Monday, September 5, 2011

Autumn flowering

Despite a predicted week of nearly +30, the cooler nights and reduced sunshine seem to be spurring a bunch of plants into a final show of blooms. Out front, bird-scattered sunflowers continue to be the flowers that do the best in the garden.

Around back, the Marigolds Jess planted in the tomato basket are suddenly blooming up a storm. I'm hopeful this last shot of heat will help some of the tomatoes mature on the vine more.

The pansies on the front deck should make it fairly late into September with a bit of covering on really cold nights. To help with those cold nights we made another five litres of soup stock, some of which Jennifer used right away to make a bean soup and the rest went into the freezer. With the addition of a turkey from Serban Free Range, our small freezer is getting full.

Out back, the pole beans finally seem to have figures things out and are blooming and setting seed. A bit late but who knows--we might get a bean or two. I'll try a sunnier spot and earlier planting next year.

We bought some local booze this weekend at the farmer's market--a bottle of wine and a bottle of mead from Birds and Bees Winery. The Saskatoon wine was fairly sweet even at room temperature and a bit thin on fruitiness. That said, that anyone can make wine from local ingredients is pretty impressive. I might try a drier wine next time. The mead remains on the shelf.

2 comments:

  1. My beans are funny too this year, glad to know it is not just me!

    Have you tried the raspberry wine from Barr wineries, from Sherwood Park? It is also really good. I got some at the downtown Farmer's Market this spring. I also made my way through the Ensante wines, but like the Barr wine the best.

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  2. Sherry: I was actually looking for the Barr wines but didn't see them this weekend and instead ran across Birds and Bees; I will give the raspberry a try the next time I see them, I now have tiny (4mm) bean pods on my beans. So, if the frost holds off until Remembrance Day, I think we'll have a harvest.

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