Sharing Nature's Garden Archives | Page 48 of 124

Homegrown cauliflower turns into fabulous casserole…

Today I picked two small heads of cauliflower in the garden. This is my first year to grow cauliflower and it was so easy.

I meant to take photos of it when I washed it and when the casserole was done. My focus on getting to the eating part must have affected my memory and I completely forgot to take photos.

Last week I found my old recipe box with a solitary recipe card sitting on top of it. Yellowed with age, I probably copied it out of a magazine or the newspaper at least 25 years ago. (oh, no, I meant to write more than 5 years ago. I’m really not that old, really I’m not!) But I’m certain that I never made it.

Today I made it with my home-grown cauliflower. It was simple and delicious. And since I couldn’t invite you to dinner, I thought I’d share it the recipe with you!

Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce

1 head fresh cauliflower
2 cups bechamel sauce
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 oz. dried beef
buttered breadcrumbs

Cook cauliflower until tender. Make bechamel sauce (melt butter, make a roux with a little flower, add milk or cream & cook until thickened. Add nutmeg. Do NOT salt or pepper this.) Cut dried beef into very small bits. Add to sauce with cheese. Place drained cauliflower in greased baking dish. Cover with sauce. Top with a little extra cheese & buttered bread crumbs. Bake in oven long enough for everything to melt together and get hot. (350 degrees) 4-6 servings.

So yummy. Though I did taste a sample of the cauliflower when it came out of the boiling water so I could actually get the flavor of it all by itself. It was great.

What a fun process – growing them from seed in my veggie garden, photographing it, picking it, cooking it, and eating it. And now blogging about it and ‘sharing’ it.

Doesn’t get much better than that for a gardener.

What are you eating out of your garden?

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:24-06:00January 30th, 2011|Blog, cauliflower, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Gardener goodies…

Holidays are always fun when you’re a gardener. There is a never-ending supply of wonderful gifts for gardeners. From gloves to ceramic pots to garden art — even non-gardeners can find something fun to give.

And I believe you can never have too many bird feeders, houses, or baths. (More on that in my next post.)

So it’s always interesting to see what’s behind the gift wrap.

I love this little seat – it’s so portable and comfortable to sit on, and being able to tuck my hand tools in it is wonderful.
This is the most unusual gift I have ever received. My dear friend, Kristen, gave me this little package. In it? Rose seeds that are registered with a number, and waiting for ME to grow and name the rose. How cool is that?

I’m waiting anxiously to plant my seeds. I think they will get their start in the greenhouse, which is perfect for seeds this time of the year.

Naming my rose, will be another matter altogether. No pressure there! Any ideas or suggestions for names? There hundreds if not thousands of roses out there. The process will certainly have to include making sure the name I choose isn’t already taken.
This adorable birdhouse is just waiting for a new family to move in. I wonder who will find it appealing? Cardinals, wrens, titmice, finches? We’ll keep watch for our new neighbors!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:24-06:00January 27th, 2011|Antique Rose Emporium, bird house, Blog, garden art, garden gifts, garden seat, gifts, Kristen, naming rose, roses, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

What’s up doc?

The sun came out today and I ventured out to open up the greenhouse.

It’s still a little breezy and requires a sweater, but the sun feels so good.

I decided to peruse the garden and decided it must be time to test a carrot to see if it is done. The foliage is getting quite full and tall.

Spade in hand, I gently loosened the largest one without disturbing its neighbors.

I brought it in and lovingly washed all the dirt off. Then, as all garden bloggers do, I took it out to find a suitable spot to take its portrait!

It looks quite yellow and I vague remembered planting an unusual variety of carrots, but I only included a decorate label that was simply marked ‘carrots.’ A search of my blog posts didn’t find a name either, so I set about trying to find the seed packet from whence it came.

Lo and behold, there it was, on the potting cabinet in the garage, along with all the other fall veggie seed packets. At least I had the sense to save the empty or partial packets.

These seeds require 10-20 days to germinate and I planted them on November 10th. Today marks day #73. But then again, this is Texas, and they’ve enjoyed quite a bit of extra sunshine and wonderful growing weather to boost them along.

Now I know why the carrot was yellow, it was supposed to be yellow — it’s a Sunshine carrot. How appropriate — we all took a little taste of it and pronounced it sweet and delicious.

There are quite a few more as big as this one, so I will be going back outside with a basket to gather up some snacks!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:24-06:00January 22nd, 2011|Blog, carrots, Sharing Nature's Garden, Sunshine carrots, vegetable garden, vegetables, veggies|0 Comments

Growing goodies in the garden…

Though it’s winter outside, there are still wonderful vegetables growing in the garden.

