The Sunflowers

The sunflowers in my garden this year are off the hook.  They're all volunteers, I didn't plant a single one this year - obviously I didn't need to!  The light yellow, multi-branching ones are especially impressive - I counted no less than 36 blooms open on just one plant (and that's without counting the ones that were over or the buds yet to bloom).  It's incredible. 


Grandma Joy's pose says it all!


 

GG and Conan admire some of the more unusual sunflower types.  In addition to the standard yellow and orange, we also have a few ringed with dark red and one that makes a giant orange pom-pom of petals.

 

In the cold frame, the pepper plants are doing amazingly well, producing tons of peppers and generally looking happier and healthier than any other year's plants ever have. 

 

This is one of our new berries, the Aronia.  This is the first year it has fruited for us, and it pulled out all the stops.  The plant isn't very big, but it is absolutely covered with berries.  The berries are black and fairly firm, even when they are ripe (or at least, we think they are ripe).



The berries are tart and astringent eaten straight off the bush, but have a good flavor overall and are certainly abundant. With GG and Conan's help I picked 4 quarts of berries and made a little over 5 pints of delicious jelly.

Die, Horsetail, Die!

I spent the last two days hand-tilling the garden and pulling out horsetail roots.  This is a picture of the last wheelbarrow load of them.  I lost count of how many times I filled and emptied the wheelbarrow, but it was a lot.  I went deep - down to the hard pan subsoil at about 18 inches.  I was thorough.  I'm sure I missed a lot of little pieces that will doubtless sprout into new horsetail plants, but when they do, I will pull them up.  Now that they aren't part of the vast, tangled web of horsetail rhizomes that used to underlay the garden they will be very vulnerable.  Mwahahaha!

I'm not sure I will be able to walk tomorrow, but I'm pretty proud of the job I did.  I didn't finish the whole garden, but in the area I did cover I really massacred those prehistoric homosporous vascular rhizome bastards.

Cold Frame

We built a cold frame yesterday, using odds and ends of lumber and some of the many old windows we have stockpiled for building a greenhouse out of, someday.  It turned out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself.

I can't wait to get some lettuce and spinach going in it!   Of course, it's snowing again here this morning, so I may need to wait another week for the soil to warm up enough to plant, even under the frame. It's great to have finally put a cold frame together, it's been on the project list for years.

Late Summer Garden

It's almost fall, and we're finally getting our first taste of warm weather. All the plants are hurrying to ripen up their fruits and seeds, and I'm hurrying to keep up with the harvesting. The main crop blackberries are on now, while the tayberries, marionberries, cascade blackberries, and raspberries are finally finished.

 

I've made a nice collection of jams and jellies from our berries, and even a big batch of pickles, all from our home grown cucumbers. I love seeing the pantry shelves so nice and full of good preserves.

I'm very excited that we're going to harvest our first ever crop of asian pears! There will be three of them. There were originally two fruits on each tree, but one of them dropped off. The three that are left are looking really delicious, though. MMMMM.

 

We are also looking forward to our first hardy kiwi. I was super surprised to see flowers this spring, there were about 6 of them. Only one set fruit, and it's still firm and green. I really don't know when to expect it to get ripe, so I check it every few days.

 

Our little tomato starts have grown into big, healthy bushes with lots of green 'matos on them, and a few are starting to turn color. I sure hope we have a good stretch of warm, dry weather so more than a couple of them can actually ripen this year. I'm not sure why I keep trying to grow tomatoes without a greenhouse in damp, cold Whatcom county, but looking at these bushes now I get hopeful all over again. Maybe this year will be THE year...

 

The sunflowers are huge and lovely this time of year. I planted them in a circle in the center of the garden, about 10' across. Standing inside the sunflower ring is pretty cool. When I planted it, my idea was that it would be a place for Conan to play, but he doesn't seem very interested in it. Fine by me if it becomes a sanctuary for me instead!

 

Can't Blog, Busy Gardening

A few weeks ago, despite the unrelenting rain, we finally got the garden tilled up and since them I've been working hard to get it all planted.

