Took a few pics this morning while out in the garden. I'm recovering from surgery last week and today is the first day I've been out in a bit. We've had a lot of rain and it always amazes me how fast stuff can change in just a short amount of time. Took some pics, thought I'd share. We're picking about a half a pint of raspberries a day right now. It'd probably be twice that if our fatassed Pit Bull didn't decide to dig up half the patch to create a hog waller for himself to sun nap in. I did not trim back the grapevines like I should have last winter so they're an overgrown mess, covered in growing grapes right now. Need to get bird netting up soon. Our newest top bar hive is getting going now. Most of them are outside all over the area lilacs so for once I could actually see the comb through the bees. Purple basil in the iris, cherry tomatoes getting big now, and cilantro going to seed. I don't even plant cilantro any more, it reseeds itself so heavily every year. Too bad it doesn't like the heat. Wish it were still around when the peppers and tomatoes were ready. Salsa! Although I live in town, there are no regulations against roosters. Probably an oversight by the city planners back in the day, but even if they try to change that now, I'm grandfathered in, HA. My grass patrol has been cooped up while I was cooped up. They're begging to get back to the grapevine rows to do some mowing. One of my girls presented me with future bbq this morning. Blue Sage for the bees, cucumbers and dill for me. I nailed my dill pickles last year, crunchy with just the right amount of sour and salt. Will be canning up a LOT this year. Training zucchini to grow up a t-post this year. At that early point where they're whining that they wanna sprawl on the ground but they're starting to adapt. Will be picking zucchinis and nana peppers this week! I have a million huge tomato plants too but they have stinking wire grass growing up all around them since I haven't been able to weed-eat or turn the wheekers out so I didn't take any pics of them. Or the tomatillos, or watermelon, or 90% of the peppers. I did not plant as much this year as I usually do either. A super early spring had all our fruit trees in full bloom before the bees were out and hail got what few apricot did set, so no peaches, apples, apricots this year, and the cherry tree is too young. Our hazelnuts have never done anything but take up space so not holding my breath for them this year either.
Those are guinea pigs, though they're American bred and not to be confused with the much larger (and greasier) Cuy, which is what they eat down in Bolivia and Peru. I get them free off Craigslist from people who've lost interest, get them acclimated to life outdoors, and then give them access to the vineyard/berry patch/herb garden, as well as the run of certain veggie plants. They don't dig at all and don't chew the woody vines so I don't have to wrap the grapevines or rosemary, etc. We have a huge problem with wire grass taking over the garden spots and I'd rather not spray Roundup, so this is my organic grass and weed control. As long as they stay dry, have shelter from wind, and shade for the summer, they can handle the outdoors just fine. A wet, cold guinea pig is a dead one. So far it's worked great and they've really kept the grass and weeds under control. They do have a unique dietary requirement for Vit C, which can be met either through a commercial pellet diet or by adding dark, leafy greens on a daily basis. I do a little of both. LOL nope. The one in the middle is Mabel and she likes to be picked up and carried around to sample various plants and shrubs, but Mia (blue and white on left) complains loudly if I pick her up and the black face Abyssinian, Monkey, hates me and runs anywhere and everywhere to avoid being picked up. Love me or hate me though, they all love food and greet me loudly whenever I come outside.
@ditch witch , Harvest a big batch of YOUR fresh cilantro. Cut it as you were going to immediately use it to make salsa. Take an ice cube tray and pack them with measured amounts of chopped fresh cilantro, like 1 full Tablespoon in each. Cover with water and freeze. When the other ingredients for your salsa are ready, pull the proper amount out and place in a sieve over a cup or bowl and thaw your cilantro. Transfer to you salsa pot as you would fresh. EASY PEASY. BTW, this works with any in season excess herbs ..... just label all properly and know the measured amounts in each cube or put that on label as well. I remove these from trays after frozen and put into baggies
@tacmotusn I had good intentions to do just that, but just never got around to it. Next thing ya know, it's all bolting. Oh well, I use coriander seed in a lot of stuff too so it's ok. If I had a decent window for herbs I'd grow it indoors but honestly as much as we use, I'd need an entire room just for it, ha.
