Serious eating

As the lilies go into serious bloom each year, the serious eating also starts.  We had pancakes this morning with raspberries and saskatoons from our yard, I had our strawberries for snack, and supper was a taco salad featuring our greens, our tomatoes, our zucchini, and our single ripe pepper (thanks greenhouse). I also picked two types of cucumbers, beet greens, dill, and onion stalks today.

Anwyn and I were sitting out in the backyard this morning just soaking in the beauty.  The peonies are finishing up, but there are lots of other things blooming, particularly roses, lupines, delphiniums, sedums, and lilies.  The front has four colors, all versions of orange and yellow, with a mix of day-lilies, tiger lilies etc. The back also has some errant orange which I should dig up, and lots of pinks, whites, and maroons. Lilies are such great cut flowers, and  they will bloom in various forms for the next couple of weeks, ending the time when massive swaths of perennials bloom in the yard.

My sisters start arriving with their families in the next several days, and almost everyone will be here except my parents.  Mike made a video for you, Mom, so you can see what is up right now in the yard while everyone else is here in person. I hope I get to see a picture of the garlic you just dug, even if it was a bad crop due to heat.  I need to dig mine this week, too, and I am expecting the same crummy state for my early garlic.

The cherries are changing color, and one of the trees has an infected branch that I need to cut off once it freezes.  I always want to eat them as soon as they change color, even though they are much sweeter later.  We'll see how all the small cousins do with them, as they are very low hanging fruit. The apples are higher, and the ripe raspberries and strawberries should give the grazers a focus.  Teela is hoping to arrive in time for the peas, and it is looking good.  I think I will have my first pods later this week.

Mike is busy laying down additional soaker hoses for watering.  He set up our two boxes on the south side of the garage and house last summer, and is irrigating the strawberries and one front bed this year.  We have so many beds now that the three rain barrels only keep up for 4 days without rain, and we've had little rain for a couple of weeks.  Hopefully this will reduce serious time spent watering, and focus more of his time on the serious eating (and, of course, video production).

My only unhappiness is that our local rabbits have finally discovered our yard.  We found scat, and one sent of my bean plants went from blooming to stubs in one night.  You can see it in the video. Hopefully the bunny doesn't find a way into the backyard where most of the veggies are, or notice the north bed of salad greens. It is exactly the sort of place that Peter Rabbit would pig out.

Finally, fruit

Every year I wait for my strawberries to come in. For years, some would look ready and the birds seemed to get them just before they were ripe.  I was super sad until it became clear the birds were actually Leora.  Then with ordering, cajoling and constant vigilance it was possible for the others in the family to get berries (although still not usually the first ones).

Leo is getting ready to graduate and leave home after the summer, and she just got her second ever job.  Although all her plays have finally finished (I have never seen her care more than playing Juliet at the Persephone), she still has lots going on. Mike and I got home last night and we ate the first two berries.  It made it so clear, and bittersweet, that Leora is leaving.

The yard had another good week this week. Last week asparagus was completely done, and I picked a bit more rhubarb this week, but now I will wait till the fall.  We are eating lots of greens off the shade bed I grow in the driveway, and the herbs are awesome.  I really like watching the garden bound forward in growth - reminds be of the early teenager years. This week I did a lot of training plants on vertical growing surfaces, and I pulled out the last of the major baby elm seeds.

Perhaps the most exciting part (other than the first new strawberries in 17 years) is the flowers. My backyard is right in its best stage, and the front yard is about take over and show off for over a month. In the back, irises, bell flower, roses, daisies, geraniums, and a wide variety of other flowers are blooming. Mike and I have counted over fifty different types. In the front, Mike is excited about his orange irises and orange roses, which hang out side by side in the heart shaped bed. Soon the lilies and  money wart (ground cover) will be out. My favorite in the front right now is the thyme path (predictably purple instead of the warm color palette). All photos can be viewed here.

I (and in this case I mean Mike) have been taking videos of the yard once a week this year to chronically changes. Check out this week's video.

Still about the Fruit

In July, I wrote about how it is all about the fruit in my yard right now.  Well, it is three weeks later, and it is still all about the fruit.  And also the house painting.  But mostly the fruit.

After we finished painting the house this afternoon, we took a well deserved break.  I spent time in the hammock, and Mike sat beside me in the shade playing guitar.  Cue my bad habit - one that my mother and I share. Really it is a trait that might be good or might be bad, depending.

