Spring is in the air!

Oh my goodness, it has been a long time coming!

After a long, snowy, cold winter, spring is finally here!

Winter technically ended for us with the Skating Pot Luck Luncheon and awards ceremony, at which Little Country Girl was awarded Top Junior Skater! Way to go!!

Time to hang up those skates for the summer and lace up those soccer shoes!

So the long winter allowed me to plan out my veggie gardens and one of the top items was to improve the soil out in the plots. I took advantage of our towns compost giveaway as well as neighbors manure pile and spent a weekend working it in. I am now convinced the soil is in top condition for my crops.

I am happy to see that last years new apple tree survived the winter and is doing well.

I added a Plum tree this spring too, I hope it 'takes'. It didn't have too much root.

The last old apple tree had all the dead wood trimmed out this spring and we are being rewarded for our efforts. I do hope there are enough pollinators out and we get a heavy crop this fall.

The old apple tree we lost 3 years ago has sprouted.  A few new 'trees' have grown and been pruned. I will eventually have to decide which one I want to keep and cut the other out. I do hope it grows and produces Apples one day!

Mother Nature is rewarding us for the long winter with fragrance from the Lilac's. They are just loaded with blooms this year!

 I wish I could remember the name of these beauties

These were added last fall - 'China Town'

This is the second season for the Frittilaria Imperialis

Some other pretties

The cold weather crops have been planted and are coming up.We had a frost this week, and there is another predicted for this week. I wont be able to put my tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini in just yet.

I am just so glad I can be out in my gardens again!

Looking back at this years vegetable garden

The weather today is cold and windy, quite a change from yesterdays 17°C.

It's the perfect day to sit by the fire and look at the notes of the years successes and failures.

 I sit and try to decipher the scribbles on the random pieces of paper and enter these notes into my garden journal. Each success (and failure!) is noted for planning the following years garden.

Thinking about it now, it must have been a successful year as the freezer and pantry are full, and we ate fresh, homegrown produce for a good part of the season.

I knew I wanted to learn to can this year, and so my garden was planned accordingly.

The first crop this year was Asparagus.  Anyone that has tasted fresh picked Asparagus knows there is nothing like it!  None of ours made it to the freezer this year so I added more plants.

Then came the rhubarb. This plant's size astounded me this year, and we ate plenty and froze lots too.

We had plenty of Black Currents too and some were frozen and some made jam.

I have been on an endless quest for the 'best' tomaotes to grow so I plant several types of tomatoes- some for slicing, some for canning and some cherry type for eating. And each year I try new varieties.  As long as I have gardened, I have always planted  'Sweet Millions'.

 They are a great cherry tomato, producing many  clusters of very sweet tomatoes and they have never let me down. They will always have a place in my garden. This year I planted 'Grape' tomatoes as well. They were very uniform and tasted good - UNTIL you tasted the 'Sweet Millions' and then the 'Grape' tasted almost sour.

  For slicing, I planted 'Beef Master', 'Parks Whopper', 'Money Maker' and 'Mortgage Lifter'.

The 'Money Maker' I grew from seed, they others I bought plants. The 'Mortgage Lifter' was put in late and I paid dearly for the plant because of the rave reviews I heard.

They were a huge disappointment ... small fruit and very few. The taste wasn't great either. 

Never again will I plant them!

The 'Money Makers' produced clusters of small tomatoes ... nothing to write home about.

My favorite was the 'Beef Master'. Lots of large slicing tomatoes, very juicy and flavorful.

The 'Parks Whopper' was a close second. I would grow them both again.

For canning I planted 'Sicilian Saucer' and 'Roma' . The weather was odd all season, and all the plants were very short, but these 2 varieties did very well. The Roma's produced TONS of uniform fruits that were great for canning. The real surprise for me was the 'Sicilian Saucer'. It produced some HUGE tomatoes and they were excellent for both slicing and canning, and very plentiful.

 

 

 I will definitely be growing these again!

On my list to try next year are the 'Tomato Berry' and 'Homestead 'tomatoes.

I'd love to hear from you if you have tried these varieties!

 

Something new we tried this year was Cucamelons.

