Fava beans taste soooo good...

This is the third time I am growing fava beans...

I had only two plants on the first try... and perhaps four on the second...
The second time around, the crows came for the beans before I did... grrrr...
And belated as it is, I am discovering, what a lovely vegetable this is...

We bought two different types of beans this third time around...
The 'fast' growing type, and the 'normal' growing type...
The former gives smaller fruits, the later, bigger and more wholesome fruits... 

Didn't want the crows to get them before me this time...
So, we harvested 'big' time...
And ended up having a loadful of mainly the fast type...
Peeled the beans off the pods and woah, the scale tipped at about 1.5 kilograms, clean...

Now, what dishes to make out of them, we wondered...

And ah ha, why not cream fava bean soup?
With lots of coarse black pepper?
Served on a Peter Rabbit bowl?

And, urged my sweeto haaato to experiment with fava bean spaghetti...
Waaah... absolutely delicious...
We still have some more of the normal type in the potager...
Shall be enjoying them slowly...
Didn't get to try eating their leaves as initailly planned... perhaps next time...

PS-1: The rainy season started two days ago, so I am rather stuck indoors... still, the rain couldn't restrain me from occasionally going into the potager to talk to the plants...

PS-2: Submitted this post to Appalachian Feet's “How to Find Great Plants”.

Strawberries... the 'tamed' and the wild...

Am very happy with the strawberries...
We get to harvest only a few fruits per day...
Good enough as an additional topping to the yoghurt for breakfast...

The rue is a member of the citrus family...
The Italians apparently use it to flavor a liqueur...
The smell of the rue is supposed to repel (stray) cats...
But not so for the cats in our neighborhood...  

Last year, I enjoyed harvesting some wild strawberries in the nearby hills...
Think they are called Japanese wineberries...
Brought back some canes to plant in our potager...
And woah, they grow like crazy...
And their fruits... ooh, so lovely...
Almost no maintanence at all...
In fact, I need to weed them out of the walkpaths as they grow so fast...

 
Another 'big' harvest of the strawberries from the potager...

Our Rosa banksiae is flowering very profusely...
Thought it was not a rose, but it actually is part of the family...
I like it because of its immense volume of flowers...

My missus picked this up from the hills in one of her walks...
The wisteria is all over the hills this time of the year...
I think they make very beautiful flowers...

We grow a vegetable... the edible chrysanthemum...
It is very good with soup dishes especially in the winter...
After we are done eating their leaves, it is time to sit back and enjoy their flowers...
Looks a bit like hard boiled eggs... no?

There was no label for this rose when my missus bought it from the store...
This particular specie emits a really sweet, classic rosy scent...
And, unlike the other species, this one makes a lovely preserve...
Hence, 'Sweet Pink'...

Heaven, I'm in heaven...

Yes, as is so beautifully sung by Ella and Louis in 'Cheek to Cheek'...

How not to feel so when you can see flowers of blue right in your own space?

Yes, the borage has got to be one of the most fascinating flowers I know...

They self seed in our potager and we do nothing but enjoy its beauty... 

And of course, its taste too... 

Likewise, the poppy self seeds just as well...

It has adapted very well to our potager... 

The 'wild' oxalis is a tiny flower...

And a very pretty wild flower at that...

The lilac flowers never fail to bring joy to us each spring...

Such a lovely 'feminine' pink... 

My missus was attracted to this flower from the hills...

She brought back a plant and woah...

The Japanese name is 'Uma no ashi gata'...

Literally, 'the shape of a horse foot', apparently from the shape of the leaves...

In English, simply Meadow buttercup... 

Was taken aback to see this clinging on a tree...

Wing-span was about 10 centimeters as it is...

Apparently, one of its wings was chipped...

Which meant that I could take my time to record its beauty... 

Don't you just love the colors of the swiss chard?

Chards belong to the same family as spinach...

We have several colors... white, cream, yellow, pink...

Think the white and cream ones taste the best... 

Now, what do you do when you have to harvest all the remaining carrots because you need the space for the next crop?

The answer is here...