Planting

It may only be Spring in the calendar sense at the moment, but oh, we can feel it coming....

Spring Thoughts

Spring is not so far off.  There may be snow on the ground outside, but what better time to force some bulbs and plant a bit of grass?  We thought that our little man might enjoy watching some plants grow...who knows if he's had that opportunity before...and on day two they are already popping up.  Hooray for quick growing plants!  We planted a few in water beads as well, just as an experiment, and they also appear to be quite happy.  I am ready for Spring flowers, how about you?!

Garden Journal #9

Violet's garden in October

Cleaning up

Planting bulbs

Summer in a bowl!

Surprise pumpkin!

The gourd vine was VERY happy 

The garden has nearly come to an end this year.  We had a pretty decent crop...and really enjoyed how involved the kids were this year.  Had no problems going fence-less.  The watering system was handy, but it didn't seem to water the beds very evenly, nor did we use the water from the rain barrel as much as in past years.  Back to the drawing board for some revisions.  The only total failure was the broccoli.  The pepper plants we planted from seed never yielded anything, but the ones we bought as plants did great.  Next year I want to plant the herbs right into the ground so I don't have to remember to water them separately...they didn't do well, through no fault of their own!  The strawberries managed a few little ripe berries, but not a ton.  The biggest surprises of the year were the pumpkin and gourds that magically appeared...likely seeded from the ones we chucked into the compost last year.  So our front yard has a nice little fall decoration, and we have a jack-o-lantern waiting to be carved.  

Violet's garden has been tilled and we planted a bunch of bulbs and flower seeds...in conjunction with reading Miss Rumphius.  Hopefully Spring will bring us beautiful tulips, daffs, iris and crocus (though I did see a squirrel having a little snack of bulbs out there before we covered the bed with leaf mulch).  We may even get some lupine from the seeds we scattered.  Time will tell!

We are still getting a few red tomatoes from the vines, kale, and we haven't yet harvested our carrots or beets.  Our neighbors took down a huge tree in their backyard, so next year our garden will have a lot more sun- yea!  I am not usually pro tree cutting, but this was not a particularly nice tree- it just dropped millions on leaves on our yard starting in about July.  It is always fun to look ahead to what next year will bring...before we're even done enjoying the veggies from this year!  As always, Matt will spend the winter dreaming up new irrigation systems...but he promised he won't make us move any more garden beds next year :)  Happy Fall!

Apple Tree Success!

Apple trees planted May 2011

First harvest, September 2012

In May of 2011 we planted two baby apple trees in our yard.  We somewhat diligently watered them and lo and behold, this year...only their second summer in the ground...they bore apples!  Woo hoo!  The Handley orchard is up and running.  Interestingly, our trees are grafted, so we get three different varieties of apple on each tree- Fuji, Gala and Yellow Delicious.  Only the Gala branches produced this year.

Here are a few pictures from our "harvest" of four apples.  Not a ton, but we didn't expect to get any this year, so four was a real treat.  There was enough for the whole family to share a snack of apple slices with peanut butter.  Yum!

What family pictures really look like

Can you spot the apple?

Apple!!!

Our bountiful harvest

 

Pickles

I have a pickle-loving daughter.  She would eat a whole jar in one sitting if we'd let her.  So she has been anxiously awaiting the growth of our pickling cucumbers.  Finally, they are ready to be picked and processed.  Here is a little tutorial on how we make our pickles.  We took a few recipes and adjusted them for what we had on hand.  

Dill Refrigerator Pickles

You need:

6 pickling cucumbers

fresh dill

3 garlic cloves

1 quart vinegar

2 1/2 TBL kosher salt

2 1/2 TBL sugar

pickling spices

3 quart-sized jars, sanitized

Directions:

Pick and wash the cucumbers

Slice them into spears

Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water, let them sit for 3 hours

Drain the pickles, rinse, then drain again

Into each sanitized jar put 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 TBL pickling spices, several sprigs of fresh dill, and the cucumber spears

Boil together 6 cups of vinegar, salt and sugar.  Pour over the cucumbers, top off with remaining vinegar.  Secure lids, shake to distribute spices and refrigerate for 7-21 days before eating.  These last in the fridge for up to 2 months.  Enjoy!! 

