So, I learned a valuable lesson this week...about blogging, not gardening. I meticulously kept writing each day as I worked away, every time I took a break or came in for a glass of water I would sit down and update. I was really happy with this week's entry and then, as I was adding images, I was trying to line two of them up and all of a sudden, all the text disappeared. I hit undo, but something happened and the damn thing AUTOSAVED. Multiple frantic pressings of the "Undo" button resolved nothing. Blank screen. I was crushed. I'm still slightly crushed, it was loads of work and just POOF, gone. Lesson learned. I'll back every single thing up from now on.
Now in short, I'm stuck with a blank blog for the week so I'm going to do my best to recap everything. It won't be the riveting play-by-play it was before I cleverly erased the whole damn thing, but well, there's something to look forward to next week, right? In the meantime, here's what went on!
May 14-15, 2017
Sunday, it rained quite a bit, so the day was a wash. Monday was still very wet, but not raining so I planted a few flowers. I also finished building the stand/trellis for the mushroom logs. The lads at Backyard Mushrooms said we should lean them up against the shady side of a building, but since we don't really have a good place like that, I rigged this up for them. I guess we'll see how it works.
A lot of things arrived in the mail this week, starting with my seed potatoes from Eagle Creek Farms. Three of the varieties I ordered are new ones I haven't tried before. Sangre is a variety we grew last year with good results and we enjoyed the flavor of them. They have red skin, white flesh and were quite tasty. There are 5kg of each variety. No clue where I'm going to put them; hoping they call about my soil/compost delivery soon! The other varieties are Eramosa, Carlton, and Arizona.
May 17, 2017
On Wednesday, my professional grade weed mat (3' x 300') came, along with this nifty little item. It's called a Hori Hori and it's my new favorite garden tool. This one is made by a company called BlizeTec and it seems to be of very decent quality, especially for only $22 CDN on Amazon. The blade is 6" long and handle probably another 4". The blade is marked in inches and centimeters and one edge of the blade is serrated, making it easy to cut through thick roots and grass. The shape is perfect for weeding as well and it comes with this nice little canvas sheath. I really put it through its paces this week and it appears to be a rugged little tool.
week, fixing up the cinder-block beds. The worst thing about concrete beds is also the best thing about the cinder-block beds...the holes. While the holes are quite lovely to plant herbs or flowers around the vegetable garden in the middle, I don't plant in all of them and in the ones I don't plant in, perennial grasses grow like wildfire. Every year I have to dig the weeds out of them for them to look clean and neat and to keep said weeds from spreading through the garden itself. So this year as I began the process, I started thinking about how to make it leaner and decided I would just fill in 2/3 of the holes with concrete, leaving spaces for herbs and flowers intermittently. It was a big project to dig the holes out and I lugged over 700lbs of concrete over the last week or so, but it looks very clean now.
My sweet potato slips also arrived on Wednesday from Mapple Farm. Too early to plant them, but that's okay since they'll need to be hardened off (set outside gradually until they are used to the wind, heat, cold and direct sun).
I purchased two dozen Carver and Georgia Jet slips and one dozen of the Japanese Yam variety. I unwrapped each and placed them by variety in three jars filled with water until they're ready to plant. I hope we harvest some decent sized ones this year. I'd like to start growing my own slips in the spring to reduce costs.
May 18, 2017
Thursday was a glorious day. The sun was shining and it was finally warm. The garden stores here all opened this week and I'm like a kid in a candy shop in those places. "OOOo...chamomile...ooooo echinacea....oooo raspberries. Yes, I know we have raspberries, but not this kind!" If you garden, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
I got up early and headed off to Mr. Tomato, one of our favorite local spots as soon as they opened. Their main store is located about 40 minutes away, in a little French town called Rogersville. But, they also have a small portable store that they erect in the grocery store parking lot here in town every spring, usually after Mother's Day. The best thing about Mr. Tomato is they are in the middle of transitioning to organic, so everything is pesticide and chemical free. I wandered around their greenhouses for awhile, stopping to smell the petunias for a good 30 seconds and gently rubbing the leaves of all the herbs and smelling them.
