Fall harvest

September came and went nearly without me noticing! I have been on "back to school" mode after a fantastic summer in the garden. The program I am taking (bachelor degree in social education) is very interesting. It is also challenging and demanding, but I still manage to spend a few hours outside every now and then. It's really good for the head after reading pages of theory. ;)

Fall is so beautiful and cosy in its own special way. Some trees and plants take on beautiful vibrant colours. Other plants just fade and wilt away. Many will sprout again next year with the next warm season.
The air is becoming cool and brisk, and warm blankets are just cosier and cosier. The land is getting ready for the cold season, but that doesn't mean that nothing is happening in the garden. Here's a few examples of what's been going on...

My chili plants gave a LOT of chilies (and still do!) so I made some chili oil (not shown on picture) and chose to hang some chilies to dry. (I also have a basket full apart from those shown here)

Chilies hanging to dry

One of my favorite part about Fall is winter squash harvest! They are just so pretty, delicious and healthy! My pumpkin plant gave 7 pumpkins and my hokkaido plant gave 3. I have been turning some of them into delicious Fall cream soup. There is a recipe *here*. I would also like to make one or two pumpkin pies, using my grandmother's recipe, which I was so lucky to have sent to me a couple of weeks ago!! :)

Pepo pumpkins (what I call "Halloween" pumpkin),  and small Hokkaido squash (also called Red Kuri squash)

Our apple tree was not very productive this year, but I was allowed to pick apples at my friends garden and came home with 7 kilos of huge delicious ones!

7 kilos of apples. A huge thanks to my friends :)

So on a nice Saturday afternoon, I set out to work peeling all this lot. 

I sat in the greenhouse to peel the apples. It was so comfortable out there. 

I then turned all this into yummy pies. I used the same recipe as I did last year. If you're curious, you can find it by clicking *here*.

yum!

Last year, I managed to bake 4 pies out of the apples from our apple tree. This year, the 7 kilos of apples allowed me to bake 8 pies!

Apple pie production 2013: 8!

The tomato plants in the greenhouse are currently maturing the few last fruits of the year. Despite some issues earlier in the season, where the tomatoes would rot before having time to mature, I harvested many delicious and healthy tomatoes and enjoyed many tomatoe-basil salads. 

I have also been clearing things out from the vegetable patch. Some things unfortunately were attacked by meldew, others were just done and ready to get cleared out. I however left some of the beans on the plant with the idea to let them dry. I will then harvest and keep the beans / seeds for use next year. Some of them I simply picked up and hung in the greenhouse to dry, as I was afraid they would rot before time if they were left outside. With the empty soil space, I followed my friend's advice and put down some plants I had that were still in pots. They will be better off spending the winter with their feet in full soil, and I can move them early next year before the patch is needed again for vegetables. 

The season is coming to an end, and I am already looking forward to the next season! Thankfully, it's only a few months of waiting, as the first sowing can happen indoor in february with chili plants!

Hmm, but until then, I'll have to take up my winter hobbies! :)

Garden things

As documented on this blog, last year was my first time trying to grow a vegetable garden. Some things went well, some not so much, but I learned from my own trials and errors and from the valuable advice of experienced gardeners.

My second year with a vegetable garden is going quite well. Again, some things didn't work out as I wanted, but other things seem to be very good successes!

Vegetable garden 2013

I have green and  yellow beans which I sowed a little late, so they are lagging a bit behind. Similar issues with the peas. I sowed them in pots but took way too long to transplant them, so they didnt get very big. My romaine lettuce grew nice and big, however, and we enjoyed many fresh leaves before the last 2 heads went in bloom.

Last year, I had one kuri squash plant. It was an awesome discovery for me, as I absolutely loved the taste of this beautiful deep orange squash in soups, cream soups or just as an accompanying vegetable to a meal. This year, I planted 2 plants in stead of one, and they seem to be doing very well! If all goes well, I will harvest more than double the amount I had last year. (Well, I only had 3... )
The picture below shoes 2 of the young squashes. They will become a deep orange colour as they grow bigger. 

Young kuri squash

Zuchini, which we had way too many of last year, are not doing nearly as good this time around. I only planted 1 plant, but it's being a bit invaded by my pumpkin plant, which is totally and absolutely thriving! It is the first time that I try growing pumpkin (as in real halloween pumpkins, you know!). I'm really excited about the possible outcome!

Halloween pumpkins in the making!

Another thing being a bit invaded by the pumpkins are some special kinds of beans, which I don't know the name of in English. I have 3 different sorts cramped between the huge crawling pumpkin plant and the very tall sweet corn. Thankfully, I also have some in a huge pot somewhere else in the garden, and those are doing very well! (they taste awesome too!)

