Spring Garden Tour 2012

Our first Garden Tour of the general Walburg area was great fun. We had around just under 20 people, counting some in-and-out guests, and lovely food featuring vegetables from the gardens. Everyone who was featured on the tour went above and beyond with hospitality and so, by the end, we were all feeling rather happy. For so many reasons. We started the tour at Brenda Walker home, where the land has been in the family for over 150 years.

Standing in front of a picnic table loaded down with a delicious spread; coffee (and Kaluha!), egg casseroles and muffins, and bloody marys, Brenda told us a bit of the history of the home. Then we toured her big garden filled with spaghetti squash, corn, cucumbers, okra, and much more. Her garden dirt is so beautifully light and fluffy it almost brought tears to my eyes! It was a perfect start to the day. 

This is Brenda, keeping cool in a cabbage leaf hat. 

After Brenda's, we headed over to Jenny and Mark Kinard's home next door. After a brief introduction to the land, we dug into some fabulous relish (yes, we want that recipe, please!), along with pretty fruit kabobs and mimosas. She toured us through the garden, and Herman showed us how to keep planting a sweet potato vine in the dirt so it will continue to grow new shoots. We saw some pretty artichoke plants, healthy peppers, and, among other things, a pretty little grapevine with perfect, tiny green grapes.

Talking by the mimosas. In the foreground, potatoes and onions just picked from the garden.

After Jenny's, we headed over to the Knippa's home. Robin's home has also been in the family for years, with her kids being the fifth generation to live there. The garden sits on top of the hill where her grandmother used to garden, and has a nice view of the bucolic countryside. We admired her peach trees, potatoes, and the enormous pumpkins that sprung up from her compost heap! Her kids will have a blast this fall carving their own home-grown jack-o-lanterns. We also got to see the brand-new triplets, her new baby goats, before digging into a delicious creamy-dill-chicken-tomato-on-bread snack. I can't remember the name, but it was tasty!

Here is Robin with one of the triplets. SO sweet.

After Robin's, we headed over to Diane Buchhorn's home just down the road. What a charming backyard! Along with vegetables she grows many flowers throughout the garden, which look gorgeous, and serve to attract butterflies and bees. We snacked on zucchini muffins and a delicious tomatillo dip underneath a shade tree before wanderinng around the garden at our own pace. Diane added some extra excitement to our day by digging out a squash-borer at the base of a sticken plant with a big knife and carrying it around around on the tip of the blade. Maybe she should have hung it on the fence so we could get some rain ... or is that only rattle snakes?

Here is Diane showing us the limp squash plant (before the hunt for the culprit).

Next, we headed over to the east Walburg area to Herman and Beverly's, who are known around here as the "Olympic Gardeners." Intimidating, right? Their place has a charming greenhouse and a flower garden with winding pathways and hummingbird feeders vingetted in vines on twisted old stumps. The garden is large, but the onions were HUGE! Herman let us take one home, and I plan on inviting the neighbors over so we can all share it for dinner. He shared with us the trick of making onions happy and huge, so we'll have to try that next time and compare notes. 

Check this out - I could barely hold it in one hand!

Next door to Herman and Beverly's is the Linebrink Home. Mike and Pixie had prepared for us a martini featuring pickled garlic scapes. They were delicious, but what were they called? "Set you nose hairs on fire?" Wow! Mike showed us his garden, which was interesting, because not only did he have the first (and only) raised bed garden of the tour, but he also had some set up as "keyhole" gardens. The concept is that you have a space to walk in and garden from, a compost pile in the center that you water, and it's tall enough that the gardening can be done without bending over. Nice. 

Mike in his raised bed keyhole garden.

 Lastly we headed over to my place. Kris met us there, and we had mint tea, more mimosas (sponsered by Kasper Properties - thanks, honey!), and ratatouille. My two medium sized gardens have a little bit of everything, but definitely a lot of tomoatoes! My favorite new plant this year is the Lambsqusters, which taste like a cross between spinach and asparagus, are beautiful and tall, and aren't as susceptible to the bugs. My "third" garden lies along the fence, where I planted all the viney types. After food, a tour of the barn, and some conversation, everyone called it a day and went on their seperate ways. 

 Some veggies from my garden. I love walking out to pick things for dinner!

Thanks, gardeners and guests, for making the first Spring Garden Tour 2012 a great success. It was fun, and I look forward to sharing new recipes and seeds, and seeing everyone again for the Fall Tour!