The rewards are so sweet ~

A gardeners hands.

Entertained by natures gift.

Hereupon a feast.

Haiku by: Laura Scott

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

There’s a Snail enjoying my Carrots…

Today was such a nice warm day, but not too hot at all. So, I decided the lawn could use a little mowing with my electric lawnmower. I must say that I love not having to pull on a cord to fire up the mower, or need gas and oil to keep it running.

But, I got side tracked very quickly by the sad state of my storage shed. I noticed I had plastic buckets in there from years ago, piled up almost to the top along with my shovels and spading fork. So, what’s a gal to do? She proceeds to yank out the mower and get down and dirty cleaning out the storage shed. I thought about taking a before and after picture for this post, but no way was anyone else seeing the sad state of affairs it was in.

I mowed the lawn and sat down afterward on the birch stump to rest and look at my permaculture bed for a spell…In need of a cool drink of water I went indoors to fetch my water bottle (The bottle from Hell I call it…) and returned with my camera in tow as well. I clicked a few pictures and returned the camera to the house before continuing.

With everything garden put away in my now newly cleaned storage shed (It’s Rubbermaid and I love it) This shed came with the house I bought in Ohio back in 1999, and it came back with me in February of 2000. Long personal story I’ll not go into….

I went back inside to check out the pictures just in case I needed to make do overs on some. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I noticed one of the carrots in the ground looking odd. Upon, inspection with the zoom in tool in Photo Shop I noticed a small blackish snail just eating away as if there were no tomorrow. Below is a picture of said bandit…

So, I grabbed my little wicker basket and some gloves to pull out a few carrots and find the snail a new home far from the permaculture bed. Hum…Upon returning the snail had gone or at least I couldn’t see it without a zoom of the camera.. It just all looked like dirt and veggies in there….

I harvested a few carrots and looked at my cherry tomato plants growing in the bed. They have not been affected at all by the drought, massive rains we’ve been getting for two weeks, or the cool down at night into the single digits. I’m amazed at how well this permaculture bed has preformed this year.

The bed retained enough water during the drought to keep everything growing happily. With the down-pouring of rain as of late it drains off beautifully. The nights have been also getting very cold and the mornings too, but this magical permaculture bed appears to retain the heat from the day to protect the plants roots and stems.

The warm temps at this time of year is unusual for us here in Northern Ontario, Canada and I’ve never had my tomato plants to last this long into the season with Fall announcing its self today September 22nd…

I suppose I’ve finally found out how to garden in this climate, and the good thing about the permaculture beds is that they will last 20 years. They are a bit of work in the beginning, but the rewards are so much greater than a day or two of sweating putting it all together, Lasagna Style ~ Layering components…

So, with my carrots in the little basket, I moved on to the other permaculture bed where I have two type of Swiss Chard growing and Green onions.

I picked some of the Swiss Chard and two huge green onions and went back to the upper level of the deck where the scarlet runner beans climbed like good little beans all the way up to the top railing. (I placed string from the bottom to the top railing hoping to train them up so harvesting would be a breeze..) I harvested a lot of runner beans and placed them into the basket feeling all was well with my day today. I just wish the rest of the world could be at peace too.

I could see Au Gratin in my future, with one sweet potato, a few small white potatoes, Swiss Chard, Green Onions, Cheddar cheese, all layered into a casserole dish. It’s baking right now and it smells amazingly good. I can’t wait for dinner tonight, along with steamed beans and carrots. Life is good, and I am worn out so I bid you all adieu…

 

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

Dreaming of Carrot seeds ~ A gardeners 2 year journey…

Have you ever been surprised while in your garden in springtime? I think each new gardening season never fails to shock and surprise the dickens outta me. You see I’m the hit or miss gardener of sorts. I know just a little ~ enough to get those seeds in the ground and usually spend most of my time fighting off the critters that appear to think I’ve rang the loudest dinner bell.