I am looking at the yard and thinking about how happy I am.  Then I see another apple fall off the tree, apparently as the result of nothing in particular. 20 minutes later I am handing Mike a massive wicker basket of apples after having picked four other ice cream containers full.  We already have three large ziplocs frozen down and have made apple sauce once.  Next our relaxing time is used with making apple sauce, drying apples in the dryer, and baking fruit compote. I have barely picked 1/4 of our apples to date so this insanity will happen over and over.

Today we rearranged the freezer to prepare for more apples and the cherries we will pick soon.  So Mike knew what he was saying when he innocently suggested that perhaps some of the apples could fall without us doing much beyond tossing them into the ferns. He had already canned 5 quarts of apple sauce when he commented, but I still gave him a black look.  No one gets between a James girl and potential fruit without collateral damage.

I felt this same way visiting Teela last week, even when it wasn't my garden and even when it was just tomatoes, which do not count as real fruit in the James girl lexicon.  She has a large garden in Virginia, and it has a number of volunteer cherry tomatoes. Teela doesn't like to limit the choices of anyone (which includes tomatoes), so she let them live while she weeded out not fruit bearing weeds. As a result, she has a lot of tomatoes.  We picked at least 4 cups of cherry tomatoes every time we went to her garden (every second day).  She doesn't eat tomatoes and Peff was out of the town.  The kids eat a few.  Teela also had her own beef steak tomatoes as well, many of which get slashed by crows and need to used right away to prevent rotting.  I was obsessed with how all those tomatoes could be used no tomatoes were wasted.  Even when there were clearly too many and I don't love them.  I know it is not quite sane...

Mike is in for a long couple years. Especially when the kids leave home but all the fruit keeps producing more. It will still be about the fruit.

On the upside, we've all been enjoying wonderful garden based meals everyday since I got home and Mike is happy to be off bachelor food (which appears to be veggie hot dogs, pizza and a variety of non-meals like crackers.  He has already had tomato/basil pasta, lentil soup with fresh tomatoes, fresh salsa and bruschetta, apple pie and roasted new root veggies like potatoes, carrots and beets with chard. It will be long years, but with good food.  Really that's what James girls are all about.  We have many projects, but you eat well.

It is all about the Fruit

As any good James Girl knows, summer is all about the fruit. James girls love virtually all forms of fresh food, but nothing beats summer fruit for the flavour, colour and sheer amount of natural sugar. It has been very hot and dry here all summer, and there are a record 601 forest fires burning as of yesterday. This means the fruit is ripening quickly in desperation to get consumed - James Girls are happy oblige.

When Leo was little, she used to sneak outside and eat all the strawberries before anyone else got any. Strawberries are always our first fruit beyond rhubarb, and we are usually eating them from mid-June to early July. Our strawberries finished last week, and this time Leo ate only her share.

Saskatoons are the next fruit that ripens, and I can't say she was as well behaved about them. We've been eating them for about the last 9 days, and Leo has had a few cups each day. She is an awesome help with the picking, though.

Anwyn has reluctantly helped picking raspberries, the picking of which is the bane of my girls' existence. There is always heavy negotiation about who will have to pick next. We have to pick every second day in the height of the season, and today it was 37 degrees celsius, so lots more fruit has ripened. We'll definitely need to pick tomorrow, and we just picked six cups yesterday.

Our next fruit to ripen is cherries. We have two trees, and the back one ripens first. The cherries on it are already ripe, but still getting sweeter. Mike is the arbiter of when we can pick cherries, as they are his favourite. I have threatened to dig out the front tree, which kept suckering (growing baby trees in the lawn off of its roots) but not producing fruit. This year, in agreed upon year of its death, it has finally produced to save its own life.

Our final fruit (I don't count tomatoes) is apples, which we'll eat in August, so now is the prime fruit time. I have been eating berries, making trifle and pie, canning stewed rhubarb (okay that was Mike) and freezing down lots of the new crop. We've also been enjoying omnipresent fruit salad and smoothies. You'd think with all the fruit, I wouldn't buy any at the store, but James girls like lots of variety....

Even as it is all about the fruit, it is also about the flowers and veggies. We are currently harvesting early tomatoes, cucumber, sugar snap peas and more lettuce and herbs than one family can eat. Mike has made pesto twice. For those of you who like the flower pictures, there are a few new favourites.

Mike coloured Iris.

