The joys of harvesting

I spent this morning harvesting. I had cut up and planted 2 sprouted potatoes in February. This morning I dug up about 10 lbs of redskins! (Thanks to friends' advice!)

As I was poking in the dirt to find the spuds, I was munching on handfuls of ripe strawberries and raspberries. What could be better than this?

Great life. Those who raise only flowers don't know what they're missing.

Edited.

This message was edited Jul 2, 2005 12:41 PM

I don't seem to be able to get most of my fruit into the kitchen to can it! Or even to cook it or to share it :D I just go out and while watering, eat the raspberries and strawberries while doing my chores.

I do grow a lot of flowers too, and the rewards of munching a ripe tomato hot off the vine while admiring the roses and glads and phlox and... Not to mention the pretty blooms on my purple bush beans ...

I was born to be a gardener, I think!

Yes, fresh veggies are so awesome compared to a store bought import, being Friday we had a fresh vegetable dinner; steamed zucchini, fresh green beans with new red potatoes ( I didn't like seeing those beans, means it is time to take out the pressure cooker for canning), sliced tomatoes, and a cucumber salad with Walla Walla onion. I planted a variety called Santiam in the tomato patch and I have never gotten this many ever this early. yum, yum.I like growing vegetables but I can't live without flowers.

Lenjo, now that I am really paying attention, I will think of you when I plant my favorite tomato variety, called Oregon Spring. This one goes out in my garden on St. Patrick's Day (unless it is blizzarding) and I always have ripe ones by Memorial Day. Now that I have a gardening friend in Oregon, I will call them (privately) Lenjo's Spring tomato. Do you grow this kind? So good, and it really does survive the spring frosts.

My string beans (I don't grow green ones: purple and yellow)don't survive to the canner; mostly get eaten raw in the garden. Those that do survive to the kitchen get cooked and immediately eaten. But I have a tiny veggie garden :( No sun (well, hardly any). My bean patch is about 3' x 5'

Aw shucks, lupinelover, a tomatty named after me, I'm blushing!!! :) Yes, I grew it once, this past year I tried an heirloom variety called Santiam, my seed came from Territorial which is out here in Oregon. I have had tomatoes to eat for two weeks now. I have never had anything near ripe this early ever before, I don't know if it's the variety or a relatively dry spring. We can sometimes almost go to the 4th of July before we dry out substantially. We don't even think of Planting most vegetables till Memorial Day. peas can go in early but around here I have two legged foragers that never let a pea see the saucepan.
I wish I could show you an iris garden not too far from me in May, June. Their display gardens are beautiful with many other perenniels, their lupines are fantastic, I have never seen such color as they have and the size is out of this world.

lupinelover do you have any of those tomatoe seeds for me.
i'm in zone 5, a little before memorial day for my last frost. i'd love to hae some early tomatoes in my garden. mmmmm good.
i started gardening 3 years ago and i found heaven. i love to smell the flowers, smell the fresh tomatoes and feast my eyes on all the beauty. ahhhhh god makes good stuff. i'm still amazed that it all grows from a little seed. :)

lupinelover, can you tell me how to grow the potatoes. thanks debi z

Enjoy all your garden rewards, my mouth goes to water!!!

lupinelover, I've find out the same truth, I was born a gardener.

I have had several tomatoes, a couple of peppers, tons of beans, and carrots. The first time I have grown vegetables for a long time. Next year the space has to at least double. This is really fun!

this is my third year gardening and this is my most successful year. :) tomatoes, peppers, a few summer squash, i'm still having a problem growing those, and the eggplants and collard greens. oh yes i do have to harvest some turnips today. my freezer is getting full.

i love this time of year. the vegetables are sooooo delicious and even taste better fresh off the vine and onto the plate. :)

Debi, LOL most of mine don't make it onto the plate. Enjoyed right there at garden-side. Or given to special friends and neighbors. They make superb gifts, and the bits of soil remaining on the fresh veggies is proof they are "fresh harvested".

My dad has had a veggie garden for most of his adult life, and since he passed it along for me to care for, I have learned so much from him and others, now I am passing that knowledge on. Makes him seem more alive, somehow (yes, he is still with us :) he just does the "heavy gardening" and I do the fiddly detailed stuff.

my dad also gardened his whole life. i remember the smile on his face when he had that first tomatoe in his hand and the salt shaker in the other. :) no need to wash it, a quick swipe across his shirt and he was ready to sprinkle and go. :) unfortunately i had no interest when he was alive, to learn from him, but i know he is proud of my gardens.