Bambu

Until Oct. 31, weather permitting, a pair of brothers from New Jersey will be constructing and showing off their incredible bamboo structure. The scale is immense, overtaking much of a segment of roof at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although the baby couldn't tolerate much more than 20 minutes on site, he did grant us access to the speedy elevator while others were turned away.

Clambake

No stranger to clamming, recently we tried a new way of preparing them. Baked clams require boiling first. Then they are covered with a mixture of cracker crumbs, butter, garlic salt, and parsley. With the final step, baking, they may have gotten a bit crispy, but they tasted good. Put alongside boiling and chowder, this is another good way to consume these wild caught chewy bivalves.

Soil Testing

Results for this cup of dirt were back within a week. I expected some lead, with the BQE and industrial New York as prime suspects, and moderate levels were found. It was in the low end of the moderate range, so it's not too concerning. The tomatoes, which would have been fine because they are a fruiting vegetable, unfortunately succumbed to a fungus, perhaps fusarium wilt.

June crops

Here's the first strawberry from the pot out front - not really much of a harvest - but the plants are ever-bearing so these small sugary lumps should be appearing all summer.These are garlic scapes, a bonus that I wasn't aware of a week ago. They are the flower of the garlic cloves I planted last fall. We cooked them with zucchinis on the grill. They added a mild onion/garlic flavor.

Hops Find Twine

At the current rate of growth, the hops will outgrow the beanstalks.

Striped Snail

Roaming in the back of the garden, not the typical brown shelled oozer. I think it is a Cepaea nemoralis.

Garden pic

The current state of the back garden as of May 24, 2010. Last year we hadn't even started yet. And the hops have sprouted. Today I planted morning glory seeds after work. They soaked for about 20 hours beforehand, which may have been overkill.