Seedlings! Here comes spring!

Broccoli!

My garden's broccoli!
Making a delicious broccoli sauce with it for dinner!

as winter approaches...

so the summer fruits and veggies have begun to curl up and recede into the soil, and i currently have some winter veggies trying to make their debut. there are some gorgeous mustard greens, a few broccoli florets and some winter hardy lettuce varieties making themselves known.
pictures to come soon. maybe today. i am feeling productive....

in the meantime:

jerks

someone stole my lavender plant. it wasn't even in bloom. it was probably some stoopid drunk hipster who'll just end up killing my precious plant. they could have easily taken a pepper plant. with lots of nice red peppers. or rosemary even.

devastation

i planted my fall/winter crops and have been battling little green inchworm like caterpillars. the seem to think my cabbages and broccolis and cauliflowers are their personal salad bar.

i started by spraying organic pesticides. that stuff is a joke. the little boogers practically drank up that juice with a straw. 

and so i have resorted to harsh measures. one was to pick them off individually and squish them. i did that with the babies but the adults were tooooooo squishy for me to stomach. so now i have resorted to poison. that's right. inorganic pesticides. there were far to many of the little green maggots for me to handle one pinch at a time. 

i hope i get some veggies in the winter now.

also, i would like to point out how i have never really been a violent person to nature and animals but gardening has made me that way now to certain species. death to squirrels and little green caterpillars.

carrots

i am really quite obsessed...

parsleyworm continued

so the three i sent to the slaughter were not the only ones. there turns out to be quite a few in the garden big and small. smooth and spikey.

watch what this guy does!!!

parsleyworm

found a new garden "friend"

i threw them in the gutter before i learned what they are. i would have brought them to school or something if i had not been so ignorant!!

this is the catepillar:

 so these "worms" turn into beautiful black swallowtail butterflies. look it up. their purdy.

carrots from the garden turned into carrot apple ginger juice

enemies amongst my plants

look what i found today. not one but two!

the tobacco hornworm. apparently they like eating tomatoes. great. a new epic battle begins. i feel bad wanting to kill these, but maybe not. that sucker looks like predator.

matt's peppers

peek-a-boo, i found you!

so i was trimming my squash and cucumber plant back yesterday and i found a little surprise. neither plant has been successful this summer, and if anyone who reads this recalls from an earlier post, i had pretty much given up on the cucs.

there was still a strong vine from the cucumber plant crawling amongst all my tomatoes and smothering the squash blossoms, but it would just produce flowers and hang out there all ornamental like.

so i decided to trim the heck out of it all. and then there he was. the lone cucumber.

and its huge!!!

some neighbors were unloading groceries and they saw me holding the cuc up for this picture and were all like, "that's not your's, is it?" and i'm all like "mmmhmmm, you betcha! it was hiding from me all summer!"

what do i make with it???

Re-use

Found these gems close to 6th and Reed.

Good re-purposing. It'd be cooler if they were herbs and veggies though.