Since then we've had a few warm, sunny days and it's so gratifying to see things beginning to grow. The spinach, radishes, kale, beans and lettuces have come up strong. The peas all got eaten by slugs, leaving behind sad little nubs. I have replanted; hopefully the second set will not suffer the same fate.

I laid out the beds with aisles going in both directions in order to make it easier for Conan to stay on the paths while walking through the garden. It's working - now if I could just teach the cats to stay out of the beds! The far left corner bed (with the truck) I left unplanted - it's Conan's worm digging place.

This picture is a bit underwhelming, it really doesn't capture the liveliness of the garden this time of year. With that in mind, I took a quick video of the bees working the raspberry blossoms. After the cold, wet spring we've had they are working double-time to catch up on their pollen collection. It's amazing to stand by the berry row and listen to them buzzing.

Conan vs Sprinkler

Strawberries

Conan likes them! These plants were pretty useless (according to him) until recently, when they started having yummy berries on them. Now he checks the berry patch every day when we get home.
He ate about a dozen green berries (well, nibbled them, anyhow) before he got the idea that the red ones are the ripe ones. Yummy!

We have the berry patch well covered with bird netting that attaches to the sides of the raised bed which helps keep Conan from eating all the red berries and then starting on the green ones. :)

Worm!

Conan found a worm in the garden. He was so proud of it, we had to take it into the house to show Papa. Then we released it back into the wild.

The worm got a little bit squished in one spot, but I think it'll recover. It certainly wasn't hurt any worse than the ones I cut in half with the shovel every time I dig.

We also saw a Pileated woodpecker in the yard. Conan was absolutely entranced.
Outside is so much fun to explore. Watching Conan discover everything from slugs to spiders to leaves, flowers, rocks and sticks is just amazing.

Garden Day

Today we put on our gardening gloves and really got a lot done. It felt so good to spend the whole day working in the dirt!
I got the front flower bed all weeded, edged, and topped with fresh topsoil mixed with compost. It looks amazing now. Conan helped by picking up handfuls of the topsoil and putting them back into the wheelbarrow as I worked to spread it all out. It was really cute, he was quite determined that he should put it all back.
I also cleaned up and mulched the bed by the front door. It really needed some work, and still needs some more plants. It's a tough spot - sunny in the winter, shady in the summer, and surprisingly dry because the eves overhang both edges. The rocks are part of a strip we put down (ok, I admit it - I didn't move any rocks myself) a couple months ago all the way around the house to keep the cats from using the dry area under the eves as a litter box. It's working wonderfully and looks great.

I planted a few pansy starts in this bed as well, but Conan helped by picking all the blossoms off the dark blue ones - you can't really tell in the picture, but that's what he's holding in his fist. For some reason he left the white pansy flowers alone. This was after he picked every blooming dandelion flower from the entire lawn, and brought them to me one by one. He's such a sweetie.

We also planted a row of raspberry starts that our neighbors kindly gave to us along the edge of the garden. We got the rototiller that Steve Ripp gave to us fired up and gave the garden a once-over as well. We'll need to add some compost, rake out the weeds, and till it once or twice more before we're ready to plant, but this feels like a great accomplishment.

Conan helped by dumping the dirt out of an old pot and wearing it around as a hat. He definitely needed a bath tonight!

Before we could till up the garden, I had to harvest all the overwintered crops. I got a bucket full of parsnips, a dozen or so small turnips, and a bonanza of spring bunching onions. It took me a full hour to wash, peel and trim all the parsnips and turnips, but they were delicious simply roasted in my largest baking dish. The onions were a bit of a conundrum - what do you do with an armload of green onions? We certainly couldn't use them up the way we usually use green onions, which is as more of a garnish than an ingredient. After thinking on it a while, I decided to make soup. It was easy and it turned out spectacularly, so I'll share the recipe here, in case you happen to have a garden full of overwintered green onions or shallots.

Spring Onion Soup
Clean and trim the onions. Bring 1 qt of vegetable or chicken broth to a boil. Chop the white and light green sections (I had about two cups) and add to the broth. Simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop about 4 cups of the onion greens and set aside. Let the cooked onions and broth cool slightly, then puree in the blender. Add 1/2 cup of yogurt and blend. Pour back into the soup pot. Return to a simmer. Add two tsp lemon juice, the chopped green onions, and a little water if needed. Cook until the green onions are tender, about 5 minutes, salt & pepper to taste, and serve. A little dollop of yogurt on top is a nice touch. Enjoy!

