Spring is coming...

Well, it has been an interesting winter. I thought we were almost going to get off scot free with no snow but Mother Nature decided to intervene. I can't say I wasn't expecting snow but I was sort of expecting it a bit earlier, like December or January.

I took these shots in February and it was beautiful. Still wet but green. 

So lucky to live near this beautiful walk!

Gate near Bert Flynn Park

Bert Flynn Park

Scarecrows at a deserted community garden

A few weeks later I awoke to this. 

View outside our back patio two weeks ago

It is pretty though but hard to get too excited about gardening when it looks like this. We even had to get out the snow blower!

It has all melted now and I have gathered up leaves from the flower beds in the back and put them in bags to take down to my compost at the community garden when I go. Not sure when that will be as it is very very wet. I haven't been quite as excited about things yet this year but I'm sure it will come. I guess there is too much going on for me at the moment but hopefully things will change and settle down soon.

Spring is coming..... I know it is. I saw my first hummingbird in the yard this week.

A welcome sight!

A couple of weeks ago I opened my mailbox and was greeted by this wonderful 2014 seed catalogue from West Coast Seeds. I felt a thrill of excitement that one feels on a dreary wet, dark day to get this actually delivered to my post box!  It was lovely to get something in print and it is a welcome change from sitting on the computer and trying to go through the new offerings. This is much more fun!

They have a great selection of organic seeds and always nice to peruse the pages and plan the garden for the coming year. I still have quite a few seeds leftover from last year but will of course be purchasing more. It is pretty hard to resist. The nice thing about this catalogue are the tips that they give you for growing here in the West (wet) Coast.

Happy reading!

Swiss Chard Tart

Over the winter I have finally gotten around to looking though some of the recipes that I tried this past summer to make use of my garden produce. Again Pintrest has been a great source of new recipes.

I have really enjoyed the Swiss Chard that I grew this year and plan on growing lots this coming year. The first year I didn't grow it but I have to say I like it better than spinach. The spinach I grew this year bolted and I just didn't get any to speak of. The Chard was awesome. In the spring when I first started picking it I loved just steaming it and eating it like spinach. Being so busy with trying to keep up with all the produce I didn't get much farther than that. Later on the one recipe I did try and love was for a Swiss Chard tart. I actually made it a few times over the summer

The one I made was based on this recipe that I got from Pintrest.  I do sometimes make my own pastry but with working and tending the garden I was just too busy so I bought pre-made pastry and you know, it was fine.  I didn't add as many eggs as the recipe called for (I only added two) and I threw in a spoonful of bisquick to thicken it a bit it. One time I didn't have any plain yogurt so I added sour cream. I also always add more cheese, cheddar in fact to go along with the feta. I am a big fan of sundried tomatoes and they are lovely in this pie. As I have always said everything is better with cheese!

A quick sauté

 Mixing all the ingredients together

 Voila!

Anyway it was very good and it makes great leftovers. I even took it to work for my lunch.

Baked Acorn Squash

I think I have mentioned before that my husband hates most squash with zucchini being the exception. It is odd because he doesn't mind squash soup. The same goes for beets. He hates them as well and maintains that he is allergic but for some reason can eat borscht. I think I smell something fishy....

I loved growing my little acorn squash last year. It was so rewarding to grow and very easy. It did like to spread however, so next year I think I might try and train it to go up instead of out. It meandered onto my garden path so I had to step carefully over it and a wheelbarrow was out of the question.

This year I plan on growing some butternut squash. I think one acorn and one butternut will suffice nicely.  I'm getting off topic as usual and have to mention the recipe that changed my husband's squash hating streak. If only I could find one for beets!

I found this recipe on All Recipes and here is the link. Perhaps it was the cheese, everything tastes better with cheese. It makes a lovely side but is quite filling. I made two but of course we could only eat a half of one each so there were leftovers!

The best thing about acorn squash is that they keep really, really well in a cool location. I still have three stored in my basement and they are still fine. I think I had better use them up soon before they spoil. Now that would be a shame.

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....