a wee corner of the garden

This is pretty much just a photo post of one part of the garden that is quite happy right now.

Things were just pretty much plunked into the ground last Autumn with little thought about anything besides there being the right amount of light. Thoughts of design were pushed aside in favour of expediency, as frosts were coming soon. {for readers who are new to the blog, we moved into our current home last October and brought a shitload of our perennials with us from our last place}

We also had a few lovely surprises pop up, such as the ferns crowding the lady's mantle, and I didn't have the heart to yank them up. The garden will be rearranged so that taller plants will be in the back and everyone will have enough breathing room at the end of this growing season.

Anyhow, I will have a proper garden update coming soon!

{there are ferns, lady's mantle, foxgloves, wormwood, columbine, feverfew, swamp rose mallow, sedums, and mayapple in this part of the garden}

{the wormwood in its second year is about four and a half feet tall}

{blue columbine}

{ghost fern, a new addition}

{foxgloves are such lovely plants!}

{all of the foxgloves we have are Digitalis purpurea or "Common Foxglove"}

{a paler version}

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Sláinte!

Laurel

the beauty of bealtaine

Everything here is bustling with life, and if I don't stop to "smell the flowers", it seems like I will miss something. Things sure do move faster here in the warmer seasons.

When we first moved into the home that we are in now, I figured that we would probably get quite a bit of wildlife surrounding us, and I certainly have not been disappointed. The lane way behind our home is a beautiful wooded space, full of birds and other critters. It is a little oasis in the city.

A lot of work has been done in the garden, although there is still plenty more to do. The cooler weather crops have been planted in containers on our North-facing balcony and most of the beds have been completely dug up. I will be doing another batch of planting this Friday, and then the rest will be planted on the following Friday {posts about that to come}.

Happily all of the plants that we brought from our last place have come back and seem to be doing well.

I had been on the look out for a rowan tree that was small enough to keep in a container and to bury in the ground during the Winter. The plan was to have it like that for a while so we could take it with us whenever we finally purchase a place. However, all the trees at the local nurseries were six feet and over. While they were lovely, it would be a real challenge to keep them in a pot.

Instead I took a small live cutting from the tree I did this year's rowan wood harvest from and put it in some root hormone. It seems to be doing ok, although I think it takes up to a few months for the roots to establish themselves, so fingers and toes cross that it will do alright.

This month has been full of various rituals and sacred workings, from a clean up and blessing of the small village cemetery of my Ancestors and workings for others, to my own private ones. I don't know if it was because of the "super" moon, but I found that some of my Bealtaine festivities were especially potent this year.

I didn't make it to the opening of our local farmer's market, instead this past long weekend we ended up going back to the wee village to spend time with family. I noticed at the cemetery that someone had recently put a faery statue on the grave of a child who passed away in the 1950's. It don't think it was there during the clean up a couple of weeks ago, but there sure is an aged looked to it with the spider's webs on it.

And the infamous Leaning House of Restoule looked like it had a pretty rough Winter!

Sláinte!

Laurel

some photos of our wee green friends

Anywhere we have sunlight peeking into our home is crammed with little pots of yogurt containers, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls and starter pots. The grand total of our seed startings {both seedlings and the ones that have yet to break through soil} is 224 so far.

Many of them are really leggy, so I cannot wait until it is warm enough to put them outside during the day so they can sunbathe, and I am even looking more forward to when they can be transplanted. We definitely need to get some grow lights.

We have quite a bit of multiple seedlings in each container, which I will pull out so there is just one, once they start to get their secondary leaves.

Here are a few photos of the menagerie:

cucumbers

a mess of leggy morning glories, teasel, lavetera/swamp rose mallow, scotch thistle, datura, and sweet williams

double pink columbine

sweet and hot peppers

borage

tomatoes {sometimes it takes view a photo to notice how messy things are, such as the window and sill in this photo!}

We are still pulling up sod and I will post some photos and news from our yard soon.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Digging In

We have officially broken ground in our new yard, pulling up sod in the first of our three veggie patches. I can't say that this part is my favourite part of gardening, but it is nice to get things started finally!

I am not sure if it is noticeable in the posted photo, the soil is going to need some serious amending because it is basically sand.

There has been plenty of other gardening goings-on which I will post about soon. :)

Sláinte!

Laurel

With the Stirrings of Spring Comes Mirth & Work

Happy Spring to you in the North & Happy Autumn to you in the South! :D

We got hit by a real warm spell last week and the snow is all gone. It seemed like just over night all of feathered friends were back and our green friends in the garden were starting to wake up.