I was well behaved this time and only spent about $15 on marigolds. I did start some from seed, but they aren't hardened off yet and I don't have nearly enough, so I thought I'd buy a couple varieties I don't have, so I can save the seed for next year as well.
Once I returned from Mr. Tomato I planted a few flowers and then set to working on the Kent strawberry bed. The runners went a bit crazy last year. There are rogue strawberries that have escaped the garden and are now growing in the mulch in the path. Some even made it all the way to the in-ground garden. I removed a few of them, tossing them aside when it occurred to me what a complete waste that was. So I took the plastic containers that my marigolds came in and started potting up strawberries. Once I filled those there were still so many so I filled a bucket with dirt and tossed another 15 or more in there. I'll see if anyone wants to buy them, if no takers I'll just keep them in buckets until I get a bed built and I'll fill another. It's not like it's possible to have TOO many strawberries.
We went back to Mr. Tomato after Erin got off work and purchased a few more flowers and four trees; one Montmorency cherry, one Liberty apple, one Mont Royal plum and one Summercrisp pear. I'm working out a labor exchange with my son, trading tree-hole digging services for rides to and from work.
May 19, 2017
Friday morning I got up and went straight back to Mr. Tomato as I realized while surveying the trees we purchased the night before, that we had somehow gotten two Summercrisp pear trees and the Montmorency cherry was no where to be seen. I didn't bother taking the second pear tree back, so just went back and grabbed the cherry.
I set to weeding one of the worst beds when I returned. If you haven't heard of horsetail weed, consider yourself lucky. This nasty weed appeared last year and seems to really be making a run to take over. It spreads via spores and rhizomes, making it very invasive. I've done a ton of research on it and the main suggestion on how to treat it is unanimous...Roundup. Yeah, no way that's happening on my farm. So the researching continued until I found one blog post from what seemed to be a fairly seasoned gardener. He advised that horsetail thrives on poor, acidic soils and that if you treat with lime and keep improving the soil as well, they will eventually go away. Until this happens though, you need to snip off any weeds that do come up with scissors, under the soil line an inch or two. Weeds should be placed in a plastic bag, tied up and put in the trash. If you do this regularly, it does seem to keep it under control.
So, we'll treat all the beds with agricultural lime this year in the fall. I'm sure the soil is quite acidic due to the peat content. I'm getting a load of seafood compost in addition to potting soil this year, so I'll be topping off all the beds with a couple inches of compost as well. Hopefully a few years of doing this will help eradicate the horsetail.
During the afternoon we had some friends stop by. I had seen them earlier that morning when picking up the cherry tree and they had asked if I wanted a couple of high-bush blueberry plants. Of course, I said "Sure!" and agreed to give them a home. They were very well established plants and I was very grateful to receive them.
For the rest of the evening I planted flowers and finished filling the cinder-block beds with marigolds, phlox and pansies. I don't know why but I'm always able to get more done after this task is complete. I think it's having something pretty to stop and look at as I'm toiling away.
May 20, 2017
Saturday was another gorgeous day, but unfortunately I didn't get into the garden much on Saturday as we had other things to do. We got up fairly early and went to the Chatham Farmer's Market in search of sushi. The vendor that sells it wasn't there this week, so we came back home sushi-less and enjoyed our coffees instead. I was in and out of the garden a couple of times, but only a few menial tasks accomplished. One bright highlight of the morning is we noticed that the tulips are starting to bloom finally.
Around 2:30 we headed out to Mr. Tomato, but this time to the larger, main location in Rogersville. They have a lot more variety than the little shop they put up in the grocery store parking lot, plus it's a nice drive and it was a lovely day, so worth the extra time. Once we were there we leisurely looked through all the pretty flowers and perennials, walked through the veggie greenhouse and checked the fruit trees out back to see what they had there. After we had wandered around and checked everything out thoroughly, we grabbed a cardboard flat and started filling it with herbs and flowers. I bought two kinds of basil I wasn't growing yet, cilantro, so we'd have some before the ones I plant from seed are ready to harvest and Munstead and Hidcote lavender, since the ones I planted didn't germinate. We also grabbed more violas and Erin bought a sun hat in the gift shop where they have some clothing and other items. All our goodies in hand, we headed back home.
