Plantings

We planted spring greens: swiss chard, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, arugula and spinach. These are in one side of our u-shaped raised garden. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and, hopefully, Dixie butter peas will go in soon.

Look What's Bloomin'

Do you know what this is?



Beautiful blueberry blossoms. We have six bushes and each is in one stage of bloom or another. If we have as many berries as we have blossoms, we'll have a nice blueberry crop this year.

We have many different and beautiful purple flowers growing in the yard like weeds. This one looks like a violet - so pretty.



Not sure what this one is, but it is very abundant and welcome to stay.



What's bloomin' in your world?

The Last Word on Rhubarb, for Now

Today I went out to harvest our first rhubarb this year to make Banana Rhubarb Cobbler. Two of the older plants were already making flowers so I removed them, as I read you should do, in order to allow the plant to focus its energy on making more edible stalks.



I was able to harvest enough for the cobbler and it was delicious - thanks to my sister HG for the recipe.

Rhubarb and Banana Cobbler

Vegetable oil for pan
4-6 stalks fresh rhubarb, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch thick slices (~4 cups)
2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 and 1/2 cups rolled (not quick cooking) oatmeal
1/4 cup grapeseed or canola oil
1/4 cup soy milk (may substitute low-fat milk)
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil one 8-9 inch baking dish or 6 individual baking dishes with 1.5 cup capacity.

In a large bowl, combine the rhubarb and banana slices with the sugar and toss to combine. Spread in the prepared baking dish(es).



In a bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the oatmeal, oil, milk, salt, baking powder, sugar, and honey for 1 minute. Spread the oatmeal topping over the fruit.



Bake until the topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

*Meant to have a photo of finished product but got distracted by the instructions to eat it hot :)

Note from HG: I always use canola oil and low fat milk.

Note from YG: I only had olive oil or coconut on hand, so I used coconut; also, I had lots of oatmeal on hand, but my choices were instant, steel cut and quick cooking. I chose the latter and it was still delicious. One more thing, I used an 8" square aluminum pan and baked it about 35 minutes. And, after re-reading the recipe, I realize I sliced my rhubarb way too thick - still delicious.

Bamboo Wattle

This is the wattle border for the rhubarb patch.



The wattle fence has two walls - the rhubarb is bordered by the house and a rock wall on the other two sides. I used thick bamboo canes for the stakes - my husband helped me cut them on his miter saw so they have one blunt end and one pointed end to drive into the ground. Our bamboo for weaving had obvious thick and thin ends, so when weaving the fence we alternated the direction of the canes so the fence would stay fairly level. Once we were finished weaving, we cut the ends to neaten them up. I was planning to lash the joints, but I'm going to see how this stands up as it dries out and sets up. This was a fun project!