Green Things! Chickens! More!

Having spent the entirety of last weekend installing--and completing a flagstone pathway, we were in a race against time to locate a suitable ground cover before the soil was reclaimed by grass and weeds. To the right of this image, you can see the grass attempting to creep upon our freshly laid stones, and we certainly couldn't have that.

After some research, we decided to place Irish Moss between the stones due in part to its natural heartiness and the fact it can stand quite a bit of exposure to the sun. One car trip to Portland Nursery later, our moss was procured.

Have you ever wondered what nearly $70 of moss looked like? There you go!

Here, Valentina and Drucilla express their approval of our Moss selection. They love to eat the grass and weeds we tear out, and are more than happy to help 'garden' with us when we are in the yard!

Speaking of chickens, here are a few shots of the girls since I haven't talked about them in awhile. They love their side yard and now that we have the appropriate height of fencing, are free to run around all day long.

 A few weeks ago, our neighbour Pete gave us this new chicken house. Isn't it beautiful? It is completely weather-stripped, roofed and insulated. The roof opens with a latch for easy egg access and we have a little ramp for them to clamber inside. We don't know if we are going to 'retire' our ark design or keep it a bit longer. This new chicken house seems much more effective with the small space we have, but the ark is still fully functional.

 Unfortunately, the girls haven't quite figured out what to do with this new space, and poor Gwendolyn is a tad too large to fit inside of the entry. She weighs nearly 7 pounds!! We will have to use a jigsaw to cut the door large enough to accommodate her size.

On account of the nice weather, the seedlings inside of our greenhouse are doing very well. We've planted many additional peat pots with our friends in mind. In the last week of April, we are going to have a little seed swap party with snacks, boozy drinks and many, many plants. We thought this was a creative solution to sharing heirloom varieties with friends and neighbours!

Many green things are coming up in our yard. Here are a few shots of the things growing for us right now.

Tulips...

Lilac...

Comfrey..

'Casablanca' Lilies....

'Jackmanii' Clematis and Hollyhocks..

And my front garden is finally moving and shaking! I want the Agapanthus to thrive this year and effectively screen  that hideous gas meter, it looks like it is off to a good start! It, like my Delphinium has been getting very generous applications of fish emulsion and manure tea since January. Let's hope that is all it needs!

Our front beds have been busy too. Here, you can see the 'Lavewa' Spinach and 'Purple Globe' Turnip varieties finally emerging from seed. Everything but the 'Russian Red' Kale I planted has germinated. I wonder what the hold up is?

Lastly, The Husband built me this little work bench for washing and prepping vegetables during harvest time. The flat surface will be eventually covered with a self-healing plastic so I can clean, cut or peel vegetables without dragging mud and dirt into the tiny kitchen. The peg board behind it will have hooks for various kitchen utensils such as knives, peelers and whatever else I fancy! This table should be a huge help during bean and tomato harvests or  for general outdoor entertaining!

State of the Cottage: February, 2010

After a particularly mild winter, signs of life are stirring all over the cottage.

Here are a few encouraging images to share as a reminder that Spring is just around the bend!

 

Volunteer Hollyhocks emerge and I am more than happy to oblige their presence!

 

Oriental Poppies

 

'White Spires' Foxglove peeks up

The Scabiosa and Columbine are also coming back!

In preparation for the Spring, we've purchased summer bulbs and a greenhouse!

I also planted Dutch Iris bulbs around the bases of our hugely over-grown Lilacs!

Though, you won't see evidence of them until Summer!

 

We positioned the greenhouse close to the back door in case it is a particularly windy or cold day when we work inside.

Here is the back.

 

I moved a lot of the delicate plants I've been wintering inside of the house to the greenhouse. It frees up so much room and the plants are much happier!

 

Penelope approves also!

Here are a few of our peat pots awaiting seeds...

And my newly fashioned sweet pea trellis waiting for the seedlings to emerge.

 

I also fashioned this 'chicken proof' trellis to block access from the chicken yard to the front yard. They will get a chance to roam around more space this way.

 

My husband also got a chance to install his Passion Vine trellis.

