Flowers, Chives, and a Rhubarb Martini

Yesterday I visited a friend and she asked if I wanted any lily of the valley as it was taking over. I laughed and said yes it is an invasive plant. But also yes I wanted some. I've loved lily of the valley since I was a small child. The smell is heavenly and the little bells are so cute. Caroline, one of my townhouse mates, said she wanted something under the bamboo that lines our very very shaded walkway. Not much can grow there. When I say shaded I really mean it. One side has a 6' solid fence. The other side has the house. Overhead are the pine trees blocking out any sun that might think of getting in. Things don't grow well there.

Caroline, one of my townhouse mates, really wanted something to fill in the ground under the bamboo. She has little patience for things growing. She always wants it filled now. And she doesn't like empty space. The lily of the valley will make her happy I'm sure. It can spread several feet in a year if it is happy. In two years I'm sure it will totally cover the place and it and the bamboo can fight it out. The bamboo we have really isn't that much of a spreader, but I do expect it to spread a little even in the poor conditions it lives in. It is bamboo after all. I think it can compete just fine. And the lily of the valley will be contained since it is surrounded by brick everywhere except one side which has a metal liner between it and the grass.

While I was out I also went to buy some flowers to place around the yard. I got 6 six packs. I decided this year to place a few annuals around the yard to see how it looks. I planted all of those plus the lily of the valley when I got back.

I checked on the weather report. I really should quit doing this as I never like the answer. It was going to be constantly wet for three days. My chive flowers were at their peak. Some hadn't opened, but the earliest bloomers really needed picking. I figured they were as dry as they would ever get as the air really felt like rain. So I started picking. Just as I was done a few drops fell.

Making chive blossom vinegar

Have you ever really smelled a chive blossom? You would think it would be all onion, but it isn't. To me they smell a little like lilacs. Last time I used a white wine vinegar to make chive blossom vinegar. I didn't like it all that much. It was too much of a clash between the two. So this year I smelled the chive blossoms and smelled all the vinegars I had. I felt all the fruity vinegars were just too sharp and overpowering for the chive blossoms. But the rice wine vinegar seemed like a perfect match. So I used that this year. I hope the floral scent come through. If not it will still be a pretty pink vinegar as the color of the flower bleeds out into the liquid.

A drink is a very nice way to end the day. So I read my book while having a Rhubarb Vodka Smash. Mine was slightly modified as I don't have a cocktail shaker or a martini glass.

Mother Nature Hates Me

It was the 20th of May (last Monday) and we were two thirds of the way through May. I checked the weather forecast and it said we would have three days of 80F weather with a few 70s in the middle before it turned hotter again on the weekend. It certainly looked like summer had arrived. I planted my first two beds of beans. The first one was my beloved Cherokee Trail of Tears and the second my Tiger Eye Beans.

I knew something was wrong on Tuesday night. Tuesday was one of those hot and humid days. But I went outside Tuesday night and it was cold. It was supposed to stay in the 60Fs all night long. It was not in the 60Fs anymore. On Wednesday a day the was destined to be 82F never got out of the 60s. My weekend that was supposed to have a warming trend is now predicted to be in the low 50Fs. My poor beans. Beans won't germinate unless the soil is 60F. It did make it to that on sunny days. We won't see the sun until Monday. It is rainy. I think my beans might all rot in the ground. Mother Nature hates me. It's either that or the weathermen are playing tricks on us gardeners. But I'm going with Mother Nature because even with all the wet weather we still haven't gotten much rain at all. When it rains we get like a tenth of an inch. We still have gotten less than a third of our normal May rainfall.

I was going to make some flavored vinegar out of my chive blossoms. But they are were damp yesterday morning and are damp again this morning. Maybe tomorrow morning they will finally dry out enough to pick. I can't wait too long to pick them. The English thyme is ready to preserve too if it ever dries out.

Yesterday's chore was ripping out the old winter spinach bed. I had lot of volunteers in the bed - chamomile, cilantro, romaine lettuce, and dill. Oh and lots of Johnny-jump-ups. I swear they would take over the garden if I let them. I figured all the leaves would be horribly disfigured by now as the leaf miners are out and this bed isn't protected. But many of the leaves were fine. So I picked a small basket before ripping them up. My townhouse mates have taken in some stray college kids (including their own son) for the summer. They are vegetarian so are looking forward to veggies from the garden. I sent the spinach over with some salad greens, radishes, and turnips. One said he would work for food. My townhouse mates thought I'd put them to work in my vegetable garden. But I love taking care of it, so I just showed them weeds that need to come out in the other part of the yard.

I've noticed I took a few photos of food, but never put them on as I don't need the extra photos for Harvest Monday anymore. I'm getting enough harvests as it is. This is my typical lunch. I made a squash and black bean salad to add to my typical green salads. I sent half the black bean salad over to the college kids. The rest I'll eat over a few days.

When I cleaned out my pantry I noticed that I had some strawberry syrup still. So I made myself some blueberry pancakes and used up one of the small jars of syrup.

