Search results

More progress on the Lima bean front. The pods are thick and solid now, and in some cases the beans are beginning to make a little bulge that I can see and feel. We have about three weeks left until the first frost. They're growing under cover of the overhang of the roof and on nice days they...

We only have regular squirrels around here, but after hearing so many of you mention ground squirrels I finally had to look them up. If I have this right they are fifteen pound rodents with bushy tails that burrow in your gardens?? That doesn't sound very nice at all. 😱

I had hoped for a warm, dry October but sadly it wasn't meant to be. We have received over 20cm (8") of rain over the weekend, a shocking total. Areas closer to the mountains got even more. The precipitation was accompanied by strong winds so the garden looks like an unmade bed; the remaining...

Orca did really well this year, and tied with Arikara Yellow as the first to dry down. Bush snap beans Harvester Mangiatto and Valentino were each notable as well, surprising me with the amount of unblemished and uniform seed that they produced. I have only just started to harvest the dry pods...

Purple Dove got planted in a less than ideal location, and struggled a bit as a result. I especially loved growing the PD outcrosses that you sent me though flowerbug-- they produced so many beautiful variations of dry beans. Picking a favourite would be difficult. Venda was definitely one...

Do chickens eat hot chili peppers?? 🤔

The trays of dry beans were taking over the living room so I corraled them on a folding table-- and now I can see the floor to vacuum. Lol. There are still a few pods drying, but very few. I was surprised to find 19 types of lettuce seed dotted around the room as well. Now those are all in...

Raspberry Lemon coffee cake!

Potomac bean pods at sunset. :)

Quesadilla filled with homegrown roasted Poblano peppers. On the side are Arikara beans and Marmalade Orange tomato. I really should have garnished this with fresh cilantro, but it was dark and rainy by then and it seemed like way too much effort to go outdoors.

Saving some zinnia seeds to plant next year. The dried up blooms are 'Cut and Come Again', one of my absolute favourites. I cut them and left them in a jar on the counter for about a week, and then pulled the petals off to reveal the arrow-shaped seeds. In an effort to not overwhelm myself I...

We have an atmospheric river passing through with lots of rain for the past couple of days, so the remaining bean and sweet pea pods are molding instead of drying unfortunately. A big patch of lettuce that I was growing for seed is all grey and fuzzy too. Not much you can do about the weather. ;)

We still had half a dozen cherry tomato seedlings kicking around in early August, so rather than tossing them we planted them in containers under the overhang of our sundeck. They get sunshine from late morning onwards, and are really hitting their stride. Our weather has shifted to a rather...

Welcome from British Columbia! What area do you garden in?

The last pods of Purple Cascade are drying down; some of them are about 10" long. It's supposed to be one of the few varieties that holds its colour once cooked. Today I finally noticed that even the vines of this bean plant are deep purple.

Is this the flower farm that you're referencing? They certainly do have a lot of sweet peas, and their Willly Wonka Mix looks amazing! https://thefarmhouseflowerfarm.com/blogs/flower-farm

In January 2022 I ordered eight kinds of desirable sweet pea seeds from Ardelia Farm in Vermont. Spendy seeds at $4.95 for just 10 seeds. I tried growing out several of them last spring with mixed results; seeds were saved at the end of the season from those plants that made it through. This...

It looks like Alpen Sundown is a formal decorative, and Yvonne has a water lily form. The water lily dahlias are great for viewing from above, whether in the garden or in a bouquet. Their upward-facing horizontal blossoms are perfect for the centre of a vase. So many dahlias bloom with a...

I sowed spinach seeds in a plastic bin about three weeks ago, and yesterday I carefully transplanted a bunch of them into a large tub that had held bush bean plants over the summer. This was my first attempt at bare-root transplanting spinach, and it went pretty well. Today was kind of hot at...

Our first harvest of Shish-ito peppers (very similar to Padrone peppers). They are blistered in a hot skillet with olive oil, and the sprinkled with sea salt.