You Grow Girl™

Again too much time has passed since I've updated here and I can't possibly get into everything that has happened.

First the most exciting thing... Thursday was my birthday. I turned thirty. That night we were sitting out on our deck and as I glanced in the direction of the night blooming nicotiana (so glad I planted this on the deck this year) I saw in the candlelight what looked to be a giant insect hovering around the plant. As my eyes adjusted I realised it was a HUMMINGBIRD. How exciting is that! I have not seen a hummingbird since 1997 on a trip to San Francisco. I had no idea we could possibly have hummingbirds around here. I mean our deck is smack in the middle of a city in the middle of nothingness. We are near the train tracks and that's the closest to nature it gets. I am constantly amazed that birds find our bird feeder and so many different insects find the flowers. But a hummingbird... that's something else. Davin said that a hummingbird is like magic because they hover the way they do, their little hearts beating a mile a second. It's been three days since the hummingbird and I'm STILL in shock. I just can't believe it.

Lemon Cucumber

Lemon Cucumbers
The lemon cucumbers are rocking. In my last entry Kate suggested I harvest them early because the skin gets a little tough and very spiney. As soon as I read her comment I immediately went outside with a pair of gloves (I'm allergic to the leaves) and shears, and cut off the biggest cucumber. She was right. It was perfect at that size. The only way I can describe it is FRESH. Really fresh tasting and soft. The best cucumber I ever ate. Since then we've had a few more. They grow literally within a few days. I love this plant.

Tomatoes
Today we tasted the first ripe Sunrise III. Very good. Soon enough they'll all be ripe. The lemon boys are nearly there as are the Silver Fir Tree fruit. Thanks to Faith who confirmed that Silver Fir Tree have red fruit, not green as I had thought. I have NO idea where I got my misinformation about the colour of the Silver Fir Tree tomatoes. Odd.

Herbs
I recently began harvesting, drying and preparing herbs. Usually halfway into summer I start doing mini harvests. I hang the herbs in bunches under the gazebo where they are protected from the rain. So far I have prepared bags of dried chocolate mint, oregano (I think a few sprigs of mint were accidently mixed in), lemon basil, thai basil, rosemary, and lemon balm.

Fingerling Potatos fresh from the bin

Potato
Many months ago I discovered a potato plant growing in my stevia. During the winter I had thought I might have fungus gnats in my stevia. One way to check for them is to stick a piece of potato, cut side down into the soil. The larvae will be attracted to the potato. Well I didn't have fungus gnats but I did end up growing a potato. So in the spring I planted my rogue potato in a trash bin on the deck. Well a week ago I harvested a few fully developed fingerling potatos from the bin!

The other day I managed to score two books by Jamaica Kincaid; the journal "My Garden" and an anthology called "My Favourite Plant", both for $4.00 CDN each!