garden 2015

Just wanted to document and share some of last year's highlights. Hope this post finds you happy and well! xoxoxo

around here

it's been all yarn and seeds over here lately. i'm trying to finish a bobble blanket for a friend's baby boy born last week as well as master the braided gladiator sandal pattern - after two years, three mess-ups and at least fifteen redo's, i've almost got it!

last year we started our brassica seeds (cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower) indoors under a shop light on february 22nd. since it felt like those plants could have used more time to mature before summer, i'm starting them early. a whole month early in fact. but now i'm wondering if this is too early. we shall see!

i also planted pansies and black-eyed susans. those seeds require stratification, a process of cold, winter treatment to mimic natural outdoor growing conditions, so they're siting in the fridge. yes, there are small pots of soil in my refrigerator, but only for a month!:)

xoxoxo

winter harvest

it's been on my list of things to do: build a small hoop house covered in plastic for a winter garden. we didn't get around to it last year, but we've still got some kale, carrots, arugula, beets, and rutabaga to pick. once the snow comes the greens will most likely die, but the root veggies should be ok underground.



in the spring the hoops can serve as a frame to cover our greens with netting, to keep the moths from laying eggs on the leaves. it's been such a process to use kale from the garden, since each leaf has been covered in bugs. as someone who doesn't like to kill anything, i feel bad when i see drowned caterpillars in my salad spinner. fingers crossed we can keep that situation under control in 2015.



this pretty sweet william perennial has me so excited for spring. don't get me wrong, i'm enjoying winter and the break i'm having from garden work, but it's about that time to start thinking about seeds again.

and look what nick the mailman just brought as i was typing this post...the stars are aligning my friends!:) will you be gardening this year?

xoxoxo

winter pansies



less than three more months til spring, but who's counting? despite the cold winter temperatures, our fall pansies still have blooms. the books are out and i'm drawing up plans for the 2015 garden. planting in the spring is less overwhelming when you plan a little each week or so, and it helps me beat the winter blues, to envision a lush warm green garden bursting with every color of the rainbow. the pansies help too.

 

we've been balancing our unhealthy holiday eating with supplements, juices and smoothies. the delicious smoothie above had banana, mango, celery, frozen cranberries and raspberries, spirulina and chlorella. it really did taste good - you can't go wrong with bananas and raspberries in your smoothie.

 

our goal is to cut way back on processed foods (especially sugar) in 2015. it's going to be tough, but we've done it before. i'm learning the tricks - it's just putting the energy in each day. keep the kitchen stocked with fresh produce, and use it!

 

wishing you health and much happiness in the new year and beyond!!! xoxoxo

garlic, huge zucchini + a monarch butterfly

one morning last week it was a race against the rain as i rushed to get our garlic in the ground. we didn't harvest as much as last year, so for planting i had to supplement with organic cloves from the health food store. this time i planted almost seventy cloves to be sure we have enough to eat, share and replant next year. (fingers crossed the animals don't dig them up!)

 

things are still growing at the community garden. there were some gigantic zucchini in our plot waiting to be picked. that's the last of them, since i had to pull the plants to make room for the garlic. my plans are to grate and cube them, pack them with the foodsaver and freeze them for future raw and cooked breads. also, i picked a rutabaga that already went into a red lentil soup, a beet, a little red pepper, some cherry tomatoes and arugula that popped up on its own this year.

 

a beautiful butterfly kept me company while i was planting the garlic cloves. you'd think butterflies would be scarce now, but i've been seeing a lot of monarchs, and it was october when my niece and i saw all sorts of butterflies in my mom's garden. halloween used to put me in the mood for dead, spooky décor, but now i'll take my colorful plants and butterflies as long as i can!:)

 

summer 2014 highlights

it's a bit late for a summer highlights post, but in my mind the season is still coming to a close. when the garden gets put to bed for the year is when it will really feel like fall, i guess.

this was the first summer our space truly felt like a garden. there was so much out there, and so many things popped up that i didn't even plant! (thanks to self-sowing flowers). we had beginner's luck with kohlrabi, growing enough to preserve for winter, and we finally grew decent cucumbers! finally! only took six tries!:)

many days were spent with my friend's children at the park and we saw so many cute animals. though our patio was finished last summer, this year it felt more complete with the addition of a bistro set and hanging flower pots. little toads came to visit, and john and i enjoyed relaxing out there, playing rummy 500, a card game our grandmothers taught us both when we were kids.=)

the herb garden flourished on its own and i dried so much that i don't think i'll be needing to buy seasonings or tea for a while! lemon balm, red clover, parsley, rosemary, pineapple sage, thyme, oregano, basil, spearmint, plantain, coriander, dandelion, goldenrod and i even managed to cut a little catnip before kati and the neighborhood cats ate the whole plant, again.

