I sure hope they are right about cutting strawberries to the gound.

I read once that after strawberries are done producing to take them back to the ground with a weed whacker. I have never done this. Today I was in the yard surveying the strawberry patch. It is fading, but, there was a whole new set of flowers setting. I have never seen that happen before. I decided to take them right down. I got my hedge clippers from the shed and lopped them right off. I weeded and took out all the little guys that had rooted that I didn't notice during the summer. Then I grabbed the wheelbarrow and shovel and loaded two wheelbarrows full of manure over them. I didn't want to bury them too deep, but just enough to keep them a bit warmer over the winter. I hope they appreciate my efforts next year. 

Update...they have started growing again and are all flowering. Weird for November. 

I cannot believe that we are still gardening on Vancouver Island.

Osakazuki Japanese Maple.

Sugar Ann peas blooming.

Potato cage repurposed to mulch and compost leaves.

I cut off the strawberries and they've popped back up and are all flowering.

Chilean guava fruit.

Extra curly parsley.

Lavender and fuchsia cuttings pushed against the south side of the greenhouse for winter.

HUGE horse manure pile tarped for winter.

These little Brussel Sprouts are almost an inch across. Think I'll get any to eat?

                                    What I got accomplished this week:

-Washed all of the used pots that have been tucked away for two seasons. Big job.

-Lettuce pulled up. Rather than compost I just left it on the soil. 

-Cleaned up the fountain and put it away. 

-Last of the garlic planted and a bit of manure spread. 

-Started to pull the orchid out of its pot. It is so packed with roots, I couldn't get it out. Then I noticed...it didn't have just the one new Keiki {new shoot} it had many. I stopped yanking on the poor thing, removed my foot from the edge of the pot and dragged it into the greenhouse. It weighed about thirty pounds. I am going to have a massive amount of flowers this year. 

An awesome batch of Kombucha. It even has fizz!!

The continuous brewer method of brewing Kombucha is really a superior way of doing it. The batch ages to perfection in just a few days. It comes out of the crock a bit fizzy. Tonight I added some pure grape juice and sealed the bottle for the second fermentation, turned the bottle upside down to blend the extra Kombucha that I filled the bottle with and it fizzed all over. I've never been so happy to have a mess to clean up. I MADE FIZZY GRAPE KOMBUCHA!!

My Food Blog. Designed to help you with your food choices.

When I am not in the garden, I research both gardening and food. I often sit for hours in the evening reading everything I can find about food, the politics of it and finding tasty alternatives. Until recently I didn't know there was a political aspect to food. I now realize that the political influence surrounding toxic ingredients in our food, is of course the reason they are allowed. Isn't it interesting that we feel we have no say in what goes in our food. That it is up to us to wade through the mire and figure out which ingredients sound safe but are deadly...and ingredients that sound dangerous are in fact the Latin name of say, coconut oil.

I figure I'm doing the research anyway, why not do a blog of my findings. But just a simple explanation of why something is unsafe and here is the alternate product. Finding a suitable replacement can often be the most difficult and time consuming task of all. I created a page that lists my hits and misses in terms of replacement products for GMO or toxic ingredient laden food.
Find my food blog here!!

A Thanksgiving Day of planting and preparing beds for winter.

We have had the most beautiful year. More sun than I remember here off the west coast of Canada, ever!!! I got to spend Thanksgiving Day in the garden.

   

      My beautiful cured and ready to plant garlic, 

   

      Look at the size of this garlic compared to my hand. 

   

       Kale popped out of the starter trays.

       Kale set in spots they will be planted.

   The kale bed planted and top dressed with manure. 

       Music Garlic set in their holes. Smoothed over with 

       bagged compost and top dressed with manure. 

I completely filled Bed 4 with kale. If you haven't tried winter kale you are really missing out. Summer kale is bitter and hard, but once your kale gets hit with frost, yummmmmmm.

I had to decide where to plant the garlic this year. The only thing that worked was to separate the two varieties. So the music is planted in Bed 1 and Red Russian is going in the lasagna bed. 

I had to admit defeat with Butternut Squash and Pattypans. Not a single one made it to edible size. I have high hopes that with all the horse manure going in the beds, it will be better next year.

I topped off the two beds that I planted with a layer of manure. It is six months old rather than the year, but I didn't use too much.