A Little Mid-Winter Garden Inspiration From Pinterest

The blizzard and freezing temperatures have passed for the moment, and it is a balmy -1 outside today, warmth seems to get me longing for the garden. Right now the potager is covered with waist high snow, but spring will come, it always does. In the meantime I am filling my head with big dreams for next years vegetable garden and Pinterest always provides some inspiration...

Cabbages and lavender, a combination I have tried in my own potager with great success...

Kitchen gardens can be so incredibly beautiful I spend hours, coffee in hand and pajama clad, wandering through my vegetables anticipating the harvest. I am constantly on the scout for nice combinations of plants that will not only whet my appetite but will also make me smile.

Now a Sunday morning of coffee, pajamas, and seed catalogs.

Some Before and After Photos of Our Little Homestead

It is difficult to get into the habit of regular posting but, now that it is winter, I will try again.... I wanted to share a few photos of how our house looked when we first purchased it a couple years ago. and now a few photos of last years garden.... As you can see from the pics there has been more than a few transformations that have taken place. I am working at establishing the different beds, while always keeping in mind, that for the time being nothing is written in stone as far as finally plantings. I suppose my biggest folly in all of this is my love of growing which currently exceeds my ability to produce finished beds for planting in. We are currently wrapped in the tight arms of a Maritime winter with storm after storm, covering my world with a thick icy layer of snow that makes trips to the outhouse treacherous and chilly on the butt. To ease the pain of these short days I have turned to what I call internet dreaming, and adventures in the kitchen. Here are a few things that fill me with kitchen desires...First from an amazing online shop called Provisions. Their store is so beautifully presented that it makes me nervous to even poke around in it. http://food52.com/provisions/kitchen

Next up Homestead Favorites, while not as lovely as Provisions, it is the home of Wreck Canning Jars, something that is on my most coveted list. http://homesteadfavourites.ca

. As you can see this is a no nonsense sort of website. And finally a great shop from my old hometown... Old Faithful

http://www.oldfaithfulshop.com/

Early Summer

The East Coast is a muggy hot mess, too hot to garden or sleep upstairs, actually too hot to sleep at all. I am already concerned about the prospect of watering the ever increasing vegetable garden. Currently we water the garden only with rain water collected in various old plastic garbage cans and buckets, not really a system but it is what I have on hand. I have decided to mulch this year, with newspapers, compost, sheep manure, and anything else I come across. Last year when water became scarce we drove the old pick-up truck down to the lake and filled any container I could find with lake water which I used for the veggies, flowers do not get water unless they appear completely desperate.

So far this year has been off to a less than satisfactory start, too much cold, too much wind, late frosts, and now heat that feels likes it is rising from hell's furnace. Seeds seem to want to grow any way except for one patch of carrots that though planted twice refuse to present themselves, either they are playing the late prom queen, they are not happy with their neighbourhood, or something thinks they delicate young shoots taste fantastic.

Of course carrots love tomatoes. I might give a few more patches of carrots a try yet this year if I can find a place to fit them in.