Thanksgiving 2011

I have to say that I absolutely love having an herb garden.  When we are cooking recipes that call for fresh herbs we usually have to buy a fairly large package at the store, or a fairly large bunch even at the market.  But what happens when you only need a few leaves? Typically that means that you’re buying the whole thing and unless you have a use for the remaining amount you end up throwing it away.  As we went to prepare our turkey we needed both rosemary and fresh sage (but only 6 leaves).  I was with pleasure that I ran outside to pick some fresh sage and walk over to my winter garden and clip some fresh rosemary. 

I couldn’t use my potatoes because they were rotting, but I’m hoping that in the coming years I will be able to pull more and more from my garden.  While herbs may be a simple start they are on the top of my list of ways to get a huge bang out of the garden.

Menu this year
Turkey brined with Alton John’s good eats brine
Loaded mashed potatoes
Baby peas (just for my dad)
Orange glazed carrots and snow peas
Sweet potato rosettes
Fresh baked dinner rolls (from stratch)
Stove top stuffing (my family loves it sorry)
Cesar Salad
Pumpkin roll with vanilla ice cream for dessert

Leftovers

Loaded mashed potato soup
Turkey casserole
Turkey stock
Turkey meat frozen for later

Potatoes 2011

I had started with potatoes leftover from the kitchen mostly just to play and see what would happen.  They were so fantastic that I really wanted to try to grow some.  And of course in true me fashion wanted to try the weird and unusual that of course (at least at that time for me ) can’t be found in the store.  So for my 2010 Garden I got some of the potato bags from Gardener’s Supply and some actual seed potatoes from a couple places.  Ended up trying Sweet potatoes, Yukon golds, Blue and fingerlings.  We got going VERY late because of the flooding in New England last year but decided to try them any way.  Boy were we glad that we did try them.  While we didn’t get a whole lot we got enough to try and enough to seed for 2011.  They were incredibly buttery by themselves and the blue had an awesome woody taste that I had never had before. 

So 2011 came and learning from last year I was able to keep enough for seed for the Yukon gold, blue and fingerlings, and we even managed to get them into the ground on time.  However, we weren’t able to get the bags back filled on time.  So while I was proud of myself for keeping my own ( I even started my sweet potatoes from an extra one I had) My results weren’t fantastic.  Between the 4 bags that we had going we only got about 8 pounds total.  No where near what we really should have in a perfect world, but better then last year.  All the potatoes were also all on the bottom of the bags.  I think if we had gotten it back filled we may have had better luck. 

The worse part about this year was we left them outside to dry and they all got rained on.  Dried them off and brought them, but unfortunately they did not make it.  This year we didn’t even get as far as trying them.  Now I’m really motivated to get it right next year.   At least this year was better than last year so we're heading in the right direction. 

My niece and my father grabbing the potatoes.  He's like a kid in a candy store. 

Well that's what we managed to pull out of the bags.  Not too bad.  Very excited about the sweet potatoes this year. Top Left blue, top right fingerlings (mine are really big), bottom right yukon gold (some really good ones), and finally sweet potatoes.  

These were our totals.  First year we actually weighed them.  the .16 was the bag we used. 

Winter Garden 2011

So we’re trying the winter garden thing again this year.  Crossing my fingers we get better luck.  Unfortunately we’re not off to a great start.  The tomatoes that I planted dried out and shriveled up into nothing.  The zucchini I planted didn’t do much before it decided it would rather die, and some of my seeds just didn’t sprout and I never made it back to reseed them. 

 Now for the good news, the Hot cherry, cayenne, chocolate, reg & mini chocolate peppers that I planted are doing great.  I have one volunteer tomato plant that is awesome and already has fruit on it.  I wanted to transplant some more plants from the garden, but after winter storm Alfred I don’t think most of what is left outside is very happy right now. 

For he ha’s because we really are switching to wood this year I’m going to try to reseed and see what happens.  I’m going with the idea that worse case is no worse than the current situation.  Maybe we’ll even get some strawberries this year.  I’ve got 4 pots of them set up as an experiment this winter to see what happens. 

I really need to keep in mind that this thing needs to be up and running by the beginning of august.  That’s when I put in the plants that are doing the best right now.  What can I say gardening is an experience that is always evolving. 

