What do gardeners do in the winter?

We had a long fall gardening season this year - summer was slow to get started and then we had warm weather as the days were shortening. I had a number of long season vegetables that I was still harvesting well into October. I finally cleaned everything out as we were about to get frosts, just before Halloween!!!

Once the harvesting got busy I got behind on posting, but I took lots of pictures so I plan to catch up over the winter. That will prevent me from starting seeds in my basement too early! Watch this space for more memories of summer flavours!

Swiss Chard Update

Earlier I complained that I had spinach coming out my ears. Now the Swiss Chard has officially caught up! I planted two packages of seeds, some in the raised bed and some in the ground plot. Both are doing well.

As usual I planted them too close together. Some time I will get wise enough not to do that! The seeds are just so small! I always think some of them won't come up. Then they all do!

I always plant the variety called "Bright Lights". They come in all the colours of the rainbow - mostly green leaves, with some streaked with red, and a few dark burgundy. Then contrasting stems in red, orange, pink, yellow, white... The most striking one so far has a burgundy leaf, with a fine line of green around the stem and ribs, and a broad bright orange stem.

I've noticed they seem to come in different sizes, too. No matter how much room they have (or don't have), some grow large leaves and broad stems, and some are small with pencil thin stems and a modest leaf. The largest ones all seem to have red or pink stems, and the yellow ones all seem to be small. This must be a byproduct of all the genetic variety that gives them such diverse colouring!

The best part is, no matter what they look like, they taste great! Swiss Chard is one of those vegetables that I used to hate, but now that I am not a "youth" anymore, I just love. When I was 19 I used to work at a market garden, where we sold every kind of fruit and vegetable known to local growers. I used to shake my head at the crazy people (mostly with a few gray hairs) who bought greens like Swiss Chard. Once I had gray hairs of my own I tried Swiss Chard from the Farmers Market and discovered how delicious it is. I think taste buds have to mature before they can appreciate chard, spinach and other greens with their faintly bitter flavours.

We have been making Chard Cheese Pie (see last year's archive for a recipe), and this year we discovered the joys of chard steamed in foil packets over a campfire. It also works on the BBQ. For extra flavour, a bit of onion or herb is also welcome. I put the stems in a layer on the bottom and the leaves on top. The edges singe a little and this gives a great caramelized flavour to the rest of the chard. It turns out a little different every time but it's always good!

Stone Soup

Is everyone ready for a big pot of stone soup? Last time I saw Brian he asked me to let everyone know it was just about time to get together and make a big pot of stone soup to share.

You know the story... A traveller shows up in town late at night, and the suspicious villagers won't give him anything to eat. "Nope," they say, "we don't have any food here." So he says "No problem, I'll make my stone soup, out of this magic stone here." And he puts his stone in a big pot of water.

All the villagers gather round. "Is it ready yet?" they ask. "Is it good?"

"Just about ready," says the stranger. "It'll be fine soup. My magic stone is working. It will be even better with a carrot, though. Too bad I don't have a carrot."

"Hmm... I think I might have one small carrot left" says First Villager. And she scurries off to get a carrot. The villagers crowd around and watch the carrot go in.

"Great!" says the traveller. "Now it's just about perfect. The stone is working its magic. The only thing missing is a potato."

"Wait, I have one potato left!" says Second Villager. And she runs to her cellar for a potato. Plop - in goes the potato.

And the villagers look curiously at the soup. And wait. Then the stranger says, "I can smell the magic working. It is nearly ready. All it needs now is a bit of bone for some flavour."

Third Villager slips off to her cupboard and brings out a ham bone. "Here is a bone, it still has a little meat left." In it goes, along with the potato and the carrot and the magic stone.

The stranger stirs the soup and says, "Good thing I brought this magic stone along. We'll all have soup soon. What fine soup it will be. If only there was a little bit of celery, it would be just perfect." The villagers all look at each other, and Fourth Villager says quietly, "Well, I have a piece of celery. If it will help the magic work, I could spare it." So he goes to get his last piece of celery and throws it in the soup.

The traveller stirs the soup again and they all wait. After a little while, the magic works, and the stone turns a pot of water into a big pot of soup. With only a little help from all the villagers and their cupboards.

So Brian thinks it is time for a little stone soup at the Hummingbird Garden. There are plenty of magic stones in the earth, and each of us villagers has one or two vegetables we could throw in the pot to help the magic along.

Maybe it will even be this weekend! Watch for magic happening at the garden...

Sage

When I was cleaning up my garden last fall (in mid-October), my sage was still standing. I couldn't bear to just dig it up, so I thought I would leave it and just see what happened. Many herbs are annuals, so I really had no expectations. I just thought it wouldn't bother anyone over the winter so I would leave it there. It's in a raised bed, so it didn't even get in the way of the tiller.

When I came to check it out in the spring, there was nothing much going on - the stems and leaves had dried up and gone brittle. I broke off most of the top part, but the roots still seemed well attached. So, I left it some more. Still not expecting anything, but...

On May 17th I came to check the garden, and to plant a few seeds. I was prepared to dig up the sage and turn it into compost at this point, just to clear the space for something else. But when I looked closely - here's what I found! Tiny shoots of sage emerging into the cool sunlight!

So of course I planted around it and used it to anchor the "herb corner" of my raised bed. I put some parley, basil, and chili peppers growing around it. And it came on strong! It has gotten far bigger than it was last year - over a foot across, and by mid-July it was starting to send up mauve stems of flowers. Here it is blooming away on July 20.

By now the first flower stalks have faded, and seeds were starting to form. I cut them off - one perennial sage plant is quite enough, thank you! And more flowers are coming. I had no idea that garden sage could be so pretty!

Garden Guardians

These bright birds were up and watching over the seeds early in June. I wonder if the pinwheel wings are supposed to scare off real birds or other beasts that might eat the seeds or sprouts? I wonder if they work?

Potato Bug Update

The bugs are still munching. Most of them are adults now with stripy backs.

A few gardeners are starting to dig new potatoes, so they can't be holding the potatoes back too much. Some gardeners are dusting with the old standby vegetable dust, some are using Aim, and some have home-made remedies - rhubarb leaf tea with a bit of dish soap seems to work fairly well as long as you can spray the bugs directly.

The word of the week

The word of the week at the garden is POTATO BUG! Everyone is talking about them! Of course they turned up a few weeks ago, and everyone with potatoes has been comparing notes: how many bugs, what to try, how often to dust or spray... Picking them by hand is sometimes necessary but never fun. And for people with a whole bed of potatoes, just not possible!
Some seem to prefer the old-fashioned dust, while others have good results with someting called Aim. No matter what they use, the key seems to be getting out ahead of the bugs. Constant vigilance! My solution is to avoid growing potatoes altogether. I don't often eat them anyway. This seems to put me in the minority!

Two juvenile bugs are seen here munching away determinedly.