Variegated tea rose, bought with Jodi
 

One of 22 bee picture this month. Thanks Mike 

Canning and Freezing

This time of year, we eat as much as we can of the garden produce. However, there are lots of things that we still need to preserve. We are just ending peak raspberry season, when we often pick more than 8 cups of raspberries ever couple of days. As a result, we freeze them, make many things with fresh raspberries and can them.  Last night we made raspberry jam and pickles to add to the raspberry sauce we made the week before. I also froze 8 cups of raspberries.

In the midst of all this we have had guests to hang out with. We had Brad last week and Mom this week, which slows down the yard work but gives you good reason to sit in the yard and enjoy it. I find myself picking in the early morning before others are up, or in between visiting.  This also means squeezing in a chance to use up produce. Today was a classic day for that. Leo made cherry pie this morning, Anwyn made whipping cream and Mike made breakfast loaf.  I made a variety of meal items for everyone including seasonal fruit salad, pasta, and a supper of baby potatoes and fresh vegetables.The pasta had a sauce made from our tomatoes, pepper and herbs. The tomatoes just started last week so we are really loving them. Like carrots, they are much better than what you get in the stores.

Mike and I have also been squeezing in some projects. We finished the bench last week (that's Anwyn driving the support posts with a sledge hammer in the picture to the left), and today we re-hung the fence and made a large entrance for big objects. I had Mike leave some boards off to make room for my crazy plan to grow things on the fence that moves. Yes, I know it is crazy.  More to come on that front.

I find the canning and freezing a bit oppressive at times. There is always more to do, and you can't just take 3 days off. Having said that, I love having it to eat throughout the year. I do all the picking, but Mike usually does the canning and it is nice to have the help. Apples, basil, beans and carrots will all need more of his help soon.

Garlic, Pickles, Pesto and - Raspberries?

Today I puttered about picking cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, peas - all the usual, and then I got inspired. Mike loves it when I get inspired. Today I was inspired for Mike to make pickles, pesto and raspberry cheesecake with some of the things I picked.

We have everything we need right now for pickles. Mike likes to add lots of different colors in each jar, so it is rarely just our cucumbers, dill and garlic. Today we also did purple and yellow beans, carrots, chili peppers and jalapeno peppers in each of the three jars.  To get to three jars, I typically pick some cucumbers throughout the week, and every ten days or so in full production, we have enough for pickles.  I keep the picked cucumbers in the fridge between canning inspiration, but I am careful to make sure they are not washed or damp so they keep better as they wait to be canned. 

I found picking the garlic today interesting. I had never grown garlic successfully, and I am still not sure it was quite ready. I read a Canadian garlic site  from Boundary Garlic Farm, and learned that when you are on the second loop of the scape you can harvest the garlic. Mine also had seed pouches called bulbils. Next year if I cut those off, the plant will spend more time making the bulb bigger according to everything I read, and the Saskatchewan government emphasizes the importance of this in Northern climates.  I think I'll plant quite a bit more garlic this fall, as it seems to be doing well and we eat a lot of it during the year.

I cut back the greenhouse basil, which yielded a two picking baskets of basil. I had to plant it in February for it to have 4 leaves a plant by March 20th, when I transplanted the seedlings into little pots. It is a lot effort to get a big enough crop in Saskatchewan, but Mike loves it so much that we always plant lots. It always makes me happy when I pick a lot in July and August. Today we made four times our regular amount of pesto, so we used 4 cups of loosely packed basil leaves and froze the rest. We'll freeze small containers of pesto for use throughout the year.

For lunch we had the leftover sushi (roles and scattered) from last night, along with some spring rolls, cherries and sugar snap peas. I love eating this time of year because everything tastes so great out of the garden and it is so nice to be picking and cooking together. The food is healthy and not fattening (except for the cheesecakes like the raspberry one Mike is making right now).

We had picked some raspberries before lunch and  I froze 12 cups of raspberries in small ziplocs.  Anna asked what the best method is.  As Mike mentioned to her, traditionally, raspberries are frozen individually on a tray. This way each berry keeps it's shape, and they don't stick together as much in the bag.  I used to do this, but when you thaw the berry, it always becomes mushy. Plus, I inevitably turn it into a sauce or blend it into something. Mike and I concluded about 5 years ago that freezing each berry is way too much work. Now we put about 2 cups in each ziploc, as that is the amount we usually use when cooking. It doesn't mater if they stick together, because you are defrosting the whole bag.

