Back in March, I went on a planting spree. 

 Tomato Purse!  

(6 pack with a carrying handle)

 Beware of mint.  It has delusions of grandeur.

 When I finished the planting spree, I had 5 tomatoes planted.

 Front Yard Fungi

 The balcony as of a few weeks ago.  7 tomatoes, 8 strawberries, 11 pole beans, 20 + squash and cucumbers in 4 inch pots, and herbs.

 The herb corner in the community garden.

 Peas

The whole jungle of a garden.

Gophers

Or Why I Love My Neighbor's Cat

It's been a while since I posted about my garden.  Which may or may not have something to do with the amount of time I've spent on it... A couple weeks ago, I had a little time and tossed some snap pea seeds in a line across back of the plot.  I watered occasionally, but with the sandy soil I didn't have high hopes for them sprouting. 

 I added a garden sign with a "Do Not Disturb" message since someone stole my long poles and pulled out my short ones.  Yet another reason to visit more often! 

 Despite my neglect, I have a row of peas!

 The Herb Corner

 This half of the garden is brought to you by my mother's fabulous seed starting abilities.  In the front: Kale.  In the back: Dinosaur Kale.  And in the middle and not visible: Swiss Chard.  The green ferny stuff: Poison Hemlock.

 The beautiful poisonous plant.

This is the reason I let poison hemlock grow in my garden. 

Gophers. 

This is also why I love my neighbor's cat.  I've affectionately nicknamed it Fluffy. Fluffy likes to bring home remnants of his gopher snacks for his human family.  

Go Fluffy! 

 Note the gopher super highway running through the middle of the plot.  The gophers have yet to enter the poison hemlock infested regions of my garden.  This is my non-scientific approach to natural pest control.  So far it seems to be working...

 Everyone's gardens are going to seed but one garden is filled with beautiful white blossoms.  

 I pulled some filaree.  Check out those taproots!  Pulling weeds always makes me think of sin. You have to  catch it small so it's easy to remove.  The longer it stays, the harder it is to remove.  Wait too long and you need special tools to remove it. 

 My new pet: Lotus berthelotii aka "parrot's beak!"

I've wanted one of these for years, and I found it at the farmers' market.  I just love the vibrant colors.

It hangs by my front door and makes me smile every time I come home.

Garden Day

Today, I went to play in my garden and took my camera along.

 My favorite heirloom bean: Rattlesnake.

 Best part about rattlesnakes is that the pattern on the bean differentiates it from the stem.  Most beans blend with the stem color which makes them harder to find.  Although, I still miss finding them even with the pattern! 

 My cilantro grew nice and big earlier in the summer.  I came out one night to cut it for dinner only to find that something had been nibbling on it.  I'm going with rabbits here since deer aren't usually in the residential areas.  Both plants were nibbled back over two days.  When the cilantro grew back it started to bolt.  I left them since I think the flowers are rather beautiful.  The flowers have larger white edge petals.  The centers are trimmed with pink.  They work as cut flowers but smell like cilantro.

So far I've lost 4 different plants to gophers.  The gophers have breached the chicken wire under the plot.  Plants lost: 1 tomato, 1 nasturtium 1 cilantro, 1 cucumber.  

I'm taking bets on what plant will disappear next!

 The tunnels are collapsing but I don't have a clear entry point to work with.  I'm curious if planting poisonous plants like poison hemlock or oleander around a garden would do anything to deter gophers.  When I first started my garden plot, there was a large poison hemlock plant in the center and no gopher trouble.  The hemlock died and was taken out.  Now I have gophers...  Of course, I may just have the five star plant buffet or the gophers took advantage of our wet spring to go forth and multiply.  Who knows?  :)

Food vs. Foodie?

Part of life at the University is cooking for myself. I love cooking... but I rarely follow a recipe. I never really thought about the creativity that goes into food until I moved. I had to decide what I wanted to buy and make it affordable. Where did I want to put my money? One of my first purchases was "green" dish soap. When I bought ziplock bags and saran wrap, I had to think about what the trade offs were and if it was worth it. Yeah, my environmental conscience kicked in big time. Thus, I try to grow food and buy more at farmer's markets than the grocery store. The hardest part is figuring out how much vegetables I will use in a week. It all looks so good. Swiss chard and kale are my weaknesses, I always buy too much. There are some organic things that a college girl can't afford but it's about balance: balancing priorities, money, health and ethics.

It's rather nice to cook for myself. I was definitely influenced by the foodies at church and in Children's Ministry. We did food like you wouldn't believe. We're not in Costco anymore, Toto. Church luncheons are always surprising...

I've been taking pictures for a while of my creations and thought I would share some with you. All the vegetables are organic and most were bought at the local farmers market. The pictures were taken at different times so yes, some vegetables are out of season.
The main ingredients of most of my cooking: olive oil, fresh garlic and onion.

Chicken Stir Fry with yellow zucchini, red and green cabbage, carrots and broccoli over noodles.

This is a variation on a noodle bake. I omitted the meat and doubled the eggs. There is about one cup cooked chopped spinach, low fat ricotta cheese mixed with 2 eggs, spiral pasta, spaghetti sauce mixed up and topped with cheese. I made two of these last week. One for the freezer and one to eat!
Chili (from a can) with extra beans and carrots. I stirred in some frozen corn when I served it and topped it off with monterey jack cheese.

This was a left over creative inspiration. I had too much brown rice so I added chili powder, garlic, black beans and corn. I added some cheese and topped it with some left over chicken. The rice was better than the chicken which was rather bland.

This is a family favorite which has become my favorite study food for crazy weeks. Tuna Noodle Salad. A can of tuna, noodles, olives and green beans over a bed of lettuce and topped with a olive oil vinaigrette. The side dish is garlic sauteed summer squash.

This is my favorite summer meal. Corn chips and "salsa". Onions, sometimes a spicy pepper, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro and dash of lemon or vinegar. Yes, it's more of a pico de gallo but at our house it's called salsa...

My other favorite study food is salsa with frozen corn and black beans. Simple, fast, and filling!