Tomatillo Monster

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Deborah

I have a gardening success.
A HUGE gardening success.

I have effectively mastered the art of growing Tomatillos.

Last year I tried to grown them and I failed miserably. Out of the three plants that were lovingly placed in the ground, 2 died and the third one grew and grew and grew and put forth masses of flowers and continued flowering like it was the last flowering plant on Earth.

But not one Tomatillo developed.
I was devastated.
OK, not really, but it was rather upsetting.

Reason being, Tomatillo plants need another Tomatillo plant beside them in order for the … Read more...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Deborah

I am back from Vacation. Did you miss me? I hope so.

I love vacations. They allow you to spoil yourself with too much food, too many spirits, too many late nights and too many days sleeping in. All that spoiling leads to weight gain and a vacation hangover of monumental proportions.

Time to get back in control before I become the eighth Dwarf named Glutton.

I did accomplish quite a bit of stuff around the Homestead though. The gardens kept me busy picking and weeding, along with herbs being trimmed, washed and hung to dry. With the bounty … Read more...

A Carrot Named Earl

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Deborah

I was really having trouble deciding on a pet
Exactly what I wanted I wasn’t sure just yet
I pondered and I pondered until I couldn’t bear it
Then it finally came to me, I’ll get a baby carrot

Now I did not expect to have just any orange sprout
It took a lot of looking to pick the right one out
By the time I picked one out, my head was in a whirl
But he was sure a cutie and I quickly named him Earl

Earl can be a character and he is quite a riot
But when

Chapter 4 of the Homestead Vacation

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Deborah

Diary of a Homestead Vacation Continued….(see prior post here)

Gardening is an almost daily chore, but I don’t really think of it as a chore. If it was a ‘chore’ like house cleaning, I certainly wouldn’t enjoy it, nor would I have any gardens. I rather think of it as ‘coddling’, like you are doting on a grandchild. Spoiling them with rich foods and letting them stay up late and generally running amok before you ship them back home high on sugar. Bonus is after all the coddling, I get some pretty tasty produce to eat, can and … Read more...

How Does My Garden Grow?

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Deborah

Pretty darn good actually.

At home and at the Homestead, both of my gardens are bursting out all over.

In no particular order, here are some random shots taken over the weekend..

I hope you enjoyed a walk through my gardens,
sorry there wasn’t anything for you to pick yet (except for the herbs),
but soon enough there will be produce busting out all over!… Read more...

The Best of May

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Deborah

May has come and gone like a flash. A welcome one for me though as the weather really didn’t cooperate for us here in Ontario. Actually, April was really miserable too…combine a miserable, cold, wet April with another miserable, cold, wet May with only a few days of sun provided to keep my sanity, meant for a very cranky Homesteader….

I WANT HEAT AND SUN!

There, now that that is out of my system…can we move on to summer please?

There was a glorious long weekend in May for both Canuck’s and Americans alike, albeit spanning 2 different weekends, which … Read more...

Silent Garden Marauders

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Deborah

Rabbits are
cute,
soft,
adorable,
and bring Easter Goodies,
BUT, they are also troublesome

I come home from the Homestead to find half the tops of my beets mowed down and ALL the pea plants gone. Zippo. Nada. Nothing left but dirt behind. Strangely enough the carrots and lettuce were not touched…. I thought carrots were Bugs’ favourite vegetable…apparently peas are.

Here I was thinking I was being highly proactive in boarding up the two small entryways into the backyard located at opposite ends of the yard where critters had taken advantage of fencing being too high and were able … Read more...

How To Deer Proof A Raised Garden Bed

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Deborah

I am limited for actual garden space at the Homestead, short of renting a large-scale construction excavator to clear trees and shrubs for a new garden area, the next best thing to do was to build a raised garden bed. Way cheaper too as I hear those big machines rent for around $500/hr.

Instead, for the price of lumber and materials, sweat (hubby’s) and fair number of cases of beer (again…for hubby) I now have a raised garden bed made out of cedar that it is perched atop the Great Canadian Shield like a monument to Mother Nature. She is … Read more...

Jail House…Planters

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Deborah

If you are like me and have nary a nook or cranny to exploit for gardening, you turn your attention to another method of gardening – Container Gardening.

For several years, due to lack of physical in-ground space, I plant flowers, herbs and veggies in planter containers of various sizes and shapes. They function extremely well if devised to hold enough water in between watering periods.

My Self-Watering Planters that hubby made for me last year were simply awesome. This year one has peas planted in it and the other has 2 cherry tomato plants. I also have 5 long … Read more...

To Mulch…Or Not To Mulch…

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Deborah

Have I told you how much I love to garden? Ok, maybe a thousand times over the past year or so, but its true. I love to dig, plant, tend to and finally reap the hard earned rewards of a vegetable garden, and one of the most important things you can do for your garden is to mulch it. Mulch is a funny word, I bet if you went back to the Byzantine Era, you wouldn’t find it in their vocabulary. I think the word was more recently invented, like Bubble Gum or Snickerdoodles…

What IS Mulching though?

Mulching is … Read more...