{sweet woodruff, unidentified fern, lemon balm and comfrey}

In mid-March I started the first of our seeds including two different types of poppies, balloon flowers, white and blue and double pink columbines, scotch thistle, datura, swamp rose mallow, pink and double hollyhocks, and sweet williams.

All of the them {save the columbines} started germinating ahead of schedule. I will be starting another batch at the end of March and another in the beginning of April. I haven't quite figured out where they are all going to go as all of the prime window sill real estate is almost gone.

{"light purple" datura}

The inevitable Spring cleaning has been going on around here too. We have started to tidy up the yard and get it ready for the new beds to be dug out. The house has not escaped The Great Cleansing either.

During the waning of the Moon I made another batch of a "clearing wash". I am pretty sure that I shared the recipe here before, but I can't seem to find it. So, I will post it again for those who might want to give it a whirl.

{Herbs steeping in water}

This recipe calls for a tablespoon of each:

Sweet Woodruff
Rowan berries
Birch bark {please only harvest from fallen trees or naturally shed bark!}
Juniper berries
Cedar
Lemon Balm
Peppermint
Sweetfern
Thyme
Dandelion root
Witch Hazel
St. John's Wort
Sage

Boil 3 cups of water and pour over ingredients in a glass mason jar. Let it steep for 3 hours. Drain liquid through cheesecloth {I dispose of the plant material in the compost once I am done with it}. Put tea mixture in with cider or white vinegar into a clean glass jar that has a non-metal lid. Keep in a refrigerator {should last to 3 months with no issues}. To use mix with 3 parts water in a spray bottle or mop bucket.

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Recently I have added some new contented over at the Unfettered Wood blog that may be of interest to some of you:

Wonderful Maple Syrup: Some Lore & Customs

&

Poetic Weather Forecasting

I am also currently working on some other posts for that blog including one on traditional charms to ward off nightmares and on lunar and astrological gardening.

Sláinte!

Laurel

{C is for...} Creating an Ancestor Garden

{This is my second installment for the Pagan Blog Project}

{photo by Mike Reid}

I've been thinking about ways we can utilize our new patch of dirt, and one of the ideas I had was creating allocating a part of yard for an ancestor garden. Of course I am not the first person to think of this and there are plenty of wonderful resources out there, some of which I will share in this post.

For whatever reason, I have never created one before, and I figure it would be a good spot for me to do outdoor ancestral workings and devotionals when I can't make it to the cemetery.

Obviously a good place to start is figuring out where to put the garden. Personally I think it is nice to give over some prime real estate for devotional gardens, whether it be for land spirits, ancestors, or gods {and of course keeping a piece for wildlife too!}.

{photo by Bruce McKay}

As far as what to plant, one could choose plants associated with those who have passed or plants that your ancestors were fond of. The spot we are using already has a little cedar bush, which was my Grandfather's favourite plant. We plan to add bleeding hearts and wild roses for my Grandmother and tiger lillies and sweetfern for my Great Grandmother. We have also chosen poppies, monkshood, and mullein so far.

Adding cherished or associated items, a memorial plaque, and perhaps an offering bowl and candles are also nice touches.

{photo by Thomas Beauchamp-Arnold}

Here are some other places online that might spark inspiration:

The Chart Chick
The Green Mountain Gardener
Just a Cloud Away
Diana Digs Dirt

If you have any ideas to add or if you have created one yourself, please feel free to share! :)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Garden Report for 2011

I think that this is the fourth season we have participated in the Growing Challenge {click here to see reports from other years and other posts on the topic}. I won't be mention every single thing we grew because I that would take more time than I have. All of herbs and perennials did great, which strikes a whole bunch off of the list. Below I think is just about everything else, although being as scattered as I am these days, I wouldn't be surprised if some were forgotten. As with other years I am doing the 1 to 5 rating system {1 lowest, 5 highest}.

Arugula

4. We enjoyed the New Sun arugula from Soggy Creek Seed Co.!

Beans {Bush & Pole}

5. I am totally in love with the French climbing pole beans that we got from the luverly folks at Plant Trees, It's Self Defense and the Purple Mustache pole beans from Soggy Creek Seed Co! <3 Our Scarlet Runners did well too, the Contender bush beans were great as ever, and I really enjoyed Tanya's Pink Podded and the Blue Jay bush beans as well. Hopefully we will have room for them all next year in our new garden!