For me it’s not always the outcome, but rather the journey to arrive into Fall and the glorious bounty at harvest time  ~ that is if I’m lucky enough to have anything left to eat. I have a short video about my journey with the beautiful carrots that always seem to brighten up any plate at dinner time.

I find it’s always nice to learn about vegetables, critters, and nature at its best. So, pull up a chair and sit a spell as I tell you about my 2 year journey toward the beloved Carrot Seeds…

Thank you so much for watching ~ I am blessed to have you all as WordPress followers and friends…

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

Second Potato Harvest ~ Container Gardening…

This second potato harvest on August 30th 2016 was going to produce a smaller yield than the first harvest where I had planted potatoes in a much larger container. But, since this was a trial with the different sizes of containers used for planting and not using the compost tea like I did last year. So, without further adieu… Drum roll, please…

This time I used an empty plastic tote to dump the soil into and then my hunt began for spuds

The thing is when your hunting for those tasty, glorious rounds of potatoes you’re going to run across the parent potato in there too. If, you’re lucky it would have already began to decompose and will have flattened as if a balloon was poked with a pin.. But,……

Oh no this container had other plans for me, which is why on this day I was ever so happy with my latex gloves.. I found one of the parent potatoes all slimy and I wanted to run off screaming to the hills.

But, since I gave up running ~ unless in case of a fire…I said a big old Southern ~ Yuck!  And continued on looking for my spuds..

This is a stunt box, not the box the spuds were in.. sadly to say..

Plus I felt the need to play around in photo shop …

Not as many potatoes in this second container but nice looking spuds just the same and also a handful of fingerling potatoes too.. Next year I’m going for larger yields now that I’ve played around with growing in containers. There’s going to be some woodworking involved for this next years project in the garden growing potatoes.

I’m already sketching out the design I want to use, because it might as well be pretty along with functional…

Any ideas out there? On what I should build for growing my spuds next year…..

If, I use your ideas or incorporate some of your ideas into my design I’ll give you a big heads up on my post with your blog address too.

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

Decapitation in the Garden

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about the sunflowers that grew on the front edge of my permaculture bed number one. The seeds from last year must have over wintered in the ground and gave me a lovely beautiful surprise this past spring.

I enjoy many  mornings sitting on my iron chair watching these beautiful flowers and sipping my first coffee listening to all of the birds chirping their morning songs. All was good with my days for weeks and weeks, until this strange particular day …

I sat out there as usual with my clippers in my right hand as I was going to cut off the biggest flower head since all of the yellow was gone leaving just the seeds ripening on the stem. I examined the head carefully, and then something horrible happened…

I managed to become sidetracked by the other permaculture bed and the little gifts scattered in the yard from my pup. I cleaned up the yard and took a look at my first years asparagus growing nicely in its spot. Went inside to refill my coffee cup and remembered today was the day to make a quick trip to the bookstore as I had a coupon worth $10.00 to use on a few new books.

I replaced the clippers in their spot indoors, looking back at the sunflower head that needed to be taken inside for the winter months. Thinking I’d be back within thirty minutes to cut the flower head off and inspect the other two that were merely days away from the same outcome.

To my joy there were two books on the clearance bin in the book store, each for five dollars. I noticed a pair of ear plugs I needed as well. All in all it was a glorious morning so far and back home with me I drove…

I grabbed the clippers and a little wicker basket I use for collecting my beans and the like and went down the stairs on this bright sunny day. I placed the basket on the little green plastic table I have on the lower landing of my deck, sat and turned around to clip off the head.

But, there was a disastrous void where my beauties had grown. “What in the world!” I almost yelled out. Well, I did kind of yell that out… I must not lie to you my dear friends. All of my happy zen of the morning came crashing to an abrupt halt as if I’d been harmed in a strange sort of way.

I should have listened to my gut early this morning when I first had those clippers in my right hand and not become distracted by permaculture garden bed number four…I must admit I’m usually quite good at listening to what my gut is trying to tell me and the outcome is pretty good most times, but not today….

