The Week in Instagram

Images above:
1. New bluestone patio under the covered porch getting a coat of sealer. We are rushing against winter now to finish the last bit of grouting and add a second coat of sealer.  Josh has been waterproofing and insulating the ceiling this week as well and the electrician is scheduled to add more sockets for lighting. More pics of that soon.

2.  First snow came way too soon for me.

3.  Brussel sprouts from the garden. I read somewhere they could only take a few frosts and promptly cut the stalks of 5 plants. Came to find out the next day that I could have left them in the ground through January or beyond. We will be eating and pawning off brussel sprouts on friends and neighbors all month.

4.  Requisite picture of me holding brussel sprouts.

5. Vinyl skirt board to cover the house foundation waiting to be painted. Thank you all for the suggestions on this project! I wold have loved to plant a garden or build a little wall here, but this spot is  the drip line where snow falls heavy off the roof and piles high every winter. Any plants/low walls would be crushed/knocked over in no time. Plus, this area gets plowed frequently and we didn't want a flower bed or low wall in the way. A skirt board painted a neutral grey and nailed to the foundation seemed like a decent fix for now. We can always update to masonry work later if the board doesn't feel right. The vinyl, while not my favorite, is completely weatherproof and has a wood grain texture. Hoping it will not look completely faux once installed. Fingers are crossed on that one. We'll install it later this week or next week.

6. Fun mid century chairs spotted on Sunday a junk shop outing.

Use Instagram? Follow me @claireferrante if you are so inclined!

Putting the Garden to Bed + Happy 200th Post!

While I was in Boston for six days, winter descended on our tiny town in Vermont. Boston is a few weeks behind Vermont, and the foliage is still close to peak down there. I took the photo below from the parking lot of a grocery store, of all places. Fire red leaves against a bright blue sky get me every time.

Back home, the branches are bare and we woke up to a small flurry this morning.

And so we decided it was time to put the garden to bed today. The kale, swiss chard, pumpkins, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower are still going strong, but the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, squash, pole beans, corn, basil, and morning glory covering the arbor have long since dried up. We pulled down twisted vines, cut wilted stems, removed tomato cages, and turned rotted fruit into the soil. Five heads of cauliflower and four sugar  pumpkins were cut from the stalks, and our brussel sprouts will also be harvested soon. We'll let the kale and swiss chard go as long as we possibly can.

We also finished laying the bluestone on the covered porch today and installed the railing. Sealing and grouting comes next. We are racing against winter at this point, as much of the work cannot be done in freezing temperatures because of optimal drying temps, etc. I will take some photos in the next few days to share.

Tomorrow we are off to the hardware store first thing to see about a wood plank facade for the foundation and ask some questions about the best way to waterproof and insulate the covered porch ceiling. So much still to do, but we are finally in the HOME STRETCH!

In other news, this is my 200th blog post! I wanted to thank you all for following along on our journey and leaving comments here and there along the way. Your kind words and encouragement make my day/week/year. This blog keeps me going in ways I don't often go into, so I wanted to stop for a moment and say thank you. The interactions that happen here make more of a difference to me than you probably know!

More from the Garden

At least once a day we head to the garden to see what's ready to pick and gawk at how big the plants are getting, and every time we discover something new. Today we spotted a number of hornworms feasting on our tomatoes. Apparently these are common tomato plant pests, but I'd never seen one before and they are HUGE.

Look at this guy just chomping away on our tomatoes!

Hornworms aside, we had a nice haul from the garden this evening.

The tomatoes and beans became our dinner.

We also made a wood frame to help hold up our tomato plants. The standard metal tomato cages just did not cut it with the size of these plants. Some of them had completely fallen over.

Riley and Fern love it when we work in the yard. That's a Riley smile :)

Josh's parents arrive tomorrow afternoon to help us with the house, and we'll be putting the finishing touches (fingers crossed) on the covered porch remodel. We are getting so close to the end and it is looking really good. After this weekend we should have just the floor tiling left to do, which unfortunately will not happen before the wedding because of the delivery date for the tile. It's a bummer, but I'm practicing just letting it go. It's good practice for me :) Have a great weekend everyone!

