Shedding

     The shed build has begun! I wonder why we didn't start this when the weather was better - we have spend a few days out there in the rain and fog so far - but it is coming along fine. I have made a few calculation errors so far, but (I hope) have learned from them.
     We have made progress from this picture, as we have the end wall (to the east) built and almost all sided. Then we will raise it and start on the south wall... the tall one, as this shed will have a shed roof. The idea is to add a greenhouse to the south side, taking advantage of the shelter the shed will provide to the north.
     We have to add some more supports under the long wall (it is 8 feet by 16 feet) before we add any more weight to the floor ;-) and then I have to think about where the floor of the greenhouse will be - I have been planning for it to be on ground level, and right now the space under the shed floor (necessary for ventilation) will deliver some chilly north wind right into the greenhouse! I am hoping some interlocking styrofoam sheets will take care of the problem - and I suppose they could be removed when it gets hot, to provide additional ventilation.
     This has of course been taking up all our free time - in fact, between that and work I barely have time to cook. Must try to get some bread baked today, as we have been buying bread!

Winterizing

     I have harvested all my carrots from the garden now, and am trying the Pedersen method of keeping them...they are in a big pickle bucket, still dirty, and covered with dampish peat moss. The ones that didn't fit are washed and are going into another "Veseys" box - it is a plastic box this time, and I have yet to sew the liner so they're just in the garage for the moment. But all of this is so time-sensitive!
      It was almost 30 degrees in the polytunnel today, the sunshine makes a terrific difference. But it has frozen at night, there are a couple of plants there which have been 'touched' by frost. I may try to save them - they are actually house plants, so they might make a cheery addition indoors - if I can find them a spot somewhere. 

     This is the cold-frame, about half-full of perennials, trees and such to overwinter, we hope successfully. I am going to do more insulating around the sides and front. It still doesn't have hinges, but that it a small detail. Last year I just had a window and bags of wood pellets!
     This weekend we hope to get started on building our shed - we cut down a big double spruce on the site last weekend and it is amazing how much space there is now! Fred thinks we could make it BIGGER than 8 x 16. I'm not sure. Anyway it would be great to have a spot for all the summer furniture and stuff, and then I could concentrate on the food storage in the garage.
     Oh! and of course it's the Guy Fawkes party on Saturday. Remember, remember!

Thyme for Bulbs

      We have been collecting bulbs for the past weeks and I had nearly all of them in the ground... and then Veseys had their half-price sale, and now I have more! A great big bag of different ones I have to site somewhere. I bought a couple of huge plastic pots when Kent was moving to their new store (and selling off the stuff they didn't want to move) and I think I could put a lot of little ones in there - I am thinking the Hollandica Iris (I have 50!) on the bottom and the crocus on the top (Blue Pearl and Jeanne d'Arc). But the fritillaria Persica and Fox's Grape will have to go into the ground. (I seem to have a habit of planting bulbs on or near Hallowe'en!) But first I need some styrofoam peanuts for the bottom of the pots or I won't be able to move them around. They are that big.
     The ones which are already planted are Alliums - 4 Gladiator and 15 Aflatuenense, and pink assorted narcissus (I always fall for these) as well as fritillaria Meleagris. And a whole lot of tulips, pink and white doubles and some purple ones from Vanco. Spring will be glorious.
          I found a great mitten pattern on Ravelry in the free patterns. It is in DK with a lace pattern on the back of the hand, and I have made one pair and have another under way. They are very quick and quite cute, I think! And could be a great use for all the DK I have gathered and have in storage.
      I have been home, of course, and making time for domestic tasks as well as planting. Processed a pumpkin yesterday and made puree for the freezer ( and a pie) and I am thinking I will do the other pumpkin as well, today (instead of wasting it as a jack o'lantern). I may boil this one rather than roasting it. Roasting may be more flavorful but it takes more cooking time.
       Yesterday I finished off planting a big patch of thyme - we killed the grass with carpet and I have spot-planted thyme plants in the space.

I am mulching with newspaper and sawdust to keep the grass from coming back until the thyme has gotten a head start. I know we will probably still have to mow to keep the grass at bay, but I think having big patches of thyme will be a vast improvement over just grass alone. I gathered some of the plants at the beach, (wooly thyme) and some of them had white blooms, as well as the more common purple. My fingers are thoroughly crossed.

Harvest and storage time

I am already missing my wonderful tomatoes. I had plans to bring in a couple of plants and try to keep them producing for a bit longer, but - alas! - they were stricken with blight at the last and so came to quite an abrupt end. There are quite a few tomatoes in the freezer - the plants were quite productive when they were healthy - but it's not the same as going out and picking a few - or a lot - whenever you wanted to. I must try again with the blight-resistant varieties, and perhaps getting some growing in the greenhouse, next year.
I have closed in the ends of the greenhouse, and am moving annuals (that I think are worth saving) into pots and stashing them in there. And yesterday Anne and I constructed a cold frame, a veritable Rolls Royce of cold frames, with a cover made from poly-carbonate Tuftex. I have to stain it with Water Seal today, and then site it where the sun does shine, and fill it up. It's 5 feet by 3 (150 cm x 90 cm) and looks like it will house quite a bit.

