Harvest before the storm

 This morning I went "shopping" in my greenhouse and kitchen garden.  Here you can see Rhubarb,Garlic Chives, and Cucumbers.  That wasn't all that was harvested though.

 Nope I also got the last of the pea's off the vine.  Not a whole lot this year but thats ok with me. But the harvest shopping spree didn't stop there.

 From left to right front row is Basil, Rosemary, Pesto  Basil.  And in the back row is Variegated Mint.  Talk about a nice smelling cutting board.  But that wasn't all I picked up.

Nope a big pile of Lemon Balm.  Now that is some strong smelling herbs there.  My kids smelled it from another room.

I harvested early this morning as it's the best time to harvest herbs but some days I also harvest in the evening after the heat of the day.  Today my evening harvest time was stormy.  So it looks like Mother Nature truly did read my blog and gave me and the gardens some very much needed rain.  I just hope that she doesn't go over board and give us too much rain like last month.

Oh well rain is rain and it is needed.

Good guys or bad?

So my faithful readers I need help.  I have these bugs that just love my young Rose of Sharon bushes.  They don't seem to be eating it just hanging out on the stems but I would love to know what they are.  Especially because I have now found them in 3 different colors.

 A blueish aqua color.  Very pretty if you ask me.  This guy was far less shy than some of the others.

 Purple.  I have a lot of these and they are more shy than the blue guy.  They see the camera and start to magically rotate on the stem away from the camera.  

This guy I have the most of.  Mr Green dude.  He looks like a leaf but then again so do the others.  They all just seem to hang out on the stems like they are in the pictures.  Mr Green dude is the shyest of them all as it is hard to get a picture of him.  I have to set the camera up for close and quickly but stealthy move in focus the shot and take it.  Most of the time I get just a stem.

So can anyone help me out here and tell me if these guys are good guys or bad ones?  I like looking at them as they are kinda cool looking especially now that I have found a 3rd color.  The green and purple have been around but the blue...he's new.

Help Help let me know.

Mother Nature read my blog

So yesterday I posted about how we needed rain.  Well today it's raining.  It is a nice light rain that brings a cool breeze into the house. The nice rain brought flowers along with it

 The first of my seed started Morning Glories.  Flying Saucer Morning Glory and isn't it beautiful?

 Mom and I picked up this plant at a local nursery because of the variegated foliage.  But the blooms aren't too bad either.

 Remember a few days ago when I posted about learning something new?  Well this is what the flower looks like.  The orange is so brilliant my daughter said it looks like plastic.

This pretty little flower is from my new Rose of Sharon bush - Blue Chiffon.  Looks a lot like my double purple bush.

Does anyone have any rain to spare?

So yea it's been hot as crazy here lately.  The weather forecast for the last few days has all been the same...
A chance of rain.  Hot.  Chance of t-storms. Hot. Humid. Hot.  You get the point right?  Well yesterday it sprinkled.  Just enough to make everything look wet.  Today it misted.  Just enough to look like it was going to get everything wet.

I found out that my pumpkins were falling off the

 vine just before the flowers open because of all this heat.  I have had over 6 of them fall off the vines now.  I am starting to wonder if I will even get a pumpkin this year.  Course I am further than I was last year.  Last year I got 2 male flowers and the vine died.

But look this flower is on the cusp of opening.  In fact now the flower is shriveled.  The pumpkin is turning yellow though I sure hope it isn't dying.

So how is the weather where you are?  Getting any rain?  Have any you can send this way?

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - Thriving Thursday - KinderGARDEN update

Another month has pasted us by and brings us to the 21st where we show off what we are harvesting in our gardens.  This month the tour lands on a Thursday which means it's also Thriving Thursday and KinderGARDEN update day as well.  So today's post will contain a portion of each as today they all happen to work together.  See Aiden's Cucumber plant is Thriving to the point of harvest.

 Granted it's a little odd shaped but ready it was.

 At least according to Aiden it was.  He looks so cute trying to look at it.  But look out and look close he is armed with scissors.

 One curly prickly cucumber coming up.

 This is the inspection face.  But look out don't tell him it's funny looking he is still armed and 4 years old.

 Aiden picked his 1st cucumber so Shannon said she must pick hers as well.  Shannon's 1st cucumber was not even half the size of Aiden's but like him she declared it ready to pick.  As there are over 90 days left of the growing season and more buds ready to bloom who am I to tell her she can't pick it.

 So now it's time to watch out for the armed 8 year old.

 And this would be Shannon's inspection face....I think. But again be warned any bad statements about her cucumber could be detrimental to your health as she is also still armed.

 So on to the non kid plants that are Thriving this Thursday and also Harvesting this month.  The second round of peas is beginning to ripen this season

 Sage is also growing quite well and needed to be harvested.  Just look at those leaves.

And last but not least on my list of Thriving Harvesting plants this Thursday is one of my favorite herbs Pesto Basil.  Even if I didn't like the smell or the flavor of this herb I think I would grow it anyways for the beauty of the leaves.

So The Inadvertent Farmer hosts the weekly KinderGARDEN updates so head over there and see who else is gardening with their kids and what they have been up too.

Want to participate in Thriving Thursday?  Then add your like here - 

Or would you like to participate in the Harvesting Edible Garden Tour?  Well then just at a link to your post here - 

I learned something new

A saying that I heard often growing up was every time you learn something new you get a new wrinkle on your brain.  Well today I got a new wrinkle.  See I found a plant growing earlier in the year and my Mother and I declared it a lily.  Only thing was it was growing differently from the others.  But we were pretty sure that thats what it was.