Outside Fun

Conan is really enjoying the nice spring weather. He's very interested in birds, flowers, rocks, and puddles. Puddles, as everyone knows, are for stomping in.

He's also a connoisseur of rocks. It takes forever to walk to the mailbox (aka toddler death march) and not just because it's a long way. No, the biggest problem is that there are rocks all over the road, and Conan needs to pick up and inspect most of them.

He also constantly points out birds, saying "Birr! Birr!" whenever one flies by. It's extremely exciting when a whole flock flies by. We've been seeing large flocks of red-wing blackbirds (they sing so beautifully!), as well as Canada Geese moving through the area. They make Conan smile and clap his hands.

I picked up some ranunculus starts and put them in the planter by the front door a couple weeks ago. They suffered through a few hard frosts but are doing quite well, and now are blooming nicely. Conan is fascinated by the blossoms.

Today we had a great work day, we got all the mitigation plants ringed with bark, planted a couple of cedar tree starts, removed the sod from a strip by the garden where we're planning to put in some raspberries, and nearly got the front flower bed all weeded and edged. There's just about 5 feet left to do. It sure feels like spring! I have to keep reminding myself that it is really only early March. :)

Sticks and Puddles

Outside is fun!

Tempting as it was to stay inside watching Blue Planet on DVD all day, we got bundled up and did a little yard work. We did a few small jobs but the main accomplishment was planting my birthday Asian Pear tree. Conan discovered several interesting sticks, poked the brussel sprouts, ate some dirt, and really really enjoyed stomping in the puddles.

Summer's end

The grass is still green and the sun is shining, but it's definitely not summer anymore. We had our first light frost a week ago and a killing frost last night. I'm relieved, frankly; no more trying to keep up with the beans, tomatoes and cucumbers in the garden. I will miss the sunflowers though. It really was an amazing year for them in my garden. This spring when I was laying out my beds I just didn't have the heart to take out very many of the volunteer sunflowers that had popped up. As a result, by mid-summer my corn was stunted from growing up in the shade of so many sunflowers, but I enjoyed the luxury of giving away huge bouquets of dazzling blooms all summer long. Now this year's flowers are dropping their seeds (the ones the chickadees miss, anyhow) all over the garden, so next spring I will face the same choice: the garden I've planned, or the garden that volunteers?

Another sign of fall that I am enjoying is the finches foraging for thistle seeds. Among the clover and vetch that we planted as a cover crop on the someday-to-be orchard grew a large number of big purple thistles. All summer long as I drove down the driveway I would look at them and think "Man, I really need to get out there and cut those before they go to seed." But, I never did. Inevitably, the thistles went to seed. However, I had not counted on the army of finches which has descended upon the thistle patch and is just loving those seeds. Now when I drive by I enjoy watching the finches spook and fly off, and I love knowing that my laziness actually resulted in a bonanza of seed for these birds. There's probably a pithy saying that sums this up, but I can't think of it.

It's very very windy today, and cold despite the sun. Still, it's not raining so Conan and I are going to bundle up and go over to the Cloud Mountain Farm fall fruit festival. I expect it will be a lot of fun! Perhaps I'll have some pictures tomorrow...

Garden Harvest

It's harvest time! The tomatoes are ripening, and I'm overwhelmed with cucumbers. No time to make pickles with Conan on the scene... maybe next year. Luckily the beans are winding down now, they've been tremendous this year. My corn crop has been pretty small - I was relunctant to weed out very many of the volunteer sunflowers this spring and the corn really didn't like growing up in the shade. The plants got about 2.5 feet high and the ears range from 1-5" in length. Perfectly sized for Conan! They are so tender and delicious. On the other hand, I have never had so many sunflowers; I've been able to pick and give away big boquets of them all summer long and it is such a luxury. I can always buy corn. :) My zucchini crop mostly failed (I know, I didn't think it was possible either!), I just harvested the first - and probably the only - zuc I'm going to get from the garden. Not that we haven't been well-supplied with zucchini; between the office zuc pool and Dave's garden, we've still had plenty.

