Right around now, when your eyes are inundated with the glare of white snow as far as you can see, it's nice to think about the equally blinding green that will take over a few months later. Seriously, I'm looking at these pictures and squinting from green overload. I don't remember it being quite [...] We went away for a couple of weeks on holiday during the prime growing season, so it’s no surprise that the garden turned into a jungle in the meantime. Now I’m scrabbling to harvest and clean up as much as I can before the temperatures drop. It’s all a bit daunting, but I’m sure we’ll [...] I’ve been mentioning the food items coming out the garden recently, but haven’t really done any posts on the general state of things. So this is a post to remedy that. Finnish summers are all about a surplus of daylight and moisture, so things get ridiculously lush in short order. Our current look is somewhere [...] Because it’s July and suddenly I can’t keep up with all the stuff there is to do out there! With prime berry picking season just around the corner, it’s about to get really crazy here at Casa Kerfuffle. #gallery-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } [...] It was a bit too soggy to go out in the garden most of last week. Things started to clear up at the end of this past week, though, so here is what came out of the garden recently! 06/18 – 145g lettuce & greens. 06/27 – 220g lettuce & greens. Two different [...] #gallery-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } Bought another aloe at Plantagen last weekend. Can’t have enough of these guys, I think. I will definitely have to invest in more fall bulbs if they all do so well here. Did I mention some tulips made a guest appearance? I suppose we do have the sort of weather they enjoy. View of my cleaned-up greenhouse interior. Still looks pretty tame. White dicentra, which will go where there pink one goes. Pink dicentra I got on sale last week. Don’t know where it’s going yet. Repotted peony. Still don’t know where it’s going yet. My 2 year old calamondin has once again been repotted and is enjoying its new greenhouse home. The clivia T’s granny gave us has been repotted and is now also in the greenhouse. The droopy lavender I seeded last spring is now looking much happier in the greenhouse. I put in 9 rows of “cold weather crops” the first weekend of May. We’ll see when they sprout. Parsley, purple carrots and cilantro. Leaf lettuce, spring onion and salad dandelion. Leaf lettuce, mixed carrots and spinach. I also plan to plant my cucumbers directly into these bags once the weather warms a bit more. My first (and probably temporary) raised garden bed. Made from… bed frames :-) There’s a few different types now, but I totally will continue adding varieties starting this fall. I love narcissi. Can’t get enough of them. Always wanted a giant bed of them in my garden and now I have some! The evenings are still just a couple degrees above 0C, but daytime temps are now between 10-20C and very sunny, so it’s definitely spring. Everything is budding, flowers are starting to appear and butterflies are everywhere. I’ve started cleaning up the garden and grounds best as I can, though I’m sure it will take at [...] Just more chronicling of my gardening ventures, both indoors and out. The kitchen window has plants in it all year round, though they start looking a little peaky in deep winter. The sun’s back now, though, and I can’t wait to pop some fragrant narcissi and primroses into those hanging pots. Maybe as soon as [...] Did some much needed work on the plants in the apartment this past week. The two backyard gardens thrive on benign neglect, since they have access to plenty of sun and rain, but the ones here need a bit more attention to be at their best. #gallery-8 { margin: auto; } #gallery-8 .gallery-item { float: left; My hanging herb garden, before the monthly harvest/grooming session. My hanging herb garden, after the monthly harvest/grooming session. You can see out the window again! A handful of the old standby, sweet basil. A new herb this year — Mexican hyssop. I grew this from seed but am finding it amazingly similar to store bought lemon balm. Store-bought lemon balm. Second year planting this. It supposedly overwinters well, so I’m gonna put it out this year. Home-seeded peppermint is coming along nicely. Will be overwintering outside as well. Home-seeded cilantro! Hard to come by at the market, so glad to have some on hand. I had to give Misu a blade of lemongrass to keep her occupied and out of the way while I was tending the herbs. All harvested herbs packed and ready for freezer storage. The balcony garden, end of July 2011. The nasturtiums are going nuts! They should cover the balcony by the end of summer. The yellow flowers are so cheery. First time planting sweet peas, so not sure if this is normal. They seem sort of slow, though. Too sunny, maybe? Baby leaf salad basket is starting to see the effects of heat. This lasted for a few good weeks of plucking, though. Amaryllis bulbs are enjoying the sun! They should have plenty of energy for a winter display of flowers this year. These mini bell pepper seedlings were starting to get gangly from sharing the same pot so long. So they have all been transplanted into roomier accommodations to be moved to separate gardens. The baby strawberries are taking their time. I should probably transplant soon, but they are growing so slow that I’m not too worried. Just finished updating my folia account with the latest happenings in my backyard gardens and thought I’d share the photos here as well since I like to look through these galleries during the cold months :-) #gallery-9 { margin: auto; } #gallery-9 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-9 img { Vegetable garden mostly growing in bags of potting soil at a friend’s house. Transplanted tomatoes on their first day in the same backyard garden I used last year at T’s parents’ house. Transplanted tomatoes on their first day at the other garden. It’s been fun to watch the different growth rates in different gardens. Some nasturtiums stashed in a pot with datura at the parents’ house. Backyard II tomatoes a day later, looking a little more comfortable with their transplant. Pots of sweet peas, cucumbers and basils also coming to live in the backyard where there is more sun. Baby tomatoes starting to leaf out in backyard II. Basils in backyard I looking comfortable in their bag. 1 of each variety ended up dying, leaving 2 of each. The lemons look the best — the reds aren’t bad and the Thai basils are just scraggly :-( Beans in bags are starting to flower! They’re still not huge — hope the cucumber sharing their bag doesn’t cover them up. Backyard corn patch is growing impressively fast. My friend’s patch, which she planted a couple weeks before me, is already tasseling! Cucumbers in bags are flowering liberally. These guys are gonna get huge. Tomatoes in bags are also flowering liberally. I’m thinking having their rooms in soil kept warm and insulated by the plastic is good for them. Potted sweet peas at backyard II are getting very leafy. Their balcony counterparts are scraggly. Strangely enough, these basils in pots at backyard II are looking much better than the ones in the bag. Backyard II cucumbers are in pots and growing a bit slower than the bag ones. This one just started popping out a few flowers. Backyard II tomatoes are growing at about the same pace as the bag tomatoes, but having started flowering yet. I wonder why? Gooseberry bush with fruit at backyard II. Currant bush with green fruit at backyard II. Wee baby apples in backyard II. Thriving stand of raspberries at backyard II — we’ve been picking handfuls every day. Plenty of rhubarb also at backyard II. I’ve been cutting and freezing a few bags to keep for later in the year. And yet more currant bushes that should be ready to harvest in a few more weeks. A pretty honeysuckle vine growing on the house wall :-) |
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