We put the plate on top of the fridge. Keep our fingers crossed.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Chili
The red chilies were brought from a grocery store a couple months ago. We take out one or two of them from the fridge for cooking whenever the dish asks for it. Since they remain fresh looking in the fridge, we decided to start some seedlings with the seeds from these chilies. Yes, we should have saved the seeds from our own grown chilies.
We put the plate on top of the fridge. Keep our fingers crossed.
We put the plate on top of the fridge. Keep our fingers crossed.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
White Garden...continues
It is funny to read the last entry that I posted. I was just complaining about the warm December and then within half a month after the last post, the entire lower mainland was covered with snow. Big snow storm. We left the house for less than three days during x'mas and there were like more than 3 feet of snow on the ground.
We had a little break over the new year. We dug and pulled some carrots out from the snow and they look brilliant and the flavour was fantastic! The tarragon didn't make it but the thyme is still thriving. However, on the 3rd day of 2009, it snowed again. I was hoping to take some pictures but the snow never stopped.
It will be interesting to find out what survives when the snow/ice melts.
This pic was taken on Dec 22, 08. Then we got big snow storm on the 24th and 26th.
We had a little break over the new year. We dug and pulled some carrots out from the snow and they look brilliant and the flavour was fantastic! The tarragon didn't make it but the thyme is still thriving. However, on the 3rd day of 2009, it snowed again. I was hoping to take some pictures but the snow never stopped.
It will be interesting to find out what survives when the snow/ice melts.
This pic was taken on Dec 22, 08. Then we got big snow storm on the 24th and 26th. Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Temperature comparison re: Dec 1st
What a big difference...
2008: max. 10.3c, min. 6.7c
2007: max. 0.3c, min. -2.4c
2008: max. 10.3c, min. 6.7c
2007: max. 0.3c, min. -2.4c
Monday, December 1, 2008
What's going on?!
The garilcs have sprouted. They are tall enough to lift up the black fabric cover that we put down. That's how we noticed the sprouting...oh my goodness...I wonder when did they start sprouting...(right after I planted them?)
Based on the past two years of experience of growing garlic, and information that we read, the garlics are not supposed to sprout after the fall planting. They are supposed to stay nicely in the ground and come out in Feburary the following year, at least that's what happened for the past two years.
I did a historical weather data comparison for the month of November in 2007 and 2008. It shows that this November was 3c warmer than last year:
2007 min. -3.3C in Nov 22, 2008
2008 min. -0.3C in Nov 24, 2008
How scary is that!
No wonder I could still pick and munch on our raspgberries grown in our backyard today. Today is really warm also. I'll do a comparison of today's weather tomorrow.
Based on the past two years of experience of growing garlic, and information that we read, the garlics are not supposed to sprout after the fall planting. They are supposed to stay nicely in the ground and come out in Feburary the following year, at least that's what happened for the past two years.
I did a historical weather data comparison for the month of November in 2007 and 2008. It shows that this November was 3c warmer than last year:
2007 min. -3.3C in Nov 22, 2008
2008 min. -0.3C in Nov 24, 2008
How scary is that!
No wonder I could still pick and munch on our raspgberries grown in our backyard today. Today is really warm also. I'll do a comparison of today's weather tomorrow.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunny days
It is such a treat to have sunny weather for more than a week now. There is not much going on in our backyard farm except the cleanup.
Three of the pole bean plants have been pulled down last week. One is still standing. Guess it'd better to leave it in the ground than having the beans sitting in the fridge. The cucumber plant is also down.
I also cleaned up all the garlics that were hanging under the patio (cut off the root and the stalk and brought the bulbs into the house). Meanwhile, since the weather is nice, I stuck 10 cloves somewhere in the front just for fun.
Today, Mark sowed some arugula seeds in the back and covered them in the coldframe.
The swiss chard is still growing strong and big since the summer. However, we haven't been eating them at all (besides the baby one that we use in salad). Is there a great recipe to cook swiss chard? I did some searches on the Internet but none of the recipes appeal to me. They look great in the ground, so maybe just let them be the decorative edible plant.
Three of the pole bean plants have been pulled down last week. One is still standing. Guess it'd better to leave it in the ground than having the beans sitting in the fridge. The cucumber plant is also down.
I also cleaned up all the garlics that were hanging under the patio (cut off the root and the stalk and brought the bulbs into the house). Meanwhile, since the weather is nice, I stuck 10 cloves somewhere in the front just for fun.
Today, Mark sowed some arugula seeds in the back and covered them in the coldframe.
The swiss chard is still growing strong and big since the summer. However, we haven't been eating them at all (besides the baby one that we use in salad). Is there a great recipe to cook swiss chard? I did some searches on the Internet but none of the recipes appeal to me. They look great in the ground, so maybe just let them be the decorative edible plant.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Summer summary
It is 1.40am, and I can't sleep.
