Fruits (or should it be vegetables) of our labour

The weather has been a bit cloudy and wet these few days.  Yesterday, I woke up to another grey, cloudy morning.  Usually the grey clouds will clear and by afternoon, it will be sunny again until the sun goes down at 8 or 9pm.  But just before noon, it rained - first a light drizzle and then the skies opened and it rained so heavily that I could see anything through the window.  I thought I'd be stuck indoors the whole day.

But the skies cleared within the hour and the sun came out again.  We decided to go to the garden.  I know that I have some peas, beans and zucchini to harvest.  The zucchini were about 10cm long the last time I saw them three days ago.  I didn't want to wait too long because I know they can be super growers.  I don't want them to get too big and tasteless and tough.

When we got there, we decided to check out plot number 2.  His mum wanted to get a plot there as well and was hoping to get the unused plot next to ours, number 45.  The owner said she has sustained a knee injury and couldn't work on her plot.  She has been given another two weeks to start work on it.  In the meantime, his mum has been offered number 2 so we went to see where it was located and if it was any good.

The plot as two rows behind ours and looks bigger than ours.  Lots of weeds have been growing there so it would need a lot of tilling.  However, the fence is still good and she wouldn't have to put up a new one.  As we were walked back to our garden, I noticed that a lot of the vegetables in other plots have not been harvested.  It is such a pity to see broccoli, squash, lettuce, onions and other goodies being wasted.  I guess for some people, the fun is in the planting and seeing them grow.  Maybe they don't really enjoy eating the vegetables.

For me, I much rather plant stuff that I want to eat.  That's why I chose the plants that we have.  I didn't opt for the zucchini but they plants were from my mother-in-law so I planted them anyway.  I am also amazed at how the plants hung on and survived the cold weather at the start of summer.  That made me treasure them and I have been harvesting and cooking them.  I have stuffed, roasted and boiled them in soup.  Next, I want to try making zucchini bread and zucchini muffins.  I will try not to throw them out.

I have also been enjoying the peas, beans, carrots, potatoes, onions and lettuces.  They all taste better than store bought ones.  The carrots, especially, are so flavourful.  I can smell them as I pull them out of the soil.  I can smell them as I peel them and they are so nice and sweet after cooking.

I think next year, I am definitely going to plant more carrots.  I will also plant more potatoes, peas, butterhead lettuce and beans.  I will want to try planting cabbage, romaine lettuce, leeks and butternut squash.  I might even want to try planting broccoli, even though Pete doesn't like them.

As we were walking back to our garden, Yvonne, my sister-in-law, pulled up in her car together with her two youngest kids and my mother-in-law.  They were there to check out the available plot too.  After checking out plot 2 again, we walked back to our garden and I started harvesting the zucchini.  They have grown thrice their size!  I managed to harvest six big zucchini, about 30cm long.  I also harvested a whole lot of yellow and green beans and peas.

Yvonne's son loved the garden and was eager to try the vegetables.  Pete let him pull up a carrot and he ate it all up.  He loved it.  Then, when he saw me harvesting the peas, he came over.  I let him try one and he loved that as well.  He said it was sweet and juicy.  I let him pick as many peas as he wanted.  He ate quite a lot!  But it's really fun to see someone else enjoying the fruits of our labour.

But, apart from the harvesting fun, we did get an unpleasant surprise.  We found some dog turd in the middle of my old bed of peas.  We have seen some just outside our plot some weeks ago, but this is much worse!  One problem with our plot is that it is just beside the bike and walking lane and it is a popular one with dog walkers.  Also, we don't have a proper fence and gate.  We have put up chicken wires along the outside perimeter but we left a gap of about 1.5m for us to get in and out.  I guess that opening 'invited' these dogs, especially if they are unleashed.  But then again, the dog owners should have known that the garden belongs to someone and there is no reason for them to trespass, let alone allow their dogs to relieve themselves there.  That really made me mad!  We definitely have to work on putting up a proper fence and gate soon or else we will get more of such unwanted 'gifts'.

From the garden to the kitchen

We don't go to the garden as often as we used to any more.  These days, it has been raining and grey and cloudy so the plants would have more than enough water.  Besides, we don't really want to go out in such dreary weather.  All I am worried about is always the weeds.  My fear is that the weeds would take over the garden and grow all over our veggies, herbs and flowers.

Yesterday, the sky cleared enough for us to brisk walk there to plant some Asters, a type of fower, that I had sown on my balcony.  When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised.  Finally the garden has shown some life.  A large part of it is due to the weeds but we were happy that our vegetables have done just as well. 

