Garden 2024 Upate #6

Update on the 2024 garden progress. 

Sweet peppers will be used for roasting, freezing & freeze drying for soups & dips. 

Chives & Cherry Tomatoes

Pickling Cucumbers

Volunteer Hibiscus Plant 

The view from the lawn swing after a long day gardening 💖

Sitting alongside a crackling fire at the end of the day is a refreshment I can't recommend enough.

Take a moment. Praise God. Enjoy the fruit of your labor. 

My Urban Homestead 💖 Food Forest

The goal: fresh, organically grown food available in every square foot in the almost 1200 square foot garden space. I'm very close to that goal now so here is what's available in this small area: 

blackberries, strawberries, grapes, sweet potatoes, carrots, peppers, green beans, tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, plums & apples. 

My first ever, 4 leaf clover. 😊

Yukon Gold potatoes

Bloomerang Lilac Bush

Hardneck Garlic in the DIY window well raised bed

I hope you've been blessed and encouraged by what you've seen here. 

Please feel free to leave a comment with any gardening questions you may have!

Garden 2024 Update #5

As usual this time of year, time gets away from me. There's so many things to get ready for another growing season and that keeps me plenty busy.  Here's some fun pics to update on what's been going on in the garden since the last update.

The View From the Deck. I take this same shot all year long in all different seasons to show how quickly things change out there!  You can't see them all yet, but there are multiple things growing here. Sweet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, runner beans, Concord grapes, strawberries, plums, apples, blackberries and garlic.  In just a few short weeks this will all look completely different as I get my seedlings out there and what's already there begins to get bushy. The raised beds here will have a variety of peppers and tomatoes planted very soon. 

Honey Crisp Apple blossoms

Italian Prune blossoms - and the old farmer's tale (sort of like an old wives tale) says: 

when your plum trees blossom (not apple blossoms or peach blossoms, it must be the plum), winter is over and it's safe to plant out your garden.  I don't know how true it is, but the plum tree bloomed and there isn't a single frost in the 14 day forecast.  Looks like the rest of the garden will be going out real soon!

Forget Me Nots

Chives

Rhubarb

Concord Grape bud (first year growing these, I'm so excited to have my own grapes!)

I bought this fire pit for this exact reason. It did not disappoint! 😀

The view from my chair after a long day of work in the garden.  

When I say I have a "wee garden plot" I really do mean it.  It's roughly 1200 square feet of space to work with so I've creatively used every space I can to make it a productive piece of land. In small spaces like this, vertical growing comes in very handy! I use what's commonly called cattle panel trellising, even though they're not officially cattle panels, they're 3.5' x 7' galvanized steel mesh panels commonly used for concrete foundations, cable tied to standard t-posts. All my grapes, beans, blackberries and cucumbers are vertically trellised this way to make the best use of the space. 

Sweet Potatoes bordering the grape trellis

My executive garden assistant, Ed

The curved branch was demanding a lovely decoration

A work in progress!  It'll look a lot different when the Dutch clover is planted and the wildflowers begin to bloom.  All the local wildlife drink from the pond so the goal was to make it even more accessable to them, as well as finally making it a pretty place to sit and enjoy time in the garden.

Garden 2024 Update #4

For many, spring is a very fast moving, things-are-changing-quickly season if you're keeping a productive garden.  Lots of work to be done both indoors and outdoors.  Plus, if you're like me, you've got all sorts of big ideas and big plans for changes and additions to your space, so that's just work on top of the work. 

This year, I'm planting the same amount (more or less) in my staple garden, but I'm not taking as much time to invest in different varieties of things, or what I usually call the "experiment garden bed" as I've done before. Instead, and it's really long overdue, this year my plan is to work hard at beautifying the space.   

Over the last several years I really haven't focused on that aspect of the garden as much as I'd like to, so this is the year to make it as lovely, comfortable and inviting as I know how to make it.  Anyway, that's the goal.  So here's a few shots over the last few days for a mostly pictorial update as things are getting busy out there!

The 6x6 wooden post the mint is sitting on: recycled old clothesline post. 