Spring! Bees! Rhubarb!

Spring finally is here. I've gotten peas, lettuces, radishes, brussel sprouts, kale, green onions, spinach, pak choi and beans planted. The beans were starts that really needed to go in the ground, but I'm afraid they got a bit shocked by a hard frost last night. Everything else is doing great though. The lawn has been mowed twice now already, its growing super fast.
Mason Bees are loving the nesting block we put up for them. They found it and started nesting almost immdeiately after I hung it up. We've actually had the block for a couple of years but never managed to find a spot to hang it up. The sunny side of the woodshed seems to really be a hit. Mason bees are a shiny black stingless native NW bee that are the best polinators around. They lay their eggs in crevices with a supply of pollen and then wall them in with mud. The larvae will hatch next spring and do it all again. It's really fun to watch them working, flying in and out of the nesting holes - busy as bees, one might say. The nesting block has paper tube liners so we can pull them out next spring and put in fresh ones for the bees to use. We can also move the whole block to a sheltered spot to keep the bees safe through the winter.
A couple weeks ago Dave brought over several rhubarb starts and planted them in various spots around the yard. They are doing great - we're going to have a lot of rhubarb this summer and in years to come, which is terrific: my rhubarb-chardonnay and rhubarb-ginger jams both got rave reviews last year. :)

In the Garden

Tomatoes are getting ripe, the red pear/cherry tomato is especially prolific. I also have good sized ripe red slicers, yellow slicers, orange cherries, and a few red romas. Lots more green and light orange ones still to ripen, hopefully the weather will stay warm and dry for them.

These dark red sunflowers are really stunning, they must be eight feet tall. Most of the regular yellow ones in the mix have already finished blooming, so it was a nice surprise when these started opening up.

I dug most of my potatoes today. The vines had died back on all but one variety, and the squash vines are encroaching, so it seemed like I ought to get them dug before I lost track of them. I'm a little disapointed in the yeild I got - good thing we weren't relying on these potatoes to get us through the winter! I planted late because of the wet spring, and I don't think they liked our heavy soil very much - in any case, 20 plants ought to have yeilded more than one full colander of small spuds. On the other hand, these will be delicious and tender, so I really shouldn't complain.

The cosmos in the front flower bed are coming into bloom, they sure make an impressive display along the fence. You'd hardly know that there was only grass there until this spring, it looks so amazingly well-established now.

It's a nice time of year, this late summer/early fall weather has been just glorious. I sure hope it lasts a few more weeks, at least. I'm not ready for the frost and rain just yet...

Jelly & Pickles

I went out in the morning yesterday and picked wild himalaya blackberries from the patch in our field. The rain all last week was hard on them, many were so soft they disintigrated at even the gentlest touch. I was still able to pick about 6 quarts of ripe juicy berries, enough to fill my biggest pot halfway up, in just over an hour. The berries aren't as sweet as they would have been with a bit more sun, but they sure are extra juicy. Perfect for Jelly!
I got about 3 quarts of juice out, enough to make 14 jars (the jars vary in size from cups to pints) of yummy jelly. With a little left over for a couple peices of test toast. :)
I also made a batch of crosscut dill pickles, 7 pints. This is my second batch of pickles this year.

Unfortunately my first batch (bread & butter pickles) came out short on the liquid so we won't be putting them up for winter, the seal is good but the top couple inches of pickles will dry out. Instead we are using them up as fast as we can... there are worse problems to have than lots of delicious pickles that need to be eaten though!

Moina Corn! Moina do it!

The Ericsons came up for a visit and had dinner with us last night. Moina* - er, I mean Moira - a was very excited about the corn we picked from the garden, in fact after we had picked it she insisted on carrying an ear with her on our pre-dinner walk. So cute! After our walk she helped me "open" the corn.
This is the first corn I've harvested from the garden this year, we will probably have just one more picking - I only put in one short row. But it sure was tasty! Moira wanted to eat it before we cooked it, it took quite a bit of convincing to get her to let me have ALL the corn for the cooking pot. A couple ears got nibbled raw, but they cooked up nicely just the same.

