Holiday Joy

Joy...this time of year delivers)). Our summer is gone, beautiful winter is upon us... spring, just over the horizon!

The back door containers are filled with green trimmings from the garden. Do you do that? How the pots shine with red dogwood branches, the soil covered in soft moss. You remember the robin nest from early summer..well there it is tucked into the display. This should look good all through the winter so if you have a few mild days left, go outside, and get trimming! Your spirit will soar. Evening brings a soft glow that welcomes.

Days are busy making creative gifts, decorating and cooking. "My Indian Kitchen" was a gift received about ten years ago, and this year, I tried to replicate it....quite delighted with the results. "Introducing Indian Spices and Aromatic Seeds"...oh you can't imagine how wonderful the house smells tonight!

The container is from Lee Valley, a famous Canadian supplier of quality but good value goods. The applied cover to the spice box, is plain ole dollar store, a snipped down laptop vinyl peel and stick decoration. Same goes for the sparkly embellishments.

So how's holiday gift shopping or making going for you? If it's pressure, it's no darn fun. If it is a joy, then ...on the right path. If you don't have to do it...whewww...then that's good too!!

At our house, we have a tree (not decorated yet). We have some gifts to mail, food to plan and prepare. Cakes are made and in the post. So, this is all to say, it's been a busy few days and so that is why I have not contributed to blog.  Enjoy your December as we leave 2010...step lightly but happily into 2011. A new garden year awaits.

Just a Few More Bulbs

Just when I felt sure, I was pretty well done with the garden...my mind kept returning to those discounted brown bags of bulbs at the local nursery. Surely at that price, I reasoned, I could find room for just a few more. Where though, where to plant them.....at the top of the drive perhaps!

Tulipa ‘Canadian Liberator’ was named in honor of the Canadians who liberated Holland during the Second World War. Described as an early to mid season red triumph tulip, I thought they could be perfect! 'The spring vision' ...sparkling red tulips, emerging Sum and Substance hosta, stunning under the white blooming bower of Cornus "Constellation". Forever the optimist, that's me)))  Instead of bouquets of  three, five or seven  tulips, I did the big scatter...this, I have never done before. Will it work? Will it look too loosey goosey...too rough? Only spring will tell.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Continuing our day's work in the garden...heavy snow, rabbits, deer and mice are always a problem in winter and early spring. Thankfully, we are again having some lovely sunny weather and so, dragged out the wire reinforcement team.

I really do think this is about it. We cleaned out the pond as well, took out all the dying water hyacinth plants, delighting in finding a dragonfly nymph. How wonderful is that!

Still Time Left to Plant Tulip Bulbs?...hope so)))

Bright flowers one day; a hint of Ole' Man Winter the next. Burrrrrr....it sure was chilly today, however, no wind to speak of, so that was a blessing. Had a great walk with Chief stopping to photograph the ice in the bay.  There was a bit of skim ice as well, which didn't stop the ducks and loons from fishing. It was, in fact, a great birding day. Just when I walked to the back feeder (inadvertently frightening some goldfinch), a small hawk took advantage of their fear, flew down like a rocket...but missed it's prey. Chief and I, also inadvertently, disturbed a Great Blue Heron fishing by the drawn up wharf in the photo...flew off too fast for fumbling cold hands to get a photo. It's all very well to mention the birding experiences but when you don't have a photo to show...kinda sad)))). So you're stuck with the wharf at least.

Thoughts of planting spring greens in the summerhouse (we'll see))) and visions of sugar plums are dancing in my head. Now must get those last few dozen bulbs put in the ground. Yes, I weakened and bought more))))... on sale mind you, hard to resist. I know you understand........

Hanging In There!

Stricken with a miserable cold, it is hard to find joy in the garden...but the Chief still needs his walks and fresh air is a tonic for a drug addled brain, don't you know! Tomorrow is going to be a blustery snow flaky kind of day  but as a gift, today held sunshine. Some flowers are still hanging in there....a six pack of tall white snapdragons have shown their stuff since the spring and are still blooming!

Tiny pansies are jumping up everywhere; they have been here since we bought the property eleven years ago, a welcome sight in early spring and late autumn.

A Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' has also been putting on a show all summer long and still going strong. The tag says blooms May to June, and perhaps it did regroup for a month or so but  it doesn't show any sign yet of  closing shop. The purple black stems are quite striking....the blooms fragrant.

Thankfully, the garden did end up bringing me joy. It seems I was so caught up with the autumn harvest and taking care of food business, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the bloom business. Now I am missing them, just when they are off to bed for the winter.

Harvesting Garlic

I've been harvesting garlic for the winter and well.... there is no disguising the pungent aroma inside the house. Yes, I know, most gardeners are planting their garlic cloves right now, anticipating garlic bulbs next year..and so am I! But unlike a lot of gardeners, I do not cut the garlic scapes from my plants in spring.  I use them when they form their soft little bulblets, and sprinkle those on my garden salads. Eventually they grow past that stage and get tough..so I leave them ..well forget about them really. So what happens...they fall around mother garlic..take root and make their own little bulbs.

So..there can be a few hundred of these, and they are just perfect for harvesting now. Covered in their skin, all dark and dirty, you dig the bulblet out of the damp ground,  slide your fingers over this and underneath, you are left with the glowing white baby bulbs. I freeze these in a baggie to use over the winter. They pack a punch that cured cloves sometimes do not. You could almost call these "garlic sprouts".

The crowded garlic was thinned out, and some bulbs were transferred to the new raised bed. Maybe next year, that will help with the earwig problem we experienced in spring.

This is how I grow my garlic. It might not be like others, but it suits me. I might not always get large bulbs but I am satisfied with those I do harvest. This is the first time in ten years I have really thinned them out, and I must admit, perhaps every three years might be a better idea))).