I can't stop thinking about stuff, work-related issue is one of them. Also, the environment and all things considered. I watched the documentary Dolphin Dealer on TV tonight and the subject matter really disturbs me. Nothing is new as in the way human interacts with the wildlife, and how we exploit them in order to satisfy our greed. And then I think about the food issue, how we treat the land, produce and consume food in a way that leads to detrimental consequences.
Everyone can make a difference. I'm happy that we are growing our food, supporting local products and talking to people with the hope that our passion can influence them.
Let's do a summary of what we grew (and harvested) this summer:
I can't stop thinking about stuff, work-related issue is one of them. Also, the environment and all things considered. I watched the documentary Dolphin Dealer on TV tonight and the subject matter really disturbs me. Nothing is new as in the way human interacts with the wildlife, and how we exploit them in order to satisfy our greed. And then I think about the food issue, how we treat the land, produce and consume food in a way that leads to detrimental consequences.
Everyone can make a difference. I'm happy that we are growing our food, supporting local products and talking to people with the hope that our passion can influence them.
Let's do a summary of what we grew (and harvested) this summer:
- salad mix
- swiss chard
- kale
- pole bean
- snow pea
- shelling pea
- bush bean
- parsnip
- beet
- carrot
- tomatoes (roma, roman red stripped, sungold and lollipop)
- cucumber
- potatoe
- bok choy
- onion (red, walla walla, spring)
- garlic
- leek
- strawberry
- raspberry
- herbs (basil, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, chive, oregano etc)
- hop (to make beer)
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Planting garlic
This is the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the weather is very co-operative (max 10C, sunny), a perfect day to plant garlics.
This year, we decided to plant the garlic in the backyard. The area in which we plan to grow garlic still have some carrots in the ground, so we pull them out to clear the way. (yes, I have been making carrot cakes and having carrots in salad) Mark is responsible for laying the foundation! First is to dig deep into the soil to pull out as many morning glory roots as we can (we did it in the spring before planting but as we all know, you can't really get rid of them). Then we add our compost into the soil, and mix the soil with peat moss and blood meal.
Meanwhile, I select the big cloves from our garlic (I guess I've opened up dozens of garlic heads) and use them as seedlings. I guess I've planted about 150 cloves. Yes, that's A LOT of garlic. Do we need that many? No. But the process of growing is so enjoyable! And no store brought garlic can beat the flavor and quality of homegrown garlic.
Tonight dinner from the garden: salad with green (the fall sown arugula is coming out, plus baby swiss chard and lettuce from this summer), cucumber, sungold and red onion, pureed parship, stir fry carrots and corn (this is the only item from the farmer's market)
Oh, we also sowed a few bush bean seeds. Don't know what the name is...the seeds are from my in-law.
This is going to be our garlic patch. Carrots are all over the place.
These are the carrots that we pulled from the soon-to-be garlic patch. I've sown carrot seeds around the roma plants (carrots and tomatoes are good companion plants). These carrots are shaded by the tomato plants, so their size is very small)
Compost from our handsome homemade spinning compost bin
Opening up a garlic bulb to get big clove for planting
Planting in process
This year, we decided to plant the garlic in the backyard. The area in which we plan to grow garlic still have some carrots in the ground, so we pull them out to clear the way. (yes, I have been making carrot cakes and having carrots in salad) Mark is responsible for laying the foundation! First is to dig deep into the soil to pull out as many morning glory roots as we can (we did it in the spring before planting but as we all know, you can't really get rid of them). Then we add our compost into the soil, and mix the soil with peat moss and blood meal.
Meanwhile, I select the big cloves from our garlic (I guess I've opened up dozens of garlic heads) and use them as seedlings. I guess I've planted about 150 cloves. Yes, that's A LOT of garlic. Do we need that many? No. But the process of growing is so enjoyable! And no store brought garlic can beat the flavor and quality of homegrown garlic.
Tonight dinner from the garden: salad with green (the fall sown arugula is coming out, plus baby swiss chard and lettuce from this summer), cucumber, sungold and red onion, pureed parship, stir fry carrots and corn (this is the only item from the farmer's market)
Oh, we also sowed a few bush bean seeds. Don't know what the name is...the seeds are from my in-law.
This is going to be our garlic patch. Carrots are all over the place.
These are the carrots that we pulled from the soon-to-be garlic patch. I've sown carrot seeds around the roma plants (carrots and tomatoes are good companion plants). These carrots are shaded by the tomato plants, so their size is very small)
Compost from our handsome homemade spinning compost bin
Opening up a garlic bulb to get big clove for planting
Planting in process
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