Spring 2018 Garden Tour

Those of you who have been following along with my Instagram stories voted that you wanted my next post to be a garden tour, so here it is!  I don't think I've ever shown the whole thing completely like this, so I'm happy that a garden tour was something you all said you wanted to see.  Things are a little bit haphazard, and not completely tidy and manicured, but I wanted to give you a sense of what it looks like in real life on a regular day.  There is a lot I still want to do - and a lot more I would do if we weren't merely renting the space, but for now this is what it looks like.

The area I have for my garden is all north facing, so I am having to be creative with how I arrange it, and what I grow.  I am starting a lot of things inside that my neighbours would normally succeed with by direct seeding.  We've been adding on a few raised beds each season, so the layout evolved organically.  In the photo above you can see the four newest additions.  I think we have room for one more (beside the furthest bin in the left photo below).  Since we are tenants, we wanted everything to be affordable, and easy to dismantle in the event that we needed to move out.  We chose to make all of our raised beds without bottoms or lining of any kind so we can simply unscrew them, spread out the beautiful soil, and reseed with grass.  If you follow me on Instagram you can see the process of how I put them together in my saved stories.  We buy 10"x2"x12' boards from the hardware store and each bin is one board.  It's not the most elegant solution, but it's very affordable, and keeps things in small, manageable sections.  It's also easy to walk across, or stand on their walls if I need to reach something, or don't want to walk all the way around a path.

You'll notice that a few of the beds have PVC pipe hoops over them.  We were planning on doing some poly tunnels over a few of them to extend the growing season last winter but ran out of time.  I'll be using them as trellises for the vining plants this summer, and then we'll do them as low tunnels this coming winter and see what we can overwinter.

So far there isn't all that much planted this year.  I have some perennials - raspberries, bunching onions, strawberries, haskaps, blueberries, rhubarb, mint, chives, hyssop, lemon balm, and yarrow - and a few other things like brassicas that were just put in the ground very recently.  I am excited to see how my haskaps and rhubarb do now that they are well established and in their third or fourth years.  Bunching onions are a recent favourite I got last year from a neighbour who was dividing their plant.  I haven't had very good success with growing regular onions, so having them in the ground, basically ready to eat all the time has been a revelation!  They don't have much of a bulb, so I still buy regular onions, but you can use these any way you would use a spring onion, or a shallot.

In the above photo you can see a few of our bins that don't match our other basic square ones.  The three small ones near the wall were made for me by a friend from Church who had some spare wood and wanted to make some for me.  The really long raised bed is one we did before we realized that it is really hard for me to reach all the way to the back of it - especially now that we have the potato bin and other beds blocking the access from a few directions.  I also filled in the space behind the three small bins with dirt for some perennial berry bushes.  You can see this better in the photo below.

As far as what is growing right now, below are a few snapshots of the perennials (and some overwintered brassicas) coming back to life for the spring.  The one I am most excited for is the rhubarb, but I am also watching the progress of the Bianca hops (top left photo) closely as it is my first time growing them, and I think hops bines are really beautiful. 

As always, I am so grateful for the gorgeous view of the valley I have from my garden.  The best mornings are when I have a mug of coffee, and I get to wander around the garden and check on everything.  We have quite a few birds and other animals that come to visit, so I enjoy watching them and marking the seasons when they come and go.  Right now the warm weather is bringing back the tree swallows, and I love watching their swooping flights.  We have deer, and bears (mixed blessings there as they can also be quite the nuisances), and last year a whole bunch of garter snakes were born right in the garden.  Little forager enjoyed watching them, and I enjoyed that they helped take care of some of the pests.  I love that I have a garden that encourages biodiversity.   

I'd love to hear about your gardens in the comments below.  Or if you don't have a garden talk to me about what you wish you could do if you had a garden!

How to Plan a Garden

This post might be more accurately titled "How to Plan a Garden if you are Me and You Have Cabin Fever and You Are Dreaming of Spring and Can't Wait to Get Planting So You Do Whatever You Can To Feel Like You Are Doing Some Gardening", but the title I used is catchier, so I went with that instead.  You might remember that one of my garden goals for this year was to plan more, and if my followthrough for this goal is any indicator for the rest of them, I think this is going to be a very good year!

There are so many different ways to plan a garden, and if what I have done doesn't get you excited for the spring season, then don't worry about copying my method!  I think that making a plan in general is important, but what is most helpful to each of you is going to be different, and each season might be different as well.  I'd love to see what you come up with - let me know in the comments or link to any blog posts you might have done on the topic.  I'm always looking for new ideas to try. 