Within one hour something had made a 11 to 12 noon visit to my garden and chopped off the three heads of the biggest sunflowers. To add insult to injury they stayed there with my pup inside of the house and ate all three of the heads. The evidence was clear upon closer inspection of the ground just below the sunflowers. Tiny pieces of the back side of each head lay in the dirt. The only evidence that beautiful flowers were once there.

The culprit did however leave me with about 10 seeds that were still intact, which I brought inside of the house for next year. I cut the remaining stems back to about 3 inches from ground level because it was so disheartening to see this damage.

Early this morning before I went outside the weather channel said it was very chilly, I needed my jacket and socks on my feet for my morning stroll through the garden. Perhaps, that is why my gut was telling me to cut off the head of the sunflower. When the weather changes like that from hot and humid to really cold morning the critters get a jump start on preparing for winter.

I find myself watching their behavior each August as this tells me just how many more warm days we will have until the weather takes a dive into our beautiful Fall. The leaves are beginning to change for the past two weeks, slight at best but changing just the same. Yet, another clue my gut this morning was trying to tell me.

So, if you want to know just when the cooler temps will arrive to your place on this earth, just watch how the animals behave and believe me there are clues there.

I put the tall potato wire cage around my deck tomatoes as they are getting big, but not turning yellow to red yet. I may have to begin covering them at night in a few weeks with this weather beginning to change ever so slightly, or else risk loosing them all together. Did you know you can also pick the green tomatoes and place on a kitchen counter to ripen if your weather at night turns from just right to down right cold….

If, the sudden decapitation of my sunflowers was not enough to completely ruin my day I moved on to the 1st planting of my potatoes in containers. I have two planters with potatoes planted and the third planter with sweet potatoes not due until the end of August and the end of September. So, to distract my sadness about the flowers I might as well see if any potatoes grew from the two store bought tiny spuds that had sprouted in the bag. I really wasn’t too concerned with how many because it’s a medium size planter. Plus I was running another test on growing potatoes.

Last year I took one store bought potato and plopped it into the dirt with compost. Watered it when dry with Compost Tea. You take a big container, fill with water, and take a few handfuls of compost from your bin and mix together ~ wait a few days and water with this instead of plain water. So, last year one potato went into the dirt and a dozen came out..

This year I planted three different types of potatoes, spaced the time I planted them and didn’t use the compost tea this year ~ just the rain water from the barrels. The results tell me the compost tea worked like a charm..

September 22nd Potato Harvest

82 days from planting to harvest

Since I wanted to empty the container while on the deck I needed a well used tarp… complete with deck stain that didn’t work very well on the deck boards… The very first rain the stain bubbled and began to peel..

Once I removed the wire cage that worked wonders protecting the vines from the winds, and the critters wanting to take bites out of the potatoes. Also, not one slug in the container either… win….

I cut off the vines before flipping over the planter. At this point I was going to be happy with just a few potatoes. Anything to lighten up my day after the sunflower episode….

It’s time to get in there and see what I can find.. I just love this part no matter the results.. For me any good reason to get into the dirt is a good one.. But, just in case there are creepy crawlers in there I grabbed some gloves…

Join me why don’t you …..

I’m happy I let the soil dry out, before attempting this maneuver…

Hum…I remember putting much more dirt and compost in here…..

Aw…what a cute little mound of dirt complete with impressions of the drainage holes… do you think there are spuds in that there dirt…..?

Are  you excited yet? I know I was….

I sure hope these potatoes are bigger than the first one here…

I hope that the others are at least bigger than this one.. But, a cute little potato just the same..

Ready, set, go .. Let’s get serious with this mound of dirt.. Where are you baking potatoes?

Alright then … now we are harvesting and making this gardener happy…..

Another one, now I’m smiling….

Pretty fine looking roots these spuds had….

