Archive for the ‘gardening’ Category
I love pesto, but have never made my own. I had a bunch of basil that needed using up, so I gave it a try. Boy was I glad I did, it tasted so much better than any other pesto I have ever had. There are tons of recipes out there, but this is the first one I came across, so this is what I tried.
I’ve never made it before as basil from the store is expensive, and boy howdy those pine nuts are ridiculous. I found them in one store in town and they were $35 a pound. That is way out of my food budget, so in future I will be substituting walnuts or almonds (as I have read that lots of people do).
The pesto made a delicious pasta supper, so let’s just hope we get a bunch more basil growing here in the next few weeks so I can make and freeze some for winter.
food, gardening • Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 • 7 Comments »
A simple summer salad made from the bounty of our garden. Well, it may not be a huge bounty, but it sure does taste good. There is something so incredibly satisfying about being able to walk out into the garden and pluck peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers right off the plants. In less than five minutes you can be sitting down to a wonderfully simple salad that is still warm from the sun.
This was the first year we grew peppers and cucumbers and they will definitely be back next year. I’m also looking forward to growing some different veg as well. Slowly but surely our garden is expanding and it is so much fun. The kids love being able to pick veg, but they are really excited about the cantaloupe. Right now it’s about the size of a softball and growing a bit every day.
What bounty are you enjoying from the garden (or the shops)?
food, gardening, green, nature • Monday, August 30th, 2010 • 4 Comments »
This is our first harvest of the year, a handful of green beans and a cherry tomato. The beans got as far as being rinsed off before they were eaten.
This tomato will be eaten today, just as soon as I can divide it into six. Wouldn’t want anyone feeling left out of eating our first tomato of the season.
food, gardening • Thursday, August 5th, 2010 • 6 Comments »
Everything seems to take so much longer to grow here, but we are finally making some progress.
We’ve got peppers and beans, aren’t those teeny beans so cute? This is the first year I’ve grown either of these veg.
We’ve also got cucumbers, yellow squash, and cantaloupes beginning to flower.
There are even some small green tomatoes popping up. The raspberry and current bushes are bulking up as well. Last year was the first year we had them and they weren’t much more than a couple of twigs, though they are filling out very nicely this year.
For a while I thought my entire garden was doomed as nothing seemed to be growing in the slightest, but now we are picking up speed. Here’s to a late blooming garden.
gardening • Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 • 6 Comments »
I feel like I am cheating when it comes to gardening when I plant already started plants into the ground. I have resigned myself to the fact that if I want to grow anything, this is the way it will have to be. Forget greenfingers, I have gardening fingers of death. Do you remember all of my beautiful seedlings? Want to know how many survived? Not one single one.
After lovingly looking after them for months, they just stopped growing. They weren’t big enough to transplant, and I have no idea what I did wrong. It is so disheartening for me, as I really, really want to be able to grow things from seed.
We ended up going to the garden center and purchasing already started plants. I got them in the ground and have high hopes for them producing. We shall see though, as I can manage to kill just about any plant with a single glance.
The decluttering is going well, I have a whole van load to head to the thrift store, a stack of books that I am selling, and a few things that are going on ebay. I still have so much more to do, but I am finally seeing some progress.
Oh, and I am finally getting sleep. If the babe takes a late afternoon nap, she doesn’t go to sleep till about 9:30pm, but she doesn’t wake up during the night. I’m still trying to decide whether I want calm, quiet, child free evenings or a decent nights sleep. Some days it’s a toss up.
gardening, home • Monday, June 21st, 2010 • 7 Comments »
After we left my in-laws house, we had the chance to stop by my Hubby’s Aunt’s house. She has the most spectacular garden where lots of fruits, herbs and veggies are flourishing.
I was completely jealous as by mid May, she already has so many things thriving. Here our last frost date is June 1st, which means nothing is ready, or even in the ground yet.
She has the most gorgeous chickens, which the kids loved watching as they scattered around the yard. They had me dreaming of having a few chooks of my own in the next couple of years.
The babe stood and watched the chickens for quite a while, shame we just missed the egg collecting.
Next we headed over to the strawberry patch. Yum, the girls had such fun searching for ripe berries.
We don’t have strawberries planted this year, but next year I have high hopes for having a huge patch to go searching in.
Is there anything better than a handful of ripe strawberries eaten within moments of being picked, still warm from the sun? Nope, I don’t think so.
family, gardening, travelling • Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 • 7 Comments »
freshly spritzed seedlings
a bowl full of apples
a bit of crochet in the sunshine, while keeping a hair elastic on my wrist to remind me which row I had just done (I blame mommy brain)
straight from the bath baby curls
It is these ordinary moments that make up our days, and make those days truly wonderful.
crochet, family, food, gardening • Monday, April 26th, 2010 • 9 Comments »
Spring has sprung, well, in Denver at least! It is slowly inching our way, and I am so excited. We had to go back down to Denver to get the computer worked on again (they broke something while they were doing the last repair), so we got to see spring in action.
I love all of the gorgeous flowers, and green grass. The rain showers and the fact that we can walk outside without having to bundle all four kids and ourselves in coats, hats, gloves etc. It has been a really long winter here, and I am oh so ready for spring.
Personally, I think I like the rain showers the best (besides the flowers of course), on a sunny afternoon, just a quick shower and it’s all over. What is your favourite thing about spring?
gardening, nature • Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 • 6 Comments »
I love the idea of having a gardening journal that will last for several years. To be able to look at the same week for three years in a row sounds really great to me, because as I am really just starting out and learning what I am doing I think it will be invaluable to compare notes whether things go right, or wrong.
I looked at journals to buy, and there were some really beautiful ones, but to be honest, I know it would bother me to see them get dirty. So I did what any self-respecting do-it-yourselfer would do, and made my own. I bought an inexpensive spiral bound sketchbook, drew some straight lines, and started filling it in.
I think I am really going to like it, and it’s kind of fun to make notes of exactly what is happening. I also think it will be neat to look back after a couple of years and see how much I have learned.
I have used one page for each week of the year, and left the back side blank to be able to make additional notes if necessary. I plan on using the back of the pages to keep all of the info of the seeds etc. so that I can use the chart to mostly measure progress and what we are doing.
Do any of you use a gardening journal? Any tips on things for me to do?
Oh, and as a side note, see the green grass in the background? Yesterday it turned green, for the first time this year there is finally some green around, wohoo! I think we are well on our way to spring. Unfortunately our last frost free date for planting is June 1st, so it’ll still be a little while till I can get anything in the ground.
Well, we’ve got a busy day today, so I’m off. Enjoy your day, I hope it’s a great one.
books, gardening • Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 • 9 Comments »
Just popping in quickly today to show you some of our seedlings progress. They seem to be off to a good start, and I can hardly wait until it is time to get them in the ground.
What are your favourite things to go? Are you more into veggies, herbs, or flowers?
gardening • Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 • 6 Comments »
