Hanging On

Normally by this time in October we have woken up to frost covering the ground a few times. This year has been different. Based entirely on my opinion and without regard to any scientific fact, I'm pretty sure this is one of the warmest falls we've ever had. There has yet to be frost and we were still seeing temperatures near 90 degrees just last week. 

While it is a bit disappointing for my fall loving self, it has been great for the garden. We are still up to our ears in summer vegetables. 

To be honest though, I'm having a bit of gardener's guilt. While I love our garden and everything we are able to get from it, by this time of year I start getting antsy to get things cleaned up a little. Despite our best efforts we have lost the battle with the weeds in dramatic fashion, one too many plants have gone to seed, and the tomatoes are so dense that trying to get to the ripe ones in the middle is nearly impossible.

What it boils down to is I've lost control of the garden, I'm blaming kid #3, and I'm ready to rip the annuals right out, clean up the beds and restore a little more order to the whole place.  

But then that would also mean the end of garden-cut bouquets and snacking on snap peas and "hey Audrey, run out and pick us something to have with dinner tonight" and BLTs (because there is no point in a BLT if that T isn't fresh from the garden) and the list goes on.

So for now I'll refrain from ripping everything out and consider myself lucky that our growing season just keeps getting longer, giving me just enough time for another BLT or two!

Pumpkins for Sale

I just finished telling my mother-in-law that I am ready for fall to start. Realizing that that technically has already happened, it sure doesn't feel very fall-ish around here. Frankly, we are having beautiful weather and I shouldn't complain, but I'm ready for the gray skies, rainy days, the fire in the wood stove, and a hot mug of apple cider. 

Although it doesn't feel like fall, the garden is telling us otherwise. It's pumpkin season. We seem to have improved our timing and all of the plants Audrey planted thrived this year and are ripening at just the right time (our timing was off last year and we ended up with a bunch of rotten pumpkins by September.) 

A couple of days ago she spent the afternoon picking all the pumpkins that were ready, making signs, and setting up her pumpkin stand. She takes the selling of her pumpkins very seriously and made sure that they were arranged just right.

Luckily for the passerby's who decide to stop she also doesn't have much of a concept of the value of money, so her prices are pretty reasonable. Each day she has gone back out to her plants to see if more are ready to add to her stand.

Even though the weather is deceiving, I guess it's time for me to embrace our warm fall weather. I better head down the driveway and buy a few pumpkins to decorate the house.

Posted at:
Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

In Bloom

I've always considered myself a "morning person". I love the idea of waking up refreshed, grabbing a cup of tea/coffee/whatever, sitting on the porch and watching the world wake up. Although lately I've had a bit of a change of heart and realized that summer evenings might just be the perfect time of day around here. 

It usually hits just a little after dinner and before all the bedtime hoopla begins. By then the backyard is completely shaded and often a breeze has picked up carrying away the hot and sticky from the day. The kids seem to get a burst of energy (probably from having just been fed) and happily run circles around the backyard, chasing each other and laughing.

I also get a minute to walk (or waddle with my very pregnant belly) through the garden and flower beds picking off spent flowers, or sampling the gardens treats.

Last night I grabbed my camera while I walked around and was able to snap a few pictures of the color that is filling our backyard. We have been working on landscaping more of the beds around the house so it is so nice to be able to enjoy the color that all that work brings.

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Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Spring Fever

We have had the first small hints of spring lately. Warmer weather, sunny afternoons, and spring bulbs are starting to make their appearance. It seems too early for all of this, especially when I read about the frigid temperatures in the rest of the country, but not one to complain about springs arrival we are making the most of it. Which means most of our time has been spent outside.

I've even had a chance to sneak into the garden a few times, mostly pulling the weeds that are threatening to take over. More exciting than pulling weeds though, I planted 36 asparagus plants and one rhubarb plant.

I found both bare root and decided to give them a try. From what I understand this year we won't be able to harvest any of the asparagus, I was told to let it sprout, go to seed, dry up, and then cut it back and that next year we will have our first crop. Considering asparagus is one of the most asked for vegetables around here (Audrey proclaims her love for her it every time we have it) my fingers are crossed this works. The rhubarb though should be good to go later this spring, just in time for strawberry rhubarb pie!

Otherwise, I am having to remind myself that it is still February and we have several more months ahead of us before we are in the clear from frozen overnight temperatures. This spring like weather has me wanting to plant the whole garden.

For now, I'll just have to be patient.

The Last of the Garden

It is time to close up the garden for the year around these parts. I haven't mastered any sort of winter gardening yet, so this is the end of my season.

Our temperatures dipped pretty low at the beginning of the week, mid 20s overnight, and that really did it for all of the summer vegetables that had been trying to hang on. It was time to say goodbye to the peppers and all of the marigolds, which add so much color throughout the summer, had to go too.

I had pulled a lot of the other plants weeks ago. Either they had stopped producing or it was just not warm enough for anything to ripen.

These are the last of our carrots for the year. Our harvest was pretty small, but they are so sweet and delicious. We have a few beets and some kale that still look good so I will limp those along as long as I can.

It's a little sad to look out and see the mostly empty boxes (and the work the still needs to be done to clean everything up!) But it is also exciting to start thinking about next years garden. We hope to put in permanent drip lines to all the beds and some sort of "pretty" ground cover between them in the spring.

