HEGT - June 2012

A few days late but here we go....it's time for the June edition of the Harvesting Edible Garden Tour.  Every month on the 21st (supposed to be anyways) we gather together around the blog table and read what everyone is harvesting that month.  Since I started the Farmers Market I harvest herbs every week and this month the 21st landed on Market day.  But that doesn't mean I didn't take pictures of what I was harvesting.....so fresh from the Market here is what Irish Gardens harvested this week.....actually all month.

Ok so the Rhubarb I didn't harvest all month just Thursday.  From left to right the herbs are:
Sage
Mint
Dill
Rosemary
Lemon Balm
Chocolate Mint
Marjoram
Chives
Oregano
Basil
Rhubarb

So what do you have that you can harvest in your garden?  Any veggies out there?  Add your post to the link below so others can visit and see whats harvesting around the blog table.

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour October 2011

It's the 21st!  Harvesting Edible Garden Tour day.  Whats harvesting in your edible garden today?  Here is what I have that needed some harvesting today.

 Nice fresh sage anyone?

 Lots of beautiful parsley leaves.

 Basil.  The last harvest of the season but they look great.

 Not a lot but some rosemary was ready as well.

 Lemon balm oh what a smell that was when I cut these stems off.  Lots more to harvest still this season but not today.

 These darn hot and spicy peppers are still growing and ripening.  Granted the few sweet peppers I have are still growing but much slower than these guys.
A few accidental cuts here as you can see.  There are so many that sometimes getting to the red ones is hard.

I  think this herb has to be one of my favorites I add it to everything.  My garlic chives once again needed a good trimming.  I am sure I will get at least one more harvest before they die back for winter.

So what do you have that is harvesting?  Post and add your link below.  I would love to take a tour of your edible gardens.

GBBD - October 2011

 Welcome one and all to another month where here at Irish Gardens there is still blooms.  I can't believe it.  I thought for sure that I wouldn't have any.

But alas I do.  So joining Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for another exciting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post my first bloom is one of my Hydrangea bushes.

 And of course the Marigolds are still in bloom.  I chose this picture because I loved the contrast.  First of the Marigold's them self with the red, yellow, and green but also because of how much they stand out against the signs of fall.

 A few Roses are still trying to make known that it isn't yet winter

 A pretty sight this morning was that my Basil is flowering.  I usually never get to see this as I harvest the basil often and it never gets to this stage.  But with all the rain lately it has been hard to get out to the garden to harvest.

 Another herb that is showing of some color is this Pineapple Sage.  Can't wait till it opens up.

And this stunning beauty is all alone on the fence.  A deer problem this year as well as wacky weather has kept my Morning Glory blooms at bay.  With barely any leaves left this guy stands out like a beacon.

So what do you have blooming this windy fall day?  Head over to Carol's and see what others around the world are blogging about.

I'll take a BLT w/ MBC

So who wants to take a guess as to what that mess of letters mean?  I bet you'll get half of them right....maybe more.  Here is a hint.

Almost all the letters are on the table.  How many can you guess?  Give up.  BLT - Bacon Lettuce Tomato sandwich w/ Mayo Basil Chives.  A meal from my garden.  Mayo and bread were the only items on the menu that were not grown here by me.  I added the chives and basil just because.  Well I see basil and tomato all the time together so I thought why not?  Then the garlic chives well I put them on everything.

 Look at the size of that tomato.  I mean really...one slice was all I needed and then some.

Not the best picture in the world but you can mostly see everything.  And let me tell you it tasted a whole lot better than it looks.  So in case you don't know how to make these wonderful sandwiches here is what I used to make them:

1lg Tomato - sliced
1pkg bacon - cooked
2 handful's of lettuce - cut to sandwich size if needed
1 stem basil (about 6 leaves) leaves removed and cut in half
small handful of garlic chives - chopped up
bread
mayo

Put them all together and enjoy.  Although the order doesn't matter it's best to put the mayo on the bread and then all the other ingredients between the slices of bread.  But don't let that stop you either.

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.

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 - 

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.

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - May 21, 2011

Good morning everyone.  Although almost afternoon.  A little late today in getting this post out but I had some herb shopping to do this morning.

I got all that for free in 15 min from my favorite store....my greenhouse.  With out reading on can you identify any of the herbs?  I bet you can maybe no all but some.  So it's that time of the month where I share what I have harvested this month....well today it is what I harvested today....and as you can see....there is a lot. So without further delay lets get on with the tour.

 Italian Oregano - the smell just makes me so hungry

 Spearmint - I love the smell of Mint in the morning.

Lemon Balm - My new favorite plant as it's official name is Melissa......how can I not grow and harvest this plant when it's named after me.

 Chocolate Mint - the Greenhouse now has a sweet Italian smell going on.

 Pesto Basil - Ok now all thats needed is some pasta and man what a meal.

 Summer Savory - Not as strong of a smell as the others but still wonderfully adds to the aroma.

Common Sage - Common is such a rude word for this plant as it is so pleasant to smell.

 Pineapple Sage - A new addition to the greenhouse harvested today only to get a more bushy effect.  Smells good though.

 Variegated Sage - Colorful and fragrant.

 Parsley - Adds another Italian smell to the very fragrant Greenhouse.

Garlic Chives - Because the other herbs growing didn't add enough smells to the greenhouse (yea right)

Sweet Basil - Another herb not quite ready to be harvested but done so anyways for a bush effect.

Dill - Quite a different smell from all the other herbs harvested this morning but man I didn't want to leave the greenhouse.

Growing the herbs in the greenhouse this year was a good idea as I am sure to get a large yield.

So what are you harvesting from your gardens?  Nothing ready to harvest yet?  No problem show off what you are hoping to harvest.

Write about it and add your link below so others can see whats going on in your neck of the woods.  Come back and join the tour or Harvesting Edible Gardens