The first grilled burger of the year. With homemade mustard and relish and freshly picked lettuce. The sides are a garden salad and grilled bok choy.

I Have Condoms on my Apples

I've never done this before, but the books all say to thin your apples when they are 1/2"-3/4" in size. Most of mine had reached that size. Each spur had set about 3-5 apples and there are a lot of spurs on that tree. Some just a few inches away from another. The tree was just covered in little tiny apples. I picked the largest apple from each bunch and kept that one. Then trimmed off any that were closer than 6" apart. The books say 6"-8" apart. I tried for that.

Then I put on protection for the apple. I swear they look like condoms hanging off my tree though they are really footies. Not the nicest look, but I suppose they would be a conversation piece at a bbq. The little nylon footies expand well and breath. They also keep those nasty insects out. I used a twist tie to keep them on. I'm not going to spray poison on my apples if I can help it. I've also read that ziploc baggies work well if you cut the corners off of them. I don't like the look of them, but I did cover three of the apples with ziplocks. I'll see which makes the better fruit, but it would take a lot of difference for me to resort to the ziplocks on all those apples. Now it is a waiting game. Will I get good insect free apples this year? I've got my fingers crossed.

The apple that got protection is the Ginger Gold. The other apple tree in its third year is the Honeycrisp, but it has barely grown. It really struggles compared to the other. It had set two bunches of apples. I just took them off the tree. The tree really needs to get bigger. It is still only about three feet high. Then I went on to my three year old peach trees. One peach tree had set peaches already. I thinned the fruit, but the fruit is still a bit small to bag. I'll wait a few days. Like the Ginger Gold apple, the tree is covered in peaches. I had to take a lot of little peaches off. The other peach tree is still blooming. It was very late this year. It is right by the driveway and after the 2' snow storm we shoveled all the snow on around it. So the ground defrosted much later even though they are only a few yard apart. That one will need a lot more time before they get bagged.

I did get a couple of other chores done today. I got my Tigers Eye beans planted. I planted a whole 4'x8' bed up with them. I planted in rows 6" apart. But one side had the beans 6" apart in the row, and one had them 4" apart in the row. I want to see if there is a difference in production with them closer together. If not it uses a heck of a lot less seed which otherwise I could be eating.

The last chore was to cut back the French thyme and dehydrate it. I got a cup of dried thyme. Tomorrow I ought to do the English thyme.

Planting Some Beans and Picking Some Spinach

I didn't add strings to my trellis before because my hands were too sore from tying all the jute when I made the thing. But yesterday I finally got it done. I also did the typical soil preparation for planting. Fertilizing (with a low nitrogen fertilizer), loosening the soil, and adding compost to the top. I must say that I did it totally wrong. Do you know how hard it is to get your garden fork in to loosen the soil once you have a big honking trellis in the way? Well it is pretty hard. It makes all the spreading of things hard too. Live and learn.

In the morning I had started to soak my beans. I don't always do this. And sometimes I don't just soak them, I let them sprout a bit first. But they soaked for a good 4-5 hours before they were planted. As always for beans I sprinkled them with an innoculant to help them grow. Today's planting was some Cherokee Trail of Tears beans. I decided that I never grow enough. I'm not sure why I think that. I still have some left from last year's planting. But regardless, I'm planting a whole 4'x 8' bed of them. I've also never done a trellis with two sides before. I've always put the bean trellis on the northwest side of the bed. This time I have twice the trellis and they are on both sides of the bed. I guess I'm still experimenting with the best way to grow my beans. I hope both sides can get enough sun.

Someone asked me how I make my trellises. I have one more still to put up this week, so I'll try to do a post then.

My other big chore was to get my spring spinach picked. I picked off all the good looking leaves. I tend to leave the oldest leaves on and let the younger ones grow. But those middle leaves are perfect. This patch will have one more big picking next week before I have to pull it. I want to get the melons in this bed by June 1st. So far the spring spinach hasn't started to bolt. We have had really wonderful spring weather in the 60Fs and 70Fs. It is just recently that some 80Fs have started to show up. So I'm sure by next week they will be starting their bolt. Though I'm still surprised to not see them bolting now. Spinach bolts not just by heat but by day length. I figured out ages ago that that was May 15th at my latitude.

Since I got not quite four pounds of spinach and I didn't want to freeze this batch, I sent out an email to my extras list. I got two responses. So they got a quarter of the harvest each. I think I'm left with enough for this week. Maybe still too much, I'm just one person. But I think I can eat all that is left before my next picking. Then of course I made myself a salad for lunch and forgot to add spinach. I swear I'll remember today to have it for lunch. And I think I'll have some for dinner too. Maybe a spinach pizza. And my husband will be on a business trip starting on Thursday. That would be a good day for some spinach and mushroom quiche. Yeah I think I can use it up if I work on it.

Harvest Monday, May 20th, 2013

The big spinach harvest was early last week (above is only half). Four pounds of winter spinach was picked, washed, blanched, and frozen. I still have the spring spinach to go. I'm contemplating giving lots of it away.

