Forgotten Treasures

Since putting my garden to bed a couple of months ago I have been neglecting this blog. Having some lovely time over Christmas I thought I would revisit it and adjust a few things. I have a few thoughts that I still need to post and I came across some pictures that I had as a draft but had forgotten to post. I think I had to re-size the pictures and just never got around to it. Better late than never. Judging from the pictures they were taken in the early spring before my tomato hoop house and fence were done.

Doesn't it make you wish for spring?

Gift of Time

How often do you wish for more time? I frequently wish that I had more time to do the things that I enjoy.  Perhaps that should be my New Years resolution?

My problem has always been that I like doing too many things and don't put in the effort to just one thing. Whether it is a good or bad thing or not I don't know. We are all different and I guess I get easily bored with just one thing. The down side of this is that you don't get really good at something but pretty good with a lot of smaller things. I don't think I can change but the one thing I can try is to block of chunks of time to devote to some of the things that I do enjoy.

It is worth a try. After working all day, I'm tired and sometimes it is all I can do to make dinner, do dishes and watch tv. I'm going to try and spend at least an hour after I get home from work doing something I enjoy, like writing this blog, photography, painting, gardening or quilting. If I don't have the energy for doing that perhaps read a book or get on the treadmill. Definitely the treadmill.

I have been given a gift this Christmas season and that is a gift of time. My office shut down and my husband was working so I have been able to catch up on numerous things and to actually do a bit of painting. I put it off, partially because I'm scared that I can't do it and will mess it up. Does it matter if I mess it up? Who cares? It isn't like I have to put it on display. No one has to see these things but me. I don't even know if anyone reads this blog so I can post it here since this is kind of a personal diary.

Painting and photography have always been a way to enjoy gardening as well. I love taking pictures of gardens and then attempting to paint them. Here is one that I have started working on again.

A beautiful garden

I quickly sketched this on the canvas and promptly
abandoned it for months.

It's coming along now with a bit more work but still more to do....

Of course being who I am I am also working on two others plus one in acrylic and now I want to go back and do some watercolor as well. No wonder I get nothing done!

Looking Back

Looking down the road for the last time this year

I guess it is only human nature to look back at things and try to analyze the things you did right, wrong and all the things in between. The garden, as in life is sometimes beyond your control and you can only move along with the tide and just go with it. Sometimes when you fight too hard you miss other things that might have been great.

It was a wonderful summer. We had lot of sun this year but I have to say it wasn't a stellar year in my plot. I'm not complaining at all because some things did really well and some things well, were kind of shall we say, not the greatest.

First things first, the good stuff. The kale was out of control and the zucchini kind of the same. I had quite a lot of it. The acorn squash I was pretty pleased with and it was fun to grow. I have never grown it before and it was cool to see them spread all over the place and all the little squashes. My hubby was less than thrilled with this one being the squash hater that he is. I wasn't sure when to pick them but I did alright and I still have some in the basement. The lettuce did well and the garlic too. The peas were great this year and there was enough for a few meals but not enough to freeze. I envy people with enough to freeze! It seems kind of terrible to freeze them, they are so good! I had some success with my carrots but only with the first sowing. They were wonderful Nante's carrots and I used seed tape this year which worked really well. They weren't all bunched together like the ones I grew last year as I'm terrible at thinning. The beets and the second sowing didn't do too well. I think the beets were in the wrong location (not enough sun) and I saw a mouse in my plot (hiding in that hay) and he/she ate the tops of both. Neither were great.

Another mistake was the hay. It was full of seeds and horrible and I was constantly pulling the weeds. Never will I do that again. My eggplant was non existent. I did get a nice plant but again no little eggplants. After last year's success I was hoping for a few. My beans were horrible. I bought yellow wax beans but they were stringy and tasteless. I will try again next year but maybe a different variety of bush beans? My potatoes were also a bit of a disappointment. The ones I planted were kind of horrible and scaly but I had some volunteers where I grew them last year and they were great. I didn't have the heart to pull them so that worked out well. I don't think I will grow potatoes next year. They take up too much space and for little reward. You can buy those tasty little ones in the spring which I love and they were much better than mine.

Last but not least the tomatoes. Well, what can I say. I babied them and tried to be good and pinch them like you are supposed to. They were nicely covered from the rain and I would stop after work and water them. They were beautiful, until they got the blight. I almost made it though. I got quite a few but unfortunately a lot of them I wasn't able to save. At least I got them out quickly and got rid of the plants before it got too bad.

I will have to work on my game plan for next year over the winter and try to come up with more strategies on how and what to plant. It is nice to know that since the garden is nice and clean now and covered in leaves it won't be too difficult to get going again in spring.

Until then....

Thanks for the memories!

This will be the last day that I will spend for a while at the garden. Winter's chill will soon be upon us and today will be just a memory.

 

Dreamland

My garden is at long last almost put to bed. It still needs to be tucked in with one more bag of leaves and then it can snooze away until spring.

