Garden Greens and Goodies

When we were in Korea, I was very inspired of how Koreans doesn't waste any piece of land.  They utilize every inch of it for flowers and vegetables.  They even plant  veggies under the bridge!  So when we came back here, I started planting vegetables.  We started a very small plot first then  this year, I decided to expnd it by  tilling the  side of our yard and make it into a vegetable garden as well. 

Our neighbor gave us some kohlrabi last year and I turned it into achara (a filipino delicacy of picklong papaya).  Instead of using papaya, I used the kohlrabi and hubby got addicted to it that he  asked me if we could plant kohlrabi this year.  So that's the ones you see on the top photo.  I put  containers in the middle because there is a PVC pipe there that I don't want to  bust.

 I have been saving hubby's  coffee containers and he thought I was nuts of  saving them but I have a plan to use them as planters lol.  I love it's color and it makes a perfect boarder to  the  garden bed  beside our porch.  I just put some holes at the bottom of it, add some soil, and planted some marigolds in it.

I have four eggplants this year,  They are now blooming and I can't wait to pick the fruits.  We love eating  eggplant omelet so this would be perfect.

Here's the kohlrabi after  a couple of weks of planting them.

The tomatoes are now blooming too and I harvested 7 kohlrabi already and pickled them.  

 Some people like this  for their salad  which I would probably like too but when you turn them into achara, it tastes so much better.

 As you can see, it looks a lot thicker  now compared to the first picture I posted above.  I love  making my own sauce  so I love having lots of tomatoes to can. Ever since I  started  grwoing my own veggies, I haven't ought any sphagetti sauce from the store.  I have been using my  canned sauce.

 My flowers are so much thicker this year.  That's propbaby because we have been getting rain a lot even this month.

 My husband wants to tear down our fence but  I told him not to because I love the privacy and my plant is also protected from deer.

I mean who wouldn't like fresh spinach and kale to cook?  This is my first time growing kale and  love how it is a low maintenance green but very healthy.  Two years ago, I never give kale a  glance at the store but I read an article about its health benefits  so I tried it and thought  we could get used to the taste and we did. I like it because  when you cok it, it doesn't get saggy or slimy.  

This is the orginaly garden that we have started.  I planted my leafy vegetable in it.  Last year, I had tons of carrots but this year, the surprise frost killed  most of it including the beans.  I had to  re-olant  another batch of beans because only two  beans survived during the frost.

I picked some of the beans yesterday to entice my daughter to eat.  She was running a fever and usually she won't eat when she is sick but  I told her that I got her some green beans and sure enough, she ate!  Freshly picked green beans  taste so much better than store bought, that's for sure.  If you don't have  a space to put a garden,  try  container gardening.  

Today, my daughter  wants some garden salad so I picked some lettuce and   harvest some kale since it is getting thick again.  I have given away a bag or two of this kale to a friend and it just keep growing.

I was excited to see that our blackberry are already  ripening up.  These would be ready next week.

I am planning to buy a blueberry tree this year, maybe I could grow it too.  We love  all kinds of berries so it would be nice to have them in my backyard.