Garden (and House) for Sale
Hi strangers! It’s been awhile. 
Spring is almost upon us…Hallelujah! I’m excited to get my hands in the dirt again and start gardening, though this year I’ll be doing my gardening at a new place. Which means my home is for sale, including my beloved raised bed gardens I’ve blabbed about here at Life in Green.
If you know anyone looking for a new home in “Is this heaven? No its Iowa” ..and fantastic garden, send them my way or share this link.
Btw I’m certain this is not the end of the blog road for me….new adventures on the horizon. 
Roasted Beet & Blueberry Salad with Blue Cheese
So…I like beets! That’s probably a good thing, since I have two rows planted in the garden to keep up on. My only previous beet memory was a taste of the candied kind my grandma used to make. That had to be a good 20+ years ago and I don’t remember it being pleasant.
I had absolutely no plan for dinner tonight. Even when I was checking out at the grocery store, I still had no idea. A little weeding in the garden was all it took for inspiration though….hence the beets.
Sidenote: Do you like to weed? Crazily I kind of do. It’s very meditative for me, just quietly moving along from one weed to the next. Of course when you stand up, it’s a whole other story (ouch low back).
Look at the color on these bad boys. I’m not sure how you couldn’t love something as pretty as these beets.
Tonight’s dinner came in the form of a salad. It was dang good…as in I talked to myself the whole time I was eating, about how much I liked it. Yeah, I’m that girl.
After roasting, the beets stayed just as pretty but with a darker hue of purple.
Roasted Beet & Blueberry Salad with Blue Cheese
Fresh baby spinach leaves
Sliced roasted chicken breast (cook it this way)
Roasted beets (toss four peeled and sliced beets with olive oil and sprinkle with S&P; roast at 375 degrees for around 30 minutes)
Fresh blueberries
Blue cheese crumbles
Place a layer of spinach on your plate and then top with your desired amounts of chicken, beets, blueberries and cheese. I’m not a big salad dressing gal, so a drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar was perfect for me.
Favorite part of the salad? The beets. To me it was kind of like a roasted carrot, but with a little earthier flavor. Nice and sweet though and awesome with the contrasting bites of blue cheese.
Growing beets this year? Make sure you roast some. Sooo good.
Crunch
Hello from crunchy Iowa. Early June and the grass is almost painful to walk on and has grown maybe an 1/8 inch in two weeks.
Look at how brown my poor Kentucky Bluegrass lawn is.
Thank heavens a storm is just miles away right now. I’m putting in a request for a good inch of rainfall.
Are you experiencing crazy dry conditions? How’s the garden faring?
Fresh Broccoli with Lemon Thyme & Garlic
Minus the 33 flies swarming me, I finally enjoyed a dinner on the deck with some goods from the garden. It’s about freaking time.
Nothing crazy impressive, but a simple side of home-grown broccoli florets. Just this past weekend, they looked like this. Small, but on a mission to bloom with this dry, warm weather.
I paired it up with some garlic including a garlic scape and this lovely lemon thyme…which btw I could sniff all dang night.
Quickly sautéed on the stove top with olive oil keeps it simple, which is exactly how you should be enjoying your florets from the garden.
And before you throw away those stems, make this!
Green Radish
Green is my favorite color if ya didn’t know.
I usually pick green whenever it’s an option for anything. The radish in my garden this year are no exception.
These are Chinese Green Luobo from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Green, spicy and kind of funky. I picked these a couple of weeks ago…the dry and hot garden is no longer a good growing environment for the radish. I do have some left to harvest – we’ll see what I get.
I’d say these would be great on tacos…sliced up thin and used in place of crunchy lettuce. And you can’t ever go wrong with a radish soaked in ice water and sprinkled with salt.
Any unusual green veggies growing in your garden this year?
Time for Water
Just a quick pop in to say…are ya tired of watering the garden yet?

Watering is the one garden chore that is not my forte. And being forced to water daily as early as May does not help…at all.
Anyone have any tips to make me love watering?
Happy Gardening!
Sweet Peony
Sorry for my absence, life gets the best of me sometimes. :)
I have been gardening, though not as much as I’d hope to. I’m definitely fitting in some good time outside this weekend, weatherman please be nice.
Enjoy the Mother’s Day weekend, and be sure to tell and give your mama something nice.
Peonies might do. ;)