Finally, the corn! Last year, I ended up with - I think it was 3... - very pittiful corn plants, and didn't eat a single corn cob. This year is much better. I have 6 very healthy corn plants that grew tall and green and are starting to form cobs! It will be interesting to see if the cobs will be full and nicely formed. 

In the greenhouse, my tomatoes are having a bit of a hard time. They get something called "blossom-end rot", which, as far as I understand, is caused by a lack of nutrients. :( So that's a big disappointment. However, I'm working hard to try and save the tomatoes that are on the way now. I am hoping this organic fertilizer I got will help the matter.

On the other hand, my mini cucumbers are doing great. They are delicious and provide perfect little snacks when I'm working in the greenhouse. :)

Chilies "Apache" and Jalapeno are also doing great! I am very happy with my chili plants this year. They look really good. I'm thinking of trying to keep them in the house over winter. I read that this is possible! We'll see... 

Apart from plants growing and cucumbers, lettuce and beans being eaten, there are also things going on in the yard, as always... 

The compost corner has been upgraded to a paved compost-and-branch-and-such-things corner. A place where we can put non-compost garden "trash" until we can bring them away with the trailer, and of course where we still have our compost bin. 

Paved "compost corner"

The stones we used to pave the area are recycled from the terrace by the greenhouse. We are about to lay new stones, so in stead of getting rid of the old ones, we used them to pave this corner. Nothing like recycled stones to pave a compost corner, don't you agree? :) 

The plan is to have bushes an flowerbed around the area as a wall to hide the corner from view. We will also eventually build a second compost bin to make turning and things a little easier. 

Field stones are also useable in the garden. I had field stones around some of my flowerbeds, and I didn't really like the look. I wanted something more open / less framed. But I had another plan for the stones I removed. 

Field stone path

Since I removed the fence around the terrace by the house, I have been walking directly out through the flowerbed in stead of going around it. Going around was a detour when one wants to go to the garden patch or the compost corner. So I decided to make the new path "official" with stones. The flowerbed will all be rearranged anyway, so that was the first step!

And what do we do when we've enjoyed our garden during the day and made improvements and all that? Well, we sit outside during the evening and observe the night life waking up for its shift!

Mr. Hedgehog came to say hello... 

Hedgehog

... And the bats come out for their insect hunt. 

Bat, july 2013

There's no where like home... I love my house, my greenhouse and my garden!

Pumpkin delights

I really like pumpkins! They look like they came straight out of a fairy tale or a fantasy world. Have you guys ever seen a pumpkin field? So cute with all the orange spots! I think they look magical, but this may just be my little girl's heart speaking and dreaming. ;)

Pumpkins make great decorations around Halloween, but they are also delicious! I bought one single medium size pumpkin very recently, and here's what I did with it. 

Pumpkin soup (Or the Witch's potion.... if served at Halloween!)

2 cups pumpkin in cubes
1 cup carrots in slices
1 big onion, minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger root, minced
1 cup lentils
1 can cubed tomatoes
approx. 1 cup tomato juice
approx. 4 cups chicken bouillon
(liquids can be adjusted)

1- Cut open and clear the inside of the pumpkin.
Note: Set the seeds aside for later use.

2- Cut the pulp in cubes. Use approx. 2 cups for this recipe. Set the rest aside.
Note: I made sure to keep the bottom half of the pumpkin intact to use as a serving bowl!

3 - Prepare the carrots, onion and ginger root.

4- Put everything together in a cooking pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the carrots are tender.

Enjoy the delicious taste and comforting warmth. :)

Note: Can be frozen. 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Time to use those seeds we put aside.
Note: I kept some of the seeds to dry and store for next year's gardening season!

Mine are a bit too salty! Don't make the same mistake. ;)

1- Preheat oven to 150 C. (300 F)
2 - Separate the seeds from the pumpkin fibres. Clean under cold water if necessary.
3- Toss the seeds in a little bit of vegetable oil.
4 - Place in a single layer on a cookie plate. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt.
5 - Bake until golden (20 to 30 mins)

Eat the roasted seeds whole. Yummy little evening snack!


Pumpkin Cookies

One can not talk of pumpkin delights without talking of pumpkin cookies!