Finding homes for them

Finding homes for almost 70 plants inside is no easy task.  This year we plan on burning wood so I’ve lost the top of the wood stove which housed quite a few of my plants last year.  We’ve also expanded our winter garden this year.  We did however manage to get quite a few hooks put up so that I can finally hang plants in front of the windows this year.  That has helped tremendously.  Now it’s just finding the time to finish and keep up on the watering.  I’m finding that a lot of them are lot more thirsty now that they are inside then they were on the outside.  I think I have finally gotten catch up in the watering.  Now the trick is to stay on top of it.  I’ve managed to make the family room pretty cozy which is super nice.  It will be fun to sit around this winter surrounded by green fun. 

Top of the 6 ft table that is completely full

Floor of the table

There's a lot of them.  And for the most part they have all found homes.  I totally have a jungle in my house.  There's also a crazy variety of plants in this collection.  Never really appreciated how much I have until it's all crammed together in one tiny spot.  Some think it's crazy, but it's my craziness and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Pasta Ponza ! ! ! !

So I found a recipe from Everyday Italian that I loved the way it looked and wanted to try it.  The problem was that my grocery store doesn’t carry different colors of tomatoes.  Figuring they were out there I went on a search and ultimately found some very cool new seed places.  Last year I tried growing them and they didn’t quite do as well as I was hoping and we never got enough to really do anything with.  I did only have 1 plant of each.  I did the black, white, orange, and yellow cherries.  This year I got some black cherry seeds from a friend and tried the other colors again.  Well even with the damage from Irene I was able to finally get enough to try out the recipe. 

Totally worth it.  So excited to know that not only can I grow the different tomatoes, but they do taste way better than what’s in the stores and the selection is so much better.  The pasta dish was fantastic and super easy to put together.  I made it in my Demarle at Home products which made clean up a total breeze.  I think we ate it for about a week and I still wanted it.  Making me want to expand what I can do with what’s in my garden.  Which I guess is as good a reason as ever to really evaluate where I’m at.

Update: So knowing that this has sat for a while it's time to let everyone know that the new and improved can be found over at www.gardeningfoodies.com I've learned a lot over the years and I'm super excited to share that with everyone.  So come check us out and see what we now have in store for you.  A lot of food, a little bit of bon COOK business and a sprinkling of gardening to bring everything together.  Or just check out our growing community over at www.gardeningfoodies.com/fbgroup Can't wait to see you there and catch up.



Fresh Cherry Tomatoes from the garden before cooking



After cooking with bread crumbs on top







Finished Product

Finished Product

Time to start the jungle

It’s that time of year again.  Once we hit the middle of October as the temperatures decided to start dipping into the low 40’s we decided to grab all of our tropical plants and make sure they were inside.  I believe the forecast was for 38 degrees when we decided to grab everything.  With all the tax deadlines getting extended for those of us up in the northeast tax season hasn’t gone the way it usually has.  So instead of being able to concentrate on cleaning up at home I’ve been doing double duty still.  At least we had an extra table that we could use.  This meant that like Irene all the plants just got piled up so that at least they were inside before the supper cold actually hit. 

I’m so glad that I actually did bring them in because the lights frosts started and I’m pretty sure that most of my plants would not have liked that very much; especially seeing as how most of them have already gotten pretty mad at me for leaving them outside in the 50 degree weather.  Now comes the fun task of cleaning them all up, trimming them all back and fining a nice home for them for the winter. 

Welcome to the start of my jungle.

Fresh Salsa ! ! ! !

 So on my kick of finding out how much better things from my garden taste I decided to try a two for one experiment.  I have a friend who created this awesome salsa recipe that we’ve been able to duplicate and with our salsa marker is a breeze to put together.  I have another friend though that doesn’t like actual onion, but likes the taste of onion (go figure).  So taking my fresh plum tomatoes, some fresh cherry tomatoes (with the different colors) and a green pepper from a friend’s garden, some green onions from my garden, and a jalapeno (from the garden) we tried to make it.  You would never guess how much of a difference it makes to have the real onion.  My friend loved it, but the rest of us thought it was missing something.  I will say though it was kinda cool to know that most of the ingredients came from the garden. 

So after that little experiment went pretty well I decided to try the hot version with some of my hot cherries (it’s normally made with a habanero).  The hot cherries seem to do well inside during the winter so in theory I would be able to get them, which is especially awesome because the habaneros are becoming harder and harder to find in our grocery stores.  I didn’t personally eat it as it is way too hot for me (hot just isn't my thing), but the reviews were great.  The idea of having fresh salsa in winter that could potentially come from our little three tier is pretty cool.  Guess I need to work on getting some plum tomatoes worked into the mix. 

