Eggplants

Aren't they beautiful? These fried up nicely. And I used homegrown basil to make a nice marinara to cover our eggplant Parmesan. I've picked 3 more after these and gave them away with a huge bunch of cherry tomatoes.

This was the first year that we've had an abundance of produce and had enough to share. What a blessing!

Call before you dig

I finally got the blueberry bushes that I wanted. I found them at K-Mart for $5 each a few weeks ago. (Regularly $13)

I wanted to plant late in the season since I knew they wouldn't bloom until next year anyway. That way I could save on water too.

Before planting I called 8-1-1 to make sure it was safe to dig. I found out that our lines are buried only 8-10 inches below ground.

I wish I had pictures from when my husband tore up all the phone and cable tv lines when he tried to Rototil the area 2 years ago. This is why we ended up with raised beds LOL

When you call the line, they send a notice to the gas, water, electricity, cable and phone companies.

Immediately I got a robo-call from gas and water saying it was safe to dig. It took two days for a man to come with survey equipment and mark the electric and phone lines behind the house and as you can see it was VERY close to where I was planting. I could have easily dug into a live line.

Remember to call before you dig!

Urban Farming Friday - Chocolate Mint

Two years ago I was gifted a single stalk of chocolate mint. I placed it in a medium sized pot and let it grow in the house all winter. Last year I placed it in my raised bed on the back porch. It grew and spread a bit and we left it in place over the winter months. This spring....it took over the raised bed!

I had to prune and condense it. Last year we used it for mint chocolate chip ice cream (awesome!) and mint pesto to go on grilled lamb chops. This year I'm drying it for tea. I cut stalks then wash them.

Cut the leaves and dry them in a salad spinner. Place them in a dehydrator.

When dry, crush into an air tight canister.

Ta-dah! Tea!

Urban Farming Friday - The Strawberry Patch

A delicious treat this year has been our strawberries.

History:

I bought two plants last season but we only saw one strawberry. I thought that our pesky chipmunks were eating them. (chipmunk reference in the comments)

Throughout the year the plants grew and spread but never produced fruit.

Present:

This year we began seeing flowers and small buds in April. By May we were picking berries and they are sweet and delicious! We're picking about a pound every 2-3 days and so far we've had 4 pulls.

Lessons:

Fruit plants don't produce the first year. I learned that we must watch how much the plants spread because over crowding can stunt fruit production.

This is a labor intensive crop. Lots of bending and stooping because each fruit must be inspected for ripeness and damage.

Verdict:

This is a crop I'll keep and I'm going to look for 2 blueberry bushes at the end of season sales and plant them for next year.