C’est la vie
I’m not one to let things languish in the garden waiting to see if they’ll perk up. I never have enough space for everything I want to grow, if something isn’t doing well, it gets ripped out and replaced with something else.
The ‘Dakota’ peas produced a flush of peas and quit blooming, yesterday they were all ripped out to be replaced with cucumbers. The hot spring was hard on peas, which flourish in much cooler temps. Amazingly, the ‘Golden’ peas on the front porch are still thriving, I’ll have to remember that they’re much more heat tolerant than other kinds of peas I’ve grown.
I have a row of beets that isn’t doing so well either, the area needs a good dose of chicken manure. They’ll be culled today and the bed will be heavily manured for a late crop of potatoes.
On a positive note, my onions are doing really well this year. The garden area in which they are growing was manured heavily and inoculated with mushroom spawn last fall. The difference between this bed and others is like night and day!
How do you deal with things that don’t do well in the garden, do you give them time to perk up or replace them?
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Black Beauties
This lovely plant was started from seed in 2010. Hollyhocks are one of those delayed gratification plants since they take two years to bloom. They can also be difficult to start from seed at times, they germinate better if you use the floating method described in this post.
‘The Watchman’ hollyhocks were described on the seed packet as “towers of black satin” and that’s not far from the truth. The deep purple color really adds a sense of elegance to the garden.
Not only do hollyhocks add some much needed height to the garden, the black color is unusual and eye catching. It blends well with every other color, but is especially set off against white and light pink. Beside my ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea it’s stunning, a perfect combination!
This variety of hollyhock is an heirloom, Thomas Jefferson grew these in his gardens at Monticello. I will most likely always have some blooming in my garden for the rest of my life. They’re one of my favorite plants!
Do you have any dark blooming plants in the garden?
If you’d like to purchase seeds for ‘The Watchman’ they are available from:
Renee’s Garden
Botanical Interests
Baker Creek
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Resting
As I’m sure the case is with all of you, it’s been a bit crazy around here. We’re in our busy season for our business so we’re out working every weekend. Add to that getting the house ready for the market, planting all the summer garden crops, working the other few jobs I have and I’ve been going non-stop. After realizing last night at 10:30 that I hand’t written my blog post yet I realized it was the perfect opportunity to share this photo that I took yesterday afternoon.
Those cats sure know how to make sure they rest up, something I need to do every now and then! Make sure you take some time this week to rest and relax a bit.
When is your busiest time of the year?
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Making Room for Fresh Bounty
I don’t can much in the summer. There are only two of us and I’d much rather eat things fresh from the garden than from a jar. In the winter we focus on trying to grow/eat things that don’t need canned/frozen like cabbage, potatoes, bitter winter hardy greens, and winter squash. That being said, I will always spend some time in the summer putting up jars of fresh tomatoes, some pickled items and a few jars of jams and chutneys. There will also always be dried spices and beans.
Since I don’t can that much, I don’t end up having much left at the end of the winter to eat up before lining the pantry shelves with freshly canned items. This year it looks like I have about 10 quarts of tomato soup, 10 pints of crushed tomatoes, and a few random flavors of jams/jellies/chutneys. I also have a few pounds of dried beans that need used up.
As I was cleaning out the pantry this weekend and taking stock of what I needed to use up, I realized my list of items looked like a chili. Thanks to Mr Chiot’s hunting this past fall, we also have a freezer stocked with venison, though we’ve eaten about half of that already. Venison chili it is then.
I started soaking my beans last night (I always sprout beans before cooking with them to make them more digestible) and tomorrow I’ll start a big pot of chili on the stove.
Looks like I’ll also have enough tomatoes to make some marinara; time to seed some basil! I’ll be happy to see all these jars and containers emptied, scrubbed, and put back on the jar shelf in the basement. There’s nothing better than preserving some of your own and enjoying it.
Do you carry over canned food items from year to year or do you try to eat everything up within the year? What’s your favorite, pantry cleaning recipe?
Never thought to add it, but Pat asked in the comments about my shelves. They are Seville Classics 18-Inch by 48-Inch by 72-Inch Shelving System with Wheels, Chrome and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I like that they are one wheels so I can roll them out for cleaning. They’re super strong so I don’t have to worry about shelves bowing or jars breaking. I have many sets of these in my basement and recommend them highly!
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Quote of the Day: Gertrude Jekyll
“If you will take any flower you please, and look it over and turn it about and smell it and feel it and try to find out all its secrets, not of flower only, but of leaf, bud and stem as well, you will discover many wonderful things.”
Gertrude Jekyll found in English Gardens in the Twentieth Century: From the Archives of Country Life
I’m certainly enjoying the happy sunny oxeye daisies that are springing up around the garden. They’re carefree and move around, blooming in different spots each year.
What wonderful things have you been noticing in your garden?
