Although there are too many photos to post, here are a few more peeks into our gardens.
These strawberries are a little out of control! Yet the birds manage to find the berries before I do. I supppose the early birds do get all the goodies!
This is the first year we have tried to grow an open-pollinated tomato, not a fancy hybrid. Brandywine tomatoes are an heirloom type, from which we should be able to save seeds. This way we can stop supporting agribusiness and be more self-suficient.
It is a hot summer, so we try to have some refreshing salad as much as we can. The mesclun mixes are great. We also grow a type called Simpson's black seeded lettuce. They are more tasty than butter lettuces and the ants do not carry the seeds away before they germinate!
Pictured here are the bolted parts of a Chinese red leaf mustard. I cover the seed pods with a netting, the purple stuff, so the birds do not harvest the seeds first. We ate mustard leaves all fall, winter, through to early summer. The heat and more hours of sunlight cause them to bolt, or go to seed. We have been saving seed of this mustard for two years now. They are a true treat in the winter, especially with their spiciness similar to arugula or water cress, when not much else will grow in the open garden.
