In the garden: Pink Echinacea

In the bee garden…

In the garden: red (velvet) snapdragons

These snapdragon were rather desperate to grow in the rose garden, even though I planted them on the other side of the back yard (where they declined to grow). I didn’t have the heart to rip them out and now they look like velvet – what a colour!!

In the garden: green beans

In the garden: red, red rose

From garden to kitchen: Zucchini

Last week I found this monster zucchini hiding behind a garbage can full of crazy potato plants (more on those later). Under this stealthy cover the zucchini was able to grow beyond tasty eating size and into what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do-with-this proportions.

So this:

: Monster “Ambassador” Zucchini

Became this:

: Monster Zucchini = 8+ cups when grated!!

Became these:

: Zombie Chocolate Chip Cookies (x 2 batches)

And this:

: Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

And last, but certainly not least in taste, these:

: Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

And yes, despite this flurry (fury?) of baking, I did manage to get some writing done last week.

In the garden: pepper

This is the largest pepper I have ever grown (in the 3 whole years I have been gardening – ha!). I attempted to grow peppers for my first 2 years by seed and was never successful, so this year I purchased 2 plants (a chocolate and an orange pepper), planted the seedlings in containers by our south facing house wall, and waited. They are pretty protected from the rain and hopefully retain the heat the longest (when it is actually sunny) out of any other spot in the garden. I purchased this particular plant at the UBC garden sale.

Supposedly, if the weather permits, this pepper will eventually turn orange (it is a “true” orange pepper) and then I will snap another picture – right before I exuberantly eat it!!

In the garden: Sweet peas…

These sweet peas just came into bloom (that is how awful our weather has been in Vancouver this spring/summer). They are in the window box on the kitchen window so I can see them from inside while prepping dinner or baking – so pretty and sweet (they are obviously aptly named). The pinks really stand out against the mountain of green that is this years garden.

From the garden: Strawberries, Blueberries & Raspberries

Not sure this could even be considered a small batch harvest… maybe a teeny, tiny harvest?

However tiny, this luscious handful of berries rocked last night’s ice cream dessert, so there are certainly no complains in the (big!!) taste department.

What a lovely fall we are having…

It is pissing rain Vancouver. PISSING. I can feel my autumn instincts trying to kick in. Suddenly, I crave hot chocolate paired with a good book, or to bake dinner rolls or corn bread or at least a bunch of cookies, with spaghetti or maybe chili for dinner… then knitting a blanket or sweater in front of the TV afterwards.

Except the TV currently sucks and I’ve barely managed to harvest anything out of the garden! WTF?

I guess we are just skipping spring and summer this year, hey Vancouver?

I am not a late bloomer…

…I’ve just had buds forming for a long, long while now.

[Oh! You thought I was being deeply and unusually personal for a moment. No, no. I was personifying the baby apple tree:]

[Or Not].

On a gardening note, I was really hoping that those ants were eating those aphids, but alas it seems (according to google) they are farming them, and possibly attempting to protect them from the rainfall we had moments before I took this picture.

[Who the ants represent in the extended analogy of the apple buds being me, I have no idea… not sure I like the idea of being “farmed”. The protection bit is certainly sweet, but a little rain has never hurt me].

The End.

[Thank goodness, that was almost awkwardly self-reflective].