It has been a fun day with our produce, but I think I am not feeling inspired for Mike to do some dry walling to prep for my painting, so I think my growing related inspiration is coming to an end.

Happy Frenzy

Well the garden is in full production just in time for me to leave it and go camping.  We have a ton of company coming to visit starting on the 24th, so we are trying to get as much done as we can before then.  Here's the guest list:

• Teela, Peff, Merlin and Viola (staying in Liz's suite for a month)
• Heidi N. (5 days ish)
• My dad (? extended stay of a couple weeks)
• Douglas (3 days)
• Maybe Greta, Gus and Max for a week and/or Jodi and Brad

Seem a bit overwhelming?  We think so too, and the stress is so much we had to leave town (we are actually excited to see people, but have planned some camping in this time slot for a long time).

We have been very busy with our summer projects this week.  Anwyn had basketball camp, and Leora ran her own dance camp using materials from the library to teach herself. In last few days we finished the repairs to the walls in the girls' rooms so we are ready for new windows, and we repainted their rooms and moved them back upstairs. Today, the girls and I went Saskatoon berry picking after camp in the am. I froze 26 cups of berries and and have that amount again ready for Mike to use in canning tonight when he gets home from work. Saturday and Sunday I'll do the packing for camping and Mike will build a rack on the trailer to carry the canoe (also after work - he's crazy.  I like the relaxed lifestyle that all James girls prefer).

Naturally, the whole garden is ripe in time for our departure.  The strawberries are producing a handful a day now, but the raspberries are started, and so are the cherries. The rhubarb, beans, kohlrabi, greens (lettuces, spinach, chard and beet greens) and cucumbers are still going, but we've added peas and zucchini.

Usually Anna would come berry picking with me and take some garden produce off my hands, but she's in France, so I was over at her house mowing today.  I did some maintenance on her deck boxes and now have more greens and spices to use up. What a great problem to have!

All this work has left little time for yard sitting, but I am always able to squeeze in the moments. I am particularly enjoying an old fountain of Gary's that Liz gave me, my delphiniums and my lilies.

What I learned this year

Well, all that rain was pretty hard on the yard, and last night with a risk of frost in parts of Saskatchewan, it feels like fall although it is the end of August. What a short season! All in all, it has been the worst gardening year I can remember. But the year has taught me a couple of really important things.

• I have learned that we were under watering our tomatoes and our carrots. None of my tomatoes have the blossom end rot they some times get, and my carrots are more plentifully than they've ever been before.
• If I am not going to use any chemicals on things like kohlrabi and I see the white butterflies, I have to cover the rows with mesh. By the time I see the caterpillars, the plants are done.
• My squashes and melons don't do well on the back fence. Even when we take the tree out, there just won't be enough sun.  I need to save that spot for peas and beans.
• The south side of the house did really well for cucumbers - I have never had so many, even with so little sun. I think I will put in a one or two foot square foot bed up the south side of the garage to see what I do with cucumber there next year. However, I would keep them in the greenhouse much longer and acclimatize them better. They were fried once and cold-stopped once.
• The green house peppers didn't get pollinated nearly as well as the south side ones, even with doors and windows open. We need pollinate in there by hand or move all plants except basil out.  The basil, bu the way, was awesome, even with no real sun.
• My rhubarb by the clothesline is not getting enough sun. I need to move it into the front if I am hoping it will produce as well as my other plant.

Today I puttered about my yard pulling spent plants and picking for about three hours. I made myself bouquets of flower and picked a large ziploc each of beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and corn. I also picked our last apple, more Merlin-free strawberries (my nephew who even eats the white ones), lots of peppers, some zucchini, and dug some more carrots. We'll need to buy milk products next week, but not much else.

This weekend I still want to pick rhubarb and freeze more herbs, but my day reading a book in the hammock and puttering around the yard is the most relaxing time I have had in weeks.

More than a bit wet, but only inside

The last ten days have been the driest of the summer, so you may wonder why the title. Well, we had Jodi and Brad visiting, then the next day Teela came to stay. Many lovely things happen. Teela admired my flowers, adored my vegetables, and watched fondly as her children loved the yard as well. Merlin ate my berries, walked the special path under the tree and played on the play set. Teela's only complaint was that her room smelled damp. I said it had been locked up a lot while Jodi and Brad were here (we keep it clean of cat dander for them and the closed door is the only good solution). Teela said that wasn't it. I thought it might be diapers and Mike washed the bucket of rags he had been soaking. Teela said that wasn't it, and thank goodness she did.