that's what happened the last time i planted catnip. i tried being sneaky but kati found me. she ate most of the the plant within a day but since then i've seen little green leaves coming up. hopefully third time's a charm with the catnip!

in the fall garden

sunset is a magical time in the october garden, as the sun casts the last of its warm golden rays. what started as just taking pictures of a dead fig tree branch turned into a little fall photoshoot. 

(we're checking with a friend to see where we should cut the tree and to get his expert opinion on what looks like a little disease on some neighboring branches. i'll spare you those ugly pictures, and though these pictures are a bit on the blurry side, i still hope you enjoy!:)

 

xoxoxo

garden harvest white bean wraps

posts two days in a row? i know, i can hardly believe it myself!

inspired by this recipe, i made us deliciously fresh wraps with creamy avocado and white bean dip stuffed with some garden pickings, button mushrooms and homemade raw sauerkraut.

the greens are rainbow swiss chard and arugula seedlings thinned from fall plants we started a few weeks ago. the arugula seeds were saved from last year and the sprouts are so good!

the whole wheat wraps were made by yours truly, well, with some help. i couldn't get the dough rolled out so the italian stallion came to my rescue. you do it like-a this! he said, like i used to help-a my ma make-a stromboli! haha, i added the accent but he really did say that. cutie.

the wrap was so filling i had to put the other half away for tomorrow. work days are much better when you have yummy leftovers waiting for lunch, wouldn't you agree?

xoxoxo

junie bloom

garden snippets

1 // nasturtium. can't even tell you how happy i am that after five years of trying, i've finally got a nasturtium bloom! the flowers are edible and they make a great companion plant in the garden, deterring aphids and cucumber beetles.

2 // goldenrod. these babies didn't do much for me the past two summers i tried to grow them. i really want to harvest the leaves to make tea, which is very good for the kidneys. last summer a few grew and managed some measly blooms, but i guess it was enough because this year we've got tons growing in the garden! gotta love self-sowing flowers.

3 // lettuce has been hit or miss in our garden (mostly miss) but this spring it took off! i think it's all about getting the lettuce in the ground as early as you can and keeping the plants well mulched. (it also doesn't hurt to have a nice friend with a master gardener mom sharing some of her plants!)

4 // volunteer lettuce/lavender/red leaf amaranth/compost bin gardening // one of the drawbacks of our raised garden beds is the wood is decomposing and the boxes are falling apart. last year i took some leftover brick from our patio project and made a little bed to hold a lavender i had purchased from a farmer's market. (the last three plants i had in my garden died from over-watering most likely) that beautiful lettuce popped up on its own and i didn't have the heart to pluck it. plus i thought it would have enough space to grow nicely and though it was sort of out of place, i left it.

little red leaf amaranth plants are so cute! and they grow so nicely! since i was out of space, i grew some in pots and then transplanted them after i pulled the radish and added a healthy dose of compost to the soil. speaking of, see the squash growing from the compost bin? it's really flourishing in there, producing vines and blossoms! i wonder what kind of squash it is...

5 // calendula about to open. this was another volunteer plant!

6 // and more volunteers! there are cosmos, sunflowers and even red amaranth popping up alongside the house! john is carefully mowing around them so we should have some wild looking blooms in our yard come mid-summer! this is my sixth year of gardening and it feels like all my hard work is finally paying off when i see things like this! ♡

7 // kati in the butterfly garden. frustrated with the lack of space for flowers, john and i decided to just start ripping up grass weeds in the middle of the yard and called it a butterfly garden. it's a patch of brown that looks sort of ugly until all the flowers bloom and it becomes a 10 foot high by ten foot long paradise for the kati cakes. it's where we usually find her napping during the dog days of summer, shaded by the big sunflower and amaranth blooms. the little sweetie's already been hanging out in there, doing her business and all! better there than in the veggie garden!

wishing you all a wonderful growing season full of pretty plants and lots of sunshine!
(but not too much. wish you also a healthy dose of rainfall too.=)

xoxoxo