Musings of an organic gardener in Cincinnati
Some of the week’s highlights.
1. I never get tired of spotting butterflies in the garden.
2. My favorite gardening buddy.
3. Potato plants get ugly before the potatoes are ready for harvesting.
4. I’m not just about vegetables—I like and grow flowers, too.
5. First year growing Bianca borage. Flowers later than regular borage—nice to have fresh blooms for the bees.
6. I never get tired of spotting ladybugs hiding under squash leaves either.
I realize it’s early in the season to be worried about what to do with green tomatoes. However, we had a round of storms recently that caused some damage to my tomato plants.
I had to prune a few tomato branches and, instead of pitching the green tomatoes in the compost pile, I decided to make a jar of refrigerator pickled green tomatoes earlier than usual.
Because YUM!
And I LOVE PICKLES (sorry for shouting again but I really, really, really LOVE pickles).
I’ve used this recipe from Amazingribs.com for the past few years and it never lets me down. The only change I make is to use a whole jalapeño pepper, cut in half, instead of the serrano. If you don’t like spicy, leave the pepper out.
It only takes a few minutes to make two pints (or one quart). Honestly, waiting the 1 – 2 weeks for the pickles to be ready is the hardest part of this recipe.
Ready to make pickled green tomatoes
Voila! Pickles are ready to go in the refrigerator and I’ll be digging in soon.
The finished product!
Some of the week’s highlights.
1. Lots of rain. Mostly overnight and early morning so the garden wasn’t too waterlogged.
2. I was worried about the peppers because of the rain but they seem to be growing well. Especially the Corno di Toro (aka bull’s horn) peppers. New to me this year—can’t wait to try them!
3. Anticipation! I planted cucumbers late this year in hopes of discouraging the cucumber beetles. Seems to have worked but the wait is killing me. These cucumbers look like they’ll be ready for harvesting soon.
4. More anticipation! First tiny lima beans spotted. Have a ways to go until they’re ready to harvest. Definitely a labor of love (have you ever shelled lima beans??) but there is almost nothing better than a fresh lima!
5. I may have spent 20 minutes (or more) standing in the garden with the sun beating down on me but so worth it. Watched this bee work and work and work and finally emerge from the squash flower covered in pollen. 
And a close up…
If you don’t follow me on Instagram, you missed this Hummingbird Moth video that I posted Wednesday. I had just finished garden chores for the morning and was heading inside but stopped at our koi pond to have a look at the fish when something caught my eye.
Lo and behold—it was a Hummingbird Moth!
More specifically, this is a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. It’s one of the few moths that you’ll find flying during the day.
Are they cool or what?
Although my video has the soothing sounds of our koi pond’s waterfall in the background, I find myself singing “Fantastic Voyage” when viewing the video. Because that Hummingbird Moth is most definitely on a Fantastic Voyage!