Saturday evening after homemade pizza we were all looking at pictures on the downstairs computer when Teela called us into her bedroom. There was a huge puddle along the north wall of her room. Further investigation found the wall was wet by the main drain pipe from the kitchen. Our closet wall was also wet and had some mold. Poor Teela and her three year-old and three-month old were packed up at bed time and sent to Liz's. We cleaned out all the damp areas, then I researched how to claim the insurance and Mike pulled apart the wall to see it he could find the issue.

The long and short of it is that it looks like the insurance will cover things based on my pre-claim stuff, but I will find out more on Monday when it is actually business hours. Teela's good nose saved any furniture from damage, although I had to wash some sheets and blankets. We now have guest room renovations to add to the roof and deck (it will be a stressful last three weeks of summer).

On the upside it has been so dry outside that we watered with the sprinkler for the first time this week. I have been able to get into all my beds and am loving up the yard each day. I love sitting out at night by candlelight and eating breakfast on the deck. My backyard has clematis, yarrow, cream lilies, sweat peas and cone flower that I am admiring the most. In the front, Leora's sunflowers are my favorite.

Currently eating:

• red currants (all the extra rain really helped them)
• peas (shell and sugar snap)
• beans (yellow and green)
• chard, beet greens, romaine, rocket and spinach
• baby carrots
• green onion
• raspberries
• strawberries
• apples (4 buckets so far)
• peppers (bell, baby bell, chili and jalapeno)
• all the usual spices
• cucumber (pickling and slicer)
• cherry and patio tomatoes

I am eating something from the yard in most meals, and loving all the fresh flavor. 

Very happy being out

Like last year at this time, we are enjoying the start of eating a lot from the garden. This week we've been eating lots.

Starting:

• sugar snap peas, regular peas
• yellow beans
• kohlrabi
• yellow zucchini
• baby carrots
• apples
• cherry tomatoes (from upside down yellow pear tomato)

Eating  in full swing:

• strawberries
• raspberries
• rocket, lettuce and spinach
• cucumber
• small peppers like chili and mini bell
• edible flowers (like nasturtium)
• red currants
• basil, dill, oregano, chives, rosemary, sage, and mint

This last week we have finally started to have some serious sun, and thing are growing very quickly. Mike and I continue to pull up grass in the front yard in prep for pumpkins and zucchini up there next year, and I have been loving my clothesline. However, the biggest deal is the living space.

I love to be outside. Swimming at the river, camping, canoeing etc. are my favorite activities next to gardening. In the summer my yard is my living and dining room, and I go there to rest and relax.

This summer the girls are doing a lot of the yard work. Leora hand waters from the rain barrel and prunes. Anwyn does the mowing. Both of them help me with picking. Their work gives me more time to relax and play in the yard.  Now that the rain is less, I am out all the more. My only sad bit is that we still can't get three dry days together and Mike and I really want to get the metal roof on the house.  I also want to re-paint the deck as it bubbled where it was rained on when the paint was wet last year. We have managed to do some smaller projects. Mike, Brad and Anwyn trimmed a tree, and I have been doing lots of picking and freezing (24 cups of raspberries a few days ago).

The girls finished swimming lessons yesterday and we celebrated with a short trip to the river. I also hope to get in an overnight camping trip next week before Teela and family come to visit on Thursday. Jodi and Brad are here until Friday, so there will be no roofing anytime soon (we are still missing the supplies yet anyway).

At Home in my Garden

After 3 weeks of being in Denver, Ottawa and Waterloo, I was worried I would miss a whole bunch of things happening in the yard. However, the near constant rain means that little happened while I was gone. I missed the peonies and the giant bell flower, and my greens all went to seed with no one cutting them. My pea shoots also turned into peas.  Other than that, I haven't missed that much.

We spent our first afternoon back weeding and mowing. The next day we cleaned house and trimmed clematis, edged the yard and did some transplanting. Now that it is all done, I have been able to get into the yard and really enjoy it. Check out the beautiful pictures of the things currently blooming.