Sun goes down and says goodnight
Pull your covers up real tight
By your bed we'll leave a light
To guide you off to dreamland
Your pillows soft your bed is warm
Your eyes are tired when day is done
One more kiss and you'll be gone
On your way to dreamland
 

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Trying to like Fall

I'm not a fall person. Yes, it is pretty with all the leaves but it is a hard season for me. The days get shorter, and there is that inevitable nip in the air. The garden is almost put to bed and today I went out and scored two big bags of leaves. I found a great spot where all I had to do is bring my rake and a couple of bags and within minutes I probably have enough to cover my garden beds... well maybe I might need another...

I am trying to like Fall, but it is hard when you know winter is around the corner.

Okay I will admit it, Mother Nature is beautiful!

Friday Photos

Well, it is that time of year that I find so bittersweet. The last days of summer.

Part of my garden is put to bed and soon it will be time to tuck everything else in for the winter.

On that note, I decided to go for a little walkabout again to catch the last of the summer colors.

 Grape vines at the garden entrance

  Poppies and yellow flowers

 Red Hot Pokers

Fall mixture

  Garden Arbour

 Sedum Autumn Joy

  Beautiful Dahlia, I wish I had some of these beauties

Cabbage with a few nibbles

 Love it in black and white

When life hands you lemons... make tomato sauce!

Well, better safe than sorry. I thought long and hard about my tomatoes and decided to head to the garden after work on Friday and pick them all. It was hard to do but necessary.

From what I have heard and know about tomatoes it would only be a brief moment and I could lose them all. This way at least most of them have a fighting chance to ripen. They are mostly all in good shape with only a few of them going bad. It was the best decision that I think could have made.

There were a lot of tomatoes packed in there. I had trouble carrying them all back to my car.

I overheard someone say that it was the fog that spreads the blight but I guess I will never really know. Luck of the draw why some tomatoes get it and some don't. Perhaps it is because mine were heritage tomatoes, although you would think that would make them hardier. The strange part is that I babied them, made sure they were covered from the rain and always made sure that I came out to water them if it was hot. At home I put five extra plants in my side yard. They aren't covered and have been braving the elements and so far so good. They don't have as many tomatoes as I wasn't quite as diligent about trimming the plants back but they are starting to ripen now. I will watch them carefully but I think maybe because there are no other tomatoes around might be part of it. Of course maybe they like the fish water from the pond?

Of course now I have 5 bags of ripening tomatoes. Since everything will be ripening at once it looks like I will be roasting a lot of them for tomato sauce.

P.S. I think the mouse ate all my beets.

Bittersweet

At this time of year I find it harder to garden. The rewards are great when you harvest (in my opinion) the best crop of all, Tomatoes! The bittersweet part is knowing that soon it will all be over. I have already finished with some of my beds and have begun some clean up. The tomatoes are as always the thing that I wait for all year!

 Heavenly first tomato sandwich of the year!

Quite frankly my tomatoes have me a bit worried. I have been harvesting them for the past couple of weeks but they are mostly tiny guys. They tasted great and that is the main thing.

The thing that worries me is that when I went to water them tonight the plants themselves didn't look great. Kind of shriveled looking. Odd because they were fine on the weekend. The tomatoes look fine with no signs of blight yet but the plants themselves are starting to look really bad and quickly. I am going to take a wait and see attitude until this weekend. If things start to look really bad I guess I will have to pick them all green and ripen them in paper bags.

The seeds were an heirloom type of tomato so maybe that is why. Maybe I have too many plants in a small area with not enough air space? I think next year I will only do four plants so that I can have easy access to each and I think it will be something with a larger tomato. Sad to say I'm not loving the heirloom varieties that I have had.

It will be more clean up this weekend. I notice that there are a few weeds getting out of control that need to be tended to and perhaps another wheelbarrow of manure. I will probably try to harvest my beets, if there are any and do a preliminary clean up. Kind of sad :(

Fingers crossed for my tomatoes.

Summer's Bounty

Potatoes, zucchini and a couple of cukes from a few weeks ago

I started writing this over a month ago but as any gardener knows when things are growing there is little time to write about it. I wish I could have picked blackberries (like I had planned) and to make pickles (like I planned). Oh well.... maybe next year. Working kind of gets in the way of all these things.

That being said my little garden did pretty good this year. Things didn't turn out quite how I expected but because of this I have already made some decisions for next year. My potatoes are all dug up and drying in the basement. The ones I actually planted didn't do the greatest but the ones that were volunteers in my other box did really well. Not sure why because I know you aren't supposed to plant in the same spots. I didn't have the heart to pull them out but I did add so much in the way of new soil and amendments I guess it was okay. Decision number one. I don't think I will grow potatoes next year. Too much space, and quite honestly mine just didn't taste as good as the lovely little new ones you can buy at the market.

The acorn squash did really well and it looks like I will harvest quite a few of these little guys. They were pretty fun to grow and easy but I think next year I would like to try butternut squash like I had originally intended.  The cucumbers that I grew alongside the squash did okay but not great. I have never had great success with them but they were tasty and I will attempt again next year. Maybe in their own dedicated beds with supports. I kind of wanted to pickle a few but didn't have enough cucumbers and like I mentioned above, not enough time either.