We wanted to try to can some this year, but that didn’t happen.  So maybe next year when we’re done with the projects I’ll be able to try my hand at it. 

Consequences of the weather

Wow is all I can say about the weather that we’ve been having in New England.  Hurricane Irene knocked out southeastern CT for about a solid week.  This is turn resulted in all the tax return deadlines to be extended until the end of October.  Normally all deadlines are done by October 15^th.  Which usually gives me plenty of time to clean up and get things all set.  Oh and to get Halloween all set.  With the tax deadlines all getting extended this has been the most insane October I can ever remember. 

Then as if the month wasn’t bad enough as we’re decorating a hall for a Halloween party the rain that’s coming down decides to change over to snow.  This is snow which wasn’t even supposed to start until Midnight.  By the time we had finished we already had like an inch on the cars.  And while it’s only October we already had out first winter storm with a name.  Our area of the state didn’t get hit nearly as hard as other parts.  When you look at the outage map it’s almost as if the line from Irene stayed put and the state just reversed.  I feel bad for the people that are getting hit a second time, but not so bad for the people who were fine for Irene and are just now experiencing this.  So besides the crazy month I am now officially making being prepared a much bigger priority.  As soon as I down load some pictures I’m sure I’ll have some to post. 

Here’s hoping for a quiet November so we can all catch up.   

Kicking and Screaming

I’m personally a fan of the extremes.  I love Summer and I love Winter.  Fall I don’t particularly care for because I’m usually not ready for summer to be over, and as much as I should love spring because of the gardening aspect I’m afraid it’s just too muddy overall for me.  It’s chilly and frankly just teases you with the cold sun that looks like it should be a lot warmer.  So here we are again.  Somehow Summer has managed to race by and I’m not sure where it went.  Like it or not I know summer is coming to an end.  My morning glories are already getting burned by the cold nights, my tomatoes and cucumbers were never the same after the storm and have no chance of kicking into another round at this point.  And slowly the black eyed susans that bloom so brightly for the better half of the summer are finally winding down. 

In New England summer seems to come and go this time of year.  We got really cold where I actually broke out some sweaters already, and yet this past weekend I was wearing shorts again.  However there is no fooling the trees that surround me.  As I lay in bed what was once a view of lush green is beginning to become a blend of reds, yellows and oranges, a sure sign colder days are ahead.  Driving around you can see the fields sprinkled with orange globes as the pumpkin plants die back to leave the fruits of their labor behind to be picked.  Our pool is still open, the last holdout of summer.  Once we cave there I’ll be looking forward to the days of lounging in front of a warm fire while the world is blanketed in white.  (while dreaming and planning next year’s garden of course) In the meantime though I’ll head into fall kicking and screaming as I hold on to the last few days that feel like summer regardless of what the calendar says. 

Is that Butter? ? ? ? ? Now what?

It’s amazing how you can’t do something if you try, but you always manage to do it when you least expect it.  Last year when I started making bread I thought it would be cool to make my own butter to go with it.  I thought it was only fitting.  So I got some heavy cream, did some research and started whipping, and whipping, and whipping and of course nothing happened.  Imagine my surprise this past weekend. 

I was making a dessert that needed some whipped cream.  It only needed a little bit so I tried making it in a different container than I usually use.  My immersion blender has a whisk attachment, and when I turned it on it causes that cream to fill the whole container (think tall cup).  Well I thought I had whipped it enough, but when I went to pipe it onto my cupcakes it looked a little watery.  I still had some leftover so I decided to whip it some more so I could use it later.  Well it didn’t get thicker.  Instead it got more watery, so I whipped it some more.  Next thing I know I’ve got CLUMPS!

Then I got excited.  So I kept going and guess what.  I GOT BUTTER! ! ! ! Well that was what I was guessing it was anyway.  Turns out it was.  I kept going so the butter had completely separated out.  I put it in a container to take to work (a co worker I knew use to make butter) and asked now what.  Turns out you don’t really need to do anything else.  So we put it on some bagels and it was AWESOME! Turns out it tasted better with a little salt added for the bagel, but seriously how awesome is that.  Fresh butter that I actually managed to make.  Of course I couldn’t do it when I tried, but now I know what container to use to make butter (note to self not a good container to make whipped cream in).  Now where is some fresh home made bread?