This type of garden plan (above) is what I have been doing the past few years.  It's not an exact version of my garden layout because I wanted it all to fit on one page, and my space is rather long and narrow, so I shortened some of the walkways and in-between spaces to make it fit.  The gardening areas are somewhat to scale, though.  I find this type of plan overall most helpful since it gives you a birds eye view of your space and hopefully will clue you in to any problems.  For example, I am probably going to have some issues with the amount of tomatoes I want to start vs. the amount of space I have to put them.  We have some plans this year to add a few more raised beds to hopefully alleviate that issue.  Last year they were too cramped and didn't produce well.

Keep in mind the areas of your garden that get the most light, and where any hot spots are.  My first year in this space I planted my broccoli in completely the wrong spot, and it got totally baked.  I figured any spot would be ok for them to go since in my north facing garden there is only the bare minimum of what would be considered "full sun", but I didn't realize how intense the heat and light were concentrated in some specific areas.  Now I put peppers and other heat loving things in those spots.  Also be aware of the shade areas you have, and think of creative ways to use them.  I have mostly "part shade" and even some "full shade" spots, so I have planted a lot of herbs, and plan to add some other understory plants.  The area you see above that is all herbs is actually covered by a deck above, but it still works for things like mint, chives, and parsley.  I've been thinking of adding some fiddlehead producing ferns there this year, and I have wondered if Oregon grape might work there too since I usually see it in the forest as an understory type plant.  It's native to the area as well, so I have a feeling it might do well there.  

As part of my planning this year, I was inspired by Lavender and Leeks to draw out what my garden will look like visually.  This isn't quite as practical as doing the birds eye view layout, but I really enjoyed the process, and it helped me think about what the space would look like aesthetically.  I also realized that in my drawing I forgot a few things that I planned to do like tuck in nasturtiums between all the brassicas.  These are also not to scale, and in some cases I shortened the space between the raised beds so things would fit on one page together.  I also realized I draw almost all my vines the same as each other, and that some of these plants are really hard to draw from memory.  I thought I knew what they all looked like (and for sure I can recognize most garden plants from sight), but there is something different about knowing them when you have to try and draw them.  I want to try that a bit more this year and really get to know the plants I am growing.  Mr. Forager had an amazing idea that I should make garden colouring pages for Little Forager, and I think I will!  I also think I might offer them as some sort of printable here on the blog!  

Hopefully you found this inspiring, or at least interesting.  I really enjoyed the whole process, and it helped to work out some of my garden dreams on paper while I still can't get outside and make them happen in the dirt.

I'd love to see what you all come up with for your garden plans.  Make sure you let me know in the comments!  I'd love to hear your ideas and get some new ones to try as well!  

Gardening and Foraging Goals for 2018

Foraging Goals

1. Learn More

I don't think this goal will ever leave my list.  There is so much to explore in this world that even if I got to live several lifetimes I wouldn't even scratch the surface.  This year I am making it an extra priority to find workshops, books, and other resources.  If anyone reading this has something they find valuable, please let me know in the comments!  I would love to know what has been useful to you.

2. Mushrooms

My plan for this year is to get a good field guide, and head out to find what I know is supposed to be growing in my area.  I have a few ideas of where to start looking, but I am not amazingly confident in my ability to ID.  Thankfully I have a few resources for this, and after getting a field guide I think that will help a lot.  

3. Medicinal Herbs

I know a few already, and have used them to great effect in the few salves I made last year. This year I'd like to know even more, and to make greater use of them.

4. Evergreens

I really loved the taste of the evergreen tips I gathered last year, so I'd like to use them more.  I want to be more confident on my tree identification as well.  I am reasonably sure of a few of them, but I hope to make this more of an area of expertise over the coming year.  You might have noticed so far that a lot of these goals have to do with the first one I said.  "Learning more" might be the theme for the year.  I'd also really like to learn more uses for evergreens than just using their new growth in the spring.  According to Euell Gibbons, the whole of the pine tree is edible, so I'm interested in exploring that more.

5. Fishing

If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you will know that I have terrible luck with fishing.  We have quite a few factors against us, but I'd like to get a few of those out of the way this year.  Maybe we will get some sort of boat.  Or even just getting someone to watch Little Forager more often so we can get out will help.  Also not having a wildfire season like last year would be a big bonus in terms of getting outside.

6. Wild Remedies

I've had great success with the salves, and bath soaks I have made so far with wild remedies such as dandelion, and yarrow.  I want to get to know a few more beneficial "weeds" and really make use of them this year.  

7. Orach

This one should be super easy, since there is SO MUCH of it growing even in just our back yard.  Last year it got away from me, though and I barely used any of it.  It seemed like such a waste at the time, so I want to make a greater effort with using it this year.  My landlord might also be happy about that since it grows so thick in the yard it blocks their access to the kids' play area if they don't stay on top of it!

8. Wild Culinary Herbs

I've been inspired by others who have really got to know the flavours of their terroir, so to speak.  I feel that I don't know what that might be for me, but I am interested to find out.

