Brussels Sprouts

Never again will I plant Brussels sprouts! I do like to eat them, but I'm the only one of the two of us who does. I planted them this spring for the very first time as a whim. They weren't in my garden plan, but I saw them as seedlings at the Southern States store and I thought why not. I didn't realize that they were major bug attractors and that they smelled. Also I was unaware of their size and that they grow from spring until late fall. How foolish of me.

I used metal supports and tied them up with hose but they still fell over into the paths.


Every time I walked past them I disturbed a cloud of tiny white flies.

I don't know what this sprout was doing, but its open and growing.

Yesterday was the day I removed them to the compost bin. I managed to pick off some sprouts though they are uneaten for now and resting in the refrigerator. I though Sarah would want some for dinner tonight but that's not to be. I had thought to give some away to a vegetarian friend but now I won't see her next week. Freeze them? Maybe, but how good will they be then?



Here's my harvest.

A Walk Through the Yard

Garden Makeover

I had a chance to help my daughter with her flower garden last week. She lives in New Hampshire. The weather was a nice change from here in Maryland - low humidity and 70ºs and 80ºs, cooler at night.

I don't have any before photos, but here are the after ones.

Front of the house. Grape vine climbs the picket fence. Gate is to the left.

This bed was mulched with pebbles which we shoveled out. We dug and divided the day lily then replanted two clumps. A third day lily came from along the picket fence buried under the grape vines. She plans to put in herbs along the front of this bed.
There's a red twig dogwood beyond this bed that I limbed up and removed gout weed from under. To the right of the dogwood is an expansion to an existing bed.

This is looking to the right of the dogwood which is out of the photo on the left. I removed all the sod to widen this bed. She planted some small plants in there. On the right are two very old rose bushes. The grape vine does not grow along the picket fence at this point.

This is the bed to the right of those roses bushes in previous shot. There's a hydrangea along the fence, a very healthy phlox getting ready to bloom, and next to the hosta a walking onion. This bed was also filled with gout weed which I removed.

This is the shade garden on the opposite side of the front walk. Emily did the clearing out here. I limbed up the cherry tree to open it up more. She's transplanted some ferns and pulled a lot of the mint.

The next photos are of her lovely vegetable garden.

Non- Harvest

I've been away for the last week so there was nothing harvested here. In fact I've been enjoying the harvest at my daughter's.

I'm disappointed in many things:
Brussels sprouts infested and moldy though there are sprouts. I may take them all out and pick off the sprouts that are big enough this week.
No beans on my Kentucky Wonder beans. No flowers to speak of either.
There are eggplant but I'll wait to pick them until Thursday when company is coming. I thought they would be bigger by now.
Very few peppers! One plant has had no blossoms at all.

The only saving grace in this garden is the tomatoes. I picked 11 today - some a bit past their prime since no one picked last week.

There may be gardeners with better luck at Daphne's Dandelion today. Not me though.