Thursday, July 30, 2015

Around the Garden




















Gosh, I am not sure where to start with my update this week. Things are abundant in the garden right now, and each day brings something new. The first beets were harvested, the first of the white raspberries are ripe, the beans and snow peas keep rolling in, the tomatoes are slowly changing colour, kale and Swiss chard are picked daily for meals, and to freeze, the cucumbers are starting to show up, and in the next few days we should be eating the first of many zucchinis. Herbs are being harvested for drying, and infusing, and flowers are being collected as often as possible. My days in the garden are full, and honestly, there isn't any other place I would like to be at the moment.

I told you about my battle with the cabbage worms last week, I thought I might be winning, but I would have to say it's a tie at the moment. I was out there this morning, picking off worms and two moths were flying around laying eggs. It would have been funny if they weren't eating my kale! I have been getting ahead of them by harvesting as much kale as I can, freezing some, and making kale pesto with the rest and adding it to the freezer stash. I might not win this battle, but I will have kale in my freezer.

My flower beds are bursting with flowers at the moment. The beautiful fragrant lilies are blooming, a few opening each day. At dawn and dusk they fill the air with the most intoxicating scent, and I linger out there breathing it in.

Our biggest issue at the moment is the heat, and lack of rain. It has been close to three weeks since we had a good rainfall. We had a little shower last weekend, but it didn't really do much. What we need is a good soaking rain, and unfortunately there really isn't one in the forecast. I have been watering daily, in the early morning. One day I do the back beds, the next day I do the front beds, and then repeat. A few times over the last week I have even had to water the flower beds, which I never do, but they are literally falling to the ground as the heat rises. All we can do is hope it rains soon.

The fall/winter beds are ready for planting. They had some manure and compost added to them, and in the next few weeks I will start to seed them with all the cool weather crops that will hopefully take us through the fall, and into the winter.

These days in the garden are the ones I dream about in January, when it is cold and dark outside, and the snow is falling. I remember the heat of these summer days, the feel of fresh, sun warmed food in my hard as I harvest, and the taste of food from the backyard right off the vine. They are full days, busy days in some ways, but goodness I love them, and they make me so very happy.

So tell me, how are things around your garden?

33 comments:

  1. Tell me more about how you grow cucumbers. I have three plants and have only gotten 5 very small cucs from them. I'm heading out to the farmers market this weekend to see if I can't get some locally grown ones. I want to make pickles!

    Our garden as you saw is doing well. I think my zucchini is exhausted though. I might pull it and plant something else there. Though I wouldn't mind a few more zucchini first.

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    1. What do you want to know? In years past, I just plant the seeds, I never both with hilling, and they grow like crazy. I usually can't control them. This year, we are growing them up, in an attempt to control them, we shall see how that works. If you have specific questions let me know.

      I did see, it all looks so wonderful and lush. I find it hard pulling plants, hoping to get just a little bit more food from them, but there always comes a time when they have to go. I think I am at that point with the peas, they are looking pretty straggly :)

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  2. Your garden is beautiful! Mine is absolutely nothing in comparasion this year as we are away so much I only planned tomatoes. They are great though! Thank you for kind comments to my blog! We are getting back on our feet now although life will never be the same though.

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    1. Thank you Karin-Ida!

      Happy to hear all is well with you and that you are getting back on your feet. Sending love and hugs. xo

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  3. Mmmm, those beets look fantastic and Kale pesto sounds yummy. We have an abundance of Kale right now and I'm feeding the girls endless Kale chips. We are back in the heat again and I can't keep things watered fast enough. Dang those worms. :(

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    1. Those beets are awesome! And the kale pesto, so good, especially in January :)

      I saw your kale, it looks great, and no cabbage worms, lucky you. Yes, kale chips are a regular on the summer menu here. I hear you on the watering, it is so hard. At this moment most of my flowers are wilting from the daytime sun and heat. I know once the sun goes down they will perk up, but I really don't like seeing them that way.

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  4. I think we need a weather swap!! It's a shame you can't put it in the post isn't it! But it is lovely to see a garden where things are ripening and everything is abundant!

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    1. Yes, I think we do! Aw, thanks Carie. The garden is doing well despite the cabbage worms.

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  5. Oh, as this opposite, so much rain here, all week long... and cold! only 10°C today... so not much in the garden, except for arrugula. Il love to this your garden and beautiful details of the life around... Hope I can send some rain (and letters form Issa and I very soon)... a big hug to you!

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    1. Yikes, we aren't even getting that cold at night. It we are lucky we dip to 20 degrees C.

      Thank you my friend, I could use the rain. And no worries on the letters, summer is busy, take your time.

      Hugs to you too! xo

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  6. Oh my god! Those beets... what is your secret? We haven't been able to grow a beet larger that a golf ball. Our greens are fantastic, but the roots themselves stay so small. Any tips?

    The daylilies here have been exploding. We have them in just about every color and they have been the highlight of our flowers. That and the borage. I just may have planted too much. LOL! They are taking over, I've started cutting them back and they keep tripling the heads where I've cut them. Haha! I guess there is no such thing as too many medicinal plants huh?

