Summer has officially begun

Some people believe summer begins at the summer solstice.  Others believe it begins on Memorial Day weekend.  For me, summer begins with the appearance of the first butterfly in my garden.  This year's honors go to this intrepid spicebush swallowtail that discovered the lantana in my flower bed.

Sweet baby James

There are statues representing our grandchildren tucked into the landscape of our front gardens.  We carefully selected each one so that it reflects a little bit of who that child is.  Truthfully, finding statues of little girls is much easier than for little boys so our youngest grandson had reached the advanced age of 18 months and I still hadn't found the right statue for him until I stopped in at a small landscape supply to pick up some pine straw and there he was!  We think it looks just like him.

James is a delightful child who loves to play outdoors.  Flowers fascinate him but his true love is sticks! Whenever he is outdoors at Grandma's house, he immediately finds a great stick, sometimes he carries several.  I hope he keeps his love of the outdoors for a lifetime.

Kudos to kholrabi

Between a daughter's wedding and a son's college graduation, plus working full time these days, my blog has been neglected.  Please accept my humble apologies.  But even though I haven't been writing about my garden, I've been working diligently at weeding and planting.

My spring vegetable garden has been providing me with delicious, fresh produce.  I've enjoyed asparagus, and beets, but my favorite spring veggie is one that is never available in the grocery store and rarely grown in anyone's garden.  Most folks in my southern community have never even tasted this flavorful delicacy. 

As a child, we almost always grew kholrabi in our garden.  My brothers and I had permission to pull and eat them whenever we wanted one.  I can remember peeling and eating a kholrabi as if it were an apple. 

Kholrabi is a swollen stem plant in the cabbage family.  When the stem reaches about two inches in diameter, I pull the plant from the ground, and peel the tough outer layer.  My favorite way to serve and eat kholrabi is sliced into crispy, cold chips that taste similar to a mild, sweet cabbage.

In my Alabama backyard, kholrabi grows best in early spring or fall.  When you plant spring snap peas, beets, cabbage, lettuce and greens, try kholrabi!