I recently embarked on a journey of growth and development and along the way have also found enjoyment; I refer, of course, to the growth and development of my own home-grown vegetables. If you look at my post-feed regularly you'll have seen a post or two about it over the last couple of months showing the very first setup of my garden to the growth of the little plants I put in.
For the last few weeks I've been harvesting my crop as things come to maturity and so far I've taken green beans, broccolini, cucumbers, lettuce spinach, celery, carrots, red onions, various herbs and strawberries. These have found their way into various dishes I've made and have been super-tasty indeed. But there's more to come.
The babe
Because of limited space I've been careful to select varieties that won't grow so big. I wanted to plant out a good selection and looked for compact plants designed for small growing-spaces like balcony garden pots and the like; one of these is baby cauliflower.
Normally cauliflower grows quite large, the actual plant and the vegetable, and I just didn't have the room so I picked up these baby cauliflowers and they're really looking great. This little babe you see in the image is still developing but isn't too far away from being ready. I call it a babe because it's small, about the size of a decent sized apple, not big like the standard version - Sometimes good things come in small packages right? I have several of these coming up and they all look rather healthy indeed. So...I'm chalking the baby cauliflowers up as a big win!
I have Aztec tomatoes growing also and there's so many I've had to stake up the plants to take the weight. These are also a variety that won't grow too tall but they deliver a lot of tomatoes and there's more on the plants than I can count which is great! I'm sick of those store-bought ones that usually have no taste and am looking forward to tucking in to my own - I hope they're good or I'm going to be mighty disappointed.
I have eggplants (aubergine) growing also but they're nowhere near ready so I'll have to wait. I'm planning on grilling them on the BBQ after a nice hour-long bath in a marinade...They'll be served with burgers or some such BBQ-type food, steaks maybe. I'm looking forward to that! Of course, the accompanying salad will be made with my cucumbers, lettuce, baby spinach and tomatoes. It should be a decent meal don't you think?
I've been having a great time growing these vegetables and have learned so much during the process. This planting has been a bit of an experiment as far as what I've planted and I'll do things a little differently next time however I've had some great success and am really pleased how it's all worked out. I was a bit worried about the cauliflower at first as it was taking so long but judging by that babe above I worried for nothing it seems.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Discord: galenkp#9209
Images are my own
Nice garden there. We may be adding to the garden next year. Love eggplant. Desi makes the best eggplant parmesan, ooohh aaaahhh.
Mmm, that eggplant parmesan sounds good! I was considering doing something like that also. I think I'll have enough to make a few different things.
Damn clickbait drew me in! Wouldn’t have known it would be a garden post lol.
Such a cute little cauliflower. I don’t know how much they grow since we’ve never planted them but your garden structure seemed like it was stuffed to the gills. I like the maximized space to plant ratio.
How are you fertilizing the variety? Are you doing it once a week, once every other week? Towards the prime growing season I was doing it every two weeks since they grew so much instead of once a month.
Haha, then it had the desired effect, the clickbait I mean.
I don't fertilise at all really. I mean I prepared the soil with chicken manure and worms and use a mulch on the top also. I also watered in Seasol, a seaweed fertiliser initially. I recycle the overflow water from the reservoir's also, it comes out chocolate-brown and smelling foul, but it's been awesome as I collect it and pour it back on the top and use it for my other plants.
From your click-bait, and then as I scrolled down and saw the leaves, I was sure this was going to have more to do with melons.
Grilled marinated eggplant sounds like a plan for my upcoming menu. I haven't had them for a while.
All that's left from my garden now are potatoes, garlic and onions. The rest have already been consumed. :-)
Potatoes, garlic and onions huh? I reckon you could make a decent feed out of them as those three things go well together.
That's a perfect size. To be honest, had you not noted the size of that cauliflower is that of an apple, I would not know. Fresh vegetables grilling time :)
I know right? I thought I'd better add some perspective. When I harvest it I'll take a photo of it in my hand to better demonstrate the size.
That sounds great. But, make sure we know how big is your hand relative to an object that we can compare globally :P A 15 cm ruler?
Lol...Good point, I could have freakishly big hands right? A ruler is better.
BUILDBREAST IT And they will come...Now I am hungry for Kulli-Flowers...
And Milk..? Lmao
It's been really enjoyable and getting to eat the vegetables one has grown is pretty rewarding.
Oh there was a post there..?
I am still staring at the cover photo... LoL
😂
Lol.
Oh no, don't eat it! Don't eat your babe!
I'm practicing for the upcoming feast that may have the horrible babe-eating thing in it.
Noooooo! You monster! It's your babe you're eating!
Lol...Yeah I hadn't thought of it that way but I guess that's what's going to happen, a babe-eating post. It could be quite gruesome.
You have to change the name. I can give a Finnish name that you probably won't know how to pronounce but that's okay because one shouldn't speak when eating anyway. I forget that rule all the time, it's like when it's time to brush my teeth and every idea that I ever wanted to say comes to my mind and I immediatelly want to tell those ideas to everyone. While brushing my teeth. And jokes of course too.
I will name the babe...
kakkakuuli!
It is cauliflower (kukkakaali = flower cabbage) in Finnish but you just switch the first couple (or three) letters from each word like this: flulicaower and you get kakkakuuli (poo heard). Cool right! Much better to eat PooHeard than babe.
I know you're agreeing with me.
Lol, I like your logic on the name and about a post ensue I'll make sure I use it. 😬
Also, yeah, why us it all those things come to mind to say when one is teeth-brushing. Happens to me too. 🤪
It must be in the toothpaste. Ideapaste. Genius.
Ideapaste indeed...It was such a good idea. I bet someone came up with ideapaste whilst brushing their teeth.
Oh, you have done such a great job on the garden. Cauliflower is a late bloomer, but, the baby ones look nicer actually than the larger heads. I will be they are more tender and delicious too.
I have to admit, the garden fared a lot better than I thought. I didn't think you would fail, but, sweet Jesus! You made Farmer McGregor look like an amateur!!
Haha, farmer McGregor is a just a clown when compared to my mad cultivating skills! 😀
Everything did amazingly well really, other than a few little hiccups I guess. Nothing died but I learned some lessons I'll apply on the next round. The produce was really tasty and as per the post, I'm looking forward to some more.
I am looking forward to next year already. I actually wanted to try some asparagus!
My father grew it and I didn't realize he wasn't replanting but using the same plants!
I like me some asparagus spears. Hmm, maybe I should get some in too.
I will warn you the first year is wasted, but, after that, its a win!
Winning is a habit I like to make...I can wait a year.
Perfect. You won't be disappointed.
I have no idea what is happening, but, when I am upvoting on my phone, it doesn't show it when I come to the computer!
Sorry! Fixed it.
Troubleshooting your own trouble is ninja-level shit Swigs. ✅
Indeed. Good morning!
Indeed indeed.
Just had a physio treatment on neck and shoulders at work. They bring in a physiotherapist every Friday to treat everyone. Now I want to snooze, but will go back to work instead. 😉
I hope you have had, are having, a god week.
Dry needling?
Planting, tending and watching our garden grow day by day is an exciting experience 😊. I used to grow water spinach on the balcony, and when they matured, I couldn't bear to eat them. LOL. In the end, the pests cleaned up my vegetable garden. 🙃 🙃
Haha, yeah that's a hazard of growing one's own vegetables - One may not want to eat them. I've been eating mine though.