Beets

5. With our soil finally up to snuff, we could really enjoy beautiful big beets! The ones from Soggy Creek were especially happy. :)

Carrots

4. Considering all the problems I have had with carrots on this property in the past, 4 might as well be a 10! This year's stars were the Atomic Reds & Cosmic Purples.

Cantaloupe

1. An epic fail. I am completely wet behind the ears when it comes to growing these. They barely even germinated.

Chard

5. Chard is usually reliable, but it was an especially great year for greens!

Cucumbers

4. We didn't grow too many but the Lemons were very happy!

Kale

5. Both the Dinosaur and Red Russian grew from Spring to final harvest.

Lettuces

5. Our lettuces were especially bountiful this year. The Learn to Dance With from Soggy Creek I think could survive just about everything and the old faithfuls lived up to their station! ;)

Melons

2. They eventually grew but had no chance to fruit. Another first try for me. Maybe I'll have better luck in 2012.

Mustards

4. There were some issues with loppers in late Spring, but were caught in time.

Nasturtiums

5. We have what seems a life time supply of nasturtium honey and poor man's capers thanks for the wonderful harvest.

Onions

4. Average harvest but no problems.

Parsnips

4. Not too shabby!

Peas

5. Peas for Peace were plentiful and the Devon peas were so pretty! :D

Potatoes

5. The pride of 2011! We will have tatters for the whole Winter.

Pumpkins

3.5 We love our Small Sugars, they are real troopers. Powdery mildew was more of an issue this year, otherwise it would have been a 4 or 5.

Radishes

4. Come July when everyone else seemed to bolt, our Crop Circles stayed tender and sweet.

Spinach

4. Some lopper issues but it kept on truckin' all Summer.

Sunflowers

5. Real beauties that had an earlier start this year. The Russian Mammoths that our Devon friends sent us stole our hearts. :)

Tobacco

4. This was our first time growing tobacco {wild} so it was a learning experience. They did so much better in the ground than they did in big containers. Duly noted for next year!

Tomatoes

5. What can I say? Our tomato plants ended up creating a wee jungle and had so much fruit. The Old Timers gained a spot in next year's garden and the Yellow Pears are still my favourite cherry tomato.

Turnips

5. Hobo turnips are my favourite turnip ever and they make great Jack-o'-Lanterns. And some of the White Eggs ended up being the size of a baseball. :D

Winter Squash

3. Most of our squashes got hit pretty hard by the powdery mildew which I think declined their fruiting potential. We still got crap loads, but not as much as previous years.

Zucchini

5. The only thing Strange about the Zucchini from Outer Space is how persistent it is. This stuff is darn prolific, darn tasty, and stands up to the nastiest powdery mildew. Next year I will make sure to give it plenty of more space because the plants like to take over!

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And there you have it. Now I am off to daydream about Garden 2012.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Lulzy Jacks

Not very skeery are they? ;) One is made from a buttercup squash, the other from a turnip. Pictures of our other Jack-o'-Lanterns and Samhain mischief to come.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Some Final Harvests, a Graveyard Picnic & Crunchy Leaves

Well, the movers are coming on Monday. Here I am down to the 11th hour and I still have some packing and garden chores to attend to. So what better way is there to procrastinate than to blog about them? ;)

I ended up digging up all of my perennials and they are now over all the new place. I am just going to bury them for the Winter and figure out where they will go after we have planned the new garden layout.

{not the most photogenic lot, but it is the Autumn after all. I suppose I wouldn't be looking my best either if I was disturbed and uprooted either! This is about a third of the perennials dug up}

I still have a few edibles in the ground such as turnips, beets, carrots and greens. There are also some plants that I need to collect seeds from. There is even the odd flower too!

{borage}

{last of the tomatoes}

{some pumpkins that were harvest a couple of weeks back and allowed to sit in the nice warm sun}

{sunflower harvest}

{the results of our last three tatter plants being harvested}

{a rather princely tatter}

{!!!}

{???}

{i luvs my purple carrots, even if they don't all come out purple!}

{someone needs to put their pants back on! :D)

Besides hauling off all the perennials off to the new place, we took some time to head off to the country to relax. We had a picnic in the family cemetery...




... and then we headed over to my Aunt Linda's for tea and a hike in her woods.

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Well, I suppose I should go and be productive or something. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me. ;)

Sláinte!

Laurel