9. Wild Lettuce

This is another one that is absolutely rampant in my yard and garden.  I didn't realize last year until it was all overgrown and not nice to eat anymore.  This year I want to keep a better eye out and use it when it is young.

10. Wild Staples

This year I am also hoping to get to know some wild foods that could be more of a dietary staple.  It's unlikely that I'll be replacing my wheat flour with acorn meal, but I want to get a better handle on what those foods are, and how to use them to some extent.

---

Gardening Goals
 

1. Get a Head Start

This spring my goal is to get working on what I planned, but was financially unable to complete last year.  We have half the structure built for mini poly tunnels over a few of the raised beds, but that's as far as we got.  I am planning to get a jump on the season this year, since where my garden is located is not the most ideal.  It takes a long time for the soil to warm up, so things germinate late, and then when the weather gets really going they often get sunburnt and bolt.  

2. Try Some New Varieties

I don't have a specific plan at the moment, but I am always looking for some new, and interesting plants to try out!  I have my eye on some perennial vegetables to include this year.  Ever heard of perennial cabbage?  I hadn't until last week!  There are so many options and it's really exciting to consider them all!

3. Use the Herb Garden More

I hope that everything survives this winter, and that the plants really take off for me in the spring.  Last year I had to replant almost everything, so that was a disappointment.  I mulched well this year, so hopefully it's all doing well under the snow right now.  I have plans for so much pesto, herbs in my salads and smoothies, and bunches of dried herbs in the fall!

4. Overwinter

I tried to keep a few plants alive by bringing them inside over the winter.  Some have done well, and others didn't make it at all.  My citrus tree is still alive, as are several paprika pepper plants.  I also brought in one Malabar spinach to see if it would survive, and so far so good!  My plan to root tomato cuttings kind of failed, but I think one of the cuttings brought some blight in with it and didn't make it.  I really like these kinds of experiments.  

5. Cabbage and Other Brassicas

I've had very minimal success with these types of plants, so this year I plan to really focus on them.  Maybe this is the year I will be able to grow my own cauliflower!

6. Onions

This is another one that I have had limited success with in the past.  I did put in a patch of bunching onions (perennial) last year and that helped a lot. I really like eating onions, so to have ones I've grown myself would be just so amazing!

7. Jerusalem Artichoke

I really, REALLY love eating these.  Some may jokingly call them "Fartichokes" (and this is a reputation they have well earned), but they are so incredibly delicious.  The reason they give you gas when you aren't used to eating them is because they are actually full of good probiotics, so they are good for your gut health.  They are also a native plant to North America, and I love the idea of cultivating more of these plants in my garden.

8. Squash and Melons

Every year with these I think "this is the year"!  And hopefully this one actually is.  Farmers in the area grow these beautiful squash, melons, and cucumbers, but I have had really bad luck (except with volunteers the past couple years).  I have a few ideas on how to extend my season and get the soil warmer for them.  Hopefully the plants I start this year will thrive!

9. Perennial Vegetables

I love the idea of perennial vegetables.  I have some berry bushes and a rhubarb plant, and it's so much fun to see the harvests get bigger and bigger from them as they get established.  I have been looking into a few options that are not usually just for dessert, though.  I got the idea to look into this when I realized that there were perennial onions (and I got some from a neighbour) so now I am curious to know what other low maintenance, perennial vegetables I can add to my garden.

10. Grow Enough to Give

This was one of my goals from last year that I was successful with.  I think it's another one that I want to keep around since I have enjoyed it so much.  If you missed reading last year's goals, basically many people in my Church bring their excess garden produce to they Church and leave it in the foyer for whoever needs or wants some to take home with them. I have been the beneficiary of this free mini market many times, so last year I wanted to try to contribute something myself.  I was able to bring several bunches of herbs, snd I loved it so much I want to try to be able to bring something every year!

Reflections on Last Year's Season

Before I get started on all the brand new content for this coming year, I wanted to spend some time reflecting on how things went in 2017 in terms of gardening and foraging.  As you remember I posted my goals at the beginning of last year, and as I was coming up with some ideas and plans for this year I spent some time going over them to see how everything played out.

Last year contained a lot of surprises, and I was surprised to find that while I felt things in the garden went really well I actually didn't achieve most of what I put on my list, or at least had mixed results.  I don't feel bad about this.  Setting goals in this area helped guide me, but gardening is so unpredictable, and I'm also the kind of person who makes decisions on the fly, so it's not a shock to see that I missed the mark on a lot of things.  Every year of gardening is such a learning experience and I feel that I grow each year as much - or more - than the things I plant.  I do this to grow food, for sure, but I also do this because it is good for me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I've made some goals again this year, but I fully expect that there will be some that I won't meet again, and that will be ok.  I do hope to keep gradually getting better with tomatoes, squash, and peppers though!