Mother Nature Keeps on Ticking

I’m happy to say that some of the garden has survived, and besides the complete jungle out there you can’t really tell there was any damage on the surface.  It’s been an absolutely insane month since the storm.  Thankfully all our deadlines (tax) got extended so that has helped.  However, I still couldn’t tell you what I’ve been doing for the last month.  Or even how a month has even gone by. 

The flowers have straightened themselves out and are as tall as ever. Guess there’s no beating mother nature down.   Luckily Irene didn’t destroy my cotton plants which are still going.  I’ve gotten multiple blooms off them this year which really aren’t that exciting.  The seed pods though are getting bigger by the day so I can’t wait until they finally burst open.  I bet it’s going to look very cool with this little cotton ball in the garden.  I will say I have definitely forgotten just how tall Cosmos can get when they are happy.  I think some rearranging is in order for next year. 

The tomatoes which my girl friend forgot to mention were the TALL ones have just about flopped over everything.  Unfortunately they have not fared well even after the storm.  BUT . . . . . I was finally able to get enough to try this pasta dish that started the whole journey into the world of multi colored tomatoes and let me tell you completely fantastic and totally worth it.  Maybe next year I’ll figure out how to can and be able to keep some of it for the winter months.  Our corn is still going and managed to stay completely upright.  I even have a few ears of popcorn growing.  I’m crossing my fingers that they get big enough to actually get something.  Ahhhh so many goals & wishes but simply not enough time to get them all done. 

Next on our list is our new veggie garden.  We just got the wood delivered so hoping we can get that is pretty shortly and have it ready to go for next spring. 

Irene August of 2011

WOW can a little tropical storm do a lot of damage.  I’ll be honest I never thought it would really hit us, and even if it did I didn’t think it would hit us that hard.  So I picked up made sure everything that could get picked up by wind was taken care of.  Brought all my plants inside, and actually filled some containers with water, filled the bath tubs and at the last minute filled a bucket for the dogs. 

We lost a tree and it seems that my garden has seen better days since the storm.  Trees were down all over our town and for once we actually lost all power and cell service for about 6 days in my area.  Work had power so that made it a little easier to get cold water on a daily basis.  We also had the pool in the backyard which also made it easy and a little fun to actually bathe out there.  At least we were clearn. 

Even things that looked like they made it are not very happy right now.  The cherry tomatoes are rotting on the bushes and my watermelon is just dying back.  Looks like I’ll have to wait until next year for some real results.  I did however find a watermelon out front which I think is the orange glow that seems to be growing quite well.  Can’t wait to see if it grows and I get anything. 

Flowers seem to be hanging in there.  Some of my cosmos split straight down the middle, but are still going.  If I thought my front was a jungle before the storm it’s deep jungle now.  I did finally found a spot that the cotton seems to be enjoying and that has made it through the storm just fine.  I can’t wait to see if I actually get a cotton ball with new seeds in it from the plant.

Crossing my fingers.!

Some of the fun from IRENE

two trees at the top of our street.  One tree fell onto the other, but at least it was stopped befoe it actually landed on the power box.  Both trees were quickly removed. 

This is the tree we lost.  It was actually struck by lightning a few years ago, and was doing fine, but it was no match for IRENE.  This is right after it fell before the town came.  It was blocking about 3/4 of the rd which is about 4 cars wide. 

The town came by prett quick to get it out of the rd.  they cut off the branches that were along one side and used a snow plow to puch it back into our yard.  Thankfully they didn't puch it into our baby cherry tree. 

The garden in front of the deck.  It's amazing how straight everything was until the storm.  Thankfully even the flowers that were split are still hanging on and haven't started to dye back. Hopefully they'll make it through the season.  it's a total jungle now without question. 

My Full Basket ! ! ! ! !

When I jumped back into real gardening (not just containers on my balcony which was right outside my door) I quickly realized that I needed a way to get the stuff back to the house without making a million trips.  SO I found a garden hood which is a great sturdy basket with a wire bottom so you can rinse your picks and it will drain right out. 

Well Like most times once I got it I didn’t really need it.  Even though I totally needed something before.  But this year I was finally able to really use it.  I can’t tell you how awesome it was to just go and pick stuff and have a place to put it.  Usually I was putting them in my shirt, my skirt, my hands or once in a while a container that I grabbed (ex raspberries). 