I also made a vegetable storage bin - from jute and an old deep-freeze wire basket. It's full of carrots and damp sawdust, and is in the 'root cellar' - ie., the insulated garage.

Wire basket with jute bag, sewn to fit, inside. I got the jute as a remnant for $1. 

Carrots from a market, washed - and huge.

I used wood pellets for the sawdust - they were free as well.  I think I should look for more wire baskets!

Old Home Week

        This event is the big provincial exhibition, with animal judging, handcrafts, etc. We went to have a look on Wednesday, and were impressed with the rugs and quilts in particular. There are a couple of evenweave embroiderers who are making impressive things as well. The standards are quite high in those categories - but the older crafts are plugging along as they always have, and the same people are producing the same things... not *quite* crocheted acrylic ponchos but very, very close.
         One of my work-mates entered an apron - very elaborate, with black-and-white coordinated cottons, and jumbo ric-rac. She had made a prototype and wasn't happy with it so refined the pattern and made another. She won 3rd prize! ($2). The first-prize ($7!) winner was a typical "granny" apron with ruffles up the sides and along the straps, made of poly-cotton broadcloth, and fitting, at a guess, a 12-year-old. I am sure the same apron pattern wins every year. Most of the sewing and knitting was along the same lines. I am sure the same judges are looking for the same things, and so no progress is made. It's tempting to enter something! Maybe an elaborate lace shawl in silk - I must finish my "Print 'o the Wave" one!
           The animals were cute - ducks and chickens and sheep - many of the cattle were being shown while we were there, and frankly, watching that takes more expertise than I have. It was HOT for the animals on display, however. I am sure they will be happy to get home again. A highlight was going on a free horse-and-wagon ride around the racetrack - that's a view I've never seen before.

It's not the heat, it's the humidity

       July has been hot! As a result the garden is burgeoning, especially the vegetable one. If I don't have tomatoes within a week I shall be very surprised.

    Unfortunately I have been *working* far too much - full-time this week! - and am so exhausted that I have no energy to work in the garden when I finally do get home. Anne and I went to the Honey Tree nursery and I bought a gingko tree and a Chinese wisteria, and then at the sell-off sale at the Sobeys garden centre (75% off!) I got another Chinese wisteria. Now I need a pergola. I also got some more thyme - I am determined to replace more of the grass with thyme. We saw some gorgeous thyme lawns in a recent visit to North Cape. I am spotting wooly thyme everywhere I go, hoping to dig up and transplant from the roadsides, etc. Now to gather some energy and plant them - except the wisteria and the gingko - I want to baby them on a bit (and plan for a pergola).
     I picked the first raspberries last night, just at dusk, so I may have missed some ripe ones.  There's enough to enliven the breakfast fodder, at least.
     Above is my clematis 'Niobe' - I also bought an 'Elsa Spath' but it didn't bloom yet. I got these at WalMart in the early spring and babied them along in the greenhouse for quite a while. In other clematis news, the mystery one in the flower bed by the lilacs turns out to be another 'Nelly Moser', like the ones I have in the bed by the door. I suppose this means that they are extremely hardy. The two new ones are in the lilac bed, one on either side of the opening between the lawn and the veg. There should be a pergola there too, but I don't think clematis can compete with wisteria.
      And speaking of lilacs, I have cut down the older part of the lilac hedge to half its size. It was getting too big to cut off the spent blooms, and shading the flower bed quite a lot. It looks terrible at the moment, but I am sure it will fill out again, and quite quickly.

I'm making jam, strawberry jam...

       As it says in the song. Just 4 or 5 batches today -

it started to rain while I was in the berry field so I quit, like a wuss. Plan to make strawberry cake as well, for dessert. Gotta get going on that!
         My western garden is doing splendidly this year, it has come along a lot since its initiation, last spring! The F.J. Grootendoorst rose has come along a treat since last June, and the mountain laurel from my birthday before that has grown quite a lot and is looking good too. The variegated wiegelia bloomed as soon as it was planted, not in season, but it has put on a lot of growth since and is looking quite well. There are hydrangeas there, too - and some of them will bloom this summer for the first time.
        The little white rose is Morden "Snowmound" - moved from the rose mound this spring  - and not far away is one of the two "Daydream" roses - I managed to split the one rose plant up, planted one here (just to the left of the "Snowmound") and potted up the other for a bit of babying in the greenhouse for a while before planting it in the bed in front of the door. They are both blooming.

 
      China Doll has been doing well since her move last year, and this year is blooming very prolifically in the bed by the driveway. She does this lovely thing of coming out a really clear pink, and then developing pink freckles as the blooms age. They stay on the plant for a really long time as well.
    And best news of all, the "Ring-around-the-Rosey" bed is doing just what I hoped it would do, when I put it in. Well, perhaps I hadn't expected that the Rosa multiflora would do quite so well, but she's a great big mound of blooms with the other rugosas and hardy roses peeking out around her skirts.

She's a once-bloomer, so when she's done I'll prune her back a bit to give the others some grow room.
    I love rose season! And my very favourite rose, Celestial, is out right now, too.  Must go have a look - and take some photos.