1/2 cup (125 ml) melted butter
1/2 cup (160 ml) brown sugar
1/2 cup (160 ml) white sugar
2 eggs
1 ts (5 ml) vanilla extract
2 cups (500 ml) grated pumpkin
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) flour
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) oat flakes
1/2 ts (2 ml) grounded cinnamon
1/2 ts (2 ml) grounded nutmeg
1 pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180 C (375 F)

1 - Mix the melted butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla together.
2- Add the pumpkin. Mix lightly and set aside.
3 - Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, oat flakes, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt)
4 - Add to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
5 - Place on a cookie plate and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

* * *

I still have half a pumpkin to use, and I am thinking of trying to make a pumpkin pie. I've never tried it, as my grandmother makes the best pumpkin pies in this entire Universe! But now that I live in a different country, I can not enjoy the yearly pumpkin pie meeting (aka: Thanksgiving), so I'll just have to learn to make my own!

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it!

Fall Cream Soup

Remember the pumpkins (red kuri squash) that I grew from seeds? (click here) Well, they grew and I ended up with 3 beautiful ripe squashes and I couldn't wait to taste them! Today being a very Fall'ish rainy day, I decided to make a lovely, warm and yummy cream soup.

Simple and easy cream soup for rainy Fall days

Ingredients
- 1 red kuri squash
- 1 big onion
- a few carrots (6-7 small)
- 1 big potato
- a piece of fresh ginger (I use a piece about the size of my thumb from tip to where it first bends)
- Chicken bouillon (preferably real)
- salt and pepper

Cut the squash in quarters, remove the inside part, peel the pieces and cut in cubes. I use a small knife and a spoon to cut out and scrape the inside, and an ordinary carrot/potato peeler to peel the outer part off.

Red kuri squash

Peel and cut the carrots, potato, onion and fresh ginger in pieces. There is nothing precise here. Just cut them out and throw them into a cooking pot. Add chicken bouillon until it just covers the veggies. Add salt and pepper.

Squash, carrots, potato, onion, ginger, chicken bouillon, salt and pepper. 

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and blend together. You should obtain an even, fairly smooth texture.

Blend together when all the vegetables are tender.

 That's it! Serve with a sip of cream and a piece of bread. I personally enjoy eating cottage cheese with my vegetable cream soup. Try it! It's not bad at all. :)

Yummy!

Seed-a-lee-doo...

This season, I learned a lot about sowing and caring for a garden. I've also come to realize that while it is indeed a lot of work, it is not necessary, unlike what I was led to believe, to be absolutely perfect in the art of gardening in order to enjoy a decent harvest. There are weeds in my garden. Yep... But there are also perfectly fine vegetables which I was able to add to many meals and happily savour. It certainly was successful enough in the end to make me already look forward to next year and a new garden season.

In preparations to that, the next thing I wanted to explore was seed harvesting. How fun would it be if I could eventually harvest all my seeds from my own garden and use them in the following years! Not only would I save a lot of money over time, but I would also ensure the quality of my seeds. I decided to start with the obvious: Everything that grows in pods.

So I am intentionally leaving some peas, green beans and yellow beans on the plants to mature and dry,  whereafter I will be able to crack the dried pods open and save the seeds for next year.

In the meantime, I looked around the yard and garden to find seeds that I could already harvest, and here is the result of my mini-quest.

Zucchini
(Same process for pumpkins)

1- Allow one of the zucchinis to grow and mature on the plant. I learned that they can become really quite huge!

42 x 12 cm (around 16.5" x  4,5") 

2- Cut the zucchini open and scrape the middle out.

Cut and scrape...

3- Find the healthy looking seeds. They look pretty much like pumpkin seeds. Discard the rest of the gooey stuff. The flesh can be eaten, of course! Lay the seeds on paper towels or on a screen net tray. Set somewhere warm and dry and leave them for a couple of weeks. When the seeds are completely dry, store for next year!

It's not only vegetable seeds that can be harvested. Flowers are fun too, and some of them are quite easy to deal with.

Iris

I spotted my blue irises earlier this year. When the flowers were done, the plant started forming pods in their place. I didn't touch anything and waited through the season for the pods to mature and dry.

1- Wait for the pods to dry and turn brown. They will start opening at the top and they will sound like mini maracas when you shake them.

Dried iris seed pods (featuring a blurry Kashew  in the background)

2- Pick the best looking ones, and crack them open.

3 - Clear residues out and store the seeds away. 

Lavender

Harvesting lavender seeds is a bit of a different process. 

1- Wait until the flowers are done and dry. They will have holes all over.

Dried lavender flower. (Featuring a blurry Tiana in the background)

2- Cut out some of the dried flowers and place them in a container with lid.

Lavender flowers, even at this stage, have such a nice fragrance! 

3- Close and shake the container. The little seeds contained in the flowers will fall out. 

