Eyes of a Child

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Grand-daughter Mattie-Belle
Helping to Dig the Potato Crop

Around the 1st week of August, grand-daughter Mattie-Belle and I staged a mini-excavation of our potato crop to assess whether anything was developing beneath the surface of the soil.

A good healthy portion of potato greens were growing above ground, but we were novice farmers and needed assurance that progress at the bottom was in keeping with the progress at the top.

Gently feeling around with my bare hands, so as not to hurt the tender potato tubers, I was happy to find three red skinned potatoes: A meager beginning, I'll grant you, but I thought respectable for a beginner.

A few weeks later, when the leaves had wilted and begun to dry out, we went at it again with the assistance of my husband, Doug. This time, we pulled the tops and excavated all six of the baskets of potatoes, saving the soil in two plastic garbage cans for growing different crops next summer (crop rotation, don't you know).  

Mattie-Belle loved the harvest, especially getting her hands dirty and pulling up several dozen small red spuds. We brought them in the house and washed them off, leaving the majority to dry but cooking some that night for dinner. They were delicious, even if I do say so myself; and, we've enjoyed several more meals using our home-grown potatoes since.

Our meager harvest

I planted one small bag of seed potatoes in the spring and harvested perhaps twice that many late in the summer: Not a particularly bumper crop, but a good educational experience for all ages of our family and some edible bounty to show for our hard work.

A summer feast ...
new potatoes, corn and steak

All in all, I think I'd grow potatoes again, though I'd plant them earlier and hill them higher. I found that it's interesting to follow the ever-changing growth in the garden, and exciting to experience the magic through the eyes of a child.

1st Cucumber

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1st Pickling Cucumber of the Season!

Earlier in the season, I grew peas in a planter box at the side of my front porch; then in June, I replaced the harvested peas with pickling cucumber plants I'd seeded indoors.

The cucumber plants took much longer than I thought they would to establish themselves outdoors, but finally started creeping up the trellis.

Eventually, pretty yellow flowers began to open; and today, I was thrilled to find an actual cucumber growing out of one of those flowers - The first cucumber of many, I hope.

We've been making baby dill pickles most years since I was a teen, involving four generations of family in the process, but never with cucumbers grown from seed at home.

As my Mammoth Dill is growing well, above ground in a pot, it's my hope to be able to grow enough cucumbers to make at least one bottle of dill pickles from home grown ingredients, this year.

That would be a first, but hopefully not the last.

Sprinkler Fun

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Sprinkler Fun While Watering the Garden

Ask any gardener, and they'll tell you that gardening is a great deal of work, but can also be a lot of fun. They'll also tell you that much depends, success-wise, on sunshine and rain.

Early on in this growing season, Mother Nature presented gardeners with a modicum of sunshine and a lot of rain - A LOT OF RAIN!

Watering by hose, therefore, didn't become an issue until mid-to-late July: A refreshing development, actually, to both my environmental sensibilities and my pocketbook.

When irrigation of my plants did finally become necessary, unexpected albeit entertaining benefits occurred: 

1. Grand-daughter, Mattie-Belle re-discovered the thrill of running through the garden sprinkler; and, it mattered not a bit to her, the chilly water temperature of the sprinkler fun.

2. As usually happens when watching the happy innocence of children behaving as children do, Mattie-Belle's delight put a huge smile on my face.

3. Mattie-Belle didn't know it, but her Grandad was controlling the height of the water by crimping and un-crimping the hose from the porch, and her occasional surprise dousing put a smile on his face.

4. I was compelled to take a dozen or so candid pictures and this one brief funny video.

Have a look - It's a very short clip, but will likely put a smile on your face, too!

Garden Sweethearts

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Garden Sweetheart Cherry Tomatoes

One of the four tomato plants I've grown on my front porch this summer is a cherry tomato variety known as Garden Sweetheart.

Grown from seed, this plant is prolific: Over 8 feet (2.5 metres) tall and producing as many as 16 of the bright red heart-shaped fruit in a cascade from each stem. Everyone who's tried them declares these garden sweethearts to be a juicy tomato with great taste.

In a fierce wind last week, the entire unwieldy fruit-laden plant - heavy pot included - blew right over and hit the deck with a loud thump. We lost a few green tomatoes in the mishap, but the red ones knocked loose were salvaged. Most of the remaining fruit held on tightly and we righted the hardy plant, securing it firmly to the porch railing with a well-camouflaged bungee cord.

I've been growing these Garden Sweethearts for the special man in my life who's always been quite partial to cherry tomatoes: my own garden sweetheart, Doug. He's been amazingly supportive of this garden project all along, and deserves to enjoy these fruits of our considerable labour.

Busy Bee

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I love the Iridescent Quality in the
Movement of the Bee's Wings, as it Hovers
Over the Butterfly Bush Flowers!

We had a slow start with our pollinators this summer season, perhaps because of the cool temperatures early on and all the rain; however, activity has certainly picked up in the last couple of weeks. 

Lately we've been thoroughly enjoying the butterfly and bee activity in our side pollinator patch, especially on the butterfly bushes. Patience certainly pays off.

While photographing Monarch Butterflies, I snapped the picture above of this busy bee. So intent on it's mission, my little invasion caused not a bit of interest.

I don't always take great wildlife photos, but I love the iridescent quality in the movement of the tiny pollinator's wings, as it literally hovers over the bright purple fragrant flower blossoms in this picture.

Hornworm Whisperer

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Tomato Hornworm Whisperer
Granddaughter, Mattie-Belle

Last year my tomato crop succumbed to bottom end rot. This year I took measures to prevent the same blight. Imagine my upset at discovering a different tomato problem this summer.

At first, I couldn't figure out what was eating away at one and then two of my tomato plants. I blamed raccoons, and was about to cut off the quickly balding branches and half eaten fruit when I discovered what I soon learned were Tomato Hornworms.

They were beautiful in a weird and wonderful way, bright green and as large as my index finger. Having never seen anything like these critters before, I did some research as to how to save my tomato crop. 

Eradication wasn't an easy task, as my granddaughter Mattie-Belle, a five-year-old who seems to have no fear of crawling creatures of any kind, wanted to adopt them.

Eventually, the Hornworm Whisperer was lured away, and I was able to dispatch the first two followed by a third from another plant the next day; and, that seemed to do the trick.

So, another unexpected tomato tragedy has been averted, in my ongoing quest for a home-grown fresh and juicy tomato sandwich - Silent salivation reference intended.