For the Joy of Garlic

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I love growing garlic.  If the soil is rich enough, garlic can be a very rewarding (and easy) thing to grow.  Planted in late autumn, it sits in the garden throughout the winter, popping green shoots through the cold earth before anything else in the garden even begins thinking about waking up.  At our house, it begins showing before the daffodils and tulips.  During the spring it grows tall and strong, and when summer hits, it sends out twisting, curling scapes that will eventually carry a large, round, seedy blossom at the end (if not cut down).  By late July or early August, garlic is ready to be harvested and cured.  Right now, we have a bushel basket of garlic in our dining room, complete with scapes and stems and some flowers.  I held out some of the best bulbs for planting in October, but the rest will be used in soups, stir fries, sauces, and more.  Glorious, delicious, pungent garlic.

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Post-vacation Garden

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After being gone for ten days, I returned to a garden overcome with weeds (crabgrass, going to seed!).  So today, despite the withering heat and humidity, I weeded.  And I weeded some more.  Then I took a little time to admire the actual plants in the garden -- the squash plant that ate Hadley, a multitude of green tomatoes in the tomato jungle, a couple of tiny little figs, and an eggplant.  I also did a little potato digging -- my first potato harvest!
We finally got a little rain,and August is good.  Now I wait for the ripening to begin.

 

 

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The Bramble Ramble

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Our house is bordered on one side by an overgrowth of bushes and trees and brush, some of it planted there when the house was built all those decades ago and allowed to metastasize, and some of it random growth.  Among that random growth (some would call it weeds) is a stretch of wild black raspberries which this year decided to produce a beautiful quantity of fruit.

 

Unfortunately, the recent near-drought has turned most of those juicy berries into sweet, crunchy seedpods.  However, because of all those beautiful berries and lush greenery, I was inspired to create a "bramble ramble" -- to clear out some of the over- and under-growth and increase the swath of bramble berry bushes. 

So I cleared growth from around the wild patch.  I traded with a neighbour some fresh eggs for raspberry canes.  I cleared more brush, dug out even more burning bushes, trimmed back trees, and created space.  Then I planted the bartered-for canes (along with a little compost from the chicken run).  I watered.  I waited.  I watered some more.

The canes that were alive when I planted them are thriving -- one is even producing more canes already!  I look forward to tearing out some more burning bush (they are seriously taking over our property) and adding more raspberries to the "ramble."  I'm even considering transplanting the gooseberries to this space next year, but I haven't yet decided about that.

Now I wait with patience for those delicious berries next year, and hope I get to them before the birds!

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Today in 5 Pictures: June 19

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Clementine is feeling broody.

Working on removing more burning bushes -- hopefully making way for more berry plants and fewer allergies.

Mabel loves scratching through the planters.

Peas!  (They were advertised as bush, but are behaving more like vine.)

Colourful lettuce assortment.

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Chickens & Salad (not chicken salad)

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Though my true gardening skill can be witnessed in the overgrowth of the rare delicacy known as crabgrass, this is what accompanied our grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight.  Everything but the pecans were picked from the garden just minutes before dinner went on the table -- 5 kinds of lettuce, kale, spinach, basil, arugula, strawberries.  Delicious!

The girls love when I'm picking strawberries -- they eagerly await the ones the chipmunks started to eat and never finished -- you can see the corner of the strawberry patch on the left.  What you can't see in this picture is the rhubarb they demolished.  I'm hoping it comes back strong next year (especially considering that it has never been strong, which is kind of a problem, because it's rhubarb and it's supposed to be overgrown!).  
This is Clementine (buff orpington) and Mabel (silver-laced wyandotte) scrounging around the gardens for nibbles.

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April Vacation Week: Garden

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This year, during April vacation week, I finally pounded fence posts in around the garden and put up an almost respectable looking fence -- a necessity since getting chickens and newish neighbours (it never hurts to make your garden and property look a little nicer, even if it is being productive and efficient).  The fence has done a wonderful job of keeping the chickens out and has allowed me to to *finally* get my spring planting started.

The garlic has been coming up nicely; it gets planted in October after the Garlic Fest, and we always have great luck with it.  It's very exciting to see those green shoots coming up in the spring before anything else is growing.  Though this year, I will admit, the lettuce also made a big showing -- I let it go to seed last summer and some of those seeds starting growing and leafing out pretty early this year.

Also recently planted is the spinach, which is starting to come up.  This week saw the additions of more lettuce, kale, beets, peas, and potatoes (purple and golden).  Hopefully, I have amended the garden soil sufficiently and the plants will have enough nutrients to grow.  I am so excited to get those seeds into the ground and to see them start sprouting.  I have never planted potatoes before, and can't wait to see how they turn out.  They have been planted in the newest part of the garden, though -- the part that has been improved the least -- so we'll see how it goes.  Carrots will go in soon.

I started the tomatoes and eggplant inside.  This is something I usually do much earlier in the year, but I had an ailing cat that occupied my time and energy, so I didn't get to them.

A new addition to my garden is an in-garden compost.  I dug a shallow hole, took extra chicken-wire and formed a wide tube around the hole, and dumped compostables into it.  I plan to move this one to a new location in the garden each year to further improve the quality of the soil. 
(Some of our compost goes to the chickens, some to our black bin composter, and some into the garden.  More on that in a later post.)

Tune in next time for the final post on what happened during April vacation week!

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Homegrown Cornbread

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It's a wonderful feeling to make something to eat with ingredients you grew or made yourself.  This week I made a delicious blender cornbread with corn* we grew in last year's garden, eggs laid by our own hens, kefir we made from local raw milk, and wheat-free flour we ground.  The sweetener was even local maple syrup.  The result -- a light delicious cornbread that was truly homemade!


Recipe: Blender Cornbread 

2/3 cup kefir
1/3 cup almond milk (or soy or regular milk)
2/3 cup dry corn
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup quinoa (sometimes I split this with brown rice)
3 Tbs maple syrup (more isn't bad, either)
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or butter or butter substitute)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease an 8x8 glass baking pan.
Grind the corn and grains in the blender.  Add kefir, syrup, and oil and blend until smooth.
Blend in eggs for 2-3 minutes on high speed.  Add baking powder, salt, and soda and mix just enough to blend in.
Pour batter into baking pan and bake for 25-35 minutes (be sure to use a tester).


*Last year's corn was Cherokee White Eagle from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

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