I filled my harvest basket with greens for salads. I had the first radishes of the season. I also picked some kale blossoms. Kale blossoms have been a mainstay vegetable this last week. I seem not to be able to keep up with them. But their season is really short.

I picked the first of the bok choy. I found the purple kind (on the left) not quite as good as the green kind. It is just slightly more bitter and also a bit tougher. Not much. They are pretty close. But enough so that I probably won't grow it again as it also grows more slowly.

I forgot to take photos of the kale harvest. But I chopped the last of the kale down to make way for beans. I blanched and froze all two pounds of it. I actually find frozen kale as good as fresh. I never eat it raw so having it precooked saves time.

I was going to a evening around the firepit with some friends. I gave our hostess some freshly picked spring spinach. So the giving away of the spinach has started. Last year I just preserved all the spring spinach too. And then I didn't need to preserve any chard. But I figure this year I ought to mix it up and freeze both. I have a whole bed of spinach. I'll work on eating it this week, but it won't last long as the weather warms up and there is just so much of it.

A nice big basket of oregano. I put some in a quart jar to make flavored vinegar, but still got a cup of dried oregano from the rest.

• Alliums 0.13lbs
• Greens 7.73 lbs
• Greens Asian 2.69 lbs
• Herbs 0.44 lbs
• Radish 0.37 lbs
• Weekly Tally 11.37 lbs
• Yearly Tally 18.15 lbs, -$317.43

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

Preserving and Supports

Friday morning I spent watering the garden. I didn't know really what to do with my rock wall garden. I didn't have time to hold the hose on them and my soaker hoses hadn't come. So I put on the oscillating sprinkler on its narrowest setting and moved it down the row. Then that afternoon, wouldn't you know it, the first of the soaker hoses came. I put it in and it wasn't quite long enough. I ordered one 75' hose(the one the came) and one 50' one. Since I knew it was too short I went back online and canceled the 50' one and ordered another 75' one. I think they may overlap just a touch, but otherwise I'd be watering a 10' section by hand when we don't get rain. I'll also bring the hose out to the end of the bed more which will use up a little bit more length.

Then it was on to my supports. I got the fava beans supported. I only put the first layer of string up. When they get past that rung I'll do the top.

Saturday I only did some picking in the morning. I picked what was still good in the kale patch as I needed to rip it out. It all got frozen. Then I went hiking instead of gardening for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful day. I was so exhausted when I got back I couldn't bring myself to go out to do anything. Well I did pick a bit of spinach to bring to a friend's house in the evening, but nothing else.

Today was a morning work day. I had to rip out what was left of the kale plants.

And put up the trellis for the beans (it still needs some twine lines for the beans to climb). It is the start of the warm weather planting season. I'm going to be planting some beans this week. Putting up a trellis is hard work. And it is very hard on the hands as the twine I use to tie the poles together really rips them up. But I got this double sided bean trellis up. I've got one more to build in the future. But that will be later.

When I was coming in I noticed the lovely oregano. It really needed to be picked and dehydrated. So out came the scissors. The house smells wonderful now. I had so much that I decided to make some Italian seasonings vinegar. I'll put other herbs in the jar later, but for now it is just oregano covered by cider vinegar. Tomorrow I ought to pick the thyme.

What Makes a Gardener Excited?

You would think it would only be things in the garden, but nope. My order for glass jars showed up. Above is a non-quilted jelly jar. I'm not a fan of the quilted kind so I decided I needed more and would order them online. Now I have nice smooth jars with places to put on a label if I want to. Or I can forgo the label as I can actually see what is inside. I got a case (12 jars) of both the 8oz size and the 4oz size. I hope they hold up as well as the quilted jelly jars do.

Canning trivia fact: Ball put out a line of blue jars this year as a 100th anniversary tribute to to its original jars which were blue. I'm staying away from them. Blue isn't a color I want to see my food through. I prefer the original coloring. Original color of the food that is not of the jars.

I also learned that these bottles are called woozy bottles. Well these are 5oz wide mouth woozy bottles. Anyone have a clue as to why they are called a woozy bottle? I bought them so I could make some infused vinegars as gifts. It is just about herb season around here.

So this morning I was thinking about my bottles and what I would fill them with. I needed to clean the bathroom, but somehow that didn't get done in the morning. I cleaned out my pantry instead. I got rid of the failed experiments from last year, so I can have new experiments in food this year. It is always fun to make new things. Do you see that middle shelf in the above photo? Well that is two jars of jam (one peach/blueberry and one plum) and three jars of strawberry syrup. I need more jam on my shelf. I really don't eat that much jam, but the strawberry jam was SO good. I need more. My favorite use for it is to make thumbprint cookies. Pure butter shortbread with a drop of jam in the middle. Just heaven. And it is almost strawberry season.

The lower part of my pantry has some pickled onions, beans, sweet potatoes, and applesauce. And just a few jars of tomato sauce left. I gave most of it away when I found I couldn't eat tomatoes anymore, but I'm going to make chili and pizza sauce for my husband until it runs out. Cleaning the pantry is so much more fun than cleaning the bathroom. I get to dream about all the things that might get put in here over the year.