If you've never had a fiddlehead, I'd be willing to bet you're not from New England or Atlantic Canada. They have them in other places, but are the most popular here and in Japan, apparently.
So what on earth is a fiddlehead? Fiddleheads are the young, unfurled leaves of the ostrich fern and where I grew up in Northern Maine, it was both a delicacy and a staple of many families' diets. Fiddleheads are in only in their immature, edible form for about 2 weeks in May in Eastern Canada. Once they start to unfurl they are no longer desirable. In May, for many, the excitement of fiddlehead season is palpable. For some families foraging for them and selling them roadside is a source of extra income. For others, it's a source of food to put up for the winter.
When I was young, my father would take me to the riverbanks where they tend to grow. He knew all the best spots and year after year we would go and gather garbage bags full of fiddleheads. We would go almost every evening after school/work and on weekends for hours. Processing them was a family affair, Mom blanching and freezing them after Dad and I would clean them, admittedly, mostly Dad. He even invented a device to clean large quantities of them at one time that had a hand crank and a hose attachment so you could rinse them at the same time. The one drawback to fiddleheads is that they are a bit of a pain to clean. They have brown "paper skins" on the sides of the ferns that are bitter if not removed. It's a big deal when you find someone selling really nice, clean ones. We usually froze enough each year to have at least a couple times a week during the winter. Erin and I usually buy 10-15 lbs each year and eat about half fresh and freeze the rest for later in the year, if they last that long. Fiddleheads are by far and away, my favorite vegetable.
I guess the next question if you're not familiar with them is "How are they prepared?" Most people either boil or steam them and then eat them with butter and salt, or sometimes a bit of vinegar. Some people can them or pickle them. I tried them sauteed in garlic last night and as much as a I am a believer that garlic makes everything better, I wasn't a huge fan of fiddleheads with it. I guess I'm a fiddlehead purist, I just like them boiled and drained, with lots of salt and vegan butter. Yum! A fully belly of fiddleheads was definitely the best way to end the week!
Thursday was a glorious day. The sun was shining and it was finally warm. The garden stores here all opened this week and I'm like a kid in a candy shop in those places. "OOOo...chamomile...ooooo echinacea....oooo raspberries. Yes, I know we have raspberries, but not this kind!" If you garden, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
 |
| Beautiful day. Raised beds in foreground waiting to be placed once low spots are dried out. |
I got up early and headed off to Mr. Tomato, one of our favorite local spots as soon as they opened. Their main store is located about 40 minutes away, in a little French town called Rogersville. But, they also have a small portable store that they erect in the grocery store parking lot here in town every spring, usually after Mother's Day. The best thing about Mr. Tomato is they are in the middle of transitioning to organic, so everything is pesticide and chemical free. I wandered around their greenhouses for awhile, stopping to smell the petunias for a good 30 seconds and gently rubbing the leaves of all the herbs and smelling them.
I was well behaved this time and only spent about $15 on marigolds. I did start some from seed, but they aren't hardened off yet and I don't have nearly enough, so I thought I'd buy a couple varieties I don't have, so I can save the seed for next year as well.
Once I returned from Mr. Tomato I planted a few flowers and then set to working on the Kent strawberry bed. The runners went a bit crazy last year. There are rogue strawberries that have escaped the garden and are now growing in the mulch in the path. Some even made it all the way to the in-ground garden. I removed a few of them, tossing them aside when it occurred to me what a complete waste that was. So I took the plastic containers that my marigolds came in and started potting up strawberries. Once I filled those there were still so many so I filled a bucket with dirt and tossed another 15 or more in there. I'll see if anyone wants to buy them, if no takers I'll just keep them in buckets until I get a bed built and I'll fill another. It's not like it's possible to have TOO many strawberries.
We went back to Mr. Tomato after Erin got off work and purchased a few more flowers and four trees; one Montmorency cherry, one Liberty apple, one Mont Royal plum and one Summercrisp pear. I'm working out a labor exchange with my son, trading tree-hole digging services for rides to and from work.
May 19, 2017
Friday morning I got up and went straight back to Mr. Tomato as I realized while surveying the trees we purchased the night before, that we had somehow gotten two Summercrisp pear trees and the Montmorency cherry was no where to be seen. I didn't bother taking the second pear tree back, so just went back and grabbed the cherry.
