In a Vase on Monday (night): Allium

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Mominthegarden

Allium, rye, hydrangea, globe artichokes

It is still Monday! Talk about leaving things till the eleventh hour. My blog post yesterday took me ages to put together, which left me no time for my ‘In a Vase on Monday’ meme! But now I have a moment to breathe and I can share with you an arrangement I put together this summer. I’m using it today because I really think it is quite a fall looking arrangement.

A rather dry arrangement with the barley fields in the background.

I think the barley in the field had just been harvested when I took these pictures. The hydrangea blooms from my father-in-law were freshly cut, but I didn’t put them in water. I used them in my birthday flower arrangement, too. (I’m sure you were already thinking that, weren’t you?)

Hydrangea & globe artichokes

The pottery vase is a real keeper. I bought that from my gardening club when I lived in Syracuse, NY. It has a great height, and the blue and green are lovely colours to work with. I hadn’t realised until just now that I didn’t get a very good picture of the vase.

that’s not allium

I think I was more interested in my props than my allium when I was taking these pictures. The globe artichokes are still holding on to their colour.

Holding everything in place

Sometimes I pretend that I’m just so clever. Look how I held everything in place? Pieces of dried allium stems held together with elastic bands to form a triangle. Totally high tech. 🙂

Sitting up high in my kitchen

The above picture looks fuzzy! I hate that. But I just wanted to show you where my arrangement lives; in my kitchen above my microwave. It is a great space to fill! Some of the allium are still purple while some are definitely yellowed. There aren’t so many hydrangeas since I stole them for my birthday arrangement. That lives in my front hall.

I’ll end with one of my favourite pictures of allium that I took (probably around the time of these pictures).

If you’d like to see some other arrangements from the meme In a Vase on Monday, stop by Cathy’s Rambling in the garden’s blog: http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/in-a-vase-on-monday-the-joys-of-autumn/

Happy Monday!
Dana

Dried Allium

A Thanksgiving look at the garden

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Mominthegarden

A fine fall afternoon.

Wouldn’t it be nice to sit back, relax, and just enjoy the nice fall weather we’ve been having? I have to confess that I don’t do that nearly enough! But today is our American Thanksgiving. So today, especially, is a day to take note of all of our blessings, each and every one of them. For this blog post I’m just going to focus on my garden (my family and friends, of course, would come ahead of the garden!).

The last slice of zucchini (courgette) bread.

The last two slices of zucchini (courgette) bread.

Time for a relaxing cup of tea with some zucchini bread. These two slices were taken from the last loaf from our freezer. Good thing I now have pumpkins to make some pumpkin bread. My kids enjoy the breads for their after school snack. You can find the recipe for zucchini bread here: https://mominthegarden.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/time-for-a-cuppa-zucchini-bread-with-crumb-topping-is-perfect-for-your-break/

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know how thankful I am for my garden. I find my time in the garden to be peaceful and sanity saving. Even if I sneak in just a little bit of time here and there, it rejuvenates me. I love it. Honestly, it isn’t a spectacular garden. But I’m creating it, nurturing it, and continually growing and changing it; all as organically as I can.

The last of my potatoes.

My potato bed had just a few spuds left in it. Since I wanted to plant some rye in the bed, to protect the soil and benefit the soil as well, I dug them up. I think the potatoes were my favorite veggie in the garden. They really were very good potatoes. Even so, next year I am going to try a different variety. It’s nice to try something new!

The last of the spuds (Sarpo Mira).

Let me show you how well the rye is growing. I know, it is crazy, but stuff like this just makes me all happy!

Rye from just a few weeks ago.

Remember my post on rye at the beginning of November? https://mominthegarden.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/fall-plantings-of-green-manure-its-just-rye-organic-vallelado-garlic/ It is already taking off and doing great!

The front bed on left (with the chicken wire) and middle bed on the right have rye growing already.

