Garden is exploding into production

 Finally, we were slow to get the garden started this year, however it has really started to kick into gear.  So far this year we have harvested a small crop of asparagus and some salad greens.

 Spinach is looking wonderful and we will be eating next week

Our brassica bed is full of broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale and kohlrabi.  I have heads started on the broccoli and should be able to start harvesting kale next week.  Lots of great salads and fresh green smoothies!

Under the snow Spring lies sleeping

Don't let anyone tell you Unicorns don't exist....

...I have a secret one in my garden

Harvest 2013

I have been eating from the garden since the first week of June.  When the tomatoes were coming fast and furious I was roasting daily and freezing.  The garden is winding down now, I expect we will be getting frost in a week or two.  Today I picked what will likely be my last big tomato harvest, a good 10lbs of beautiful summer goodness that we will enjoy this winter when it will be hard to believe that we were once able to walk to the garden and put together an entire meal grown ourselves.  I have garlic, onions and potatoes stored, I imagine enough to get me through to the end of January.  I have turned peppers into amazing Sriracha Sauce, fermented hot peppers to make our own version of Tabasco, roasted sweet red ones and frozen them for winter meals.  We have corn and green beans frozen, and canned pickles of various types.

My first ever harvest of Jerusalem Artichokes was today.  An interesting tuber from the sunflower family.  I roasted a few in Walnut Oil seasoned with Rosemary & Thyme and served over a bed of lettuce & baby kale from the garden, sprinkled with roast pecans and pumpkin seeds for an amazing Autumn Salad.

I love this time of the year, the weather is amazing, warm sunny days, beautiful cool nights for sleeping.  Soon we will be starting the woodstove and moving inside for a few months, until then I will enjoy the garden and all the end of the season chores as we lead up to putting it all to bed until next Spring.

Garden Oddities

Definitely not a stick for the dogs

Weekend flowers

The constant rain this summer my have the petals a little tatty, but, you can't stop the poppies from their display.

Pink poppies blooming by the chicken run

The beautiful and structural Mullein.  They grow where ever they choose every year and are one of my most favourite plants.  I had to educate Mick a few years ago that I didn't look at these as weeds after I came home and found he had triumphantly whipper-snipped them down to the ground.  I think he still sees them as weeds but steers clear of them now.

Sunspotting

 Our sunflowers are all coming into bloom.  I planted them in a double row and I love how they track the movement of the sun. 

May weekend in the garden

The first long weekend of the Summer, weather was wonderful, we were able to get soooo much work done in the garden.  Most all of my seedlings are in the ground now, that was a feat.  We  worked non-stop from morning to dinner time.  Dogs feel slightly ignored, but, once we have this done we can relax a bit and enjoy the summer.  I added a couple of bean teepee's, lots of rustic charm, hopefully my DIY skills (old branches and twine) will make it through the bean season.

Finally by the end of Sunday afternoon I flopped down in the grass to watch the chickens and rabbits and couldn't resist the beautiful late afternoon light and the dandelions.  The end to a gorgeous weekend.

Gateway to summer

What better photos to kick off the May long weekend in Canada.  Welcome Summer 2013 we have been waiting for  you!

 

Mellow Yellow May flowers

We don't have much of a flower garden.  I did attempt gardens when we first moved here, however a houseful of schnauzers and pretty gardens do not really gel.  Mostly, we have handfuls of spring daffodils naturalized around the property.  I had planted crocus and tulip bulbs in the early years but the squirrels quickly put an end to that.  These tulips are at the side of the driveway, I don't recall every planting them, I think they were buried here by a squirrel that later forgot about his stash.

Bedroom nursery

Our spare bedroom has always been a nursery for our pups, we even raised chicks in it for a few weeks last year, this Spring it has been set up with grow lights and our seedlings have been started there.
We planted seeds a month later then last year, but, hadn't expected we would have such a cold late  Spring, combine that with our super amazing grow lights and the plants are out of control.  That is a pumpkin blooming above.  Hopefully the hard frost of the last two evenings marks the end to the cold weather and I can get all these plants into the ground within the week.  I really don't fancy a wild pumpkin vine making it's way through the house!