The lettuce beds are full of healthy, juicy leaves.  The potatoes have continued to grow.  The row of carrots have such long, healthy leaves growing above the ground.  The two surviving cucumber plants have even started flowering.  The squash plants have done very well, too.  Lots of yellow flowers are blooming and we found some beautiful, long squash growing from them. 

This week, we didn't buy a lot of vegetables and since the babies are doing so well, we decided to take some home.  We picked the biggest squash, pulled up a potato plant and some lettuce.  We also picked some baby carrots.  They could leave them to grow even more but we had to thin them anyway, so that the remaining carrots would have more room to grow.  So the baby carrots went into our bountiful basket.

With the vegetables, I decided to make a light summer salad with a quick, tangy dressing made with mayonnaise, mustard and lemon juice.  Soft, boiled eggs rounded off our light lunch.



squash and baby carrots



hand-picked lettuce



chopped squash



a thorough wash and a couple of whirls in the salad spinner and the lettuce is ready



the almost ready salad



the dripping yolk and creamy dressing made the salad even better



The garden is waking up

The last two weeks were cold, chilly and rainy, so we didn't go to the garden every day.  We figured the garden would have enough water from the rain and it would be too muddy to walk about.  But the last two days have been very warm and sunny and there hasn't been any rain.  I guess from now on, we would have to visit the garden every day to at least water the plants.

So, even though we were busy yesterday (I accompanied Pete to town for his meeting) we still headed to the garden afterwards.  We walked in the warm, bright sunshine but the wind cooled us down.  This is the time I am glad I live here where it's windy.

It's great going to the garden every day, there's always something new to be discovered.  Yesterday, we found the pea shoots growing taller and the leaves are starting to open.  We counted and found seven shoots growing.  I know I've planted more so hopefully the sun would give them a warm wake up call.

The beans have surprised me.  At first there was nothing growing there apart from some weeds.  There's a dandelion growing in the middle of the bed (grrr), but no beans.  The past few days, we could see them sprouting and finally yesterday, they have grown taller.  The best part is that there are now many more sprouts.  At the last visit, we counted maybe nine sprouting beans.  Yesterday, we found 25!  And all look healthy and strong.

The petunias are also recovering.  Maybe we could have lost one or two plants.  There doesn't seem to be any flowers growing there.  But on other plants, the flowers are blooming well.  The cute thing is that the flowers are much bigger than the leaves so, from afar, it looks like a row of flowers on the ground.  You can hardly see the leaves.

The squash are also beginning to grow bigger.  I hope they will survive and thrive in the summer's heat.  The potatoes are also growing well.  We burried them under soil two days ago and they have already grown above the new layer.  They are certainly growing bigger every day.

The garden is waking up.  Sadly, it also means that the weeds are also growing.  Actually, they are thriving.  The poor petunias are surrounded by tall, thin grass and there are other big plants that we could not identify growing all over the area.  That means there'll be more work for me at the garden.  More weeding, watering and tilling.  With the encouraging signs of growth, my plans for more sowing and planting looks promising.

We lost one

First sad news.  We lost one.  One of the cucumber seedlings did not make it.  It shrivelled and died.  But the rest of the plants look like they are doing well, growing taller and bigger.  More potato plants have grown so very soon, we'll bury them in soil again and hopefully there will be more potatoes down there.  The squash plants are also doing well.  New leaves are growing and the first two leaves of each plant are bigger now.  But there are no other activities in the other beds.  We got a lot of sun today.  Hopefully more to come soon and that the real summer weather is here to stay.

the biggest potato plant in the patch

new leaves on the squash plants

cucumber plants growing well

the dying plant

Have you seen a carrot seed?

It's planting day!  Although it was cold and cloudy, we went to the garden to plant more stuff there.  So far, our sizable garden has not been fully utilized.  We've only used up maybe 15% of the space.

Yesterday, we bought a couple of packets of seeds - carrots, peas and lettuce.  Also, the cucumber seedlings are growing taller.  It is time to replant them.  Pete's mum came by with her large tools.  We've been getting by with my small ones.  But to work on a bigger area, we would certainly need those tools.  The long handles also mean that Pete could help out as well since he wouldn't have to squat or bend.

I've read that to grow carrots, the soil must be loose and free from stones.  If there are stones in the way of the growing carrots, they would sort of split into two or they would not grow.  So, the first thing I did was to get Pete to loosen up the soil.  Of course, I did my part as well and raked it to remove as many stones as I could find.  Then, it was more hard work to dig up the soil to make a raised bed before I started sowing the tiny carrot seeds.

