Last April I posted about my new mini-greenhouse that we purchased to use as a cold frame to extend the harvest as far into winter as we could. While we planted some lettuce in the greenhouse this past spring, I wouldn’t really consider that pushing the harvest envelope as April is not that early to… Read more »
Geranium Rozanne – Long, Long, Blooms
Enjoyed a beautiful early fall day today — lot’s of sunshine and not too hot to work in the garden. I spent the morning deadheading and cleaning up those late summer perennial favourites including several bunches of Echinacea purpurea ‘Kim’s Knee High’, Rudbeckia and the many daylilies I have scattered throughout the garden. While doing… Read more »
Oh dear, deer!
We have seen an increase in deer damage along our back gardens over the last few weeks. Deer move most often and for the greatest distances during spring and fall. In late spring, does travel in search of fawning sites, yearlings explore their territory often with less fear than adult deer. Travel increases in fall… Read more »
Growing Pulses aka Soup Beans
Anyone following this blog knows I always have something new on the go. This year we are experimenting with growing pulses or soup beans. Unfortunately, our bean garden has had a tough go of it. A late start this spring (due to an unusually cold and wet spring) followed by stunted growth as a result… Read more »
Wild Turkey Anyone?
The feathered kind, not the drinking kind. Now that our landscape is maturing, we are seeing an increase in the amount and variety of wild life directly in our back yard. While we could often hear Wild Turkey calls, this has been the first year we have seen them wondering our lawn. The turkey is… Read more »
Slight Relief In August
While August was still slightly warmer than normal there was a little relief from the intense heat and dry weather of July. Our average high in August was 26.5C just slightly above normal (25.1C). Rains in late July and early August helped bring back lawns and sustained the gardens. We averaged 77.8mm of rain in… Read more »
How To Grow Longer Beans
It has been a tough year for us green beans wise. We had a very cold and wet spring and our new second garden was not quite ready, delaying our first planting. And, since our new garden was not fenced in like our first garden, the rabbits and deer decided to eat our young sprouts… Read more »
A Hot Dry July
It was certainly a great summer to enjoy a backyard pool – hot, dry and sunny. July started out warm and just kept getting warmer. Temperatures were mostly above normal the entire month with little reprieve in the evenings. We experienced an unbelievable 13 days with temperatures over 30C, and that was before factoring in… Read more »
Perfect French Fries
Having grown our own potatoes for the last three years we of course make our own french fries. I’ve discovered three secrets to making the best french fries: Cut the fries the same size — we like ours about 1/4 inch in size, the longer the better. Soak the cut fries in ice cold water… Read more »
Harvesting, Drying and Storing Garlic
Look out all you vampires it’s garlic season! I harvested our garlic crop on July 27 this year. When to harvest garlic is a judgment call. Pick your garlic too early and the the bulbs will be too small and the cloves will be unformed. Too late and there will not be enough protective layers… Read more »