Put a Fork In Me

We planted popcorn, painted mountain flour corn and an ornamental Japanese corn out in our side yard. It got very little attention. Not enough water, not large enough blocks planted, some sacrificed to the goat, who could reach some of it through the fence. But we did manage to harvest to few.

Virginia creeper. A bit invasive (tends to pop up in unexpected places), and not much to look at most of the year. But man is it spectacular this time of year.

We thought this was a black walnut volunteer. But our big black walnut tree doesn’t get this kind of color, and now that I think about it, I grew up with black walnut trees, and they didn’t turn red in the fall. So, now we’re thinking this is a sumac.

Watercress grows wild in Colorado, but not on our property there. So years ago, I bought some watercress seed to try to get some going. It didn’t work. And I still had the seed some 6 or 7 years later. So this year, I grew it in pots, and then put the pots in our little pond, in the running water spillway section. Turns out this made it REALLY happy. No idea if it will survive the winter, but I’m gratified to have finally pulled it off.

I had visions of two large pots of nasturtiums on either side of our gate leading into the side yard. But for most of the summer it was too hot and they were mighty unhappy. Now, with the cooler temperatures, it finally looks like what I had envisioned back in June. Nasturtiums are edible and have a bit of a peppery taste, though I rarely think to eat them.

This lovely simple peach colored rose has literally been blooming since at least June. But one of the main reasons I purchased it was because it has HUGE rosehips. Full of vitamin C. Great for cold season.

Birdhouse gourds. Got them in late, but the weather has been forgiving, and there are a couple of good sized ones hidden in here. My intention is to actually make them into birdhouses and put them out in the garden next spring for the house wrens. The more birds, the less bugs. I’m all for that.

And THIS is still happening. This variety is called Nova. It’s supposed to be a summer variety, but it managed to pull off a fall crop this year. Nice big berries.

The mustard I planted this spring (culinary mustard) never got harvested (best laid plans), and reseeded, and now is blooming again this fall. That makes the bees happy.

Rainbow Swiss chard. Wish I liked it better. It’s the only thing left out in the garden that still looks fabulous!

The garage pantry. THIS makes me happy. Storage onions, winter squash, garlic, lots of canned tomatoes and jams, and several 5 gallon buckets of walnuts. And a big jar of local honey. Potatoes are stored in another room from the onions (they should not be stored together – they make each other sprout). Winter. Bring it on.

I bought this little cardoon (related to artichokes) in a 4″ pot at the farmers market this spring. Evidently its not hard to make them happy in this growing climate. This is probably close to 5 feet across.

With cardoons, you actually eat the stalks. You need to trim off the leaves/spikes, peel off the outer strings, then blanch it until its tender. THEN you use it however you wish, in any dish where you might want an artichoke flavor. It’s traditionally mixed with a lot of cream and cheese, but can also be stir fried or served with a vinaigrette. I haven’t actually tried any of these yet.