June update

Peppers & Onions

Kale & Cabbage

 

Broccoli with a few drops

 

Growing cabbage

 

Growing Beets

 Peas

growth

Our garden is growing.

We were not so successful with our spinach seeds, but we have planted some more, and will update when we (hopefully) see the plants sprouting through the earth.

Each and every plant is growing at its own pace - it is quite amazing to see how the potatoes grow so much over night, while the tomato plants are slowly gaining strength each day to stand tall in the sunshine.

Vegetable gardens truly are amazing.

Some photos to show the progress these tiny seeds and plants have made:

 (heirloom tomatoes)

 (Corn)

 (Cherry Tomato)

 (Cayenne peppers)

 (cabbages)

 (Lavendar)

 (onions)

 (A pepper and onions sharing a small space)

(Russian Blue potatoes)

Dirt

It is the second week of May and I decided it was about time to start writing again.  I took some time over the winter months to do other things - besides, I didn't have too much to say about our garden in January.

Last Sunday, Dan and I spent time in the dirt.  We put tiny little seeds into the ground, hoping, as we laid each one, that they will sprout and provide us with delicious vegetables.  I must admit, I have been feeling a bit more nervous this year.  Last year we really just went for it - planted tons of stuff, not really knowing what to expect.  We were totally (and pleasantly) surprised.  Now, knowing what can be, I am just a bit nervous.  Were we gentle enough with the teeny tiny seeds?  Did we plant too soon?  Is our garden layout just right?  Are the squirrels going to dig up all of our onions? 

As I was leaving for work this morning, thinking about some of these questions, and quite honestly, fretting, I stopped, just for a moment and took in our little stakes indicating what we have planted and I felt really excited - not nervous. I felt excited for what's to come - even if the squirrels get away with some onions and we find that we did mess up along the way - it's all part of it and I am really excited.

We're posting this around the garden for 

all of the weeds to see.

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa Salad

2 cups Quinoa

2 medium beets, grated

1 red pepper, diced

a few green onions, chopped

1/2 cup raw organic sunflower seeds

Feta cheese, crumbled 

2 lemons

2 limes

cook quinoa and add sliced lemons and limes while it cools down. Squeeze lemon and lime juice on the cooling quinoa.  When it has cooled down, add the grated beets, red pepper, sunflower seeds, and feta cheese.  You might want to squeeze more lemon/lime juice on the quinoa, depending on your tastes 

Enjoy.

Red August

mid August goods

crushing tomatoes for sauce

garden sauce: 

tomatoes, onions, hot peppers, green peppers and red peppers

 family visit - picking vegetables

peaches [nothing quite like them]

There is nothing quite like a freshly picked Ontario peach.

You think the fruit can't get any more beautiful, with its fuzzy gorgeous skin - that is until you slice into it.  The colour on the inside of a peach is so gorgeous, you stop for just a moment before popping the slice into your mouth.

There are numerous varieties of peaches, and right now in Ontario we are enjoying many of the semi-freestone varieties. The ones I brought home from the market last week are Garnet Beauty.  They are delicious.  I am also a huge fan of White Lady peaches, a variety of white peaches. I discovered these last summer working with Bizjak Farms at the markets.  One of the many joys of working at Farmers Markets during the last months of summer is the sheer joy the site peaches bring children and adults alike. Children can hardly contain themselves at the site of peaches (even less so than with strawberries in June).

I don't know what it is about peaches, but this fruit seems to trump all else.

Late Wednesday night Daniel and I finally got around to turning our fresh peaches into jam.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend a late night during the middle of the week. We can now enjoy peach jam all year (or, until it runs out / we give it away!).  The good news, peaches are in season until the end of September, so we can make enough jam to last us all winter (and with extra to give away).

our finished jam

enjoying our jam at breakfast the next morning

weeding & pulling

This morning Daniel and I decided to spend some time caring for our garden.  It's been raining quite a bit the past couple of days, so the soil was moist and weeds were easily removed.  It was a bit of a sad morning in our garden today as we had to pull the remaining lettuce that had gone bitter and face the seven tiny red peppers that had turned rotten.  We have also noticed that a few tomatoes are rotting from the bottom while still on the plant.  We have no idea what this could be.  The tomatoes aren't touching the ground, and look completely fine except for the bottom part.  It's a mystery to us.

We also cleaned up our zucchini plants, which are growing into our potato plants.  We had to pull a few of them, to give the others room to blossom.  I was feeling a little worried about the progress of our zucchini plants, but they are still flowering, so maybe they just need more time and my patience.    

After all of the weeding and pulling and re-organizing, we made a pleasant discovery - a huge zucchini that was just waiting to be picked.  

So, I'm thinking now, that maybe I shouldn't feel sad about the lettuce and the rotten tiny red peppers, but instead, enjoy the zucchini that grew for us and accept the fatalities of the garden and learn for next season.   

a hot pepper with tomatoes growing in the background 

(also, my camera string, but I like the photo anyways!)

some of our tomatoes are starting to rot from the bottom... any ideas?

this photo is a bit misleading, I'm certainly not happy about composting 

our remaining lettuce, but smiling felt better than frowning

what's left of our lettuce crop. We couldn't pull ALL of it.

our bright discovery this morning 

if you look closely, you can see a tiny red bug making it's way down the stem

zucchini plants gone wild

beautiful zucchini flower