Everyone agreed the corn was delicious, you just can't beat it fresh from the garden, young & tender. Moira ate two ears!

*Moina is how Moira pronounces her own name these days. More than once I found myself slipping into using her pronounciation. :)

Little Yellow Wagon

I have a new toy! A steel flat-bed garden cart, the sides can fold down for moving large things, or locked up as needed. Especially now that I'm pregnant, moving things in the wheelbarrow isn't a good idea. It's really nice to have, way better than a wheelbarrow for moving furniture! This dresser is being moved out to the freshly cleaned shop to get a nice new coat of paint before it moves back into Baby Conan's room.
That's right, we cleaned the shop! We moved most of the stuff out into the driveway, then swept, vaccummed, and mopped the floor. Then of course we moved the stuff back in, but we sifted out the junk and organized the rest of it so it all fits neatly inside. A new shelving unit really helped too. It's incredible how much open space there is now! Of course, we still have a couple of piles of things that need to be taken to goodwill or the ReStore, but all in all it feels like a major accomplishment. It was a huge job... but now we can move on to other projects, like painting baby furniture. :)

Beans, Cukes & Zukes

The garden really enjoyed all the rain this past week. The yellow wax bush beans went crazy - I picked two colanders full of them.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all, maybe some dilly beans?

I also got a ton of cucumbers. I made a batch of bread & butter pickles, which used up most of them, but I've still got several cukes left over. If I pickle the beans I guess I'll do the rest of the cukes as well.

The Zucchini really grew this week, for the first time this year I have 4 big giant zukes to deal with. Up until this week they had been slow enough to mature that I've gotten them all at about 10 inches long, perfect for sautes and grilling. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these giants, but I'll probably start with a batch of zucchini bread. Yum! Of course, I'll still have 3 more zukes to deal with after that... might be time to take some produce to the office to give away. :)

Also, my tomatoes are starting to get ripe! I picked a handful of orange cherry tomatoes yesterday, they are super sweet and juicy. The red pear tomatoes and one of the heirloom slicers that Keeley gave me are starting to turn color as well. Looks like a pretty good crop coming on!

I took out the peas, broccoli, and the white winter kale (which was bolting & had aphids) yesterday, the garden feels like it's starting to make the transition from spring/summer crops to fall. I need to do some more weeding and then I'll start planting some fall crops - more carrots, some beets, new kale, chard and lettuces. I'm toying with the idea of trying another planting of broccoli, as well as some brussel sprouts - I'll have to look and see if I can get starts still.

Garden Bounty

I harvested the second planting of peas and got real nice crop. Shelling them all took quite a while, but it's worth it, they are so tasty. I don't have enough to really put any up for winter, but we'll enjoy having fresh peas for dinner for several days before we run out. :)
Between yesterday and today I made 2 batches each of jam and jelly. I used Pomona's Universal Pectin, which allows you to use much less sugar than the standard Ball pectin and still get a great set. I even did two batches sweetened with honey! From left to right: Peach Jam with Honey, Plum & Cherry Jam (regular sugar), Red & Black Berry Jelly with Honey, and Red & Black Berry Jelly (regular sugar). The house smells great and the pantry looks wonderful with all these beautifully colored jars of homemade yumminess stacked up.

Soon I need to start making pickles, my cucumbers are starting to produce more than we can eat on salads. The yellow bush beans are starting to come on, I was able to pick just enough for dinner a couple nights ago. And the zuchinni is starting to really take off, I need to keep and eye on it to make sure it doesn't get too far out in front of me. I love this time of the summer in the garden!

In baby related news, last night we did indeed move the TV, Couch, and assorted other stuff out of the baby's room. Thanks, Guzstiltzmans! We're going to rent a steam cleaner and clean the carpet, and then we'll be ready to start moving the things we already have (a dresser and a rocking chair) into the room. We have another dresser and a shelf that may also go in there, but they both need a coat of fresh paint before they go anywhere, so that's another project. I'm super excited... or have I mentioned that already? ;)