We Successfully Grew an Artichoke & Other Garden News

6/28/22

The title of this post really says it all.  We did it!  We grew an artichoke!  Matt started artichoke seeds in the basement months ago...and this week we ate our very first homegrown artichoke, dipping the tender petals in lemony, buttery sauce and savoring every morsel.  It was fairly small, but mmmmmm-SO-good!  There is another not too far behind this one, though Matt really wants to let one go to flower* so we might not eat that one.  There are a handful of teeny-tiny baby artichoke fruits coming along though.  We'll sure be ready (with the lemon butter) when they are!

Dip...

...anticipate...

...mmmmmmmmm!  6/27/22

We cooked up the last of our bok choy for the time being.  Matt plans to sow a few for a fall harvest later on in the season.  As we ate dinner on the patio we determined that three bok choy at a time would be ideal.  Plant three, wait two weeks, plant three more, wait two week, plant three more.  As it is, we had a bit more than we could handle just the two of us**.  The spinach has been starting to bolt as the temperatures rise so Matt harvested the remainder of it.  He made one of his delicious quiches.

Dinner on the Patio:  Black Pepper Tofu--with homegrown bok choy and carrots. 6/27/22

For almost two weeks it has officially been strawberry central at our house.  We've picked pounds and pounds of them!  And there is so much more to come!  We have enough jam and jelly in our larder yet that we don't need to make any this season.  As such it is a mad and delightful task of trying to eat a boatload of strawberries every day!  I've been mixing them into yogurt.  They're so ripe and juicy they immediately color the yogurt a gorgeous ruby that almost looks as beautiful as it tastes.  On Tuesday Matt made mini strawberry pies (the size of a cupcake!) for his workmates.  Last night we dreamed up an Independence Day weekend strawberry extravaganza: strawberry pie a la mode with homemade strawberry ice cream.  I can barely wait.  Oh, I love this particular bit of garden bounty SO much!  Berries are my favorite.  I eagerly await the raspberries.

I love these freaks.  Matt swears they taste the best, too. 6/28/22

The strawberry that was nearly the size of my palm! 6/28/22

Deep in the strawberry patch.  6/28/22

Ginger is back to wanting to live her whole life in the backyard.  She regularly protests our repressive requirement that she come inside at night.  She's chasing moths, eating grass, rolling in dirt, sleeping in the sunshine, and--in general--loving every moment of summer.  There are so many moths right now it is nuts.  They're everywhere--inside and out.

If that isn't a happy face I don't know what is!  Soaking up the sun! 6/28/22

*I think Matt's reasoning for letting one of the artichokes go to flower is twofold.  One, so that he can see the whole life cycle of the plant from start to finish.  Two, because we saw one in bloom in the Southworth's garden once and they were really pretty flowers.

An itty-bitty artichoke starting to form.  Those giant leaves are truly well designed and funnel so much water down to the plant when it rains.  It is a nifty plant.  6/28/22

**So we did what gardeners always do:  We shared our surplus bounty with our friends and family.

Lobelia on the front porch. 6/29/22