The peas are long gone but they were good. Again, will do more of them next year. Carrots were great. I tried Nantes seed tape and they were the most perfect carrots ever. I did another row of the same seeds that I used last year and somebody ate the tops off. Every single one of them, eaten. I did see a mouse a couple of weeks ago so I think he was probably the culprit.

The beans were a yellow wax bean but they seemed to be green and purple as well. Not sure what happened there. They weren't the greatest so I think I will try a different variety next year and stick with the bush beans. I seem to have more success with them. These guys were a bit tough and stringy. Can't wait to eat all of the ones I have in the freezer!

The kale is great and I haven't picked my beets yet but am looking forward to them. I hope the mouse doesn't like beets (like my husband). I have made a couple of batches of kale pesto with roasted red peppers that are in the freezer for winter. I put some in some pizza sauce this weekend and it was very very good.

I found my two eggplants hidden amongst the peas a while ago and had to rescue them and move them to a less crowded spot.They are too late to produce anything for this year but I might take the big one home and put it in a pot if it starts to get too cold outside. Maybe I can coax an eggplant under grow lights in my basement? I will try eggplant again next year but start them much, much earlier.

The one thing that didn't disappoint this year was zucchini. I had a bumper crop. I wasn't able to make it to the garden last week because of the rain and I was treated to 6 zucchini when I went this Saturday. Two big ones and four smaller ones. With one of the large ones I made two zucchini loafs and one zucchini chocolate brownie cake. I have been on the hunt for good zucchini loaf recipes. I made one a couple of weeks ago and it was kind of dry which is strange because it shouldn't be that way. I found these two recipes on Pintrest from a blog called The Sweet {Tooth} Life and they are very good. The chocolate brownies were to die for, just cook it a lot longer than she says and it should be fine. Mine was a bit soggy in the middle but it was still really really good, but next time I make it, and there will be a next time. I will cook it a lot longer.

Another great recipe I made were the most amazing zucchini fritters. They were absolutely fabulous. It is from a wonderful blog, A Garden for the House and here is the link for the recipe.  It is actually an appetizer but it was lovely for a side dish. Try it. Even Zucchini haters I think would like it.

The tomatoes are just beginning to come into their own and deserve their own special write up. Until then, Happy Harvesting!

The butternut squash saga

Yes, now I know this is an acorn squash.

Does anyone else have forgetful moments like this? For the past few months I have been thinking that I was growing butternut squash. I was dreaming of making butternut squash ravioli and butternut squash soup. Not that I won't do that, but sadly it won't be my home grown butternut squash.

I have to admit I get somewhat confused at the squash family. Zucchini is easy but I get mixed up with the others, obviously. I kept looking at the abundance of all these little squashes and thinking how well they were doing but for some reason they were round and I was sure butternut was a different shape.  Yes, silly girl it is!

I vaguely remember eating some acorn squash at a friends house thinking this is yummy, I should grow it. After looking at my seed packet, it was confirmed to be an interesting yellow, green acorn squash. I don't know what happened, maybe they didn't have any butternut squash seeds when I bought my seeds, who knows! Perhaps my subconscious was trying to tell me something. That is fine, I am very happy with the little guys and hope that I didn't pick this one too early. There seem to be quite a lot of them. Some are a good size and some are still teeny so they probably won't mature but we will see. I read that if the skin was hard they are ready and they seemed to be quite hard.

I plan to eat this one and test it out this weekend. Looks like I will be on my own eating it however as my hubby doesn't really like squash too much although he does make an exception for zucchini.

Hummingbird Heaven

Last year at this time I was in hummingbird heaven. We had so many at our new house it was like a dream come true. This year it doesn't seem like we have had as many judging from the hummingbird water intake but we still have quite a few customers. They are a feisty bunch again this year so it is no wonder that I'm not going through as much water as they chase each other away constantly.

Our little male hummingbird that was with us all spring moved on and we have all females or young ones. I can't tell but there are a few really scruffy looking nervous ones and I'm kind of assuming they must be youngsters.

I hear them at the allotment garden as well and they love it there with all the flowers. One surprised me at my Bee Balm and I think I surprised him just by being there standing still. 

I absolutely love the little birds. I usually put out the feeder at the end of February and don't take it down again until the last one leaves around the beginning of October. There are always stragglers at the start and at the end. I'm already sad to think that soon these little jewels will be gone...

I will miss them.

Hummingbird being watched by a plastic hummingbird

Hummingbird amongst the sweet peas

Belated Sunday Snaps

Sunday was an unusual day. It started off with some thunder and then a downpour which we badly needed. I headed out to the garden while it was still cool and it was the best! I wandered around and took some pictures and hardly anyone was there. It was awesome. Nobody telling me what to do and

I had a great time puttering about. I even managed to cart a wheelbarrow full of manure and put it in one of my empty beds. Unfortunately I took my small point and shoot camera and I'm not too happy with the results. A lot of the pictures just weren't in focus. It is so handy to just carry a small camera but not if the results aren't great. Oh well live and learn.

Here are the best of them.

Last but not least. My first red heirloom tomatoes!