See this here is what we said is a lily.  Turns out we were right.  But for the past month we have been seeing these black ball things growing on the leaves.  No idea what it was and finally deciding that as the flower is so close to blooming I should really look it up....I did.

These odd looking things are called BULBILS.  Odd name for an odd growth.  But yet apparently very fitting.  These guys is how this particular lily multiplies.  Apparently I can harvest them and grow new plants from it.  Some times they start growing roots and leaves while still on the mother.

So now that I know I can enjoy the flower when it opens without wondering if some bug is going to hatch.  Cause with all the aphids I have had that was the first thing I thought of.  A bug was laying eggs.

I have to say that this is the strangest way to grow baby bulbs but well if it works I guess it works.  Course I have no idea what kind of lily it is so when it opens I will be sure to post a picture so my wonderful fellow garden bloggers can help me identify.

Until later have a great night, and find a way to add a wrinkle to your brain.

Quiche from the garden

So I wasn't going to post any recipes on here as my sister does that and I don't want to encroach on her thing but then I talked to my Mom and we realized that when it includes herbs from my garden that it should be ok as she is more about her veggies.  Then we thought well hey we don't share the same readers so it should be ok.  Well just in case she reads this or you all want to check out what she has cooking....cause she has a lot cooking here is her blog - My Side of Life, please don't feel bad if you follow her she has some good stuff.

Anyways on to this evenings dinner.

I picked these  lovely greens this evening then chopped them up.  Here is a list of what herbs I used:
Sage
Basil
Garlic Chives
Oregano
Green Onions
Strawberry Spinach Leaves

Not all of the cut herbs were added but I forgot to really measure so I will have to guess.  All the herbs and onions fit into a regular size dinner bowl....filled it about 3/4 full.  So lets see about 6 basil leaves, 3 stems of oregano leaves (each was about 6"), 5 strawberry spinach leaves, about 1/4 medium size onion, 3 sage leaves, and a handful of chopped chives.  For the rest of the filling it was 3 eggs, 1cup milk, pie crust, 1/4cup cheese.

 Cook the crust till lightly brown (about 10 min) at 450.  Cook the herbs and onion in a tsp of oil to keep it moist.  Beat onion herb mixture in with the eggs and milk and pour into crust and bake at 350 for  45-60 min or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  This is how it looked when it was done and it tasted wonderful.

This was the other pie that I made with herb one for my kids as they don't always like the looks of green stuff in their food.  This one was made with cheese, eggs, milk, minced onion, and minced garlic. The cheese, eggs, and milk were the same amounts.  The garlic was about 1tbsp and onion 2tbsp.

So there it is.  Give it a try or add your own spin to it.  If you do try it let me know.  Oh and as I do a lot of by sight measuring please don't quote me on the amounts of everything.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - July 2011

Another month has passed me by and it's time to join Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for the monthly fun that is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  A day that we Garden Bloggers post about what is blooming in our gardens.  What a month this has been here at Irish Gardens.

 My pride and joy Rose of Sharon bushes have finally begun their blooming.  The pure white bush is my favorite.  It is just so pretty.

 These came from my neighbors yard....they too are beautiful.

Now this beauty is from my other Rose of Sharon bush.  A double version of my neighbor's flowers.

 The hydrangea bushes are beginning to bloom

 Snapdragon's are still blooming.  A new color seems to pop out each new plant that comes to bloom.

More lilies are finding their time to bloom.

A new addition to the garden this year is eggplant.  This plant surprised me yesterday by blooming not a white flower as I thought it would but a purple one.

My Echinaea is looking wonderfully beautiful.

My pretty peach rose bush is fighting the beetles and slowly winning.

A pretty miniature rose is getting ready to open.

Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Come back again soon.  Until then stop on over to Carol's blog and see what other Garden Bloggers are posting about what's blooming in their gardens.

Thriving KinderGARDEN Thursday - Week 11 up close

Thursday again time to show off what's Thriving in my gardens today but also the day that I participate in KinderGARDENS over at The Inavertent Farmer.  Today the posts are combined.  Mainly because the Thriving plants are the kids plants.  So if you are participating in KinderGARDENS welcome to Irish Gardens.  If you are here for Thriving Thursday I also wish you a big hardy welcome.

The assignment for this week was up close.  Using Macro.  Well man did I have fun with this.

Aiden's first Cucumber is just about ready to pick.

 A Macro shot of the tendril's from Aiden's Cucumber plant.  So cool looking

 Aiden's Eggplant.  Getting big and looking great.  Thriving in the Greenhouse.

Aiden guy picked me a flower and put it in a cup of water.  I thought he picked if for himself until he told me it was for me as I was taking this picture.

 The little curly guy in the middle is Shannon's first cucumber.

A cute curly tendril from Shannon's plant.

 Shannon's eggplant is Thriving and growing away in the greenhouse.

Frogger here was caught by Shannon and as I didn't want her to keep it I said she could let him go in the Greenhouse along with 2 other frogs that have made it a home.  Frogger just loved the Basil.  He was still on it this Morning.

Thanks for taking the tour today and I hope you come back.  If you want to participate in Thriving Thursday add a link to your post below.  If you have come for KinderGARDENS glad you came, either way be sure to head over to The Inadertent Farmer and see what others have posted.