Turns out it actually holds a lot.  I wanted to pick as much as I could before it all blew away or got broken and ended up with the following: tomatoes, cayenne peppers, jalapenos, lettuce, cucumbers (big and small), basil, and even a couple of egg plants.  It actually ended up being a pretty hefty load.  YEAH!  At last! Now if only the rest of the tomatoes would ripen.  I want some fresh sauce. 

Now I get to add some mystery peppers, tomatoes (that were supposed to be plum) and lots of black and white cherries.  Looks like my orange and red cherries are just rotting right now.  I've been able to get tons of basil, greens and egg plants this year.  Funny how my staples aren't doing as well, but things I've never had any luck with at all are doing fantastic this year.  Funny are mother nature works that way.

Changing Winds

It’s amazing how time flies.  Most people don’t truly see the changing seasons.  We just wake up one day and realize that we’re wearing different clothes.  That the “normal” temperature is changing.  Then sometimes you can feel it.  In the spring it’s an exciting time.  People are itching to get outside and enjoy the warmth of the sun.  I guess fall can be exciting too.  For me I’m not ready to let summer’s warmth go just yet, but some how last weekend I felt something in the air, and suddenly the mornings got a little chilly, and I saw a forecast with 48 degrees as a low.  Maybe the change has started, or maybe it’s just this crazy hurricane called Irene that seems to be changing things. 

Either way it’s clear that fall is one it’s way.  The vegetable garden has turned into a jungle, fruit is starting to ripen and pumpkin products have started to hit the shelves.  It’s only August, but plans the pumpkin carving party and what to do with the seeds are already underway.  Guess every season has a plus. 

August so Bitter Swet

August seems to always be so bitter sweet the last few years.  It's an awesome time because most of the hard core gardening chores are done.  Hopefully summer projects are coming to an end, and the dog days of summer seem to be in full gear.  With all that what's not to love?  The fact that time has flown by.  It seems like yesterday that I was anxiously waiting for the sun to warm everything up, I was on time for so many things and it looked like this would finally be the summer where it all came together.  Fast forward to today and not so much. 
We did manage to get in two new spaces.  One brand new garden, and one complete redo where there use to stand two HUGE burning bushes.  Oh and we finally got the back pool corner cleaned up, planted and mulched.  So we really have gotten a lot done.  It just seems so sad that today I got my fall seeds going.  I'm making plans to pull up what's left of the spring peas and start them fresh for the fall.  And realizing that in about a month it will be time to start pulling out the long sleeves. 

Our two new gardens look great and have at least filled in with some great annuals.  The hops are completely taking off this year and look fantastic on their trellis.  The non planted morning glories have finally filled in, and I even think my climbers out front have finally settled in.  So now it seems that my goals are changing to maximizing my time by the pool.  I know before I know it we'll be talking about closing it, or arguing about going in because I'll think it's too cold. 

So rather than rush I'm trying to plan the attack for the fall (to try to avoid last minute rush and sticking plants in random places) and trying to kick back and enjoy the sun while we can. 

Insane Year ! ! ! !

I can't believe it's almost August.  Okay it basically is, and it's crazy.  This year has been so crazy I don't think I would have even been able to keep up if I had this in my notebook like last year.  Maybe a little better, but let's face it probably not.  I got off to such a great start.  On time, seeds popping up like crazy, even a head at some points.  And then mother nature decided that something wasn't right and started dumping us with rain.  It's amazing how much time you lose even when you think you wouldn't get much done.  So behind I fell and soon fell even further behind. 

So far though a few successes of experiments, and others not so much.  My seeds didn't generally like my nice cold basement with the light hanging above them at least not long term (it probably could have been closer).  However I have found that they absolutely LOVE the corner of my driveway (top of the list for next year).  Still haven't had any luck growing peppers from seed.  I'll be sticking a few in my 3-tiers to see if they do anything at all.  On the other hand though I bought some egg plants this year and I am THRILLED that there are real egg plants growing.  So far 1 purple and a few white ones.  I swear they get bigger by the day.  The new blue podded peas that I tried were awesome.  Great producer and so tasty.  Those are a keeper.  Who needs boring green ones when I can have these.  Now just to keep the dogs from eating them.  I also finally manged to get lettuce out of my garden.  Now I have to work on spreading it out and getting it constantly. 

I've had terrible gardeners block this year, but finally did manage to get at least something in the ground for our new two spots out front.  Hopefully pictures will follow shortly.  I almost think the last one I did was just too perfect.  It'll be a tough act to follow. 

