Weekly Update - cucumbers and flowers

 

The weather this week is in the low 80s. It's actually nice and not too hot. Although the cilantro started bolting, the other hot weather veggies are loving it! 

Cukes, curcubit, or cucumbers are the vegetable for this weeks harvest. Mr. Wonderful was surprised by them, in a good way. I was surprised too! If you notice those bumps on the skin, they have really small, but sharp thorns on them, something I didn't expect. This is the first time I really harvested cukes. I will be pickling them this evening and posting about it later.

Roses from the front yard were already put in when we purchased the house. I will definitely be keeping these. I place them in the restrooms and they make them smell so lovely, instead of you know what!

 

The zinnias I planted earlier this summer are starting to bloom. They don't really have a smell to them, but the have amazing color and are great for cut flowers! I'm hoping there will be more blooms when we have our housewarming party in a couple of weeks.

 Hope all is growing well in your garden!

Weekly Update

Updates are difficult for me, so I'm making it my goal to at least update once a week, even if it's a short update. So, first on the list of things is the temperature for the week and the growing cucumbers. The weather looks like it's going to be a bit cooler this week compared to last week and the cucumbers are growing pretty well. There are so much flowers and tiny little cucumbers. so cute!

baby cucumbers

cucumber flower

The green beans are growing like crazy compared to everything else I've ever planted. This is the first time growing runner beans. I figure I would try to have it run on our patio gate. They're growing in the same pot that I've planted the lime trees and some marigold.

green beans in pot

The lettuce is still growing great. I can't believe they haven't bolted yet. It's been really hot the past 2 weeks. I'm not quite sure the varieties, they were from a lettuce green mix.

baby lettuce greens

baby lettuce green

Mustard greens are so interesting. The colors and the taste. I took a bite, and it tastes exactly like mustard!!, but not us strong. I love mustard! 

mustard leaf

The tomatoes went into my stew tonight. There was a split on one of them. 

tomato harvest from volunteers

The zinnias are growing bright and cute. They're tiny little flowers, only about an inch and a half wide. 

zinnia lilliput

zinnia lilliput

Gardener Sues City of Tulsa For Cutting Down Her Edible Garden (UPDATE)

Mr. Wonderful and I recently purchased our first home. We I have dreams of filling our yard, front and back, with edible plants. Being so sensitive to many of the processed foods out there makes it often times difficult to eat out because of the unknown ingredients in the foods. Even foods that are considered 'healthy', like fruits and vegetables are now tainted with pesticides, and who knows what type of soil they are grown in. It only makes sense to grow your own food, especially if you have a yard to do it in. Now new homeowners, Mr. Wonderful and I understand how expensive it is to own a home. Why not use the property your paying for (overpaying, if you live in california) to grow your own food to save money and in the long run eat healthy, fresh, produce?!  It only makes sense.

So my resolution to this issue is to grow our own organic good on our property and try to be more self sustainable. I do however want to have it appealing to the eye as well, so I'm trying to incorporate flowers and decorative plants in combination with the edible plants in my design plan, especially in the front yard.
One gardener recently didn't have much luck with her city officials. This story comes close to heart. I truly hope this would never happen to us or anyone else.  Gardener Sues City of Tulsa For Cutting Down Her Edible Garden (UPDATE) : TreeHugger. A lady who at the time was unemployed, without health insurance, and has diabetes is suing the city officials who came to her property and mowed down her front yard, full of edible plants. Watch the full report from the local news station.

I understand and respect the decisions that officials have as well as HOAs, in order to keep peace and rules in effect. I'm sure there is probably more to the story than what was reported. Maybe, her front yard wasn't as pretty as a lot of the manicured neighbors of hers, maybe it looked like no one had mowed the lawn in months, who knows?, but looking at the big picture, it just seems so asinine if you think about it. City officials coming over to chop down your front yard because you didn't do it yourself. I think they crossed the line doing that. Hopefully, Denice will win her civil lawsuit and the city with have to pay to get her front yard redone, then both sides win. She'll have her edible garden back and it will be pretty to look at if done properly!

If you would like to donate seeds to help Denise regrow her medicinal garden, or would like to donate to her legal fund to help her with the civil rights lawsuit she filed, you can send it to Lori Fulbright who will get it to Denise.

Lori Fulbright
C/O News On 6
302 S. Frankfort
Tulsa, OK 74120

What would you do if this happened to you?

Cute Stone Plant Label

This is the first post I've done since our move to our very own house, and with a backyard so that I can finally plant up to my hearts content!

This idea was seen on other blogs and pinterest and I Love it!!! It's so cute! I only had one stone for now, but I'll be getting more, to label all my other plants.

All I did was get a really thin paint brush and some acrylic paint and paint it on the stone. Make sure you practice a bit first.

What labels do you use for your plants? I would love to see!!!