Carrots

One of my deformed carrots

According to my mother my grandfather always said that you can't grow carrots in Vancouver. He would know, but I would love to prove him wrong. So far I haven't been so successful.

I bought a packet of assorted carrots in different colors. I have had some success with mostly the lighter colored carrots for some reason but the rest all have legs and look pretty strange. I don't know if color actually makes a difference or not but that is what has happened. They are also quite stubby. They still taste good but there just isn't much to eat. I am going to try again next year but after that I will move on.

Apparently they split like this because they hit a lump in the soil. My soil has lots of lumps being pretty new. Next year I might try putting sand where the carrots are going to be. They also don't like manure, one more thing to remember, pretty fussy I must say...

Zucchini!

Ah yes, zucchini, every gardener's dream and nightmare. You either love it or hate it. I have to admit, it is pretty rewarding to grow. In the right circumstances you can harvest an amazing amount from one plant. Stand there and you can almost watch them grow. It is rather incredible. You have to stay on top of it though. Miss a couple of days and you have that monster vegetable that makes you leave your home at midnight and depositing them on your neighbour's doorstep as you giggle all the way home. For the record I have never actually done that.

And yes, YOU ONLY NEED ONE PLANT!

Luckily I like zucchini but when they are small. I tried to give away a couple of small ones to friends as I thought they would love them but faces and comments were made like "they are rather slimy" or "eww it isn't a vegetable I would ever eat except in a loaf".

They don't know what they are missing. I'm one of those people who actually even buy it in the winter.

My usual way of cooking them is to sauté in a little butter and either add mushrooms or tomatoes. Deep fried zucchini sticks are good with a dipping sauce, but I never make them. I will however, if I do get an abundance (I hate to presume) try baking them. A little healthier.

Suddenly my planting scarlet runner beans around my zucchini doesn't seem like such a bad idea. I still manage to get a few zucchini but not as many as my fellow gardeners. My neighbour had bags of the stuff and HUGE!! She asked hopefully if I would like some and said "take all you want". I actually took two and gave one to my zucchini hater friend who hates zucchini but loves zucchini bread.

I grated mine and got 6 cups of shredded zucchini. A loaf of zucchini bread is always tasty and the rest goes in the freezer for those winter loaves.

Happy Baking!

Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes

I love this saying and I think it is very true. I so wish I had thought of it. I'm thinking of ordering the T-shirt.

It is fun to walk around and see what everyone is doing and saying in their plots. Usually it is just signs telling people not to pilfer their veggies and then you get this one....

The weather has been incredibly hot. My eggplant is doing well and loving the heat. Cucumber's too. Not so sure, however if I like eggplant so much but they say fresh is the best so I will try it. So far everything that I have grown is so tasty. I picked two cherry tomatoes and my hubby and I had one each. Oh they were so good! A couple more are starting to turn red so I'm hoping that my hard work will pay off. The heat is such a good thing for them.

I harvested a few potatoes last week and came home with a big bag. They are beautiful. Not quite as sweet as the little new ones you buy but really good. I think I like the red ones better, they seem sweeter but I only dug up a couple of them. You can only eat so many potatoes (even me) so I will leave the rest and harvest them later.

A pretty cool mason bee house

Fresh from the garden

It has been a while since my last post. Moving kind of sucks the life out of you.

Despite the upheaval, I have still managed to get to the garden and sample a few early veggies. There is nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables that you have grown yourself. I'm kicking myself that I didn't grow more peas. They were fabulous!! For sure next year I will try and grow more. I think the taller ones would be a better idea.

I haven't been giving the garden as much attention as I would like but today I'm going to spend a couple of hours there. My compost needs turning badly and I would love to find some brown matter to dig in. Bad time of year to try and find leaves to dig in. We are near a wooded area and I could probably find some but I don't want to run into any bears!!

I have made a few mistakes in the garden and I'm sure I will make more next year but you never know til you try. My potatoes are all rather top heavy and fell over. I might try and dig up some today and try and cut them back a bit. My boxes don't quite have enough in them yet (I need more compost!!) and I had trouble hilling them up. The soil was a bit compacted and hard to move around. Next year hopefully the soil will be a bit better.

In the fall I plan on adding more manure, seaweed, compost and will top it off with leaves. Those raised beds are going to be as full as I can get them!

My great experiment of placing a teepee around my zucchini with scarlet runner beans was kind of pretty but a bad bad idea. The beans are now shading the zucchini and it isn't liking it one bit. I am getting some zucchini but some are kind of rotting. It is pretty though. I hate to pull the runner beans and I guess a few less zucchini isn't such a bad thing.