2011 Has Started ! ! ! !

The 2011 gardening season has officially started.  We had our first day of 70 degree weather on Friday and that was more than enough to get everyone into the a serious case of spring fever.  Once that first nice day happens that’s it, it’s all over.  The snow has pretty much melted, the pond is thawed and there’s no hope of getting out there again this year so I say bring on the sunshine.  This past weekend was nice enough for jeans and hoodies.  We were able to get about half our of vegetable garden turned over and get the manure in.  We cleared a small section next to the fence so that I could get some peas in.  And we were able to get around the pool fence cleaned in the areas that I wanted to get some peas in as well.  All in all not a bad Sunday.  This will be the first year I’m growing peas on our chain link fence.  This was primarily driven by a desire to free up as much space in the actual veggie garden as possible.  I grow things on the fence anyway might as well as something edible off it.  And of course it snows today so we’ll have to see if snow really does make them sweater.  So far in this year is some spinach, garden peas, blue podded peas, snow peas, yellow snow peas and sugar snap peas.  I’ve never gotten them in this early (on time) before so I’m pretty excited to see how they do.  Hopefully they will start filling in the fence for some privacy as well. 

Found out I’m actually late on starting some seeds this year.  They are new ones that I’ve never grown before, but I thought I was being so good.  Oh well guess I’ll have to play catch up this weekend.  Pictures to follow later at some point I'm sure. 

Favorite pictures from Winter

This year has been crazy.  I think I can only remember one other winter growing up where we had this much snow.  I may have a love hate relationship with my house, but I absolutely LOVE my neighbors.  There’s no doubt that up here in New England we have gotten slammed this year with snow fall.  Usually getting about a foot each time, and lets face it that’s a lot of snow to move.  Our neighbor had been great and done our drive way a few times.  This is great for two reasons; (1) obviously it helps us with time, and (2) the snow blower actually blows the snow away and spreads it out.  One of our neighbors was taking care of the ends of driveways after the serious dumpings. 

If we actually were shoveling all this I highly doubt we would have anywhere to actually put the snow by now.  As it is the piles at the end of our drive way are at my shoulders (I’m 5’ 1”), and the pile at the end had got to be taller than me.  I got excited because it kinda started to melt, but that didn’t last long.  You still can’t tell where things are with all this snow. 

But we have gotten some really cool pictures.  I love the table and chairs we have with the ice melting through it.  Just looks cool. 

Inappropriate office plant?

 The amaryllis, I think, is a beautiful flower.  I haven’t quite decided if it’s really worth the space while it grows, but if you get the one with the really huge flowers it’s totally worth it for the flowers.  However, we were informed that some employers think it is a very inappropriate office plant because it can be viewed as offensive.  I would never have gone there with the amaryllis before that, but now that it’s been said I can see it and will never look at it the same way again.  So while we can grow it in our office trust me the jokes have already started.  We’ve played ring around the amaryllis, and are you bigger than an amaryllis to name a few.  Such a beautiful flower, and now it’s the bunt of all jokes.  I guess some people are just way too ????? yeah I can’t even come up with something here so I’ll just laugh.  Enjoy! 

These ended up not being that big as far as flowers went, but they have provided way more entertainment than I think I flower should have.  These pictures were taken back in January, but We still ahve some going in the office.  

Wow Time Flies By!

So apparently this whole online thing will take some getting use to.  I can’t believe it’s already been a month and a half since I last actually put something up here.  WOW! In the meantime though there are officially only 30 days left of tax season 2011.  So far it’s been a rough season on my plants and an even rougher season in the office.  That being said there is never a dull moment and things are as lively as ever.  Now if only we could go out and play in the great sunshine that has finally decided to break free.  My garden has already started to wake up I’ve got green onions and I think saffron poking through already.  I can’t wait to get the peas and spinach into the ground this weekend.  Summer here we come.  : )

As much as I might love gardening I do not like spring.  It’s chilly, it’s wet, my dogs are mud carry pains in the butts, and I’m stuck in the office with a serious case of spring fever.  The weather is also very sporadic this time of year and you never know what you will get.  Today was 60 (and fabulous), tomorrow is supposed to get up to 70 ( I see an afternoon walk in my future) and I wouldn’t be surprised if we dive back into the 30’s any day now. 

