Serious start to harvesting

What a difference two days makes. We were gone camping last weekend from Thursday until Sunday and we had a blast. The girls spent the whole time in or on the lake. We taught them to paddle and went in canoeing in white caps (the girls called it a roller coaster). We also roasted marshmallows, ate some sunflower seeds that Brad gave us, and read lots of books. When we got home and unpacked a huge surprise was waiting in the garden.

We had a huge harvest because we did not pick on Friday or Saturday. We got

• Lettuce
• Kohlrabi
• Zucchini
• Cucumbers
• Peas
• Sugar Snaps
• Raspberries
• Edamame beans

I have flowers larger than I am, all my lilies are in bloom and my white clematis is starting. Today, Mike finished the second rain barrel and we went berry picking with Anna. We got three baskets of saskatoons and two of strawberries. I am SO excited to be gardening this year. Check out all the current pictures.

Veggies to scale

Anwyn and Leora agreed to let me take some pictures of them in the garden for a sense of scale. I can't believe how large things are this year. I am sure some of it is the green house / south side bed, but I think square foot gardening may be a big part. Things need to go up because they can't go out. Sometimes I wish we hadn't tried all these knew things in one year because I can't tell what is responsible for what.

Ian was over last night and he says their veggies are big, too. James also got greenhouse plants from us, but his are in the shade so that impacts size. He has lots doing well though. If James or Anna lets me I'll post pics of their garden projects also.

Mike went out yesterday with James and Kent and got even more rocks. We'll start storing again until we are ready for more grass removal. We also put up a piece of an old bunk bed so my clematis can cover the path in a tunnel fashion rather than hanging into it. So far it looks too white to me, but Mike assures me I'll like it in time.

Oh Yeah

Well, life has been busy in the garden of late, so I have been out rather than in, and my blog is behind. Lots of projects to talk about this week.

Currently blooming perennials:

• 5 types of roses
• 3 types of bell flowers
• 3 types of pinks
• Peonies
• Astilbe
• Phlox
• 2 types of poppies
• Lilies (too many types to count will bloom in the next several weeks)
• Lots of types of succulents

James gave us some poppies and an olla (pronounced Oh Yeah). I first read about ollas in a blog I follow on urban farming. I have situated it in the back yard among my cauliflowers and broccoli. It is a very old technology for watering water loving plants in dry areas. Mine is made with a clay pot and lid. It is late in the year to be putting it in, but I'll see how it does. I'll post a picture of the root growth around it if it happens.

I also read about comfrey. I found it in my garden 5 years ago and didn't know what it was. I liked the look of it, so I kept it. I read about it in an organic gardening book and it is sometimes called the compost plant. I'll experiment with it this year and try making some compost extract for my plants. It is so potent that I am supposed to use it at a rate of 15 parts water to one part decayed comfrey. I am going to cut some leaves and put them around my potatoes in one section to see if it makes a difference.

Mike, Leora, Anwyn and I build a path around the south side of the house yesterday, Jaime helped us lay the stones and we bought pea gravel to fill in around them. Erin and Colin lent us their truck to get the gravel. Although the pictures imply that the girls did all the labor, it was mostly supplied by Mike. Mike also made me some stepping stones by pouring concrete on rhubarb leaves. The result is beautiful, but may not be strong enough as we skipped the mesh. the south side square foot gardens are really flourishing and the path really helps with access.

Things in the garden are growing in leaps and bound. I've taken some pictures of veggies and the girls together so the scale is clear.

We are currently eating:

• zucchini
• lettuce
• peas
• cherries
• rhubarb
• strawberries (everberring)
• kohlrabi
• baby onions
• beet greens
• spinach

We did a massive basil harvest this week and Mike made his pizza and homemade pesto. I know Anna and Ian would love the pesto, but Anna is still away. Maybe Ian will come over... I have dried about thirty dill stalks, which will add up to about 2 cups of dried dill weed. We've been cooking a lot with dill.

Baby Veggies in the Rain

We've had west-coast like rain over the last week and our rain barrel is really full. That's great, but the sea of mud that is my garden is really slowing me down. I have so many baby veggies I want to visit and love up, but I can't really get to them.

The first one I am really excited about is our little cauliflower. I have never grown cauliflower before and am not sure how this will turn out. Greta says she has tried broccoli and it turned out small and bitter. That's the most likely outcome for prairie gardeners. I have them up against the greenhouse window and am watering them copiously to try to give them the best chance. My broccoli seems to be following Greta's prediction - so far it isn't doing much. We have 5 cauliflowers and they have all set heads. At this point, they are tennis ball sized. I haven't folded the leaves and tied them over because this is supposed to be a variety that doesn't need that. We'll see.

We also have baby pumpkins - some are even golf ball size at this point.
I told Mike we'd get none, but he thinks there will be lots.

I've read that to get giant pumpkins you are supposed to take the other baby pumpkins off the vines. I wonder if we should cut off the other pumpkins on one vine to see if that will get us a pumpkin. On the other hand, all that space for one pumpkin seems ridiculous.

We are currently eating zucchini, strawberries, greens, spices etc. and will have peas as soon as we have a warm day. I've eaten a couple of pods already and they were so good. Our sugar snaps are a couple of weeks behind yet.

We have already harvested 3 zucchini and given one to James and Jaime. Hopefully Anna and Ian will want some soon and I know I can freeze some.

We are also trying edamame beans for the first time this year. We have six plans in the greenhouse and some on our south trellis in the square foot beads. The pods are doing well and I think we'll be eating them soon as well. Our tomatoes in the greenhouse and in the south boxes already have large fruits and the romas are doing well in the main garden bed. Peppers are all flowering as well and we have a number of baby peppers.

Our big excitement is our spaghetti squash. They are getting so large that we had to make our first cradle for one the other day. A cradle is a nylon or mesh support attached to the netting to prevent there from being to much weight on the stem. I'll be sure to take a picture of the cradle and post it soon.

Mike and I have had some interesting conversations lately about the value of all this fresh gardening and how few people is western society actually eat really fresh vegetables. I think they are so much better that even farmer's market veggies and they are way better than the supermarket. It's clearly great that they are organic and that they are more nutritious if eaten directly after picking. However, it's the taste that keeps me gardening.

Way off topic

Yesterday we completed work on switching the girls' rooms - yes, I know that has nothing to do with gardening, but it's what I've been spending my time on. When Leora first got the master bedroom from us, we promised Anwyn she'd get a crack at it a few years later. That time has come and the big switch was on.

On Monday I helped them each haul all their stuff into the other person's room. The deal was that I was not buying anything except new sheets, new summer blankets. I had not bought either since Anwyn was three and everything was beyond further mending so I felt fine about that. I did cave on a mirror for Leora since Anwyn had one and a rung for Anwyn since the hop scotch rug has seen better times.

I thought I had some of the blue paint from the bedroom left, but I didn't, so Leora and I concocted a paint by mixing various colours together. We didn't have quite enough, but Mike suggested we use some of the deep blue from the living room as an accent colour. On Wednesday, we spent 4 hours painting Leora's room, and on Thursday, we bought the linens. I think the whole thing turned out really well considering.

I still need to get the girls new twin mattresses. Theirs are second hand - we bought them at a pawn shop in Meadow Lake when Anwyn was about one and a half, and the mattresses really suck. Mike is watching Kiji for me in case some come up.