemons already setting beneath each spent blossom.

I definitely could get used to winters like this!

Wintering Poolside

During the winter months my orchids get relocated to the patio where they bask in the morning sunlight while lounging poolside. Hey, they are tropical beauties after all. But the best part about having them in view is that I get to enjoy all the wonderful blooms they produce. And, this year they did not disappoint. Perhaps they appreciate their winter home . . . or could it be the extra "tlc" they get because they're so close at hand. Whichever the case, I am always in awe of their perfect beauty and certainly appreciate having them near.

Not Your Usual January Garden

This is definitely not a common sight in my January garden. The tropical flowers of hibiscus blooming right along with the roses is a testament to the warm winter we're experiencing this year. If it continues for a few more weeks I'll be enjoying hibiscus blooms all year long. Oh, what joy in the garden!

Welcome 2013

'Twas the Day Before Christmas

Twas the day before Christmas, when all thro' the yard,

 Not a creature was stirring, not even Nutty the squirrel;

 The decorations were hung on the windows with care,

 In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there....

When up in the tree there arose such a clatter,

I dropped my rake to see what was the matter.

 Away to the road I flew like a flash,

Looked up in the tree, and let out a gasp.

 The sun on the breast of the new fallen moss,

 Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below;

 When, what to my wondering eyes should appear...

but 2 visiting Bald eagles arriving here.

What a treat to have these beauties so near,

I ran for my camera to capture a pic

of this Christmas gift from 'ole St. Nick.

And one snap of the camera, caught their attention.

 One sprung from the branch, to his mate gave a whistle,

And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:

 But I heard them exclaim, ere they flew out of sight-

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

A Christmas Wish

The Tale of a German Giant

Back in July I placed my order for tomato seeds with Tomato Supply Co.  Their Website had promised a "free" packet of GERMAN GIANT seeds if you ordered a certain dollar amount. Well, my order didn't quite add up to the specified amount but they sent the free packet of seeds anyway . . . quite generous of them, don't you think? At first, I wasn't going to plant them but then I decided . . . oh, why not!

Well, I'm definitely glad I decided to plant the seeds after all. Not only is the tomato a giant but so is the plant. At 8 feet tall this healthy large-leafed plant just happily keeps on growing. 

I eagerly waited for the blossoms to set tomatoes. Each day I would go out and look for a tiny tomato. Finally, I spotted one. Each week the little tomato grew bigger and bigger. 

Four months after I planted him the first (and only tomato, I might add - I guess it takes a lot of energy to produce a giant) tomato is turning a beautiful holiday shade of red. Each day I checked to make sure he was doing okay, and a gentle squeeze revealed that he was ripening nicely. I went ahead and picked it fearing that I'd come out the next day to find . . . heaven forbid . . . that a bird had bitten into it or it had dropped to the ground and some other critter had devoured my GERMAN GIANT.

Ah, here it is . . . my beautiful GERMAN GIANT. He barely fits into the palm of my hand. 

Oh, I'm in love!

I proudly placed him on my kitchen island along with some other tomatoes from the garden and just admired him for a couple of days. 

Then the day came . . . time to slice this giant up and see if he tastes as good as he looks. Look at that beautiful red color and the meaty texure. My mouth is watering!

So what did we do with this GIANT (beef cake . . . oops, I mean beefsteak) of a tomato?

we made 3 BLT's

and 2 hamburgers . . . and, we still hadn't eaten the whole tomato. 

And, in case you're wondering. YES, the GERMAN GIANT tastes as wonderful as it looks. It's probably a good thing it only produced one tomato, as I'm not sure what we would have done with a dozen or more. 

I'm hopeful that if we don't have freezing temps we just might get lucky enough to have another GERMAN GIANT as he's still growing and blooming away.

Hope you enjoyed my little "Veggie" tale!"

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On a different note . . . Head over to Antique Art Garden to contribute to her "Flowerlady Love Offering" fund for Lorraine at Flowerlady's Musings who recently lost her husband after 43 years of marriage.