My plants are hanging on, but I think they’re getting a case of cabin fever as well, and frankly I can’t blame them.  I have had the worse winter ever as far as bugs go.  I have no idea where they came from, or how they got to some of the plants that they are on.  Right now is always especially hard, but we’re almost through tax season, and then in a very short time they will be back outside soaking up the sun. 

So to catch up on the last month I’ll be going backwards a little bit.  Oh well live and learn and maybe I’ll start getting into a regular habit as I get my life back. 

A nice little field trip to Logee’s was originally scheduled, but even after everyone else backed out I still had to make the trip.  I’m glad I did.  It’s so easy to forget how much a garden is constantly changing.  Logee’s is no exception.  This trip I was reminded why we always try to hard to make it in January before things get a little too crazy for me; the lemon tree.  The smell is out of this world.  The flowers smell absolutely incredible, and of course so many of their other flowers are blooming right now. 

As you walk through the paths it hard to figure out where some of the smells are coming from, and sometimes you just can’t find them.  All of this is what makes the trip so great.  I got an amazing photo of a passion flower. 

Couldn’t figure out which one is actually was, but decided that it didn’t really matter.  I wasn’t planning on getting sucked in, but with a 20% off coupon that’s exactly what happened.  Not too bad.  I only left with 4 plants.  Too passion flowers, a new berry that caught my husband’s eye and a mystery hibiscus.  Obviously we couldn’t figure out which hibiscus it was, but after looking at the possibilities we decided that we could probably live with the result.  We’ll have to wait and see what we got. 

Two of my favorites were in bloom when we went.  The hibiscus (this was on one for sale), and the puff flower.  I just think it looks so cool. 

Catalogs Catalogs Catalogs ! ! !

People don’t seem to like January too much.  It’s after the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  The days are short the bills come due and if you’re in New England you get walloped with snow this year.  However, if you’re a gardener January is awesome.  All the catalogs start to come.  Some are old friends that you get every year, and some are new ones that just pop up.  And your favorites you sit by the mail box and just wait for like a little kid.  Some I always order from others I just love flipping through to look at all the pretty pictures and new varieties.  Some of my old favorites are Burpee and Dutch gardens.  While my newest ones are Baker Creeek, Comstock Ferre, High Mowing and Abundant life Seed.  Also online is reimer seeds.  Totally cool site and has ton of varieties of hot peppers if you like them.  Gotta love a cold winter’s day dreaming of spring time. 

My Avocado! ! ! !

Life outside may have taken a long winters nap, but my garden inside continues to keep me busy.  So during the Logee's Black Friday sale I decided to continue to expand my edible collection and picked up this Day Avocado.  I've recently been intruced to avacados and have found a new love of guacomole.  Avocados generally aren't that cheap, so I thought I would give it a try and see if I couldn't just grow it.  I can't tell you how excited I am that it has continued to grow and started putting out flowers.  I didn't actually know what was actually growing, but after a quick google search I found that they ar all flower bunches.  YEAH! ! ! !  



My avocado almost 2 months after I brought it home





Flower bunches !



According to my lovely google search each one of these bunches creates 2-3 avocados.  I don't have a pollinator for it so we'll have to wait and see what happens with it.  I think I'll be happy if I even get one my first year.  I don't think this is the small black one that is similar to the hass which is popular in stores, but I'll try anything.  I'm sure it will taste fabulous if I can get it to mature.  Don't think you can get any fresher than that. 

New England just got hit.  I personally love the snow.  I do wish I was able to just stay snowed in rather than to try to dig out and work at the same time, but such is life.  The picture on the left is what my well looked like when I went t bed thinking we weren't going to get anything.  However the next morning  I couldn't even find the well.  For the record that's about a 10 inch planter depending on where you're looking. 



After the storm



Before the storm



My dogs LOVE the snow, and I love playing in it with them.  Wasn't much time for me to play, but they've managed to create some pretty good paths.  Problem was I couldn't tell if they were standing or sitting half the time. 



Meet Lani



Meet Loke

This storm proves that sometimes you just can't plant for winter interest.  I like to, but I think it would help if you could actually see the garden.  It's sorta buried after all this snow.  At least it's all insulated now.  



Roses somewhere.  At least
you can still
see the two dwarf arborvitaes

Our picnic table and benches





I swear there are bushes somewhere



Three tiered planters with
 completely buried pots and
 benches somewhere under
all that snow



Hope You get to have some fun in the snow before it melts away.