Most of our Pepper plants are flowering, tomatoes started to set flower a couple weeks ago.  Not exactly the location I wanted to grow my vegetables in!
Wonder if we will have tomatoes & peppers on the vines early this year, or, will the shock of transplanting outside set them back further?  Guess we will find out.

Spring = Work

Eranthis blooming today

It is a crazy time of the year, Spring.  With it arriving late this year it seems like we have been heaved into a mad sprint to get everything complete.  I apologize to anyone whose email has gone unanswered the last couple of weeks, I just haven't had the time or the motivation by the end of the day.

So, what is on the go?...in dogs, girls have been in and out of season (thank goodness as Beamish was losing his mind...again) Both Clover and Hilde have been bred, we expect pups mid June and early July.  One litter Pepper & Salt litter, the other Black, more on that another day.

We have a ton of vegetable & herb seedlings started, they are taking over my life.  With so many we have to run the grow lights 24/7 and each morning and evening I switch them out, half go under the bench and half go on top to bask in 12 hours of daylight.  It doesn't seem like much work, but, believe me there are hundreds of plants, they all need to be watered and moved.

Today I transplanted 60 sunflower seedlings to individual pots.  I now have an excuse not to groom my dogs as they occupy my grooming tables in my front room.  To thank me for giving them new roomy pots they are drooping and looking like they are about to die.

Of course, because we never like to do things in a normal, prepared fashion, we do not have the gardens set up outside to accommodate all these plants, which means more work.  Saturday we rented a huge tiller and spent the day tilling out a 20' X 30' garden plot.  Mick and I worked a tilling relay taking turns being dragged around the plot by the beast for 5 hours.  I couldn't move my arms above my head for two days.   Additional top soil will be delivered tomorrow, I have asparagus crowns and potatoes that HAVE to be put in the ground...NOW.

Our Garlic bulbs planted last Autumn are up doing great!

In typical leap before you look fashion, last January I ordered chicks and goslings.  My plan was to set them up in the spare bedroom for a couple of weeks then move out to the coop once they feathered out a little bit.  I 'figured' I could put them in the area that I store the feed bins, it is fenced and they would be safe from the adult hens until big enough to protect themselves and I could hang a heating lamp for them.  What I didn't count on back in January (when more poultry seemed like such a great idea) was having about 300 seedlings in my spare bedroom, hmmm.....not sure what I am going to do now??  They are suppose to arrive...tomorrow, ack!

Oh well, I will figure it all out, I'm sure.  The big bonus, more chick photos in the future :-)

April indoors

 

We may not be enjoying the best Spring, but, indoors we are doing our best to continue with all things Spring-ish

Seeds were ordered back in January, the planting started last month

Who can resist the promise of seedlings

Once Hexe's pups moved from the spare room to downstairs we were quick to get everything in place to start our summer garden.  In just a few short weeks these delicate seedlings will be making the trek out to the garden.

5 months from now

This photo was taken last summer on June 26th.  Hard to imagine with the sub-zero winter temps of the last few days that pea tendrils will be reaching up to the sky in a few months.  Bring it on!

November rose hip

Gorgeous autumnal coloured rose hip peeking out beside the gate, so lovely, even the branches and thorns are beautiful on this climbing rose.

October Leaves

 October leaves on branches, the wood pile, even on the Kale

Painting

 The last few weeks any extra time on my hands has been spent painting the out buildings.  This is our new chicken coop.  It incorporates both new and reused items.  Structure and siding is new, doors and window we recycled.  I am pretty pleased with how it turned out,

A different view showing the side of the chicken coop, that is the ladies little door to the run.  I painted the rabbit barn & garden shed to match the Chicken coop. 

October Frost

 I suppose, frost can be killing or beautiful, all depends on how you choose to look at it.  This morning we woke to the heaviest frost of Autumn 2012.  After letting the hens out this morning I hurried back inside to fetch the camera and capture some of the frosty delights.
It looks like the end of the peppers, most of the tomato plants have flopped, the Kale & Swiss Chard is defiantly standing.  It will be interesting to see what else comes back to life, most of the herbs were hanging on the the ground except for the sage & rosemary.  My fall peas looked a little sad, I am hopeful they will perk up, they still need to pod up and they have tons of flowers on them, fingers crossed.  All in all I am not that disappointed to see the garden wind down, my pantry and freezer is full and it's time to put the garden to rest.  Today, is garlic planting day, once done with that I will pile all the compost that my rabbits have been producing this summer onto the raised beds and say goodnight to them until next Spring.
Time for brisk Autumn walks with dogs, warm stews in the slow cooker and fires in the wood stoves, Autumn is my favorite of all seasons.