Have you seen a carrot seed?  It is a tiny little thing.  It looks like a spice, sort of like fennel seeds.  I tried to scatter them as far apart as I could.  I know some of the seeds were blown away by the strong winds, but I think I got most of them where I wanted.

The whole thing was a back breaking work out.  I was wearing my jacket at first.  But because of the intense workout I was getting, I took it off.  Luckily I was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt underneath to keep me sort of warm.

Next, we prepared another bed, wider this time, for the cucumbers.  Pete's mum sowed them for us in a pot and now we had 9 seedlings.  We planted them as far apart as we could.  His mum taught me how to plant them.  I had to bury the stem to let just the leaves above the ground.

The work was hard so we stopped to take a break.  I made cheese sandwich with the bread I baked the day before.  It was a simple sandwich with 2 kinds of cheeses and sliced, fresh tomatoes, washed down with juice, kept cold and fresh in the cold spring weather.  Simple but yummy.

The next two beds were a bit faster to build as we sort of fell into a routine.  Along the way, I dug up countless worms - tiny ones, fat ones, short ones, long ones.  I tried to get used to them, telling myself that they are important for the soil and our plants.

The seeds of the peas and beans, which are given to me by his mum, were easy to sow.  I just hope they will be safe from the birds.  Almost to the end of our work, it started to drizzle but we still continued and even watered the new additions to the garden.  I love the tiny raindrops as they fell on my face.  It was cold and windy, but it wasn't too cold to make me feel uncomfortable. 

Oh, yeah.  Every time I step into the garden, I will eagerly check the plants that we have.  The squash plants seem to be growing well.  The leaves are big and green.

The petunias are also showing growth.  They look bigger and the flowers look so big and fresh.


















And finally there's activity at the potato patch.  Pete's mum pointed to us a small tuft of leaves - potato leaves!  And the unidentified plant that was growing by the potato patch is chives.  And I discovered more today.  I'll leave them for now and maybe cut off some to cook with when they are a bit bigger.


The lettuce are not going to be planted in the garden yet.  I'll sow them indoors first and when they're a bit bigger, I will transplant them.  The garden is still bare for now.  Hopefully soon, more leaves will show.

grow, plants, grow

It hasn't rained for days so I was afraid the plants would be thirsty.  Pete and I visited the garden to take a look at our plants.

The petunias still looked like how it was yesterday.  The ones in the middle look like they are growing well, while the rest still look a bit shrivelled up.

The squash plants were also a hit and miss affair.  Some look like they are establishing themselves well.  But others have not looked like they have taken root.  It's been only a day since I planted them so I know I should let them do their thing.  Anyway, it's our first time growing vegetables.  I'm sure we will learn from both success and failures, though I am praying for success, of course.

The potatoes and onions are still not showing any activity.  It will take a while so I must remember to be patient.  In the meantime, I'll weed, till and water my garden, ready to plant more stuff.

While weeding, I found a plant which looks like either spring onions or garlic growing by the edge of my potato bed.  There are 2 tiny purple buds growing at its tip.  I was going to pull it out but I've decided to let it grow a bit and then pull it out to see what comes out of it.  Let's hope it's something edible :)

Squashed and squash

Some of my petunias didn't grow well.  When I visited my garden today, I checked on them and found that the four plants in the middle of the row were sort of thriving but the other plants looked like they were shrivelling.  Pete said they looked like someone has stepped on  them.  But I didn't find any footprints.  Maybe they didn't get enough water.  We didn't water them yesterday.  So Pete watered them while I worked on getting other parts of the garden ready so I could plant some squash and onions.

It was real hard work getting the weeds out, especially the dandelions.  Their roots go so deep into the ground.  I didn't want to just pull out the flowers and leaves.  I wanted to get the whole plant, roots and all.  I don't know if what I'm doing is correct but I don't want to risk them growing again at the same spot.  Anyway, I need the exercise.

As I dug out the roots, I sometimes dug up some worms as well.  My initial reaction was to scream or gasp, cos I am squirmish when it comes to worms.  But I know worms are useful to have in the garden.  I just hope I didn't hurt any when I was digging around the ground.

After I removed as many weeds as I could, I used my garden fork to loosen the soil before I started planting.  That was tiring as well.  The squatting and shovelling and raking gave me a good workout.  Then I planted 2 wide rows of squash since I've been told they would spread out a lot.

Finally, I planted 3 neat rows of onions.  I think I planted 14 baby onions.  Maybe I would get 14 big onions at the end of it, I don't know.  Let's see what happens.