Greens, beans, roots, etc...

Am very happy with the goings-on at the potager... 

We have a lot of spinach this season... 

and they are flourishing... we harvest and eat them whole, roots included...

Planted this sole celery in April...

Didn't get to eat much of it...
with the cold coming in, it is growing really well...

Tried to germinate fava beans from seeds...
From eight seeds, six germinated successfully...

Our lettuce self-seeded...
We have about a dozen of them, thriving...
They are a constant part of our breakfast fare...

Bought three broccoli seedlings from the store...
All are doing well...

Sowed two types of radish seeds last September...
The round and long type...
They taste really good either fresh or cooked...

We love our carrots a lot...
Sowed the seeds in two plots...
Harvested the first carrot this morning for breakfast...
Wooh, heavenly...

Strawberries... just about everybody's favorite...
Seedlings were all sourced from the mother plants...
Looking forward to the fruits next spring...

Am growing this green just for my suweeto haato...
The ta-sai is one of her favorite leafy greens... have been harvesting them for a while now... we mostly stir-fried them with black beans...

Bought two seedlings of parsley...
Had them planted as companions to the strawberry patch... we harvest them a little at time to use as garnish for our breakfast pizza-toasts...

And finally, while still far away from harvesting, red onions, another 'must-have' order from my missus...
Sowed the seeds last October and they are still rather tiny...
Need to let the seedlings grow up to the size of chopsticks before I can transplant them for good...

Note: While this post is not really totally about harvesting, I am taking the liberty to link this post to Harvest Monday hosted by Daphne... hope she doesn't mind...

Gardening in the heat of summer

Hmmm, must say to you folks that I am more of a (student) 'gardener' rather than a 'blogger'...

I take my hat off to some of you folks who can update your blogs so often...

Anyway, been enjoying dirtying my hands in the potager as usual...

But with this heat... ooh, the mercury hits 33 degrees today...

The heat had my tongue dangling, and my body oozing out sweat literally in the liters...

I must be quite mad to be out in the potager in this heat...

The last time I sweated like this was probably when I worked in the construction firm more than 30 years ago...

My sweeto haato continues to walk the hills in the mornings...
And she found these gorgeous looking wild Dianthus aka carnation or pink....

A check on the net reveals that the word Dianthus is derived from the Greek words dios (god) and anthos (flower)...

And that bug, what's its name? 

I know that bug had been chewing on the young leaves of my cucumbers and pumpkins...   

Everyday, while my better half prepares breakfast, I go out to the potager to pluck off some goodies... Here, we had some (male) pumpkin flowers and a nasturtium flower... 

We eat them together with our breakfasts.....

Those edible flowers, plus of course the tomatoes of the Sicilian Rouge type, cucumbers, sweet basil, dill, parsley...

All freshly picked just minutes before consumption...

We had quite a bit of Japanese plums this season...

Not the 'ume' but the 'sumomo' type (literally 'sour peach')...

We turned them into preserves and we are enjoying it a little at a time with our yogurt... 

Summer is the season of cicadas...

These creatures apparently live most of their lives underground...

We were lucky to see this particular specimen molting right in front of our eyes...

The process took hours, giving me a good opportunity to observe and photograph it...

And finally, I'd like to show a picture of a horsefly...

Like the cicadas, they make their appearance in the heat of summer...

When yours truly is sweating like a waterfall in the potager, the horsefly beckons and bites...

Sheesh, I mean, ouch! 

Often there'd be like 10 of these little monsters buzzing around my legs...

And they bite through the clothes...

I thought mosquito was bad, but the horsefly takes the cake...

Like the mosquito, it is the female that needs to draw blood...

Apparently they need the blood to help them in their reproduction process...

Funny thing is, my wife does not really get attacked by these flies...

Is it because they prefer the 'juice' (blood) of the human male?

Or is it because, as my wife suspects, they find my bodily scent too sexy to resist?