So, we'll treat all the beds with agricultural lime this year in the fall. I'm sure the soil is quite acidic due to the peat content. I'm getting a load of seafood compost in addition to potting soil this year, so I'll be topping off all the beds with a couple inches of compost as well. Hopefully a few years of doing this will help eradicate the horsetail.
During the afternoon we had some friends stop by. I had seen them earlier that morning when picking up the cherry tree and they had asked if I wanted a couple of high-bush blueberry plants. Of course, I said "Sure!" and agreed to give them a home. They were very well established plants and I was very grateful to receive them.
For the rest of the evening I planted flowers and finished filling the cinder-block beds with marigolds, phlox and pansies. I don't know why but I'm always able to get more done after this task is complete. I think it's having something pretty to stop and look at as I'm toiling away.
May 20, 2017
Saturday was another gorgeous day, but unfortunately I didn't get into the garden much on Saturday as we had other things to do. We got up fairly early and went to the Chatham Farmer's Market in search of sushi. The vendor that sells it wasn't there this week, so we came back home sushi-less and enjoyed our coffees instead. I was in and out of the garden a couple of times, but only a few menial tasks accomplished. One bright highlight of the morning is we noticed that the tulips are starting to bloom finally.
 |
| Lover's Blend Tulips |
 |
| Tiny little bee, loaded with pollen from the tulip |
Around 2:30 we headed out to Mr. Tomato, but this time to the larger, main location in Rogersville. They have a lot more variety than the little shop they put up in the grocery store parking lot, plus it's a nice drive and it was a lovely day, so worth the extra time. Once we were there we leisurely looked through all the pretty flowers and perennials, walked through the veggie greenhouse and checked the fruit trees out back to see what they had there. After we had wandered around and checked everything out thoroughly, we grabbed a cardboard flat and started filling it with herbs and flowers. I bought two kinds of basil I wasn't growing yet, cilantro, so we'd have some before the ones I plant from seed are ready to harvest and Munstead and Hidcote lavender, since the ones I planted didn't germinate. We also grabbed more violas and Erin bought a sun hat in the gift shop where they have some clothing and other items. All our goodies in hand, we headed back home.
Once back home, I reluctantly headed out to start up the push-mower. The ride-on is currently out of commission because I hit a rock that had become pushed up above the soil surface, bending the crap out of the blade and making it unusable until we get a new blade on it. Unfortunately, I guess you have to remove the deck of most mowers to do that, and that's beyond my skill level, so push mower it is until we can get that fixed. Took me a couple hours, but I got a great workout and finished the front yard and side lot before I was called in for supper of organic new potatoes, garden-grown asparagus and locally foraged fiddleheads.
If you've never had a fiddlehead, I'd be willing to bet you're not from New England or Atlantic Canada. They have them in other places, but are the most popular here and in Japan, apparently.
So what on earth is a fiddlehead? Fiddleheads are the young, unfurled leaves of the ostrich fern and where I grew up in Northern Maine, it was both a delicacy and a staple of many families' diets. Fiddleheads are in only in their immature, edible form for about 2 weeks in May in Eastern Canada. Once they start to unfurl they are no longer desirable. In May, for many, the excitement of fiddlehead season is palpable. For some families foraging for them and selling them roadside is a source of extra income. For others, it's a source of food to put up for the winter.
When I was young, my father would take me to the riverbanks where they tend to grow. He knew all the best spots and year after year we would go and gather garbage bags full of fiddleheads. We would go almost every evening after school/work and on weekends for hours. Processing them was a family affair, Mom blanching and freezing them after Dad and I would clean them, admittedly, mostly Dad. He even invented a device to clean large quantities of them at one time that had a hand crank and a hose attachment so you could rinse them at the same time. The one drawback to fiddleheads is that they are a bit of a pain to clean. They have brown "paper skins" on the sides of the ferns that are bitter if not removed. It's a big deal when you find someone selling really nice, clean ones. We usually froze enough each year to have at least a couple times a week during the winter. Erin and I usually buy 10-15 lbs each year and eat about half fresh and freeze the rest for later in the year, if they last that long. Fiddleheads are by far and away, my favorite vegetable.
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