Carrots... what can I say. I didn't thin them and I must must try and do it today. I have only managed a few stubby ones and I know that is the problem. Beets too, but I have thinned them a bit while eating the tops (yum).

The tomatoes have done much better after their trimming but I could have trimmed a lot more and I planted them too close together. Another mistake! I will need to rig up another way of protecting them for next year. A permanent structure will be in order I think. My little cover fills with water in the rain and is a bit of a shaky thing. It has helped but definitely will have to get something a little more sturdy for next year.

My cucumbers are doing well so far. The plant I bought died and I threw in the entire packet of seeds and three plants grew. Not a great success rate but with our wet cold spring I will take anything. I have spotted a small cucumber so fingers crossed!

Someone asked me the other day if I thought I was saving money by growing my own veggies. Certainly not this year that's for sure but I didn't do it to save money. I think it is the satisfaction of watching things grow that you planted and put effort into and of course for the taste. What a difference that makes.

There are ways to save money I know and I really should thin things more but for this year I'm happy....

One more garden

My Grandfather and brother approx 1948

I was working in my plot the other day and overheard two gardeners talking. One was complimenting her on her garden and how nice it looked and vice versa. It's funny but I have noticed that everything is prefaced by "next year I'm going to do this", or "it will be better next year when I have more time"

I find myself doing the same thing, analyzing this and that, deciding what works what doesn't. You pick up some tips from other gardeners on how to change this or that just by walking around and looking at what others do. In my head I'm already working out what I will do with my plot next year and what I will and won't be growing. I have to stop myself sometimes and just enjoy what I have and I am enjoying it.

Recently we had a family dinner and got to discussing my grandfather. He has been gone now for over 30 years. He loved his garden and tended it lovingly all of his life. Even his grass was like a silk carpet. I wish I remembered more about it but when you are a little kid those things don't really matter too much. Many summers were spend with my grandparents and two aunts in their house in Vancouver. Every day was pretty much the same. I would follow him around while my aunts were at work and he would always be in his garden. Mostly I played with my barbies outside while he gardened but he was always puttering in it. If he wasn't puttering in it he would sit in a lawn chair and just look at it. I would sit on the grass beside him and probably pester him. He didn't seem to mind too much.

He grew beautiful vegetables but didn't eat most of them. To him they were considered pig food as that was what they fed the pigs with in Ireland. Lucky pigs!

Just before he passed away my brother went to visit him. The one regret he seemed to have was his garden and he remembered him saying "I just wish I could have one more garden"

I wish you could have too grandpa.

My First Tomato!

Isn't it grand? My first wee tomato. I almost missed seeing it. They do hide you know, kind of like those sneaky weeds that disguise themselves. Trimming the tomato plants seem to have helped. This one is an Early Girl variety and seeing that it is only the beginning of July and we haven't had much sun that is pretty good I think.

We are due for a long stretch of nice weather so things should start really happening. I checked the potatoes which are getting huge and flowering nicely but no potatoes yet. Maybe a couple more weeks and I will check again. Should be soon! The beets are growing well and I really should thin them. I did pull out two small ones but it kills me to do it. I actually steamed the little guys along with some potatoes and they were very tasty. I have to get tough and thin a bit more and then will have to tackle the carrots. Saturday will be the last day before we move so I had better spend some time there as I probably won't be able to spend a lot of time over the next week. I will have to go and water the tomatoes though at least once!

I took a wander and took a few pictures of one of my favorite gardens. It is one that we noticed when we were first scouting out my plot. They have four plots and they are gorgeous. Pictures don't do it justice but here are a few and I will try and get better ones next time. They have a flower garden, kitchen garden, veggie garden and all sorts of interesting items that are recycled and made use of. It is a great place to get ideas for reusing things. While I was there a hummingbird was enjoying the red flowers there.

Love, love this little fence

Kale Chips

 Well, here it is. It needs a bit of tweaking but those kale chips are pretty tasty.

Wash the leaves and dry off as much as you can, a salad spinner would work well. Lay them on a single layer in a pan and try to spread out so they aren't touching. Don't go by my picture as I'm kind of limited on pans these days as most of them are packed. Rub a small amount of olive oil on them and try to wet all the leaves. Remember, you don't need much as they tend to be a bit greasy otherwise. Sprinkle with sea salt, again not too much is needed.

Bake for approx 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Timing seems to depend on freshness I have found. After 6 minutes turn the chips so they get crisp on the other side.

They should be nice and crispy but be careful not to burn. They might take slightly longer. If you pile into a bowl like I did here they get a bit soggy so try to keep them on one layer

Voila!