Irises, Asparagus and Tree Removal

Forgot to post an update last week, but we've mostly entered the endless weeding phase of the summer, before veggies and fruits start coming in. We've been sneaking off to paddle a lot in the evenings since no watering has been needed.

Despite some abuse and thinning last year, the irises are blooming. I see that I somehow missed eradicating one yellow-and-brown iris. removing it is top of my to-do list this morning (when the rain stops).

The biggest excitement has been some progress on the garage rebuild. The arborist came last week and removed three big trees from the north (left) side of the backyard. This has dramatically enlarged and brightened the yard. Should have done this years ago and this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rethink the yard.

While we wait for demolition of the old garage to begin, I spend my early mornings on the deck imagining how we might put the yard back together again. On the far left, there are raspberries along the fence. I think in front of them we might do two small fruit trees (a cherry and something else?). Then maybe a fire pit sitting ares (where the grass is yellowed). 

On the right, there will be a sidewalk to the garage and that leaves a space for an in-ground garden about 15x50 feet. I also picture a couple raised beds to take advantage of the west and south garage walls and maybe a water-collection system.

The arborists left lots of wood so Jess and I are chopping. Watching her swing an axe is way more stressful than being a passenger when she drives. She's competent and all, but she really has to swing to split these rounds (hell, I really have to swing to split the cherry wood rounds).

The weather has been very wet so I have been baking. Flapper pie plus some rhubarb-strawberry and saskatoon-strawberry to use up last year's preserves.

It is also asparagus season. I blanched and froze about seven bunches this week for winter soups and pizzas. I honestly don't know how farm wives kept on top of preserving without any modern appliances.

I also split and dehydrate the woody stalks. Then I ground them to powder (eyebrows were raised about the use of the coffee grinder). The powder does a nice job of flavouring potato soup in the winter and saves wasting the stalks. I also wonder if the powder would flavour some kind of savoury rolls?

We've probably done the last of the seeding for the year (maybe another round of arugula next week). The beans have finally come up and the peas are setting flowers. A bit of sun would help the tomatoes. t looks like a good year for potatoes but the carrot crop is going to be disappointing.

Potatoes, Saskatoons and Chives

It has been rainy week in the yard! During one of the dry days, I went out and replanted a bunch of potatoes that had not sprouted. They looked fine, just dormant. So I put in new seed and buried it. A bit of a staggered harvest is fine.

The blue caribe that we used as seed this spring have come up nicely and I'm starting to hill.

The lilacs are are out and smell wonderful.

The Saskatoons are forming nice clusters of berries.

We also have some chives blooming. These are just about indestructible and are a nice source of spring flavour. I pulled the last of the first spinach planting and have seeded in more arugula and spinach.

Today, I hope to get out and do some weeding. I also have a second sowing of bush beans to get into the ground. And maybe some more carrots for a later harvest. 

Rhubarb, dandelion salve, and pies

We have great crop of dandelions this year and I wanted to do two things with them: dandelion salve and dandelion pesto. This past week, we got the salve. Maybe pesto next week.

The interweb attributes all manner of miracles to dandelion salve; I was mostly interested in using up the various supplies Jess bought several years ago to make her own cosmetics and then lost interest in.

A quick google suggested pick a jar of blooms, air dry to reduce water content, and then soak for a week in a mix of coconut and olive oil. Then strain, heat and melt in bees wax and shea butter, and pour into tins or jars.

The recipe worked pretty much as advertised. In retrospect, a bit of scent (vanilla or some lemon essential oil) might have been a good addition. The finished product turns solid as it cools. It has done a good job of pasting the dry skin on my legs back down. So I suspect, using only $40 in supplies, we saved ourselves a good $10 at London Drugs... .

The rain has kept us inside much of the weekend. I did go out and harvest some rhubarb. I moved out red plants around the front this year so have on green rhubarb to cut from. This plants will get wiped out when the garage demo occurs.

We frozen about 8 or 10 cups for use in strawberry-rhubarb pie filling later this summer.

We also baked pies to use up some of last year's pie fillings. A mix of strawberry-rhubarb and strawberry-saskatoon.

The garden is otherwise coming along We had our first harvest of spinach this week (went into a frittata). I'm a bit worried about half of the seed potatoes did not sprout (no sign of potatoes) so I'm going to go out and dig about. If they are a bust, then we're going to replant with beans, beets, lettuce and carrots.

Spinach, strawberries, potatoes and peas

As the weather has warmed up, the garden is coming on strong! The first crop of spinach will go into a frittata tonight (picture below was almost a week ago). I've started a row of rocket in behind it.

The strawberries are also blooming below Jessica's window. She has seeded in some poppies and they have germinated, although competition from the lily of the valley is fierce.

The few flowers we bought this spring are doing okay in pots on the front steps. With all of the free time we have this year, I have been busy doing things like sweeping out the corners of the steps and repainting and sealing the pillars.

The blue crab are up out front. Some of the russets have also come up. But more of the russets are not yet up--we'll see how things are in a week or two and then maybe move to plan B if the seed is a bust.

This ground cover is nice enough (no idea wha it is called) and fills in the space between the raspberries and the saskatoons nicely. We finally finished thinning out the dead raspberry stalks from last year and burned the last night. This will, perhaps, be our last fire in the old fire pit as we wait for the garage demolition to start.

The radishes are doing well in this pot. I may thin them and add the leaves to the frittata.

The peas are also up out front and out back. The ones in the back are a bit further along and have started to grab the trellis.

The beets are also up and large enough to start thinning them. There is one section where none came up (for whatever reason) so we have filled in with some rocket.

Finally, the apple tree really blossomed out this week and I'm hopeful for a good crop.

This coming week will continue to entail a lot of weeding in the front beds where we dropped a bunch of dirt over top perennials last fall. Jess and I are also making some kind of dandelion-based hand salve (we have LOTS of time this year for goofy projects).