I wonder how many potatoes went into this small box? Remember I didn’t use the compost tea this year, hint… I should have…

The sad fact was they didn’t even cover the bottom of the small box. I could say big old Fat Fail, but I won’t… These potatoes were sprouting in the bag from the grocery store in early spring and I didn’t put them in a place where they could really get going. Next year I’ll be building a structure where you keep adding boards as the vines grow. I’ll just add another 4 boards and fill with more compost… and repeat… Since, I have lots of spare wood in the garage left over from woodworking projects.

I still have container number 2 to harvest soon and then container number 3 the end of September. Soon, it will be time to put the garden to rest for the changing seasons coming soon… But the beets, and carrots, Swiss Chard are still going strong and should be great as we move closer to Fall…. Oh and the tomatoes.. next year I’ll plant the cherry tomatoes again as they grow faster than the larger versions.. and yield all summer long.. I’m still waiting on the trial tomatoes to finish growing.. The rest of this week is suppose to be hot again, so that should help…

If, you made it to the end of this post I hope you had a coffee, or tea near by and perhaps a sandwich and a piece of fruit.. This day for me has had its ups and downs, so I’m heading to bed now and close this day ~August 22nd 2016 with a book by Stephen King ~ Revival… I’m almost finished with this and will begin my new book that I got free with my 10 dollar coupon ~ Season of the Dragonflies by: Sarah Creech

Night, ya’ll

or Good Morning since this is posting at 7 a.m.

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

Fall is around the corner ~ Really? Just call me the female version of Mcgyver…

September 22nd marks the first day of Autumn and that’s a mere 40 days away from today. Where did the summer go? I ponder…

The heat warnings have been rampant for two months and my rain barrels have almost been emptied. Thank heavens for a dehumidifier that offers up buckets of water to use on the plants along with my trusty dish rinse water I collect to use as well.

My Fall Swiss Chard is growing beautifully even in these dry hot temperatures with the aid of my homemade shade cloth to protect the tender leaves. I put back into action the small old umbrella over my dill, parsley, and cilantro to protect them as well as allow the soil not to dry out as much…

My routine is to water very early in the morning and then again around 3 in the afternoon. The soil is bone dry at this time and the plants will suffer if left until the next morning.

My little watering can I use for the Swiss Chard and the herbs would pour too fast, so I took two Popsicle sticks and shoved those into the pouring spout. Now the water trickles out so as not to get the leaves wet during watering.. Oh boy...Just call me Macgyver…

MacGyver is a top agent for the Phoenix Foundation, a progressive agency devoted to righting the wrongs of the world. Even more progressive is the genius MacGyver, who never carries a gun and always thwarts the enemy with vast scientific knowledge – sometimes with little more than a paper clip and the duct tape in his pocket.

First episode date: September 29, 1985

Final episode date: May 21, 1992

Theme song: MacGyver Theme

Executive producers: Henry Winkler, John Rich, John Mantley

I also seeded some more radishes for a Fall crop in hopes that the warm temps will carry over into October. Once the seedlings are up they only take about a month ~ if the chipmunks don’t get them… I should have plenty of time since they do enjoy cooler temperatures and might just plant another row in two weeks…

The multiplying onions are growing nicely out in the permaculture bed and as of yesterday I harvested a few for a Gluten Free Chicken pizza for my son. I tweaked the recipe a little bit and will post about it tomorrow ~ I hope with some really good pictures to show you. I also used my pizza cooker to cook the shell base and this worked like a charm..

I’ll show you that as well tomorrow…Needless to say my son thought he’d have to give up pizza because making the pizza shell base was looking impossible for me.. But, I never say never and put my years of cooking to work to figure this challenge out…

Remember my telling you about trying something I found on the inter-webs… You take one small slice off a store bought tomato and plop in some dirt…

Well I had over 40 or more plants pop up from that one slice..

