the news from the garden 3

We have peas! We have been enjoying meals this week with ingredients all from our garden. Fun times. First peas on Dec 16th.

The garlic is harvested as of the 18th of Dec. We had a friends over the day before who is a garlic expert. Or so we think. She told us to watch our garlic because we were supposed to get some rain and the moisture could cause it to go to seed. Sure enough the next day the rain came and then the look of plants going to seed. We pulled it all and are drying on a table in the shed.

And other news
More fruit on the tomato plants. None ripe yet.
Flowers on the squash and pumpkin. I have been hand pollinating them.
Mustard greens going to seed.
Harvested white onions today. Laid them on the ground to dry. Pretty small.
Lettuce still crazy!
Peppers showing first signs of fruit.
Dill seems to be bouncing back after extreme aphid/white fly attack.
Aphids and white fly seem to have calmed down in the garden.
Some mildew starting on cucurbits. I am going to try a milk/water spray on them tonight.

the leeks that were not

A few weeks ago Nigel and I enjoyed the first of our leeks. They were pretty small. But we roasted them up like asparagus and they tasted great.
We thought that we should let them get bigger before we ate them all up.

Yesterday I was reading about how you should never plant leeks so that they are ready to be harvested in summer. The heat makes them go to seed and makes them tough and stringy.


I went out and had a look. Sure enough our leeks were going to seed. I pulled them all up and got a nice pile. I thought I would clean them all up and make a nice pot of potato leek soup.

By the time I finished salvaging what was edible I had about a cup of leek!

I threw it in a quiche.

Apparently it is important to plant the right things in the right season to get the best result.

 For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

the post for all the kitten fans

Five Kittens and a cat in a bus.
Sounds like a sitcom.
The kittens are very cute.
We have homes for all of them, but they will be with us through the new year.

We put a litter box down with the kittens around week three. They were great. Used it right away no problem. We thought, oh how easy.

A few days ago the kittens broke containment and learned how to climb up the ledge in the back  of the bus and scurry up to the front.


Yesterday I found some puddles on the floor of the bus.

Nigel found a board in the garage.

The kittens are now secure again in the back of the bus.

Kittens are cute.

the news from the garden 2

Lots of blooms, The peas, the potatoes, the zucchini, the pumpkins, The peppers, and the tomatoes!

The round garden is going nuts. The tomatoes dont seem to be doing much since we moved them out from the green house. But they are defiantly surviving. Mustard greens are hard to keep up with. You cut the leaves off and they are back the next day. The garlic seems like it must be almost done! We hear you are supposed to harvest on the longest day. It takes all my will power not to pull one up and see what is happening under there.

Some of our carrots are going to seed, so i pulled them up to see what was happening. We ate these ones last night! These are the carrots that we planted a bit late last winter. Aprilish. I think they have been in the ground too long. Will be interesting to see how the ones we planted this spring do.

And....we have a constant battle with the aphids and whitefly. The dill is not doing well as it has been attacked by both. The green house is constantly being infiltrated. I think we have it under control.
We have lettuce coming out of our ears.
Radish trees are just starting to dry out.
Pumpkin are finally starting to grow. There are two signs of fruit on the Sunshine plant.
Okra is coming up slowly.
Beans are sending out curly tentacles.
Spinach is all gone to seed, new batch started in the green house.

the spinach marathon

The Spinach was going to seed.
So thought to myself, I will pull it all out and use what little leaves are left to make some spinach dip.
Well, what "little" leaves that were left turned out to be quite a lot!
They overfilled my big pot.
So I made my spinach dip.
Then I used some in a stir fry last night.
I made an omelet with some this morning.
Nigel used some in his salad to take to work.
I still have a mountain of spinach in my fridge!

Sometimes things are not what they seem at first glance.

I have been thinking about this lately, Things not being what they seem, not spinach.

I am living in a small town at the moment. Everyone knows everyone and everyone knows everybodys business.

So when I meet someone new to me, I make my snap judgements, as you do. Well as I do.
That person is mean, or strange, or .....

Then I will inevitably hear something about their life. Not necessary gossip just a bit of history, since your history in this town is an open book.
 And I will think, oh that makes sense, guess I was a bit harsh. Maybe someday I will learn not to put people into boxes.

You never know from looking at someone where they have come from.

And you never know from looking at the spinach in your garden just how much will fit into a pot.