Musings & more….
It is a grey and very wet day in Vancouver this morning. Thank goodness it was lovely Saturday morning when I snapped photos of the 2-year-old Golden Prolific Dwarf nectarine tree, because I seriously need this to believe it is actually spring today:
Using vague instructions from The New Self-Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour (see page 134), two old garbage bins [well-scrubbed] and seed potatoes from Westcoast Seeds we attempted to grow our own baked potatoes this year.
We were cautioned, via instructions that came with the seed potatoes, to limit irrigation BEFORE we had growth, and I think that ultimately made us overly cautious with watering at all [to the point that we covered the seed potatoes when it rained]. So while we had lots of greenery and we built the soil up every six inches until the plants were about eight inches over the top of the bins, this was our entire haul out of one garbage bin:
The book had prepared [and excited] us for a potentially “heavy crop”. Now, true enough, we had an odd season here – a cold/wet spring followed suddenly by a hot/dry summer, so perhaps that was the limiting factor. We also weren’t too pleased with the new soil we brought in and will probably be investing in more sea soil next year, but, seeing as potatoes can grow in straw, I believe, ultimately, we didn’t water enough early on and then it was too late to reverse the lack of tuber growth.
Mind you, these potatoes tossed in a little olive oil and sea salt, roasted for 30 minutes in a 425°F oven and served with generous application of butter and sour cream were DELICIOUS!
We will be planting more garbage cans next year!
There is this huge fig tree at the back of our yard. It has huge leaves. It is currently fall therefore the tree is currently shedding its huge leaves.
The rose/garlic bed might like to be mulched. I am not totally sure about this as I am still learning how to “read” the soil and I have never grown garlic before.
But I have all these leaves – and more to fall for sure – so I figure the roses and garlic bulbs might like a nice blanket for the fall/winter.
Those are some volunteer snapdragons growing low in the bed, now among the mulch. I figure if they want to grow there who am I to stop them?
Then, as I was on a raking and mulching kick, I piled the remainder of the leaves in all the fruit tree and fruit bush containers. The two plum trees and the large apple also contributed some lovely mulch-worthy leaves.
Hopefully I haven’t just smothered everything to death – out of genuine concern and kindness of course – but dead is usually dead. Unless, of course, you factor in zombie garlic and zombie blueberries, but that is a [rather short] story for another day.
It has been crazy busy around here, and, though I have planned a number of posts for the blog, and even taken a few illustrating pictures, I haven’t managed to write any of the individual posts. So here is a teaser of some upcoming projects:
These are fresh chocolate mint leaves soaking in condensed milk. The homegrown mint leaves are planted in a container so they don’t take over an entire bed. I like to run my hands through the plant — the aroma is lovely. I am also drying some leaves to be used in tea. I will be making some chocolates with this mint-infused milk, as soon as I get an undedicated moment in the kitchen.
Made with the last box of fresh BC blueberries I picked up from Granville Island, these are my blueberry cinnamon buns (seen here posed with a strawberry rhubarb smoothie — recipe by Michael). I have every intention of posting the recipe and no time to write it down.
I participated in Urban Grains’ CSA this year and just picked up my haul — 4 sacks!! — of red spring & winter, white winter and rye flour. I have not found the time to even dream about what I will be making with these flours, but you can guess there will be lots of cookies and breads and maybe even pasta recipes tested soon!
Lastly, a garden update. This is our watermelon which never did grow out of it’s baby form… but it was still a sweet, though awfully seedy, treat!
So that is me for now… there are lots of knitting projects to finish and a bunch of loom projects to take pictures of, but right now I am researching and writing a new feature film script and, unfortunately, work trumps hobbies.
This is my very first time attempting to grow sunflowers. I wanted to collect the seeds so I planted two edible types.
Last week, just as the tallest of the bunch was almost ready to bloom, some critter (who I hazard to guess is black, furry with a long tail and has a propensity for climbing and stealing strawberries) who I cannot firmly identify — as I did not see the actual incident– RIPPED the entire head off the sunflower and shredded it all over the back yard. I was inconsolable… the seeds wouldn’t have even been really formed at that point!
Anyway, the second tallest sunflower actually made it to blooming without being decapitated 2 days ago, Michael climbed a ladder to get great photos, and I have high hopes on harvesting seeds.
– Seeds purchased at WestCoast Seeds and planted (indoors in Jiffy Pellets) early-June 2010. Seedlings were transplanted into the garden about 2 weeks later. This is either a Grey Stripe Confectionary or a Titan. I planted both and now cannot tell them apart.
– Interestingly, I planted the first round of seeds directly in the garden in mid-May and only one grew… which was promptly eaten by whatever is eating ALL my seedlings out there this year.
Sunflower photos by Michael James Horrocks 2010. Used with permission.
What’s that? Could it possibly be that the tomatoes are trying to ripen? Thank goodness… the garden has been such a write off this year that we were beginning to think we wouldn’t get any harvest other than some early spinach, lettuce and, so far, ONE zucchini. FYI – yes, that is red mulch you see at the bottom of the photo. Who knows if it helps, but, on the West Coast, tomatoes need all the help they can get… tomorrow I will be sacrificing some slugs to Mother Nature…
Plant: Siletz Organic Tomato Seeds purchased at: West Coast Seeds (and started indoors in March).
On an unrelated note, these little guys (one seen here doing a nice job of pollinating an everbearing strawberry) look like baby bees. Are they? They also love the cilantro that I have let go to flower. I will have to send this shot to my Dad for identification.
The last few days have not been kind to the garden–lots of rain and lower temperatures. Powdery mildew is trying to take hold of the squash plants, and I am seriously worried that what was shaping up to be a bumper crop of tomatoes will now be a breeding ground for blight.
Despite that, this little one, more sheltered on the south side of the house, is actually attempting to fruit, who knows if it will be at all edible by the end of season, but it sure is cute:
Plant: Sugar Baby Watermelon
Purchased (as a seedling) at Garden Works, Burnaby
Tomorrow I will puree this bad boy and the flea beetles plaguing the tomatoes will flee in terror…. FLEE in TERROR…. Muah… ha… ha!!!! As a side note, I doubt it would work on zombies, but vampires, now they would absolutely loathe it!
Err, yes. The recipe can be found on page 117 in Gayla Trail’s first book You Grow Girl. BTW, I love, LOVE this book.
A bunch of little seedlings made their transitions out into the big wide world of the garden this weekend, and I thought, as a collection, they made a sweet, though photo heavy, blog post (I think there are too many commas in that last sentence…).
I requested a cool three-tier wooden pot to house another new round of strawberries this year and Michael built it for me this past Saturday. I raised these little ones indoors from seed (planted in Jiffy Pellets at the end of February and beginning of March). Baby Strawberries:
We planted three 2-year-old raspberry canes in a container this year and I almost pulled this little guy thinking he was a weed, but no! This seedling will grow tall and bear fruit next year! Baby raspberry:
We also invested in two 3-year-old blueberry bushes at the same time as we bought the raspberry canes. I also tried out a mail order gardening service this year and bought this little blueberry:
Another first for this year’s garden: artichokes! We were late getting this out and don’t expect it to flower this year, but you never know!
Last, but not least (seeing as we use frozen rhubarb in our smoothies every morning) and, hopefully, we will be harvesting from this seedling early next Spring! Baby Rhubarb:
So that’s little glimpse of all our baby plants this Spring! I am looking forward to getting the remainder of the seedlings (tomatoes, basil, peppers, and multi-squashes) and direct seedings (green beans, mini cucumbers, more carrots and lettuce) out over the next few weeks, if the temperature agrees and, sooner than you think, it will be time to HARVEST!!