A New Favorite Dressing

So when you grow a bunch of red chilis in your garden, what do you DO with them when they flourish?? Make vinaigrette to go on all the other garden goodies. Here is a new recipe we figured out that we really like. Beware...if you let the dressing sit before serving it, it gets a lot spicier.

Red Chili Vinaigrette 


Whisk together: 
1 TBL soy sauce 
1 TBL olive oil 
1 TBL honey 
1 TBL white wine vinegar 
1 TBL lime juice 
1/2 to 1 chopped red chili pepper (with or without seeds...you choose) 


 Enjoy!

Weekend Garden Journal #8- Birthday Edition

Nothing makes a garden grow like leaving on vacation.  Thanks to the Handleys senior for watering our garden for us!  This is a summary of the past few weeks.

First peas!!  The pea season is over now- it was short but sweet.  We are thinking of pulling down these plants now and planting a second crop for the year.  

The nasturtiums are going crazy!  So beautiful, and a nice, spicy taste.

A lot of chard...enough said.

As of June 29th we have a TON of green tomatoes, lots of blossoms on our zucchini and cukes, a wonderful blend of lettuce types and jalapenos and banana peppers ready to eat.  The broccoli is all gone to seed...guess we should have started new plants.  The spinach is also going to seed...not sure what we did wrong or how to prune it to get big leaves.

Happy birthday Daddy!  Violet made Matt a birthday salad- the first of the season.

Peanutbutter Cup Birthday Bars

Beer can chicken on the grill

Some assistance blowing out the candles

Looking pretty good on his 29th birthday!

Matt on a roof.  What should you do the night before you leave on a week long camping trip?  Why, pick and pit a bazillion cherries, of course.  We thought the frost had killed them all, so we were excited to get any.

It takes a LONG time to pit 12 cups of cherries...but so worth it!

Nothing much more beautiful

Mud Pie Kitchen

Few things are more fun than good old-fashioned mud pies.  We decided to make a mud pie kitchen in our back yard.  We took an old wooden plant stand and set it on top of two empty planters to make a counter (Violet tells me the space underneath is the oven).  We added some old, scratched up, but REAL pans from Great Gramma and Grampa, and lots of REAL utensils...the tongs being by far the favorite.  Sand from the sandbox, rocks from the patio, shells, dirt from the garden, water from the hose...what else could a kid need?!

Weekend Garden Journal #7

With lots of rain and heat, the growing has begun in earnest.  We have been watering, weeding and thinning (Sigh.  We are trying to be more ruthless, but there is something awful about thinning out baby plants...definitely not our strong suit!)  Here is a sampling of what's up (pun intended!).

Spinach and lettuce thinned, carrots just beginning and broccoli towering in the back

 

Tomatoes starting to flower in the back, peppers begging to flower on the left side, and a million baby maple trees.  If you look carefully you can see some banana peppers!

The pole beans are starting to climb, and the zucchini and cucumbers are beginning to pop up out of the mounds

Violet's garden is happy!

The peas have almost reached the top of the railing!

Her tomato is flowering.

The nasturtiums are such a beautiful shape

We can't remember exactly what this is...did we plant beets and Swiss chard that happen to look alike, or did we really plant THAT MUCH CHARD?  AGAIN?  Oh dear...

We are fighting a battle against the million maple seeds that are trying to establish a forest in our nice, rich compost soil.  Ugh.  Next year we are going to till the beds and then cover them during the initial seed-drop.  This year we just helped them out by tilling them in and watering them. LOTS of weeding.  Lesson learned.