Gardening Quote: Thomas Jefferson

“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.”
-Thomas Jefferson

Do flowers or vegetables bring you the most joy?

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Farmer’s Market Goodies

I was finally able to head to the farmer’s market last Saturday after not being able to go for a month (busy Saturdays working for our business). I found all kinds of lovely things to buy, including a lot of green beans.

Dexter thought they were wonderful cat toys that I bought for him. He stole a few and I found all 3 cats playing with green beans later that afternoon. No need to spend $4 on a furry mouse, a green bean from the farmer’s market will do. I’m guessing they would also love small turnips and beets.

Have you found any unexpected uses for produce this summer?

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What Should We Build?

Earlier this summer I won a $100 Home Depot gift card from Colleen over at In the Garden Online. I can’t decide what new garden project to use it for.

Originally I though I’d build a new raised bed. I would like one that’s at least 18 inches tall and 10 feet long and 4 feet wide, this would expand my gardening area by 40 sq feet. I could grow a lot more vegetables in an additional 40 sq feet (perhaps sweet corn)?

Mr Chiots and I have also considered building a Warre hive. We are hoping to get yet another hive of bees next spring and we really want to try the Warre top bar method for managing one of our hives.

a big thanks to Mike Grenville for letting me use his photo Our New Bee Hive.
Mr Chiots has also been wanting to build me a potting bench to put out back for all of my repotting efforts. I have a small plastic folding table that I usually use for such tasks (or just the wheelbarrow if I’m too lazy to get out the table).

I can’t really decide which project I want to make, they’re all something we would love to have. Since I can’t decide I figured I’d turn you, vote in the poll for the project you think would we should use our gift card for.

Which would you would choose and why?

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Blooms Around the Garden

We’ve been having a lot of rainy days lately, which we actually need here at Chiot’s Run, unlike most of the country. It’s been really cool, in the low 70’s during the day and down into the 50’s at night. I’m not complaining about the weather, it’s actually very nice, but it does inhibit the ripening of the crops. I suppose it’s good for the cabbage and broccoli. The cats have the right idea on these rainy cold dreary days.

Since I’ve been inside for the past couple days, I haven’t been doing much in the garden. I did run out yesterday during a break in the rain to snap a few photos of some of the things that are blooming around the garden. I only got a few photos in before it started raining again.



I’ve noticed that the hummingbirds are loving the nicotiana and the lantana that I have in the front and the bees & butterflies love the liatris and the hyssop.

What’s blooming in your garden right now?

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Making Pickles

On Sunday evening I went out and picked 4 Boston Pickling Cucumbers that were the perfect size for pickling in spears. I have been reading through the book I got the other day and I settled on a quick pickle recipe.

I reduced the recipe because most of them call for several pounds of cucumbers and I only had about 1 and a quarter pound. So I found a recipe that made 1 quart. I changed it a bit, because I just can’t seem to follow a recipe by the book.

We’ll see how they turn out, I didn’t can them because it was such a small batch. I’m basically brining them in the fridge for a month or so.

Here’s the recipe I used:

Quick Small Batch Dill Pickles
4 pickling cucumbers (around 1 pound)
1 cup water
7/8 cup of white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of pickling salt
2 garlic cloves
8 peppercorns
2 teaspoons of pickling spice (or a pinch of flaked red pepper)
fresh dill sprigs
8 sour cherry leaves (they’re supposed to promote crispness) or 3-4 grape leaves

Bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Meanwhile scrub and cut pickles into desired sizes. Add pickling spices, peppercorns, fresh dill, cherry leaves to quart canning jar. Add pickles to jar and pour brine over the pickles. Seal with lid and put in refrigerator for at least one month. Alternately you can water bath can pints or quarts for 10 minutes .

I’ll let you know in a month or so how they turned out. My next batch will probably be using a different recipe, perhaps I’ll try soaking the cucumbers in salt before I pickle them. Or perhaps I’ll make some fermented pickles.

Do you like sour or sweet pickles?

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