Quote of the Day: Cottage Gardens
The genuine cottager began to be joined, towards the end of the eighteenth century, by members of the gentry seeking “the good life” – a simpler life nearer the soil but with money and independence to back them up. Our idea of cottage gardening today owes much to this trend and when we emulate the cottage-garden style, it is not because of the necessity to grow food, but because we are keen to adopt a free-and-easy style and to grow our vegetables on soil laced with dung and garden compost rather than with man-made fertilizers. Also it is because we want to foster some of our own wild flowers.
-Christoper Lloyd & Richard Bird (The Cottage Garden)
It’s interesting that growing your own food has always been a way for people to connect with nature and a more simple life. I enjoy it for so many reasons, mostly for the beauty that it brings. It certainly make me happy to see more and more people digging in the soil and planting a few edibles.
Do you notice more people growing edible gardens than in previous years?
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The Beginning
Earlier this week I harvested the first new potatoes of the year. My potatoes went in the ground a little later than I had hoped, if they were planted earlier I would have had fresh potatoes long before now.
These are ‘Red Gold’ potato, an early potato, reaching maturity at 70 days. When the vines first started to die I thought they were blighted, but then I remembered that they were just a short season potato. We are certainly enjoying these little beauties (I planted them close together so they’d be small). There’s nothing quite like fresh potatoes after being without for 4-5 months!
Have you harvested any potatoes yet?
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Friday Favorite: Vanilla Rooibos Tea
I’m usually not much of one for drinking cold beverages, lukewarm works well for me. This summer however, I’ve really been enjoying glasses of iced Vanilla Rooibos Tea from Mt Rose Herbs. I started drinking regular rooibos tea last year and thought it might be good chilled in the summer. Sure enough, it is. There’s just something wonderful about the flavor profile of this tea, it works perfectly chilled.
I made a half gallon at a time, by simply adding 2 Tablespoons of tea in a half gallon of filtered water. The jar is set on the picnic table in the sun for a few hours and voila – sun tea without heating up the kitchen or using any gas.
Into the fridge the tea goes and it gets strained with a piece of cheesecloth right into the glasses when we want something to drink. If you like a sweeter tea, a little honey works well with the flavors in this tea.
What’s your favorite cooling off beverage after a hot day of gardening?
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Hello Little Guy
One day, Mr Chiots and I were sitting out back under the maple tree taking a break and we noticed this little guy walked across a log.
I grabbed my camera to take some photos so we could i.d. it. A quick google search leads us to believe it is the caterpillar of the white-marked tussock moth. From what I read, they defoliate trees and the birds love to eat them.
They’re rather interesting little caterpillars, so intricate with so many different kinds of hairy tufts.
This is one of the things I love about gardening, you get to see so many interesting thing, particularly insects. Check out this spider I spotted the other day. I told Mr Chiots that I found Shelob in the garden. It had a grasshopper all rolled up in it’s web.
You just never know what you’re going to see when you head out into the garden every day!
Have you spotted any beautiful insects recently?
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Bunches of Beans
The beans in the 5×5 Challenge garden are producing like mad. I harvested a goodly number of them a few days ago and we’ve been enjoying them for dinner ever since. I love these tri-color beans, they add a lot of interest when you’re harvesting.
It’s really hard to believe that only 2 months ago they were barely peeking out of the soil.
Bush beans are very prolific garden plants. My little garden only has 2 three foot rows and we’ll probably eat more beans than we want to this summer. Beans are the perfect beginner garden plant. The giant seedlings are very exciting, they grow fairly quickly and they produce like made. I’ve known several beginner gardener who were happiest with their beans. Oddly enough, I don’t grow a ton of beans in the garden. Perhaps I ate so many growing up I’d rather eat chard or kale than beans.
Do you grow beans in your garden? Which is your favorite variety?