4- Take the flowers out and set the seeds aside. Repeat the process with the same flowers until no more seeds are obtained. 

5 - Clear the residues out and store the small seeds. 

Tiny lavender seeds

I don't actually have any intention of sowing lavender directly in soil. I have a lot of it and one of its way to propagate is to run roots out under the soil in and pop baby plants everywhere. So as nice looking and as beautiful a fragrance it can have, it can be quite a pest at times! However, lavender in pots can also have its charm. :)

That's it for the time being. If any of you also harvest seeds and have tricks to share, please feel free to comment! I would love to hear from you. :)

Oh, the zucchinis... and the other green things

I can safely say that my very first vegetable garden is successful, if not as varied as I had planned at Spring. I've had so much fun harvesting zucchinis, sweet peas, lettuce and yellow and green beans, as well as various fresh herbs. I must say, though, that we have zucchinis coming out of our ears, as even giving some away is not enough to keep our stack down. I have already decided on only 1, maaaybe 2 zucchini plants next year, in stead of 4. (What was I thinking growing 4 of them, right?)

There's also the issue of mildew on zucchini plants. This is the white'ish layer you see on the leaves on the following image. The fruit is still very safe to eat,  but the plant is less healthy. I am trying to remove / control this powdery mildew with a homemade all-natural remedy (2 teaspoon potassium bicarbonate, 2 teaspoon vegetable oil and 2,5 L water), but it has not been an easy task! The only real solution is to remove all affected plants so it doesn't spread. :( I am still reluctant to revert to that solution at this point!

Garden in August

As it is now, the rest of the vegetable patch does not seem to get affected by the mildew. However, the tomatoes seem to have a hard time turning red. I have a lot of them, but they're all green, even though we are nearly at the end of August. I can't figure out why! 

The pumpkins, on the other hand, have grown quite a bit bigger and in the last couple of weeks, have taken a very lovely pumpkin color! Even though the plant itself is huge, and comes up with tiny baby pumpkins all the time, I only have 3 pumpkins that seem to be developing properly, and here's a picture of the biggest of them, at 2 different times this month. 

pumpkins - August 10, 2012

pumpkins - August 24, 2012

Meanwhile, on the terrace by the shed, my chili in pots are producing cute little chili peppers. Like the tomatoes, they are still green, and I don't know if they'll have time to turn red before the colder season, but it's still fun to see! 

Will they turn red before winter, you think?

I think that's it for the garden update!

I will end this post by saying that there soon will be a new exciting development in our garden, and I CAN'T WAIT to share the whole thing with you guys! So stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Oooh my oh my. :) :) :)

Veggie Garden After All

Apparently, vacation is not only good for people, it's also good for gardens! Remember my earlier poor attempt at growing lovely vegetables from seeds?  After this first near total fail, I had decided to sow again, but in pots this time, to keep a closer eye on the development. In my last update, I was getting ready to transfer that second round of baby plants onto the garden patch.

I had not set my hopes too high, as it was getting quite late in the season (almost July!) for starting a garden anew! But to my delight, everything survived the transfer and started growing... and producing!

Second attempt at a garden patch, nearly 3 weeks after transfer - July 18, 2012

Tiny little baby pumpkins! They look like small elves. heehee :) - July 18, 2012

My parents and grandmother visited us from Canada in July (hence the lack of entries in that period of time, by the way), and when they arrived, I got a few tricks from the experienced! The tomato plants were the only thing remaining from my original garden attempt, but I couldn't understand why they were growing so big and nicely, yet had so few flower buds. So I learned that it was better to prune the plant, so it could concentrate its energy on producing nice tomatoes. As the plant develops, shoots, commonly called "suckers", form in the axils, and these shoots need to be removed.

The shoots at the axils need to be removed for better development of tomatoes

Within a few days after pruning / cleaning up the plants, I started seeing an increase in the amount of buds, and in the speed in which everything was progressing. By now, about 3 weeks later, my tomato plants are full of buds, flowers and green tomatoes growing by the day!

Fresh tomatoes in the making - July 31st, 2012

I have already made several salads with fresh zucchinis, fresh lettuce and fresh basil and chives. I can't wait to replace store bought tomatoes with fresh tomatoes to go with the rest. No vegetable taste better than the homegrown ones!

Second attempt at a garden patch - July 31st, 2012

This project may not have worked exactly as I expected from the start, but in the end, some of it worked out and I come out of it with a little more experience than I had when the season started. Hands on trial and errors... and some good advice from experience gardeners. There is no best way to learn. :) I'm afraid I've been stung by the gardening bug. I wonder if the symptoms are contagious? ;)