In the Garden: Inside and Out
I figured it was time for a garden update, to let you all know how all of the crops are doing. My raised beds are 100% full with spring crops now, I’m hoping everything will be ready to harvest by the beginning of June so I can fill them with summer crops. My grow lights (all 6 of them) are packed with plants, I’m hoping to harden some off soon so I can transplant tomatoes to bigger pots and start some squash and flower seeds.
The peas are all doing well, I didn’t get great germination with one kind, but they were seeds leftover from last year. So I’m guessing pea seed are best used up each year and fresh seed purchased each spring. Peas are one of those crops that seem like you never get much out of them, unless you’re growing the sugar snap and eating the pods. We’ll see how many I end up with. I would love a few pints for the freezer, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
The garlic is all doing very well. I think I counted over 50 plants (no problems with vampires here). That should give us enough to eat ourselves, gifts for friends & family and we should be able to save a few for planting this fall. I’m very excited to try the various kinds I planted:
German White: A Porcelain Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, rather hot pungency when raw, harvests mid-late season, stores 8-10 months
Killarney Red: A Rocambole Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, very hot pungency when raw, harvests early-mid season, stores 5-6 months
Chesnok Red: A Purple Strip Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, medium warm pungency when raw, harvests mid-season, stores 6-8 months
Georgia Fire: A Porcelain Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, very hot pungency when raw, harvests mid-late season, stores 8-10 months
My onion seedlings are doing really well, they’re tall and you can see red on the base of the red onions. These will be going out soon since they can take some cold. As soon as the night temps remain above freezing (it was 26 last night) I’m going to harden them off and plant them outside.
The cabbage & broccoli seedlings are starting to grow like weeds, they are all about 6 inches tall. They’ll be going outside soon as well, I’m waiting for temps to stay in the 40’s (if you plant them out too soon the broccoli heads will be small, the soil should be about 60 degrees).
All of my tomato seedlings are doing quite well. It looks as though I’m going to have plenty to give to family and friends. I’m also hoping to have a good amount left so I can pot them up with care instructions and give them to the local food shelter to hand out to needy families.
How’s your garden growing inside & out?
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Chiot’s Run Labor Camp
Well, that’s what Mr Chiot’s wanted me to name this post after spending the weekend gather rocks for some new garden beds and to line the driveway.
Mr Chiots spent some time each day this weekend gathering rocks for some hardscaping in our garden. We have tons of rocks everywhere, especially in the back woods. They threw all the rocks out there when the built the house, so there are piles of lovely big rocks that are beautifully aged with moss. The best part is that they’re FREE (just a little manual labor needed).
These rocks sure come in handy when we want to define garden beds or terrace our sloping lot (see What to do With an Abundance of Rocks). Every year we add more and more of the to the garden.
I love the look of the natural native stone in the garden, you just can’t beat the look. They blend right in and look like they’ve always been there. Especially when it’s got alyssum or thyme cascading over it, or is being overtaken with some sedum.
I much prefer it to the square retaining wall stones many people use, although I realize some people don’t have easy access to free rocks like we do.
Are you a rock wall lover? What do you use for hardscaping?
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Quote of the Day: Minnie Aumonier
“When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden.”
~ Minnie Aumonier
This is one of the things I love about gardening. It seems like all we hear is bad news, everywhere. Not in the garden, only the sounds of birds and the smell of earth. The plants don’t care what I wear or whether I have the latest & greatest thing, it’s very peaceful when you’re working in the garden.
Is gardening a peaceful activity for you?
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Enjoying the Fruits of our Labor
If you were around and reading my blog this past summer you’ll remember that we foraged for bunches of blackberries and we picked blueberries at a local farm. We’ve really been enjoying the fruits of our labor this winter. There’s nothing like berry syrup over lemon pancakes, blackberry or blueberry muffins or our favorite, triple berry cobbler. We eat this often for breakfast, it sure makes all the hard work of picking blackberries, black raspberries and blueberries worth it.
TRIPLE BERRY COBBLER
1 cup of all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
2 Tablespoon of sugar (I skip this and sprinkle some on top before baking)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (if desired)
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger (if desired)
1/4 cup cold butter
1 egg
1/4 cup of milk
6 cups frozen berries (I use a mix of blueberries, blackberries & wild black raspberries, sometimes I use 8 cups)
1/4-2/3 cup of sugar (I usually use 1/4 cup of honey and omit the remaining sugar)
1 Tablespoon of cornstarch
For filling: in a saucepan combine the berries, sugar (or honey) and cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. Let stand for 10 minutes (20 minutes for frozen fruit). Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, keep warm.
For topping: in a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and if desired cinnamon (ginger is added later). Cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs, stir in crystallized ginger, set aside.
In a small bowl stir together egg and milk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just to moisten. Transfer filling to a 2 quart baking dish, or large cast iron skillet. Using spoon, drop topping onto small mounds atop filling (sprinkle with sugar if desired).
Bake cobbler in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or till a wooden toothpick inserted into topping comes out clean. Serve warm.
What’s your favorite way to eat berries?
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Setting up our Bee Hive
Yesterday afternoon we moved the ladies outside (for those of you that didn’t visit yesterday, read about the ladies here). We carried the hive outside when it was warm and set up in the spot we picked at the back of our property.
We chose this location because we are surrounded by woods and this is the least likely spot for our bees to bother any neighbors.
I tell you what, this bee suit cracks me up every time I see it. It kind of looks like a space man landed in the back yard.
The ladies were much more active today since it was warmer. You can see them all clustering around the opening where we had the feeding jar (we removed the jar for this photo).
We set the hive up just like it was in the garage. Tomorrow morning when it’s still chilly we’ll take off the bottom box and remove the original cage that they came in. We removed the covering from the door and replaced it with a smaller one, allowing them access to the outside, but not opening it up too much so predators don’t get in.
The ladies sure were happy to get out and stretch their wings.
They were all taking their orientation flights. Bees take short trips that get progressively longer to orient themselves to the position of their new hive. I was out working later and some of the ladies were getting quite brave in their trips out, they were buzzing by me in the front yard.
So does our experience convince anyone else to try keeping bees?
