Better Late Then Never...

Back on Dec 13th I planting my garlic, a bit late but the winter has been very mild. This year I am going for a less fussy garden so I just planted out a whole bed of the stuff. The bed is mainly planted with a large cloved hard neck variety, the farmer it came from calls it Elephant garlic. I also put in a few soft neck cloves that have a purple skin.


The garlic is now just starting to pop up. A good sign spring is coming!


The last couple days have been so nice which has got me in the mood to plant. Today I started a few cells of hardy greens including mixed lettuce, kale, winter density lettuce, red pac choi, tatsoi and bright lights chard. They are now on a heat mat and at the first signs of life they will go out in the coldframe.

Soon things will start ramping up in the garden so I will actually have something to post about. First things on the to-do list is getting my grow light set up and completing a garden plan. Once mid March rolls around I will be starting all the tomatoes, peppers, brassica's and peas. Here's hoping this season is better then last!


To wrap this up, the snowdrops made an appearance a couple weeks ago. It sure will be nice when it is green outside again!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Well it is that time of year again. The garden has come to a close and I have started to think of next season. That topic will have to wait however because tonight I would like to say Happy Holidays to everyone. I'll be looking forward to following everyone's garden next year and hopefully I will be a bit more diligent blogging about my garden. Below are a few shots I took tonight of local christmas lights, you may notice that we are snowless this year:

.......and I can't resist adding a shot of Charlie:

Harvest Monday

Here is this years potato harvest. The harvest was a little dismal. I didn't plant a lot of them and what was planted had a rather low yield. The ones I planted in my half-barrel did the best by far.

This weeks main garden task will be to plant the garlic. It is rather late to plant garlic but in the past I have had good results from late plantings. I also have to get my season extenders in the garden. I cleaned them all up last weekend. There is not much point in planting them at this time but I should be able to get something growing in them by late February.

At the moment all that is growing in the garden is broccoli. I'll have to check what is worth harvesting this week.

Happy Gardening Everyone!

Some Photography

As mentioned in my last post, I have been shooting like mad for the past few months. I have capture all kinds of birds lately! Either I have been really lucky or I have been spending entirely to much time with my camera. Following below is a selection of shots I have on my Flickr page:

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-tailed Hawk, Juvenile

Turkey Vulture

Great Horned Owl

Red Breasted Grosbeak, Female

White Tailed Deer

Giant Swallowtail

Mute Swan Family

Eastern Bluebird, Juvenile

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle, Two year old

Bald Eagle

Black-throated Green Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Pied-billed Grebe

Osprey, Juvenile

Sanderling

Black-bellied Plover

Great Egret

Black-crowned Night Heron, Juvenile

Black-crowned Night Heron, Juvenile

Green Heron

Baltimore Oriole, Female

Baltimore Oriole, Male

Red Headed Woodpecker

Red Winged Blackbird, Female

Common Gallinule

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane Colts

Sandhill Crane

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Cedar Waxing

Mute Swan

Garden Update

It sure has been a while since I have done a post! The garden has slowed considerably in the past few weeks and I have been consumed with photography this season, hence the blog neglect. Overall this season was so so, good thing there always is next season. There is not a lot left in the garden at the moment, the only thing ready for harvest at the moment are potatoes & peppers. In terms of fall crops I never got around to starting any so the garden will be quite quiet this fall. There is a nice patch of spring broccoli that is starting to produce again though and I will at least try to sow some fall greens. Everything needs a good clean up as well including the blight stricken tomatoes. Below are a series of harvest photos I found on my drive, taken since my last post.