Autumn Garden

Today's harvest from the garden, this is typical of what I am getting 3-4 times a week the last couple of months.  Plant production is beginning to slow for a few plants like peppers & tomatoes, others are just gearing up from my late summer planting of second crop beans, turnip, my peas should be ready to pick by the weekend, not to mention a ton of romaine and Boston lettuces, Swiss chard and a few beets.
One of the huge successes for me this year was the eggplant, from the six plants we started from seed I have so many eggplants that I cannot keep up with them, sad to say a few have gone straight from the vine to the compost heap.  I would plant again next year, but 2-3 plants will be plenty for us. All the heritage peppers and tomatoes that were not eaten fresh have gone into canning or the freezer, any that were left on the vine too long went to the chickens, those girls love them some tomato!
Fennel also thrived this summer in the garden, I let a couple go to seed to add to the spice jar, nothing was wasted on the fennel, what didn't make it to our table went to the rabbits, they are crazy for the wonderful anise taste of fennel, I had no idea.
We learned a lot this year, mostly about limiting the number of tomato plants in a bed, the heirloom varieties need room and a couple of them completely took over the garden, I know we have missed a lot of tasty tomatoes that were hidden in the middle of the bed, either I didn't see until too late or just couldn't get to without destroying the plants around them :-(
I learned to love Kale!  This plant is amazing, most every seed germinated in the Spring and I still have a bed of the Spring Kale going strong, I harvest it every week and use it so many ways, everyone has heard of Kale chips by now, they are wonderful, I have grilled it on the BBQ, blended it into morning smoothies, wilted and added to salads, topping for pizza, into soups, it makes a lovely side dish when wilted in butter or olive oil and tossed with a little balsamic vinegar.  My favorite way to enjoy is to make a Kale Pesto wow!  Toss with some fresh pasta, a few cherry tomatoes and you have one amazing dinner.
This years drought & heat made gardening a little more challenging then anticipated having to get out daily and water.  It didn't do any favours for the lettuces and greens like spinach, arugula or corn salad, much went to seed or was too bitter to really enjoy, my rabbits think I planted it mostly for them.  Early potatoes were wonderful but I lost my late season crop to the weather, stressed by the endless heat and lack of water then the skies opened, blight set in and that was the end of the potatoes.  Again, I learned some valuable lessons on potato growing and look forward to doing better next year with a little more planning.
I have one last thing to plant this year and that is garlic, my bulbs have just arrived, I need to get them in this month, there are not many vegetable plants that do best when planted before our Canadian Winter.
As much as I am looking forward to relaxing indoors this winter after a very busy, labour intensive summer, I know I am going to miss walking out to the garden, pulling a fresh tiny tomato from the vine and popping into my mouth, you just cannot beat that.

Putting away for a cold winters day

I have made an effort to produce my own food and to shop local as much as possible the last couple of years.  In 2012 we have doubled the garden and hope to increase again in 2013.  Dumb luck that our biggest garden effort has taken place during the worst drought in 50 years...but I digress.
Mick started an assortment of heirloom tomatoes from seed, the last two weeks we are reaping the rewards of our work that began in February, our tomatoes have begun to ripen fast and furious.  One of my favorite ways (other then eating fresh) to deal with the influx of gorgeous fruit is roasting them in the oven with olive oil, rosemary and garlic for 2-3hours, run the sweet roasted tomatoes through a food mill producing the most amazing tomato sauce for us to enjoy all winter.  In the bottom of the roasting pan is a delicious tomato/garlic/rosemary/olive oil broth.  I call it the essence of the tomato, so tasty that it would be a shame to pour down the drain.  Solution, pour into ice cube trays, freeze & bag for future stews, soups and gravy.  Today I trimmed sage & rosemary from the garden into the bottom of the tray, poured in the essence and into the freezer it went.

If you want a little Schnauzer Puppy Fix, head over to Hazel's Nursery Blog.  This is what I do while the tomatoes are roasting...great way to spend a couple of hours