New pink lily

Currently Blooming

• yellow lily
• orange lily
• red lily
• pink lily
• orange day lily
• mini bell flower
• pinks
• veronica
• 6 types of ground cover
• tea roses
• spirea
• theromborgia vine
• sweat peas
• morning glory
• potatoes
• tomatoes
• cucumbers

Currently eating

• all herbs (I am drying and freezing lots now)
• rocket, spinach, romaine
• saskatoons
• strawberries
• green onion
• cherries
• rhubarb
• chili peppers

While I was at my parents and Greta and Gus', I ate lots of peas, carrots, kohlrabi, raspberries, and fresh blueberries. Today Mike and I went to pick Saskatoons with the girls and I froze some and made crisp.  Now that I am eating lots of fresh things and playing in the yard, I finally feel like it is summer. My flowers are similar to last year, it is mostly my veggies that are late. But I am out in my yard, processing and eating things, so I feel great!

Full up after harvest

We store many of the things we grow for use throughout the winter. As a general rule, we finish all our starches in Jan., but finish lots of the frozen berries just as new ones become available. We try to make chutney, salsa and spreads last until we can make new, but since we give those as gifts at Christmas, it can be a challenge.

As of Oct. 18, we have harvested all the food we will.



In order to be able to cook using strong flavors, we free a lot of herbs. The tradition actually started when I read that mint could be frozen. I was about 19, and my sisters and parents started to freeze mint for ice tea. After that, I started experimenting with other frozen herbs.

Frozen- Herbs

• oregano (4 cups)
• basil (12 cups)
• parsley (2 cups)
• sage (3 cups)
• mint (3 cups)
• jars of pesto (5 jars)
  

The rest of our herbs we brought in and transplanted under the grow light, so we can have fresh spices over the winter. We have already dried a lot of herbs and spices for the year, especially dill and coriander.

The fruit we freeze we use in baking, mostly loaves and muffins for breakfast foods, but also in pies and turn-overs. We rarely freeze vegetables from the garden, as they are inexpensive in the grocery store.

Frozen - Fruit

• strawberries (9 cups)
• saskatoons (32 cups)
• raspberries (14 cups)
• apples (30 cups)
• zucchini (16 cups)

In addition to freezing, most of our stored food is kept in our cold storage room. Take a look at the pictures of our fall yard and the cold storage.

Fresh in the cold storage

• 4 large pumpkins, 2 small
• 2 bags small onions
• 2 gourds
• 13 dried jalapeno peppers
• 30 dried Thai peppers
  
• 2 1/2 pounds beets
• 52 pounds red potatoes
• 23 pounds Yukon gold potatoes

We also have 17 pounds of carrots, a bag of peppers and a few kohlrabi left in the fridge. We also have 20 pounds of tomatoes still ripening in the basement, which we use for eating and in pizza.

Preserved in the cold storage

• 2.5 liters of plum jam from Dana's tree
  
• 3.5 liters of raspberry jam
• 2 liters of taco sauce
• 3.5 liters of apple sauce (ours) plus 9 liters canned from Pat's tree
  
• 9 liters of tomato sauce, which is about a 50% reduction from canned tomatoes
  
• 14 liters of canned tomatoes
  
• 3 liters of chutney
• 1.5 liters of stewed rhubarb
• 18.5 liters of salsa
• 2 liters pickled beets from Erin

Yesterday we had our first day of sunshine in a couple weeks and spent time in the yard deadheading and emptying rain barrels. We also store our patio furniture away from the deck and cover the BBQ. It was good to get that done as the snow melted. If winter sets in prematurely, we are ready.

Today we are headed out to the garage to do some work on the piano bench we are building and do a much needed cleaning job. Our single garage is Mike's workshop, a general storage area, our garden shed, and the place where we park our bikes. It has tendency to descend into anarchy in not closely supervised.

High Harvest

It's that time of year again, when you look at bins of things you harvested and think about how much you have to do to get it all processed and stored for the winter. Anna took a bit of stuff of my hands on Friday when she came over and made supper. We had a great evening playing cards (she and Ian played Kaiser for the first time), but the rest of the weekend has been pretty yard oriented.

The girls were at their grandparents this weekend, so when Mike went to work on Saturday, I had the yard to myself. I picked about 6 cups of strawberries and 10 pound of tomatoes, in addition to the standard harvest tomotillos, beans, onions, herbs, chard, kohlrabi, beets and pumpkins. I am reminded of how much I like the square foot gardening method for so many of those things because I get the right amount to eat but not so much I need to freeze and can.