Planted in early fall, these edibles love the chill of winter.

I know my gardening friends are already harvesting and have pulled up some lovely carrots. Mine were planted a little later, but I’m eager to check one of the larger ones.

My 8-year old is a veritable bunny, and would readily crunch on raw carrots at every meal. She will have a blast when we harvest these.

Don’t you just love the little vegetable marker? It’s an antique spoon with a hand-drawn label.

This Dwarf Satsuma Orange is in the greenhouse — it would not have liked our few light freezes. The warm humidity of the greenhouse provided great conditions to help it ripen. It’s the first year for the orange (with me) and it produced 3 oranges. We’ve eat two of them and they were sweet and juicy and had very few seeds. I can’t wait to eat the third one! Doesn’t it look tasty?
Growing happily, I can’t wait to eat the cauliflower with a creamy bechamel sauce, just like my mother made it and my German Oma before her.
The red cabbage adds a burst of color to the winter vegetable garden and brightens it up. Naturally, I’ll make German red cabbage with it.
I’ve already harvested some small broccoli florets, but there are just a few still hanging on. Next year, I will plant many more of them.

Also growing in the garden right now, I have artichokes, Swiss Chard, parsley, sage, cilantro, and strawberries.

Now it’s time to start seeds in the greenhouse. I know I will be ordering a variety of tomato seeds to try, but there is a world of other vegetables that work well started as seeds before the last frost in a warm indoor environment.

I can’t wait for the spring garden. But I have to eat the winter vegetables first!

Are you eating vegetables from your winter garden?

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:25-06:00January 19th, 2011|Blog, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, dwarf satsuma oranges, fall garden, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables, winter|0 Comments

Bloom Day Blue Bonnet …

It’s a sad state of garden affairs here in Central Texas as we celebrate Garden Bloggers Bloom Day with our friend Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

Earlier in the week, when the sun was shining on our cold winter days, there were a few perky little blooms hanging on. Despite freezes last weekend, some lonely survivors still brought us some color.

But today is dreary and rainy and the blooms are few and far between.

EXCEPT for one lonely blue bonnet.

I think this little plant must be confused. It certainly hasn’t been winter long enough for it to rise from its sleep. Winter only really arrived last week.

And it’s not inside the greenhouse, it’s outside where all its little friends are still nothing but slowly growing foliage…biding their time to bloom far later into the spring.

In fact, last year I was posting about blue bonnets on the April 15th Bloom Day, and here it is January and already this single blue bonnet has sent up it’s banner.

I’m not complaining, mind you. A bloom is a bloom. It delighted me when I first discovered it last week. And it held on for me to share it with you on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

I suppose it’s just a small reminder that spring really isn’t that far away.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:40:11-05:00January 15th, 2011|Blog, blue bonnets, GBBD, Sharing Nature's Garden, winter|0 Comments

Sunshine sprouting in my garden…

The days may be gray outside right now, but the promise of spring is sprouting in my garden. Many different bulbs are peeking up out of the earth.

Most of my bulbs are daffodils. I love that bright yellow against the backdrop of winter. And since there are deer roaming here, this is one of the bulbs that they generally leave alone.
This is a fragrant yellow Muscari, Muscari macro ‘Golden Fragrance.’ While I strayed from my daffodils on this planting, I did choose a unusual yellow muscari to keep with the color theme.
Welcoming seasonal surprises is part of the fun of gardening for me. (Sometimes it’s part of the frustration as well!) I don’t remember what I planted here. Though I wrote down all the bulbs I planted in this whole bed last year, I don’t remember what went in this specific spot.
I do know that these are passalong irises from one of my many garden blogging friends.
These are my new favorite daffodils — they are teeny-tiny and the blooms are just precious. They are Daffodil Jonquilla ‘Simplex.’ I wrote about them last spring in this post.

So while I am bundled up inside reading seed catalogs and planning the vegetable garden, my bulbs are outside, getting ready to shower the spring garden with a little sunshine.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:25-06:00January 13th, 2011|Blog, bulbs, daffodils, Jonquilla Simplex, Muscari, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Sharing Nature’s Garden

Homegrown cauliflower turns into fabulous casserole…

Gardener goodies…

What’s up doc?

Growing goodies in the garden…

Bloom Day Blue Bonnet …

Sunshine sprouting in my garden…

Escape in the garden