More Spring Pics

The first two pics are from my front yard. The crocuses I planted in the lawn a few years ago have been dwindling so that now only a few come up; I guess I'll have to replant.

The last pic is the horseradish -- it was in one of my 4 x 8 beds, but it was taking up too much space so I found a corner of the herb bed where I could put it.

The octagon form was around one of my fruit trees -- I had a pear tree die year before last, and this winter took out an apple tree that was diseased / stunted and not producing. The fruit trees were planted before I put the raised beds in, so I had to put a dam around them to keep their surface roots from getting suffocated by the new beds. The other two fruit trees (one apple, one pear) are doing fine. I took the opportunity to remove the dams when I took out the dead trees so that when I replant the new trees will be at the level of the rest of the beds.

Baked Leeks

I make no secret about being a somewhat lazy gardener. (But I have such a big garden? Yes, but I'm not out there fussing over it all weekend, every weekend, believe me.)

I planted some leeks last spring and left them out in the garden all summer -- and winter. Finally decided to pull some of them up, so I went searching for a good leeks recipe (I like leeks, but DH doesn't particularly like them), and found this one. I made two changes to the recipe -- I didn't use bread crumbs (wheat allergy), and I microwaved the leeks instead of steaming them. DH proclaims that he'd eat this any time, so it's a success. It's basically a crustless quiche, with the addition of chicken stock to the custard mix.

I'm definitely planting more leeks, now that I have a recipe Himself will eat.

The Pumpkin Tree

I have some Long Island Cheese Pumpkin seeds that I saved a few years ago. I don't really have a good spot to plant them, but this year decided to put them in the bed with the quince tree.
As you can see, the pumpkin vine has climbed into the quince tree, so yesterday when I went around the corner of the house, I saw a pumpkin hanging from the tree -- a very amusing sight. You can also see a quince fruit on the branch the vine is weighing down. This is the first year I've had quinces.
I've since propped up the branch with a bamboo tripod; hopefully this will keep the branch from breaking under the weight of the maturing pumpkin. I'm debating whether I need to put some kind of net on the pumpkin -- I've heard of melon growers doing that when growing melons on a trellis.

This is the other largeish pumpkin growing in that bed -- in its proper place on the ground.






The pumpkin vine is also trying to swallow the porch, competing with the New Dawn rosebush for "Audrey Two" status.