In terms of specific goals, foraging went really well this past year.  For the majority of the plants on my list I was either able to learn how to find and identify them, or learn how to use the things I already knew were available.  Some of the things I missed were my fault, and some - like the Oregon grapes - just weren't producing this year.  I also learned to use medicinal flowers a lot more this year and I am very happy to have added that to my life.  I made an amazing dandelion and daisy salve that works so well on minor injuries and especially blisters.  

There were so many new plants or new varieties of familiar plants to grow this year.  We tried wheat for the first time, and I planted some potatoes that I got from a local farmer that are pink all the way through and keep their colour so well during cooking.  Even though most of my herb garden didn't make it through the uncharacteristically harsh winter I still got respectable harvests from it.  I grew my first substantial carrots this year, and had great success with mystery volunteer compost pile squash.  I bought a tea plant and learned to process the tea leaves into a couple very drinkable types of tea.

I hope I can always be experimenting.  I have loved the past couple years of becoming familiar with this land.  It amazes me that in the place with the least rainfall in the province (and I believe maybe in the entire country) there is still so much abundance.  

One downside of this year that did hinder my time spent foraging, and to some extent gardening also, was the terrible wildfire season we had.  I am sad to say that it broke all the records and became the worst wildfire season our province has ever seen.  There were so many days that the health authority issued air quality advisories, and since we have Little Forager we opted to try to find indoor fun a lot of the time.  Hopefully that is not the case as much this summer, although I am sure a few fires are inevitable.  As devastating as they can be in a human environment, wildfires are actually a natural part of the rejuvenation process of the land, so it's not all bad.  Looking on the what positive sides there are in a situation like this we also got quite a few spectacular sunsets because of the smoke in the air.

One of the things I was so excited about for this year was a chance to teach Little Forager about the garden.  I knew he would be potentially also a source of chaos and destruction, but I still couldn't wait until he was old enough to understand some of what he was seeing.  I am happy to say that the destruction was minimal, and that he so enjoyed "helping" me.  His favourite things this past year were to pick random leaves, to dig with his little shovel, and to spot (and eat) berries and peas.  I hardly got to eat any of my strawberries this year because he was so good at finding them.  It also didn't help that he considered any berry with the slightest blush of colour ready to eat, but that's ok.  Part of the reason I am doing this is to pass on the joy that comes from being in the garden, and if that means fewer strawberries for me that's a fair exchange.

Foraging this year included some items for food, and some items for wreath making.  I was able to open the A Forager's Home Shop this past October, and that has been a lot of fun as well as a learning experience.  Things are going really well there and I am so grateful for all the support as I try to navigate this whole e-commerce thing.

Although we had terrible luck again this year, I still enjoyed all our fishing trips.  We need to get our hands on a boat, or some fly rods since we never catch anything!  There are some amazingly beautiful places to fish in Kamloops so I never feel like I wasted my time in going.  I think we also need to plan ahead more and get babysitters lined up for when we want to go since it is getting really hard to wrangle a wriggly toddler determined to explore everything as fast as he can, and still try to catch fish.  In not too long he might be old enough to try fishing himself, and I can't wait for him to have that experience.  

2017 was a really amazing year.  I can't wait to see what the coming year brings.  I have loads of plans, goals, and dreams for it, but obviously life will bring its own twists and turns.  I am sure there will be many challenges to navigate, but many wondrous opportunities as well.  

How did your year go?  What are you dreaming about for your future?  I'd love to hear all about it in the comments below.  I'm not just saying that, either.  I really do want to hear from you - especially after taking the time to read such a lengthy post like this!  Best wishes to all my readers for a bright and happy 2018.

Autumn Visit to Davison Orchards

One of my favourite places to visit in the fall is Davison Orchards.  The enormous displays of squash, gourds, apples, and other produce make my autumn loving heart so happy.  

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

— L. M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

Last year Little Forager was not even one year old, and barely standing so as much as he loved the tractor ride and seeing the sights there was a whole lot that he couldn't really experience.  This year he made full use of the playground areas, and had so much fun hunting for the perfect pumpkin.  

There is so much here to explore, and not to mention that Vernon, BC is a great town to visit.  I always make sure I go home with some of their unpasteurized apple juice, and at least one box of apples.  On their last day of the season they have some great deals of the gift and food items in their store.  You can also fit as many pumpkins in one shopping cart as you can and take them home for a flat rate of $20.  I make sure to cram my cart with as many sugar and ghost pumpkins as possible and bake with them all winter.

Life has been flying by for us this fall.  I love this time of year, but I was having a hard time getting into the feel of it this time.  After our smokey summer, I was just starting to feel like we were able to enjoy the warmer weather, and then suddenly it was autumn!  Now that we've done this orchard visit, and have had our Thanksgiving dinner and everything I am getting into the spirit of the season much more!  Time to make something with all the apples I brought home!