This Swiss chard on my balcony planter is more than 2 years old.
I have harvested #leaves from it at least 9 times and it's time to cut more leaves again to make #vegetable #soup.
It is absolutely delicious & the highest ROI of my #balcony #garden. #SwissChard
#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants #France #GrowOwnFood @plants
A little dessert with lunch. #Pears
Remember that 40 lb harvest last Fall? Living on the produce now.
#GrowYourOwn #Seed to #tree to #fruit
Two trees, first year producing
@Broadfork Congratulation on the 2025 spring gardening milestone of soil blocks! Can you share your starter mix recipe? Ernie is happy. This is his happy face. #gardening, #growyourown, #soilblocks.
Starts from #seeds are growing well. I think it's time to sow some peas... #GardeningMastoson #GrowYourOwn #GYO #GrowLights
Recently I learned something new about using vinegar to kill weeds,
For several years I have used 30% strength vinegar in a ‘chemical resistant’ spray bottle to spot spray weeds. This is a very effective weed (and grass) killer.
This spring I sprayed some weeds but the result was not what I expected. The weeds stayed green and growing.
Turns out that the acidity of vinegar declines over time when exposed to air. The vinegar I used this spring was a bit left in a gallon jug that I purchased last year. A few days ago I bought a new gallon jug, sprayed some weeds and they died just as I expected.
If you want to try this, do not use grocery store vinegar. It is not nearly strong enough. I buy mine at the local big box lumber/hardware store. Make sure what you buy says 30%. Look for it where they have cleaning supplies. And if you use a standard spray bottle then the acid will destroy the spray mechanism after a bit. That is why I use a ‘chemical resistant' spray bottle.
Also, when I spray this stuff I am wearing rubber gloves that come halfway to my elbows.
#PNW #Gardens #Gardening #GrowYourOwn
One bed completed without a compost delivery. Just went a little more lasagna on the top of the bed.
Currant and peas planted with transplants waiting in the wings to finish hardening off. First bed at our actual home. Feels pretty amazing.
It's been fun to weave years of health into something. The lower half of the bed is mostly hugelkultur, with upper layers of compost and homemade biochar, then lasagna of bedding straw and compost/soil mixture.
It's a 30" deep bed, so a lot to fill.
@LifeTimeCooking Oh very nice. Similar to a mango powder perhaps. Dehydrating the ferment and making powder is taking tasty food storage to another level. #fermentation, #rhubarb, #growyourown.
@LifeTimeCooking Thank you for the photograph of the fermented purslane to see the size of the bits. What does fermented purslane remind you of? I can’t imagine the flavors! #fermentation, #purslane, #growyourown.
People complain about the price of eggs in the States, but can I talk about how the price of compost has basically doubled where I live?!
Literally rotting vegetables and leaves?
When we built our garden at the rental we lived in about 4 years ago, the compost cost us $169. We need the exact same amount at our new place. The cheapest I can find it for is $344.
Mind boggled.
Three Good Things
Planted the little apple tree that arrived in the mail today. I'm glad it's tiny because it took most of my energy today to plant it. I named it Excelsior which is funny because it leans a little.
I heard my first bee of the season buzz past my ear.
There are tiny lupins popping up in the front bed and the native sedums I planted seem quite happy.
Things seem harrowing in the world on the daily, but the plants pay no mind.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it today! I had to remove the diseased guava tree from here. I kept putting kitchen scraps in the empty land. Of course, now that spring is here, weeds are also taking over. However, see this? These are guava plants!!!! Apparently, I left a root or two. There are so many of them here. I love it!!! Let me try transplanting them to other parts of the gardens over the weekend.
Beetroot day in this #YearOfFermenting went well but not as well as expected. Work (the paid stuff) consumed a lot of my day.
There is a large jar of kvass made and ready to ferment. I am hoping for at least 1.5l from it, once strained of beetroot. 
I used all the beetroot for kvass so didn't make the beet and cabbage salad that ferments.
But I picked a couple of cute small beetroot for cooking tomorrow. They are sitting in the sink waiting to be washed.
#OnTheFermentTable - the purslane is done! I'll be having some with dinner tonight.
The rhubarb is slowly fermenting.
The vinegar is not really #fermenting yet but is looking good so far (Only made it yesterday).
And #FromTheDehydrator - the grapes are still dehydrating - it takes a while. Perhaps another day.
But the chillies are done and are sitting conditioning before I lock them away.
Dinner tonight - purple sprouting broccoli is just perfect now in the polytunnel. All self seeded and so tasty. #GrowYourOwn
New day, new dealing with garden produce.
Today it's the grapes. I'll have a go at some vinegar, plus dehydrate some.
My grandmother would bottle grapes, and I loved them. I don't have such a sweet tooth these days, but if I had a vacola ......
Good. The chillies are in the dehydrator. 14 dozen (168 chillies).
They are small Thai chillies so they don't look that many - just 1 dehydrator tray.
I *nearly* made a fermented chilli mash, but the #KirstenShockey ones are a bit faffy - the hot chilli sauce I made the other day is simple and awesome and without messing around.
No seeding or peeling chillies for me, altho next time I make the sauce I will roast some. (These chillies are two small to remove the seeds anyway, and last time I just blended everything up in the Vitamix. We're not scared of a few seeds*).
* I read the other day that it is not the seeds that hold the most heat, but the white membrane parts of the chilli. I am not testing this.
Here's my 10 x 25' plot at the community garden. To keep the birds off my peas and the squirrels off my tomatoes I've draped netting over the center portion that contains trellises made of concrete reinforcement panels. #garden #gardening #allotment #fence #peas #tomatoes #swarthmore #GrowYourOwn #VerticalGardening
The baby pineapple is looking more pineapple-like by the day! Technically it's just a bloom at this point - a very bristly bloom! It will soon be covered in purple petals, and then it will be on its way to being a delicious fruit.
I have a total of three pineapple plants that I've grown from pineapple tops. This is the second one. The first one fruited last year, and I grew a third plant from the top of its fruit. I grew the first two plants from the tops of store-bought pineapples. They're surprisingly easy to grow, though they're tender, so they have to spend the winter in the house.
@LifeTimeCooking Home made fermented hot sauce is so tasty. I am glad you are pleased. The complex flavors are a concentrated kitchen treasure. We also dilute during cooking with this variety of concentrated ferment. It’s inspiring what the ingredients have become from the fermentation. You are on top of the world. #fermentation, #garlic, #ginger, #turmeric, #hotchilisauce, #solarpunk, #growyourown.
waiting for summer 
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