Reflections of katlupe: chives

Showing posts with label chives. Show all posts

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Gardening In June Is My Favorite Time

Tomato Plants!

I have done a good job this year of getting as much planted as possible. I still have one large bed that has not been plowed up yet. As you can see, I planted my tomatoes in containers. I am hoping this will prevent them from getting the Late Blight. I am moving these around right now, but as they get bigger, I will not be able to do that. They will need to be stable and staked up.

Healthy So Far!

I pruned my tomatoes this morning, by pinching off the suckers. This will make them bear more tomatoes, rather than just leaves. Don't know what I am talking about? Here is a site that explains it, Pruning Your Tomato Plant. This year, I'd really like to have enough tomatoes to can and make my own ketchup. If I don't grow enough, I will purchase some locally.

Chives

Most of the wild plants have been blossoming for some time. Today, I was excited to see the blossom on my squash plant. The first! Many of the squash plants have some ready to blossom, but this was the first. Can't wait to have fresh yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers and green beans. These plants give you food to eat now, when we need it. The tomatoes don't get ready for harvest here till about August or September. I will be canning many jars of these foods, but there will be enough to eat fresh too.

Squash Blossoming Already!

I hope your gardens are doing well. We have noticed more people having gardens this year. Must be the scare of the GMO foods? Or maybe it is just the price of the food in the store. I know for us, it is normal. But I have increased the amount of food I am growing this year. I plan on getting more canned than ever before. I am hoping I can make all my own condiments too. I like to know exactly what is in our food. What about you?

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Springtime At Peaceful Forest

Our horses are loving this spring. As much as the horses love winter and snow especially, they like a cool spring before the bugs get here. They have been spending a lot of time laying down in the sun.

Rhubarb

Chives

Lillies

Monday, May 23, 2011

Perennials In The Garden

My strawberry plants.

When setting up your homestead, take into consideration the many plants that you put in your garden, and around your property, can be perennials. Plants such as strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, asparagus and rhubarb will get you started. And most of them are fruits! Most of my berries are wild, but I have planted some strawberries in the last few years. Adding blueberries this year, as well. We have wild ones but I want those bigger, plumper berries.

Rhubarb will take over if allowed!

Our rhubarb has been growing quickly and soon we will be harvesting it. As soon as the snow was gone, some of these plants were poking their sleepy heads up, as if to say, "Ah, spring!"


Chives, Lemon Balm, and Oregano!

Chives, lemon balm and oregano grow in this bed. They come up every year on their own. That is one of the reasons why I love them so much. They go by their own schedule! This is why I recommend adding perennials to your garden. Less work. If you want to work, wait until harvest time! Then you can work at harvesting and preserving your produce.

Asparagus bed *

I am planning on putting in an asparagus bed sometime. That is a plant that will give you plenty to harvest and you can freeze or can it. Looking at the prices in the stores, your best bet is to grow your own. I am eager to do this and think I have a little time to put it in yet. Our garden weather is cool and wet this year. So I will get them planted in a few weeks. You don't harvest them in the first year anyway.

Blackberries!

This is just a few of the perennials I have growing. Some such as the berries are wild but they give us plenty of food too. So if you can get your planting and work down, as you get older you may find your gardening becoming easier. Do you have any perennials growing in your garden? Are there any you would like to grow? Tell me about them! I love to hear how my readers are gardening to build up their food supplies! Please leave a comment and I will share it on this blog in a future post.

* Photo Source: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Signs Of Spring At Peaceful Forest Homestead

Rhubarb!

Spring time is in the air here in upstate New York! After the very hard winter we had this year, it is very welcome. Our snow seemed to take a long time to dissipate. In fact, along both sides of our road there is still snow. Even so, as soon as the snow is gone and probably if you dug down under, you will find signs of spring. Signs of new life coming up.

Strawberry Plants!

As I take a walk around my yard, even with chilly temperatures, there are many signs of plants that will give us food. Rhubarb is one plant that appears early. It will survive even freezing temperatures. My strawberry plants are also showing signs of life. I have already been eating the chives. They seem to have a sweet taste in the early spring.

Chives!

The bed with the lemon balm, chives and oregano is showing much new growth. This bed will fill up fast and I harvest from it all spring, summer and fall. The more I harvest, the more I get. These plants can all take over your beds or garden areas. But if you use them, then what does it matter? Share them if you have too much.

Lemon Balm & Oregano!

We have tiger lilies growing along both sides of our road. In many places along the state forest roads, they are plentiful. The lilies in this raised bed was given to me by one of my NY homesteading group members. It is not a tiger lily, but another kind. I think it is yellow, but I can't remember for sure. Tiger lilies along the road are showing their bright greenish yellow heads already too. People may not know this, but lilies can be eaten. The spring shoots are a wild food that is very edible. In fact, the entire lily plant, right down to the flowers and leaves can be eaten any time of the year.

Lilies!

It is so easy to start a bed of any of these early spring foods. I usually will dig a little into the ground to break up the grass, add some compost and put a plant in that and cover it over. I like to contain them by putting rocks around them to keep them neat and orderly. The strawberry plants are the only ones that seem to take over. I pulled up all the strawberry plants in my raised beds, because they became a jumbled mess two years ago. But you can see, they keep coming back!

I hope to have a good spring, and will post about the various plants I can forage and grow. It is good information to know, even if you don't need to use them presently. You never know what could happen. It is good to at least have foraged, cooked and ate some. That way, if you ever need to, you will know how to identify and cook them to eat. Share that information with your children so they will have that knowledge too!

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