Thrifted metal window wells turned into a raised bed.

Yukon Gold potatoes in those eight grow bags. Please excuse the wheelbarrow handles 😁

Russet Potatoes in these two grow bags on the left. First year growing them so that's exciting! 

The first 4 white pots are different mints used for tea, then Lemon Balm and Yarrow at the end. 

My raspberry bush relocated for the 3rd time.  Now it's between the Peonies, permanently. 

A Bloomerang Lilac I've had for almost a year now. Easily doubled in size if not more. 

Meet Mr. Ed.  He always follows me around in the garden. 

He just turned 8 years old a few days ago. Happy birthday Mr. Ed! 

A new, faux raised bed/border box. It sits flush with the deck without being attached. 

Future home to rhubarb & strawberries.

I really can't ask for a better view. I mean, wow! 

Garden 2024 Update #3

 I've been BUSY outside, so here's how things are looking nearly mid-April.

We've had the most unseasonably mild weather, and that's allowed for a lot of work out in the garden, getting things ready for spring planting.  It's probably one of my most favorite times of year.  For the first time, after a long winter indoors, being able to walk barefoot through the garden, hearing the birds singing, and the sound of a warm spring breeze rustling through the trees.  There's really no other feeling quite like it.  

I've been doing a little tidying up, and moving furniture around in the back corner of the garden where the pond is.  I've moved grandpa's bench to the Honeysuckle tree and will be doing some landscaping around that area with some wild flowers and mulch, just to tidy it up a little. No pics yet, since it looks pretty rough, but those will come soon.  I added these cute solar lights in the Lilac bush, and will be hanging solar string lights in a canopy from the fence to the garden cottage.  These red Muskoka chairs will be replaced hopefully sometime soon. My goal in this part of the garden is to make it as inviting and cozy as possible, so I'm hoping for some lovely, thrifted bistro chairs here, with nice waterproof cushions.  I love  having multiple places in the garden to just sit for a moment with a cup of coffee in the morning, or a glass of wine in the evening, and simply enjoy being there, in the beautiful moment.  

My garlic is coming in nicely, with a 99% success rate.  20 cloves planted, and 19 have come in.  This location for my garlic was supposed to be a temporary experiment to see how it did in this bed, but it's become rather convenient and now this is the 3rd year I've grown it here.  It's planted on Halloween then harvested usually by Canada Day or the 4th of July.  After the garlic is harvested in July, beets will take their place. I have to say that now I fully understand the popularity of those stainless steel raised beds that are up to 3 feet tall.  Being able to amend the soil, plant the seeds, water and harvest without ever bending over or getting down on my knees is rather enjoyable.  These kinds of raised beds would be perfect for anyone with mobility issues where bending or kneeling may be difficult. 

These chives I planted very last minute last growing season, and I wasn't sure if they'd survive winter at all but sure enough, they survived just fine and have made a sweet comeback this spring.  I didn't get a chance to use them much last year but I did manage to snip a few here and there for salads & baked potato toppings.  Very pleased to see them come back so strong, and so early.

My indoor growing space has been wonderfully productive. 

Nothing fancy at all, just a couple of wire shelves, a few heat mats and some grow lights. Growing here are strawberries, onions, ground cherries, tomatoes, rhubarb, lemon balm, peppers, green onions, cucumbers & potatoes.  My carrots have already been planted, and the onions will be going out as soon as this latest rainy weather system passes by, this weekend. 

A really fun new addition to the garden this year is a DIY Feeder Cam station I set up with a spare Ring spotlight cam.  A couple of years ago the lights stopped working on the camera, so instead of using it to capture the night time wild life, I'm now using it to record all the birds and other critters that venture into the yard and dine at the feeder. I've made over my old Youtube channel thats been sitting dormant since 2006 and now it will be home to my Feeder Cam videos.  Brand new content so not a lot there yet but there's a lot being edited & prepped for uploading soon.  My hope with this fun little hobby is to create enjoyable videos that are also educational. You can see that here, at Barefoot in the Garden.

I hope I've encouraged you to get out there, and get planting your own garden!