Garden Therapy

Harvesting in Early August

This month my neighbours and I have more growing than we can harvest and eat so there is quite a bit of food sharing going around.  Almost daily I get a delivery of somthing, like a giant bowl of fresh figs, that I turn into some lucious creation.  I have also now organized a farm fresh egg delivery in my city neighbourhood and been out picking wild berries – all making for a crazy first few weeks in August.

I’m currently harvesting the following veg from my home garden and the community garden plot:

Beans: Purple Peacock, French Filet

Peas: MammothMelting Snow Peas

Tomatoes: Black Russian, Siletz, Sweetheart Grape, Gold Nugget Cherry, Sungold Cherry, Isis Candy Cherry, Red Zebra, Tumbler

Sema Fino Florence Fennel

Beets: Detroit Supreme, Red Ace, Chioggia, and Golden

Chard: Rainbow, Fordhook Giant, Rhubarb

Peppers: Filius Blue, Garden Salsa

Basil: Organic Sweet Basil, Thai Basil

Squash: one Gold Nugget was ready at the community garden

Potatoes: Red Chief, French Fingerlings

All this has made for some interesting recipes like carmelized figs, fig ginger jam, walnut pesto, and mixed veggies ragu.  I’ll be sure to share very soon.  If I can get out of the kitchen long enough.  help.

August 09 2010 | Community Garden and Gardening and Growing Food and Harvest and Photography | 8 Comments »

Keeping the Peas

Last January I went around the garden and poked in some pea seeds then promptly forgot about them.  In February they sprouted.  In March and April they looked sad and spindly but I continued to ignore them as I didn’t have anything to plant in those spots anyhow.  Then in May they got big and leafy and became unruly masses of pea shoots.  Whoops.  And Yay! 

I activated my memory banks for a soultion and remembered that a few months ago I read a post by Dan at Urban Veggie Garden Blog where he mentioned Pea Brush.  Pea Brush, he kindly explained to me, was a structure using a bunch of branches as a netting system to stake up peas.  So I got a bunch of lovely water sprouts from my smoke bush that I had been saving (for some reason) (and luckily) and turned the pea brambles in to these pea-ceful displays: 

I think they look great and it sure fit into my budget well.  I’m getting lots of peas now and I’m in no hurry to replace them with other veg.  Give peas a chance, I say.  

OK, sorry, that’s the last pea pun for the day.  Happy Harvest Monday, everyone.

June 14 2010 | Growing Food and Projects | 20 Comments »

Super Sow Sunday: Umbrella Greenhouses

Outdoors I’ve sown lettuce, radishes and peas in wine barrels.  These great clear umbrellas make great pop up greenhouses! 

February 07 2010 | Gardening | 9 Comments »