 

They were a tiny, watermelon looking fruit that we thought were more of a novelty.

To my surprise, the kids liked them! The plants climb and so can be easily trained to grow up a trellis, so they will have a spot in next years garden.

The 'Sugar Snap' peas had a great year as always and will be planted again.

The bush beans did well too. I will always have a few varieties, already decided on 'Blue Lake' and 'Royal Burgundy' for next season.

 Carrots and onions had a good year. I'm not even sure what varieties I planted, but have already decided that there will be red onions as well as yellow. 

I battled the dreaded Cucumber beetles and squash bugs again this year, and so there were few zucchini's and cucumbers.

A garden is only as good as the soil, so I tried to get ahead of my spring chores by topdressing the garden with compost this fall. I FINALLY had a good amount of compost and I needed the space for fall cleanup. I hope to dig the rest this spring.

 Good looking stuff, huh?

The gardens are all cleaned out now, with the exception of the kale that I have been picking.

Planning a garden is ALMOST as much fun as actually growing it.

 Not long ago, a friend gave me this bag of seeds with a large variety of veggies to try.

Inside was almost everything a person needs to plant a good veggie garden. I don't think she realized how happy a bag of seeds could make someone - she looked SO surprised when I started jumping for joy! The only seeds I need to buy next year are peas, beets, and kale!

Planning next years garden just became SO EASY!

 

 

Finally a garden fence!

It was only 10 years coming, but I FINALLY have a fence around the veggie garden!

 Complete with gate and sign, made in the winter.

The garden hasn't changed, but somehow the fence makes it feel complete. And hopefully, this will keep the rabbits out.

I have been busy starting the harvest, first with the Black Currents. 

My first time making Black Current jam!

I have been picking Sugar Snap peas, and bush beans too

Yesterday for the first time I made pickles!

I have also been picking a few cherry tomatoes, but they don't make it back to the house ... YUM!

One thing I have noticed this year is the lack of pollinators. I have not seen a single honey bee this year. I think this is due to the increase of GMO crops in the area. Thankfully the fields surrounding me are 'Certified Organic' (so I am told, however I am not sure how it got this designation), but beyond those fields things have changed. There are suddenly weedless fields of wheat, soya beans, and corn and giant tractors with sprayers. But that's another post for another day.

Meanwhile, the unknown vine that grew from the compost in the back garden is growing well

I had hoped it was a pumpkin or squash, but this week, this vine finally gave a clue...

Gourds! Now I'm not sure how long I will keep this vine growing here. 

Also this week was Little Country Girls 11th birthday!

And spoiled she was! A girl only turns 11 once ;)

The early July garden

Life has a way of getting so hectic that sometimes you just have to STOP and force yourself to take some time look around. School is out now and so the kids are home to help with chores.

Even having help with a few simple things eases the load a lot, and makes room for a few other things ... like JAM!

Big Country Girl and a friend went strawberry picking. Nothing quite like the taste of fresh picked Ontario strawberries still warm from the sun!

And so, with my plan of canning/preserving this year, I made jam.

2 batches and I ended up with12 jars of various sizes.

I also learned the sweet sound that other canners said I would learn to love ... the sound of the "ping" that means the jars have sealed. The jam is a hit, so I'm not sure how long the 12 jars will last.

Despite the bunnies, beetles and lack of fence, the veggie patch is doing well. The first zucchini is almost ready to pick and I can't wait to stuff it!

The radishes have all been picked and have been re-sown

And the tomatoes are coming along nicely

Spinach is producing, and so is the kale.

Cucumbers are growing and there will be peppers to pick very soon.

And the bunnies (so far) have saved me some peas!

Hubby says today MAY be the day for the fence to go up IF he is home from work early enough. Keeping my fingers crossed!

A few photos from the flower gardens - the first being the Black Lace Sambuccas that I thought was dead from the previous post. It is growing back in well!

I am really impressed with my Blue Oat Grass this year

And also the vivid blooms on the Rose Campion

Last years Daisy's from the discount rack are putting on a show

A few Roses

And a few overall shots of the gardens, which are starting to fill in quite nicely

Next Sunday, our local Horticulture Society is having a garden tour.

I can't wait to see other people's gardens :)