Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Around the Garden













I am always amazed at how much the garden grows in a few days. Being here day in and day out, I don't notice it, but then I go away for a few days, and wow! And that is exactly what we came home to last week after a few days of yurt camping...everything grew. Strawberries ripened, pole beans started to snake their way up the poles, snow peas reached up higher on the trellis, cucumbers, squashes, zucchinis and pumpkins sprouted large new leaves, the garlic scapes circled around themselves and the greens exploded. It was an amazing site to see as I toured the gardens upon our arrival home.

The garden is growing well, we are keeping the bugs at bay and we are enjoying food grown in our own backyard. It really doesn't get much better. We have been picking strawberries daily, garlic scapes have been harvested and made into pesto and kale, Swiss chard, lettuces, beet greens and herbs are making it into meals on a consistent basis. I am carefully watching those first few tomatoes, my mouth watering, as I wait patiently for them to ripen. The potatoes are growing well, sending shoots up through the straw, and the garden as a whole is in a good place.

I have been harvesting medicinal herbs for a few weeks, infusing and drying them, so they can be used in various forms over the winter. Comfrey and yarrow are infusing in oil, nettle has been dreid and stored, calendula flowers, lavender, lemon balm and yarrow are drying, and motherwort and lemon balm are infusing in alcohol. There will be more infusing and drying over the next few weeks with more of the same herbs, and also some chamomile and St John's wort.

Our flower gardens are in various states of bloom, the poppies having long faded and the lilies and daisies are starting to make an appearance. The bees and butterflies are happy, and I am bringing fresh flowers into our home every few days.

I am hoping for a little bit of rain to fall soon, things are a little dry, and hand watering takes quite some time, so a little help from Mother Nature would be greatly appreciated. Fingers are crossed.

How are things around your garden?

26 comments:

  1. It looks wonderful, productive and beautiful!

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  2. I love your raised beds....raised beds are a dream of mine for the future in our garden. We have a few tomato plants with small, green tomatoes...a couple pepper plants that are producing hot peppers for my husband...we picked our first baby yellow squash yesterday....a zucchini plant is coming along...and my cherry tomatoes are ripening each day. Basil, dill, thyme, oregano,rosemary and mint are available now, too! Loving your garden.

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    1. Thank you. They were a dream of mine for quite some time before becoming a reality. Sounds like your garden is doing very well.

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  3. lovely, and the cabbage family plants are taking off in your garden! Ours is plugging along. We have one green tomato and the volunteer tomato plants (there is always three at least) seem to be doing well. Hoping to have some cucumbers in the near future!

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    1. They are doing very well, I just have to keep that cabbage moth under control :) I just love the volunteer tomato plants.

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  4. So wonderful Kim! Your garden exploded! That chard is just fantastic. I can't believe you have so many strawberries too. How many plants do you have?

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    1. Thanks KC, and yes, it has! We have one raised bed dedicated to strawberries, there are 21 plants in it, so quite a few berries. The best part is that some of them are ever bearing, which means we will have strawberries all season long :)

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  5. How wonderful! Your greens look so happy... I'm still kinda sad we lost all ours. Ah well, there is always fall and of course next year! Things are good on our end. We are picking peas like nobody's business. I'll have to take pictures. We tried a new heirloom variety this year : Blue Podded Peas. They are gorgeous! The flowers alone are worth it. The pea pods god from spotted to full purple. :-) This was the description, I couldn't help myself :

    "Blue Podded Pea
    Snow/pod, shell, dry; Rare; Certified Organic

    SORRY, SOLD OUT. (Aka Blue Pod Capucijners) (80-85 days) 1500. This ancient pea was developed by the Capuchin monks in Holland and makes an excellent pod pea when young, and/or fresh shelled pea and/or dry pea. Extremely ornamental, its attractive violet, red & pink flowers give way to visually-arresting dark blue/purple pods borne on silver-grey vines that grow to 8'. It's worth growing just for its beauty alone. Note: soak dry peas overnight before cooking."

    Have a lovely day! Enjoy the heat... If you were closer, I'd invite you all to come and live in my pool for the day. It's lovely!

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    1. They do look happy don't they, let's just hope they stay that way :) We just had our first flowers on our peas this morning.

      Love the sound of those peas.

      Oh how lovely that would be, it was a little cooler today, and the cold front has moved in, so tonight will be a good night for sleeping :)

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    2. I'll save you some seeds for next year if you want? :-) I love growing rare and endangered seeds... love helping with preserving the diversity,

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    3. That would be lovely, thank you!

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  6. It looks amazing, makes my mouth water from right over here!

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  7. Looks absolutely amazing! Has grown so much and looks very yummy!

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  8. Canada looks like such a nice country to live in Kim. Your garden looks so pretty. Here everything is just about done because of the heat and we are preparing for the fall planting. Honestly, I just want to stay inside, the humidity this week is terrible.

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    1. I feel very lucky to live here Tracey. It is beautiful. Thank you. We have had a bad week with the humidity this week too, a cold front has just come through, so tonight will be much better for sleeping. Hope it breaks for you soon.

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  9. Your garden looks so beautiful, Kim! I understand your anticipation for the first tomatoes to ripen well - our first green tomatoes appeared a month ago and now there are hundreds but none of them ready yet...we can't wait! :) Your strawberries look delicious! Our crop this year wasn't great but the kids find two or three ripe berries every day which is one of their highlights in the morning.
    Enjoy your lovely harvest!

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    1. Thank you Halina :) They not only look delicious, they are delicious. Wish I could share some with you.

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  10. Every frame is like an oasis! You have a beautiful space!

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  11. What a beautiful garden you have! I love how you've put it all together!

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    1. Thank you. It has been years of work, but so worth it.

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  12. I love this time of year too, so much goodness, not only in the garden but in general :)

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