Tuesday 25 June 2013

Begin the Harvest!

Ok the harvest has commenced. The first items are now up. I harvested 8 lbs rhubarb a couple days ago, another 2 lbs today, as well as two large fistfuls of garlic chives. I have SO MANY garlic chives growing beside my house, I literally just grab fistfuls and rip them up and then dehydrate them once I've picked out the grass. Out of all my rhubarb I have already made 18 jars of dessert topping (mixed with strawberry and cherry) and 7 jars of jam (mixed with grape). When rummaging through my grandmother's cookbooks, I found an excellent book of canning recipes. I told her "Grandma, if I don't leave this here, you'll never see it again!" so I copied down my favourite canning recipes and will try them throughout the summer. I saw an excellent Rhubarb Chutney recipe that I'm anxious to test. Will post the recipe if it works out!

Friday 21 June 2013

Vote For Me!

I have entered a contest put on solely for residents of Manitoba, and would appreciate everyone's vote! You can vote EVERY DAY so please set your homepage to http://manitobagarden.com/2013-entrants/tina-cochrane-de-monroy and bump up my numbers. I could win some fantastic prizes, which are sorely needed to improve my garden, since I just moved in last year.

Thank you again for voting and helping me out!

Thursday 13 June 2013

Even More Seeds...

OK so I suddenly (halfway through June) have more garden space, since the other lady decided she didn't want to plant anything this year. So I ran down to my local hardware store and found they had a special end-of-season sale on seeds. 20 packets for a dollar! So naturally I bought 20 packets of seeds (and I still won't fill the space...) I bought: - 3 packs of rutabaga - 2 packs of lettuce (1 head, 1 leaf) - 6 packs of radishes - 2 packs of kholrabi - 5 packs of carrots (2 different kinds) - 1 pack of green onions - 1 pack of parsley If I don't have enough to feed my family all winter, I will swear off gardening forever... My corn is doing amazing, as are my potatoes. My pumpkins did not come up, and my heirloom tomatoes are quite disappointing. Luckily I only planted half outside (I think it was the cold or wind that did them in because the ones still indoors are fine). In my small garden my beets, kale, peas, and carrots are beautiful but my onions are still non-existent. Something has been nibbling on my tiny kale already though, and I don't think it's a rabbit... I did my first rhubarb harvest and made 2 small rhubarb crisps... not bad for the first harvest!