Here is one I added to my permaculture bed.. I believe the store bought tomato was a determinate variety…

That means once it sets the flower it will not grow any taller and set more flowers… Last year I planted some cherry tomatoes from store bought package of seeds and that was an indeterminate variety and it grew and grew and set flowers one right after the other. Until, the frost smacked it in the face and took it out for the Fall season…

That’s my progress so far, Happy Farming to ya

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

Bounty

Have a marvelous Saturday…

Haiku by: Laura Scott

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

It feels like 99 F with the humidity

What’s happening?

I’m in Northern Ontario, Canada

Mercy me it’s HOT!

But, my beauty of a sunflower is just loving these balmy temperatures of the dog days of summer.

I am loving how my scarlet runner beans are climbing from the permaculture bed just below the deck to the upper railing showing off their beautiful red flowers. I should have humming birds fluttering around in no time at all…

My sweet potato is thriving in this hot weather and looking quite beautiful. I’ve never grown sweet potatoes before, but wanted to admire the pretty purplish leaves growing on this plant…

My homemade Trug garden bed on the deck is proving to be a winner for me as well.. My chives, green onions, ginger and parsley are growing great this year as are the flowers on each end of the box.. My white potatoes to the left of the garden trug in a brown planter box is also growing huge and I expect to have a bounty at harvest time between the two planters containing the white potatoes.. Just have to wait until the stems turn brown ~ signaling it’s time to harvest… I’ve noticed the bottom leaves beginning to turn a tad yellow so perhaps the time is nearing.. But, I think around the end of August will be the magic time to see just how many spuds I’ll have..

With our chilly beginning to the planting season most things are not ready until the end of August or the middle of September. I have tomatoes growing nicely from my little experiment of taking one slice off a store bought tomato and plopping it in some dirt and compost.. I’m very please with the results these many tomato plants have given me so far…

Sorry the print is so small.. but,

it says, Even thistle can be beautiful as

long as it’s in the neighbors yard…..

Until next time

❤

~Laura~

What is Beauty?

As I age these days there are times when I re-visit a certain question, “What is beauty…?”

I use to slather on dye to my hair when it began to turn salt and pepper, more on the salt side. Until, one day after brushing my hair that began to break and fall out from the chemicals in the dye. I noticed the dye treatments would barely last 6 weeks like they use to and I’d have to go through the stinky ordeal once again to feel beautiful…(in my eyes)

I thought about just how I was applying a rating on myself compared to others I’d see around my little city, never really feeling I measured up to what I would see as a standard of beauty. The above picture was of my beloved Birch tree, taken by my beautiful daughter one day as we sat underneath looking up, while lounging in my anti-gravity chair.

I’ve taken many pictures over the years of this tree, even when it was dying slowly and the woodpeckers made this their dining out spot, because rotting wood draws bugs and bugs draw woodpeckers and other critters. What a beautiful life this tree had growing up tall and strong, even though it’s a soft wood tree and its logs would break down fairly quickly when chopped down. Can there still be beauty in a tree that is no longer standing? I questioned…

You can clearly see the damage the woodpeckers have done to the tree and the trails the bugs have made in the wood too….The stump that remains of this tree is now a resting spot for me near my permaculture bed.

If, I documented the damage to my own body, it would speak of broken bones, removal of tonsils, eye muscle surgery, bad knees joints, etc…So, this last remaining part of my tree I’m sure still has roots deep beneath the soil, offers me rest for my knees and back in the heat of the day.

A beautiful moment that one special day last year when my daughter and I shared together our thoughts on my having to hire a gentleman to come and remove this tree. That was true beauty…simple and honest…

I welcome each new hair that pops out of my head looking like I’ve been baking with flour all day and look a mess. I smile at the cashier who thinks I’m old enough for a seniors discount only to reply,  “I’m not that old yet, but look forward to saving the cash when I am…..”

