Moving an apple tree to give the Ambrosia Apple more room.

This is the Ambrosia Apple now staked to grow like a proper dwarf apple. I will stake the branches down so they are almost horizontal. 

This is the new home of the Tydemans apple I moved away from the Ambrosia. The far white flowering tree is a dwarf Shiro plum. The closest tree is the dwarf Rainier Cherry. In the middle is the apple. I am calling this "My orchard."

Potato planting Erin Style!!

I have created a whole new way to grow potatoes. I guess I should wait and see if anything grows before I lay claim to a whole new way of growing potatoes. First of all the potatoes were bagged and put in the cool dark crawl space. Allan pulled them out one day and they looked like this.

He tried on several occasions to throw them out. I kept rescuing them and saying "they are from compassion farm...I can't throw them out". So I took the bag and hid it in the shed. 

After turning the clods of clay and rye and disposing of them in the compost bin...then NOT cutting up the potatoes, instead opting to plant the whole potato multiple eyes and all down a few inches with two foot long.....(what are the long pink branchy things called?) pink branch things lying along the top. Then topping it with about four inches of manure. I left some of the pink branches sticking out. I'm planning to top up as they grow. They looked like this:

And now you have to look hard to see the little shoots coming up through the manure.

Fall rye...the experiment is a failure.

In the fall I sprinkled fall rye in all the garden beds but one. It grew beautifully over the winter. It was time to stir it in and that is when I discovered that fall rye and clay soil is not a good fit. You can't pull the rye out, you can't fork it out and the clay/thick clumps that came with the rye, do not break down. So using shovels and rakes, we ended up throwing most of the rye and clumps of thick soil into the compost bin. Then taking wheelbarrow loads of our precious horse manure and topping the beds up. So all in all it came out beautifully, but it was the work. The backbreaking work. 

If I didn't garden in raised beds it would have been easy with a rototiller. So lesson learned. Do not plant fall rye in raised beds with thick dense soil. 

To be continued......

...and it was my intention NOT to buy any new seeds this year.

I have so many seeds stockpiled in the fridge door I was determined not to buy any additional seeds this year. I have failed. I haven't gone crazy, but there are new seeds. 

Here is my confession / list. 

Anuenue Lettuce....because it is Hawaiian and heat tolerant

Jalapeño Pepper....to add some heat to our cooking

Arugula Roquette...because I love it on pizza 

(thank you to Donna at Beacon Landing in Sidney for introducing me to this on her amazing Fig and Prosciutto Pizza)

The mother ship is back in my yard. I've missed it.

I LOVE it when the grow lights are on in the greenhouse. I can actually look out and feel a bit like I'm in the garden. It is amazing just how bright they are!!!