vegetables Archives | Page 2 of 4 | Diana's Designs Austin

Cauliflower harvest makes delicious dinner…

The winter vegetable garden came bearing gifts yesterday.

I ventured out into the rain to harvest our first cauliflower.

It was big and beautiful in the garden — and it had been calling to me for several days.

With a nice roast, mashed potatoes and roasted beets waiting as accompaniment, I brought it in.

Of course, we took a few pictures of it first.

I cut it up and put it on a baking sheet with some olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Then I sprinkled a little shredded Parmesan cheese on it and topped that with some bits of garlic from the garlic press. After 30 minutes at 425 it was a nutty, cheesy, crunchy batch of yumminess.

Jeff checked online and learned that the beautiful leaves that I cut off of the cauliflower are also edible like greens. I cut and cleaned them and set them aside. Tomorrow I’ll steam them and toss them with some bacon, onion and sea salt … maybe a little balsamic vinegar, too.

There are three more heads of cauliflower growing in the garden, but they have a few more weeks to go so we have something to look forward to.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:17-06:00March 10th, 2012|Blog, cauliflower, drought, rain, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables|0 Comments

Broccoli brings back blogging…

After my holiday hiatus from blogging, reading blogs and pretty much anything that didn’t have to do with a kid birthday, Thanksgiving & travel, a holiday party for 160 for which I cook, company for New Year’s, and another kid birthday, I’m baaaaaack!

And this broccoli brought me back. This pretty, fresh and delicious green goddess adorned our dinner plates last night. Only a few of the winter veggies I planted actually survived our fall attack of the critters. Specifically, 2 broccoli plants, 1 green cabbage, 1 red cabbage and 1 cauliflower. The broccoli was the first to ripen.

I know sometimes there isn’t a lot of difference in the flavor of a few of the home grown vegetables and those you buy. But for some veggies, it’s a world of difference — like tomatoes, or last night’s broccoli.

And that was it. All gone. Makes me mad at the critters all over again.

But it sure was tasty.

And it makes me want to plant some more winter veggies this week…and blog about it!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:19-06:00January 9th, 2012|Blog, broccoli, hiatus, holiday, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables, veggies, winter vegetables|0 Comments

Can I watch my artichoke bloom in the garden and eat it, too?

Ok. I know the answer to that.

Eat it or watch it bloom? That is the question.

First artichoke of the year and the answer was simple. Watch it bloom.

I’ve done it before, and loved looking at their amazing flowers.

But as I rounded the corner in the vegetable garden today, it literally took my breath away.

The color, the fuzz, the exotic quality, the intricate petals.

So this was the first test for my new DSLR camera – a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. My number one priority was a lightweight DSLR I can take with me on garden tours and to the annual Garden Bloggers Fling. I have a point and shoot, and my DH has a very high-end professional Nikon that’s heavy and I won’t travel with, but this is really what I need.

Looks like it takes pretty good photos, too. (Though you can’t really tell on Blogger because their photo quality is so low, you’ll have to click on the photo to get a good look.)

But then the artichoke bloom was a brilliant subject!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:23-06:00June 21st, 2011|artichoke, Blog, camera, Canon, DSLR, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables|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

Seeds are stronger than you think!

As we felt the wrath of tropical storm Hermine last week, I was most worried about all the tiny little seeds I’d so carefully planted just a few short days before.

I had visions of them floating away down the road to the neighboring town of Buda.

Then I had visions of them simply drowning in the mud-filled beds.

And finally, I had visions of them surviving, but scattering and intermingling so that I would never know what was what.

Guess what? They liked the rain. So much so that some of them popped their little heads up in just 4 days!

These are bush beans with their pretty little copper marker made with my nifty spiffy label maker. (Do you have one? I love mine!)
And these tiny little guys are going to grow up to be Brussels sprouts.
While some of the plants are a little water-logged, many of my plants have emerged rejuvenated after the storm. This ice plant is bright and cheery.
This heavenly hibiscus loved the deep, long drink.
The Hyacinth bean vine blooms burst forth after the heavy rains.
These plants aren’t in the direct path of the rain (although we had lots of sideways rain), they loved the humidity of the storm.