I also mowed the yard with the new reel mower, deadheaded the flowers and started moving some rich compost to some of my garden beds. I also dug up all my corn and the finished beans. Hauling it to the compost was a bit complicated, because we lent the wheel burrow to James.

Much of the garden is turning yellow as fall approaches, and I wanted to pull the peas, but Mike is trying to save some for seed. I also finished the watering of the boxes. We have been watering out of the girls swimming pool for two weeks - and they have been hot ones with plus 30 temperatures.

I have been waiting to finish a section of the new flower bed and connect it to the shade bed in the back under the pine tree. I started by digging up the grass and banging off the dirt from the roots. Then I added the compost to it and transplanted the remaining plants. I really wanted to start putting in all the bulbs Mom sent me, but it is still to hot and I need to wait for the first frost. Regardless, the bed looks nice - I'll just feel great when it is completely done.

We started working on some canning about 3:30. We got two boxes of crab apples from Pat and have been processing them into apple sauce using Anna's food mill. We also got a box of plums from Dana and turned those into jam. We also made some bread and a plum/strawberry crisp. We've been freezing down lots of zucchini, but still have a lot of pumpkin to deal with. We finally finished our batch of cooking about 8 pm and are feeling very pleased with ourselves. Take a look at the current yard pics and all the stuff Mike has been canning.

Purple Haze

I've been enjoying so many things in the yard lately. I've expanded my front bed by transplanting some orange oriental lilies from the back (in addition to a few other incidental flowers). I think it is as far as I'd like to take it this year for beds in the front. If we have time, Mike and I want to dig up grass for the front garden bed next year, but I suspect that will be next spring.



In the back, there is little of the garish orange, yellow and red. Instead, it's dominated by purple, with hints of pinks and whites. Here's a few in a collage.







A number of the annuals we started from seed are in full bloom including the morning glory and sweat peas. Lots of the perennials are going too, including:

• hostas


• lupins


• roses (5 types)


• columbine


• bell flowers (4 types)


• clematis (white one)


• 6 types of day lilies


• 4 types of oriental lilies


• yarrow (4 colours)


• sedum (5 types)


• succulents (8 types)

Lilies are the big hit at the moment, and the white is my favorite. Perennials just went on sale at my local greenhouse and were 2 dollars a plant so I bought 4 new varieties. The one I am most excited about is Obedient plant, which I have heard great things about but never grown.

I moved many of my part sun plants out from under the apple tree in the back and expended the north fern bed so I could transplant into it. Mike added three wheelbarrows of compost and the girls and stripped the grass, but otherwise we made few amendments to the soil. Mike also brought some feature rocks to add to the beds in the back and the girls used some to make a path under the apple tree for easy picking.

We are currently in the main summer harvest of the garden, and our grocery bills are feeling the impact (excellent). Mike also added the second rain barrel, so the water use is down too. We rarely eat a meal now that doesn't feature garden produce and had my in-laws, Bob and Gale, over for a birthday supper for Bob that featured all garden produce. I made a vegetable tray with beans, baby carrots, peas, zucchini, kohlrabi, and pepper. Mike made a spaghetti squash and roasted onion, potatoes and beets. We'd have had swish chard also, but we forgot it in the microwave, so we had to eat it the next morning. For desert we had a raspberry cheesecake. When that all comes out of the garden, it feels great. We sent the left-overs to Mike's grandma, Min, and she called to say they were yummy.

We are also eating snow peas, cucumber, edame beans, lettuce, beat leaves, all our spices and strawberries. I think we'll start corn, a few tomatoes, and apples next next week.

Your own organic fruit and veggies and fresh cut flowers are such a luxury. Mike and I often comment on how fresh picked food tastes - today the girls are having a sleep over and their friends just roamed through the yard tasting things and commenting how yummy everything was. Leora and Anwyn were super proud and named all the plants and pulled thing off for taste testing. Reminds me of Mike and I, but less obsessed. . .

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.

Another cold Sunday

Yesterday there was a delightful high of 8 degrees, but today we are heading out into the garden in bold defiance of our bitter spring. We've been forced to water with the hose, as the spring has been mostly dry in addition to cold. When Mike turned the compost yesterday we found that it was doing virtually nothing because it was too dry to rot much, so we had to water it.

We are currently eating:

• Spinach
• Herbs, especially mint and basil
• Rocket
• Rhubarb
• Romaine
• Chives

Mike made a great batch of stewed rhubarb yesterday and we had it on our blueberry pancakes. I'm mixed into Mike's homemade yogurt. It's great that way.