In the two beds above, I planted the rye in rows. Yeah, I think it doesn’t matter, but for the potato bed, and my newest bed (can’t be seen in this picture) I scattered it. Really, I don’t think it matters… Says she to herself, to convince no one in particular…

Blueberry bush in November

What does the rest of my garden look like on Thanksgiving? My blueberry bushes are a vibrant red! What is not to love about that color?

November look at the garden

Organic Brussels Sprouts Rubine Red

My Brussels sprouts are still growing. I like the purple look to the plants.

Organic Brussels Sprouts Rubine Red

I’m being a bit impatient as it really feels like they are taking forever to grow!

Organic Brussels Sprouts Rubine Red

The top of a Brussels Sprout plant

My littlest one is hoping they never get picked from the garden. But the rest of us really like Brussels sprouts. I can’t wait to try them!

Fall harvest with quite a few pumpkins

Here is a peek at some of the pumpkins from our garden. Look! They are all orange! Remember when they were green?

Green pumpkins sitting on the wall in October

They all turned orange after I brought them inside. Our front hall is rather chilly, but it was warm enough to turn them orange, and cool enough so they aren’t going rotten (thankfully). My geraniums are quite happy in the hall, too.

Geraniums looking happier inside than they did outside!

Most of my fall decorations are in my front hall. They just seem to fit nicely there. Lots of fall colors, scarecrows, and pumpkins! I’ll be sad to take them down this weekend. But I’m looking forward to decorating for Christmas! But really, one holiday at a time please.

My scare-crow was given to me by a special friend.

Shine on Harvest Moon!

A lovely sunset in November.

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh now isn’t that turkey just what you’d expect to find in my garden? I hang it for the kids. And for me. 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving, to my friends, family, and blogging friends!

In peace,
Dana

Fall plantings of Green Manure (it’s just Rye!) & Organic Vallelado Garlic

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Mominthegarden

Rye

Green manure? “What’s that?” was my thought just a few months ago. A very simple explanation is that green manure is a crop which is planted to protect the soil from eroding and losing nutrients, while adding to the goodness of the soil. 🙂

A whole bag of Rye (green manure)

I am learning this as I go along! I spoke with a very helpful gentleman at Fruit Hill Farm in Cork http://www.fruithillfarm.com/ . I loved how patient he was with me, and how he seemed to really enjoy sharing his knowledge. He suggested planting rye given the time of year and when I want to plant again. Planting it in the fall after my summer harvest, I can leave it for a few months. When it reaches about 18 inches high I should cut it back (so it doesn’t go to seed). Then in February/March it should be dug deep into the soil. The bed will then be “good to go” in April.

One of the beds after digging up the soil and planting rye.

“The Complete Gardener” by Monty Don gives a great description of the scientific process of what is actually going on in the soil. (note to self: return Susan’s book to her!) Yeah, what I understand is that nitrogen is added to the soil, which is good, and the organic material of the rye plant is broken down by the healthy organisms in the soil, which is good for the soil structure. So there is no need to add compost to the soil after this process. The plan is that the rye will grow in place of weeds which would inevitably grow. Win. Win. Win.

A new bed planted with rye.

Fall look at the veggie beds.

Well, let’s just wait and see (with fingers crossed)! The beds looked nice after I dug up the soil and planted. That is rather funny to re-read. Nice lookin’ soil there!

Rye planted in the former garlic bed.

I was also planting garlic. It is more common here to plant garlic in the fall than in the summer. So this is the year I’m going to give it a try. What also helped to spur me on is that I told another blogger that I’d do it! Thanks Claire from Promenade Plantings!

Organic Autumn Planting Garlic – Vallelado in front bed. Swede (turnip) are in the back bed.

I didn’t actually take any pictures of the garlic itself. Hmm, that was silly. But the above photo is where I planted it – a lot of it! 🙂 With every planting I always have that teeny tiny bit of doubt! But I try to overpower it with lots of hope!