    Your gardens are beautiful Kim. And you are right, this is the stuff that dreams are made of. And on this, I head out to pick about 5 lbs of beans. :-)

    Have a wonderful day. We should be getting a lot of rain over the next few days, I will ask the rain Gods to send a bit your way. Might look silly to my neighbors, doing rain dances in my backyard, but I'll do it for you!

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    1. No secret, plant, thin well, and let grow. Small roots usually means they haven't been thinned enough, as long as your soil is good, they need a lot of room to grow, and will become stunted if they don't have it. Never too much in the medicinal plants, never!

      Thank you Yanic. Hope the picking went well :)

      Yes, please send some our way. They are now calling for a chance of thunderstorms all weekend, but that is only because of the humidity, they may or may not materialize. Fingers crossed.

      Enjoy your weekend! xo

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  7. Are you feeding the worms to the chickens? They love them. I has some critter come in and wipe out my kale, I am not happy. Thank goodness I have more seeds so I can replant.
    It's always too much rain or not enough. We haven't had rain all week and now are suppose to have it for three days in a row ;(
    Have a great weekend.

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    1. Oh yes, I think I am their favourite right now because I bring them cabbage worms, and have been sneaking them a few blueberries each day :)

      Sorry about your kale Tracey. I think I decided this morning that I am going to pull all of mine, and either make pesto, or freeze it. I would sooner do that and live without kale in the garden for a month or two, then lose the harvest to the cabbage worms. Next year, back to row covers :)

      Wishing you a lovely weekend too Tracey, soak up your time with Emerson. xo

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  8. Oh, those beautiful golden raspberries! I bought a tiny 1/2 pint of those last summer (for an outrageous price) and they were the most delicious ever!! I'll gladly send you some rain...we've been getting daily thunderstorms, which exhaust me (there are always windows open or laundry on the line at unfortunate times).

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    1. They are so good, and the best part they will produce right through to the fall. Amazing! Yes, they are expensive, not many people grow them.

      Please send it this way, I will take it.

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  9. Hot, hot, hot, that's how it is in our area. Luckily we did have some rain two days ago and the garden really needed it. I had to rip out the cabbage and the other day I discovered squash bugs as well. It's been an abysmal year in the garden for me, so much so that I'm thinking of skipping a year and just giving the garden a rest. We'll see, come spring I'll probably change my mind...

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    1. Glad you got some rain, sorry about the squash bugs :(

      Hmmm...I think you are right, and that you will most likely change your mind :)

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  10. Delicious! The colours get me most when I look at your photos. Amazing that God created so much variety, even amongst one colour! (Forget about different vegetables!) It has been hot and I do hope some rain is in the works soon. Good luck with your battle - I hope you win!

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    1. I know, it is amazing, isn't it? I hope the same thing my friend, we really need some rain. We are now in high risk for forest fires here, everything is so darn dry.

      I am going to win! I decided this morning to pull all the kale this weekend. It will be frozen or turned into pesto. Those cabbage worms won't win. It means a few weeks without fresh kale, but the farmer's market has lots, and I will enjoy that until our fall/winter crop comes in.

      Happy weekend. xo

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  11. Such bounty! It all looks so beautiful. My garden is small, very small due to a lot of shade but we have had some raspberries, peas and a lot of herbs. My boys love picking lemon balm leaves and eating them while they play and my husband is hooked on chives now. ;) I am going to plant more carrots soon for the fall season but the ones I planted in the spring are doing well, as are the beets for this first time. Yes, it's mighty hot out there but you are right, it's good to be thankful for it after the winter we had!

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    1. Thank you! I love lemon balm, the smell is amazing and they taste just wonderful! Yay for carrots and beets. I haven't harvested carrots yet, hopefully soon, but the beets are starting to roll in, and they are so good.

      Enjoy your garden, it sounds small, but mighty :)

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  12. Kim-- everything looks so amazing! What are those white flowers in the photo after the calendula? They look so intriguing.

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    1. Thanks Taryn! Those are Gooseneck Loosestrife, aren't they awesome! We have quite a large patch of them, they spread like crazy, and they look amazing when in bloom.

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  13. I need more heat! Still not much growing except one small cucumber and one small courgette!

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    1. I do hope you guys get some sun and heat soon. I will try and send some your way.

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  14. Your baskets of produce are so pretty and your garden is well, pretty amazing. Sorry to hear that something is eating your kale - I know how that feels!!!
    Hope you get some rain soon.

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    1. Thanks Emma. I love picking my harvests and making them look pretty :) Those cabbage moths are brutal this year. I actually pulled all the kale this weekend and froze it or made pesto. I figured I would sooner do that then fight with the cabbage worms every day. At least my freezer is now stocked :)

      We got rain this afternoon...yay!!! We could still use a little more, but at least it was something.

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  15. your sunflowers are beautiful!

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  16. Wish I could share some of our rain with you! Hopefully you might have some forecast on the horizon by now? It is all looking beautiful and so abundant still, so you're obviously winning with the watering and the bugs. I love the scent of the garden after dusk here at the moment, with us it's pretty much all wild honeysuckle, but it's just gorgeous. And I love your photo of the little shoot reaching out and wrapping around, I never tire of marvelling at our cucumbers, beans, squash doing that, they're just so clever!

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    1. Yes, we have had rain, and the garden is loving it :) In fact it is raining right now. I love the vines and how they search for a spot to attach and then wrap themselves around and around. It is beautiful.

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