The spinach is doing really well, and we've been enjoying several other lettuces for salads. We've also been having chives and spinach in virtually everything. I've made grilled vegetable panini with the basil and feta for an extra punch and Mike made a great omelet using the basil as well. Basil often dies or grows very slowly for us during the spring. We have it in the greenhouse where it is doing well, and the one in the yard is under a cloche.

Cloching seems to be working well for the corn and are melons and gourds. Given the type if spring we are having, they should be mostly dead. The corn has even continued to grow after multiple -8 types of temperatures. Who knows if it will be too stressed to do well.

Currently flowering or up in the garden:
All the same things are flowering as last week, but the raspberries and cucumber have started. We've seen almost no bees, which is very worrisome. Mike thinks we'll have few apples. The ants have been looking after the low growing things like the cherry and strawberries, but they won't be good enough for the raspberries, so we need bees soon or there won't be much of a crop. Mike and I would also like to mulch the raspberries with straw, but we haven't found anywhere to get it.

Peas, beans, kohlrabi, beets and onions are all up. We don't have parsnips yet and the carrots are really patchy. We don't really know why that always happens - any suggestions on germinating carrots would be appreciated.

Flowering perennials

• iris (three types of bearded)
• lilac
• lily of the valley
• tea roses
• purple clematis
• snow crop
• bleeding hearts
• blue grass
• anemones
• chives

The most exciting news is that we found some free stone on Kiji yesterday and we get to go pick it up today. We can use it as a mini retaining wall in the front to solve some of the dryness issues created by the slope and the pine tree. We've been having so much fun working in the yard this year, and the rocks will help solve a problem we've been worried about. Last night Anna and Ian took the girls (thanks guys) and we spent too much time just admiring the yard and thinking about the rocks. Anna was kind enough to want to look around the yard and Ian was indulgent enough not to complain in front of us :-)

I'll post a cool series of pics of the garden past and present soon.

Blooming in the start of June

I'm going to track the state of my fruits and vegetables this year to help myself keep track of things for years to come. Despite my despair dealing with the cold, I am excited about all the things that are blooming in the garden.

We are currently eating:

• Asparagus (just finished the last batch)
• Spinach
• Herbs
• Rocket
• Rhubarb

Currently flowering and edible:

pumpkins
squash
zucchini
strawberries
apple tree
cherry tree
chives
sage (brought out from inside)
red currents

Flowering perennials

• tulips
• iris
• grape hyacinths
• lily of the valley
• tea roses
• purple clematis
• snow crop
• bleeding hearts (pink only)
• blue grass

We haven't had any rain in a week and a half and are watering with tap water, which is too bad. We've been discussing the purchase of an additional rain barrel for next year. Mike and I are hoping to avoid using city water as much as possible.

The weeds are pretty happy with the burst of wet and heat, and for the next several weeks Keith's elms will be dropping seeds on everything. June is the worst month for weeds in general in the yard.

Slow Spring

From Garden Spring 2009

Well, it's June and you'd never know it by looking at my yard. Mike and I have embarked on an ambitious or insane (depending on your perspective) series of practices designed to reduce our environmental impact.

We began by using a grow table Mike got from a friend to start seeds for ourselves, James and Anna. Then we moved the seeds out into the greenhouse Dad helped us build last summer.
We were planning on getting the jump on spring to give ourselves a longer growing season and helps try some veggies that struggle to make it in Zone 3. In early April, we moved our tended plants out to the greenhouse only to see three weeks of temperatures 10 to 20 degrees C below normal. We planted our corn and had to cover it constantly to protect it from repeated snow and temperatures of minus 8 at night. Last week, it finally warmed up to be seasonal.

I was so excited to my plants start to actually grow (they'd been hunkered down just above soil level for 4 weeks) and we finally planted our garden. This year we are experimenting with square food gardening for the first time, so some planting is still to come.

New vegetables this year:

• spaghetti squash
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• soy beans
• rocket
• purple pole beans

Mike's experiments that I predict will die:

• watermelon
• pumpkin

All this exciting plenty has Mike and I touring the yard, ecstatically probing the dirt to see what is up. We have beans, carrots, peas, kohlrabi and beets all germinating just in time for the happy news. Great news this morning -more cold weather on the way and risk of frost tonight.