I no longer feel the need to cover my face in concealer, then apply the rest of the make-up (except for the brows, that’s still a must for me..)It’s a good thing too as I found in my mid-forties HOT FLASHES would only melt off said make-up in a matter of seconds after wiping face with a tissue. That stuff was clogging the pores on my face that so desperately needed air… MORE AIR!  ~ I affectionately called this change in life, “My Tropical Heat-Waves.”  

There was even beauty in the hot flashes, because it signaled my body was done having monthly (sorry men it has to be said.) done having babies, done with silly thoughts about beauty… I actually found the beauty inside of me that was always there just waiting for the right time to expose its self.

I was beautifully, free! No more concealing myself to the world…Freedom is beauty…

My beautiful tree still is giving to me as the foundation for my permaculture beds, offering life to the plants I chose to place on top of the soil, while underneath the rotting wood of the birch tree is feeding and offering drainage to living things…That is pure and simply beauty….

So, after the change of life was over at first I felt part of me was dead, due to not being able to still have children, until I realized I had just the perfect number of babies already and the remaining eggs traveling down the chute were just icing on a cake that was already done…..

Back in the day when I didn’t fully

understand the meaning of true beauty

Until next time

❤

~  Laura  ~

Twenty-Four Days Really Does Make a Difference

We began this gardening season off with chilly weather in May, usual for that time of year…But, when June arrived I was hopeful to have warmer temperatures during the evenings. This didn’t happen for us this year. It stayed cold at night but at least not freezing (except for a couple of nights) Remember, me telling you I’ve seen snow up here in Northern Ontario, Canada in June…

June 1st brought in tiny seedlings in one of my 5 permaculture beds…..

I became worried with this slow progression of the sprouting seeds, but hoped for enough time left for them to arrive at a decent size come Fall. I was totally surprised to see the plants have taken off in the last 24 days and I’m almost certain I’ll have many meals of fresh carrots from the garden.. (fingers crossed that the chipmunks don’t partake in a meal or two before I get to savor this vegetable…

This tree is almost right above my permaculture bed with all of those tasty carrots trying to grow up to be big and strong… I have a bit of netting on top of the bed, so I’m running a test to see who gets to eat the carrots this year..

I suppose he’s hungry too, since he or she has been munching down on my Echinacea leaves that returned from last year in the 2nd permaculture bed which has a few Asparagus plants and a few newly planted peas.

I know they love the peas, so I hope those plants are enough distraction for them to leave the other beds alone…My radishes are still going strong in the 1st permaculture bed with the umbrella for shade…

I want to plant my Swiss chard in the area where the radishes are located ~ Just waiting to harvest the rest of them first… A combination of netting and the umbrella should protect these plants too…

I read on the inter-webs a while back about starting tomato plants from a single slice of a store bought tomato from your local grocery store. So, given the challenge and needing to do something different this year, I gave this interesting idea a go….

Can you see all of those seeds in just one slice of the tomato? Mercy me I thought when I plopped One Slice of the store bought tomato into a container of compost, covering it with about two inches more of compost to try and sneak this past the hungry chipmunks this spring. Placed a net over the top of the container and waited and waited…

I probably should have began the tomato slice trial toward the end of winter indoors, but I had enough plants (Jalapeno’s) on the go at the time this past winter…

I must have had over 50 new tomato plants off that One Slice of tomato, but I haven’t the room for all of those (I’ll make room next year ~ dreaming of much more homemade salsa) tomato seedlings.

As it is right now there are too many plants in each of these containers, I couldn’t throw out these tiny little soldiers, so in they went… I may later in a few weeks reduce the number in the containers, or I’ll just run the test further and just see what happens…

I do love surprises that don’t follow the normal way of doing things… Hey, I moved up here to the frozen North of Canada from Sunny Florida over 3 decades ago, so I’m not normal in the least….   🙂

But, the flip side of my Winter is this…….

It’s all Good !

Until next time

❤

~  Laura  ~