 

We will eventually mount the trellis on metal bands, but the old wooden supports will have to suffice for now!

The Passion Flowers are stainless steel, with mild steel centers which will eventually rust with the weather.

Seeds!

As many Gardeners know, December isn't good for much more than reading gardening catalogues, drinking tea and planning next year's garden. This year, I decided to get a head start and visit Portland Nursery to see what they had for their seed selection, despite the amount of seeds we collected from this year's harvest, there is still more I need!


I was pleased to see Portland Nursery had a display of Botanical Interests seeds, which are generally inexpensive and heirloom quality. We went home with the following (and this is as much for my own reference as for touting the variety available through Botanical Interests):

PS. I also noticed Botanical Interests sells a Cottage Garden Seed Collection proper, so this may save you some guesswork.

For the Front Yard:

*Fairy Meadow Mix Seed

*Hummingbird Haven Seed Mix

*Morning Glory Something Old and Something New

*Bachelor Button Black Magic

*Hollyhock Indian Spring Mix

*Hollyhock The Watchman

*Love-In-A-Mist Miss Jekyll Blend

*Pansy Got the Blues Seed Mix

For the Backyard/Potager

*Nasturtium Jewel Blend

*Sweet Pea Knee High Blend

*Sweet Pea Singing the Blues

*Bean Bush Trio Seed

*Beet Gourmet Blend Organic Mix

*Cucumber Homemade Pickles

*Radish French Breakfast

*Spinach Levewa Seed

That is all for now.

October!

Oh Readers,

Is it true that I haven't made a post since July and it is already October? How can this be? It seems like just yesterday I was picking raspberries for pies and fishing baby possums from the garbage can.

Nowadays, our time in the garden involves the usual chicken wrangling in addition to picking squashes, weeding and seed-saving. Yes, the sweet peas and nasturtiums are finally on their way out with no end to their seed producing days in sight!

While they wither away to scraggly vines, the dahlias, roses and delphiniums have returned with a vengeance and our garden is alive in full autumnal colour! Pinks, reds and purples appear to dominate this month's colour wheel, though I do wish I had thrown in a few orange and white dahlias to break things up a bit. (Don't tell The Husband I'm considering Orange Dahlias. This will only confuse him. Better to keep it between us.)

Our potager has been doing well with carrots, chard and cucumber performing magnificently. Let us not forget this year's prize-winning production champion the Scarlet Runner Bean which has performed above and beyond all perceived expectation.

No, there is no dearth of Scarlet Runner Beans and if any Tiny Green Cottage Reader would like to share a favourite recipe of theirs for the beans, it would be most appreciated. We've been forced to dry the majority of them simply because we can't keep up with the bounty. I'm told they are delicious sauteed with a pat of butter or olive oil with some salt, but there really must be some other creative way to put these to use. If you have any ideas, please do feel free to send them my way!

In other news, I do apologize for the decided lack of pictures. I'll have to remedy this at a near distant date. Meanwhile, please do enjoy the pictures of Dahlias (courtesy of Swan Island Dahlias in Canby, Oregon) which I would like to procure for next year's fall display.

xoxo

TGC

SnowboundBedHead

Candlelight

Dark Magic

Diva

Things to Grow

I've been busy putting things in the dirt!

The PSU Farmers Market has been offering free seed packets from Seeds of Change and I've made it a priority to drop by every weekend to grab a packet for my very own. As you can see, the purple theme runs deep. Over the past three weeks I've helped myself to Larkspur, Lobelia and Eggplant--as well as some heirloom seed varieties which were given away as part as someone's thesis! Very exciting.

In addition to that; we've also picked up some herb and veggie starts. We like to start as much as possible by seed, but sometimes we just can't wait. We bought a 'Satin Beauty' and Japanese eggplant, Bush Beans, 'Ambrosia' Cantalope, French Tarragon, Dill and Rosemary.

Also: I have loads of Dahlia tubers to plant . I planted all three of the purple varieties which include 'Voodoo', 'Jennifer's Wedding' and 'Thomas Eddison'. But the red varieties still need homes in the yard. I can only remember 'Arabian Nights' and 'Bi-Color' as the names.