This is the first year we have had a garden big enough to really produce a lot, I rarely had to buy any produce at the store throughout the summer. I loved that. I still have a lot to learn and there are plenty of changes I'll make next year, but overall I'm calling this a great year of gardening.

Pickled Peppers

It is no secret that Bryce and I love spicy food. Off the top of my head I can name at least seven different hot sauces that we keep in our refrigerator on a regular basis. Knowing our love of spice one of Bryce's coworkers was kind enough to give us a bag of fresh peppers from her garden. 

There wasn't any way we would be able to use all of them fresh before they went bad and because pickled peppers are absolutely delicious, it was a bit of a no brainer what we were going to do with all of them. The bag included a mix of jalapeños, habaneros, and some sort of long skinny pepper that I'm guessing are serranos and we added our own cherry peppers to the mix.

I used a very simple pickling recipe that was new to me, mostly vinegar with a little garlic and salt.

I just love how the jars look with the bright peppers inside, they're so cheery. My fingers are crossed that they will taste as good as they look.

Potatoes

The spring we moved into our house some of our very good friends came from Montana to visit. My friend's parents happen to own a very large seed potato farm so when they came they brought us a few potatoes. We happily ate most of them, but decided to try our hand at planting a few with great success. 

Late last summer we harvested our first small crop of potatoes. We had great plans of saving a few, replanting them and continuing our crop, but life happens, we never got around to it and just chalked it up to a fun experiment but figured our potato days, at least from those potatoes, were over. 

Much to our surprise this spring we noticed three potato starts coming up where the potatoes had been the year before. We carefully transplanted two to a better spot in the garden and waited. 

A couple of weeks ago we dug up our second even smaller crop of potatoes.

We didn't mess around this time and cut them right up and replanted them. With any luck next spring we will see a whole bed of potato starts begin to sprout. 

My Favorite Kind of Day

Yesterday was such a nice day. The kids were in happy and helpful moods, we got out of the house for a bit, crossed things off our to-do list, had a great homemade dinner, and the weather here was gorgeous. The temperature finally dropped back to something much more normal (80s) for this time of year and the smoke from all the nearby forest fires was blown away for the day.

It was just one of those days that everything seemed to work. (Or almost everything. Let's be honest, we all have our moments and the wheels really started coming off right before bedtime when Audrey stepped barefoot in a patch of bull thorns.)

To cap off a beautiful day we spent the evening together in the garden, my happy place. I could spend hours their just wandering up and down the rows.  Sure, there is definitely some weeding to do and we still need to install the permanent watering system and the list goes on, but despite the imperfections it is such a peaceful place.

I think the kids like it just as much as I do. They spend their time digging in the dirt, finding bugs, and picking anything they deem ripe enough. Audrey was running through the garden declaring the green beans were so good they tasted like candy. Music to my ears.

And of course all of the best gardening is done while wearing a princess dress.

It helps that everything seems to be thriving right now. It is so fun to be able to walk around the garden and pick all sorts of delicious food.

Life always seems a bit slower while we are in the garden and I love that. It is such a great reminder that I need to slow down and enjoy the simple things a little more. 

Summer Color

The beds around our back porch are full of color this summer, which is such a nice change from the pile of dirt that was our backyard last year at this time. Despite the ridiculously hot weather we have been having lately everything seems to be thriving. 

  

Onions!

For the first time I tried my hand at growing onions this year. I planted them in October and overwintered them with hopes of a spring crop. I wasn't sure if they could survive the winter especially considering we had a week of frigid temperatures (lows of 0). It appears though they did more than fine. I'm quite pleased with our first crop.

I think the blossoms are just beautiful. 

After we dug them up I laid them out to dry on the counter. Now they are all cleaned and trimmed and waiting in the pantry for whenever I need one. From what I've read if they are stored properly they can last for up to a year, but I think I'll be lucky if I don't use them up by the end of the month.

The Pumpkin Patch

Audrey is the pumpkin farmer around here and she is very good at her job.

The pumpkins are growing like crazy right now. There are already several cantaloupe or bigger sized pumpkins on the vines.

She planted these by seed earlier this spring. There are actually two plants growing quite close together here, which is what you get when a three year old picks where to put the only two seeds you handed her. Thank goodness I didn't give her more than two, we would be overrun by pumpkin plants. 

And this is a volunteer from a pumpkin that rotted on the vine from her plant last year. Or quite possibly several volunteers all growing close together, I'm not sure, but it is definitely thriving.

At the rate they are all growing Halloween might just come early to our house this year.

Composting {The Easy Way}

I love the idea of composting. The whole cycle of using vegetable/fruit waste to improve soil which yields better crops which produces more of the vegetable/fruit waste and starts the whole cycle over again kind of makes me a little giddy. However, in our petite little backyard we don't have the space to house a composting bin. Lucky for me that doesn't mean I can't compost, copying a trick of my grandpa's (and thanks to my mom for reminding me he did it) I just compost in the garden. This idea is truly genius. My grandpa would dig holes or troughs in the garden and as he collected waste would dump it in and cover with dirt. It doesn't take long for it to break down and work its way back into the soil.

No need for extra space for a separate compost pile and no hauling the compost to the garden... it really couldn't get any easier.

 

I just love this idea and am so excited to plant this spring knowing I have some very rich soil. 

p.s. My fall/winter garden is still working... maybe. So far I haven't harvested a single brussel sprout or cauliflower, but the plants are looking good, albeit small. Maybe someday they will produce something. I'm still holding out hope.