State of the Garden, Late August 2013

We are humbled by the results of our first gardening season in Vermont, and we're just getting started.

Images from top to bottom: garden arbor  //  picking tomatoes  //  cucumbers growing on the fence  //  moonflower plant climbing up the fence post  //  lots of basil  //  tomato in hand  //  overgrown  //  cucumbers and green tomatoes for pickling  //  view from outside the fence  //  pole beans  //  cauliflower  //  butternut squash  //  bell pepper plant  //  sugar pumpkin

Garden Pizza

Our tomatoes are finally ripening in the garden, and I was able to cook with them for the first time last night. Using a few small Sungold tomatoes, one large Brandywine tomato, and a bunch of basil from the garden, I made a simple "garden" pizza for dinner.

 

I added tomato sauce (hopefully we will be canning our own soon), thin mozzarella slices, garlic, and kalamata olives to the mix.

It turned out to be a very tasty combination, one I would recommend to anyone. By using a gluten free crust and thin slices of mozzarella instead of layers and layers of shredded cheese, we keept the pizza on the healthier side while still getting great flavor.

It feels really good to be cooking from the garden, and I can't wait to do more of it as our other veggies ripen. We have at least a dozen squash growing, a pumpkin, lots of cucs, pole beans, cauliflower, tons of greens, and will have more tomatoes than we can eat in a few weeks. We are planning to make lots of tomato sauce and butternut squash soup to can. We are also planning to pickle a few of the green tomatoes with a recipe Josh found. The way the cucumbers are growing we'll need to pickle a batch of those soon as well. Already we can't keep up with them. I'm excited to try pickling and canning for the first time this year. Lots of good things to come :)

Wild Blackberry Season + Garden Update

The garden has been going nuts. The wild blackberries in our yard are starting to ripen, we're picking cucumbers, lettuces, basil, and small sungold tomatoes from the garden, and in a few weeks we'll have squash, black krim tomatoes, melons, and pole beans.

We picked a bowl full of blackberries today and made plans for a jam or berry crisp, then promptly ate the entire bowl.

Four large cucumbers have been harvested from the garden.

The morning glory planted by the arbor has taken off.

Orange lilies and mystery pink roses popped up all over the yard a few weeks ago.

The sungold tomatoes have been turning ripe, but never make it back to the kitchen. It's too tempting to eat them right on the spot while weeding.

This photo is from a few weeks ago, and the garden is even more lush now.



Hard to believe we started with this only two months ago...

We really haven't had much trouble getting our plants to grow and thrive this year with the sunny/hot/rainy summer we've had. No deer, rabbit, or other critters have made it past the fence that we can tell. Japanese Beetles have been the only issue so far. We hung a trap on the arbor and have caught hundreds, but hundreds more are still in the garden eating the leaves and leaving little holes in everything. Anyone have tips for keeping them out? Something that doesn't involve chemicals or pesticides? Any info would be very much appreciated!

Garden Update + New Raised Bed

The garden is roaring along. We've been getting tons of rain, and the plants are loving it. Below are a few photos of the garden along with the new raised bed we put in today. We filled it with a yard of topsoil picked up at the nursery, and next we'll add a layer of well rotted manure before mixing in one more yard of topsoil.

The lettuce, brussel sprouts, and kale are going gangbusters:

We planted pole beans, corn, and squash together, and the pole beans appear to be climbing inches per day:

The brussel sprouts are getting HUGE:

And the tomatoes are popping:

The only plants we haven't had luck with so far are the cantaloupe and pickling cucumbers. The cucs we put in too early and something ate a few of the cantaloupe. Possibly slugs. The fourth bed will be planted with salad greens, including arugula and mustard greens.

After the fourth raised bed has been planted, we'll turn our attention to the garden space planned for the area on top of the rock retaining wall. I finished the wall yesterday (yahoo!!!!) so it is now ready for a fencing/raised bed plan. More on that coming soon!