2014 Gardens: New fence, and plantings

Vegetable garden

My husband was kind enough to tear down the deer fence that served as my garden's perimeter for two years at the end of last season;  he also rotatilled enough ground to more than double the size of my gardening space. Once spring was upon us, he designed and bought supplies for the new fence.

I managed to remove a fraction of the countless maple seeds that sprouted in my raised bed, with the help of my oldest son and the girl next door.

The posts are up! Construction is underway; I was so excited to have a solid, new fence, and the boys were equally enthralled! I was already dreaming of the number of climbing plants I could sow along the perimeter!

The fence is complete!!

Enter Mother's Day: I picked up vegetable plants at the Royal Oak in Bloom market after a lovely breakfast at Cafe' Muse (my favorite). Michael chose the flat of petunias as my mother's day gift :-)

A table littered with things to be planted, including the squashes and melons I started from seed.

I began planted green beans, squashes (long island cheese pumpkin, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, cucumbers and pickling cucumbers) and melons (three varieties of watermelon as well as cantaloupe) along the perimeter on Mother's Day, as well as 8 asparagus roots and 1 sweet potato plant. Today I began populating the raised bed; I planted a variety of tomatoes (roma, cherry, yellow pear, and big boy), peppers (red, orange and yellow sweet, plus banana), and cruciferous vegetables (red and green cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower). I planted Brussels sprouts along the remaining open space of the perimeter.

Voila!!

Pretty little petunias!

Fruit garden

The far side of this garden is laden with strawberry plants (all around the lilac bush). When I first started weeding this bed a few years ago, I almost plucked them all, thinking they were weeds. Thankfully I had acquired a strawberry plant amongst others from my colleague; when looking for a place to plant the strawberry, I realized my silliness. 

The strawberries are propagating nicely, and I've decided to add more fruits to this garden (amongst other edibles).

The garden "as-is" (minus some weeds); prior to adding edible plants.

This lattice here is rather lonely. I planted luffa gourd during my first growing season, and they utilized the lattice rather well. Since then, it's just been the clematis (except for some failed cukes one year), which never really flourishes. I grew up playing in and eating from a large grape arbor in my grandmother's yard, which inspired me to start some grapes here with the lattice .

This photo isn't particularly telling, but I planted 4 green zucchini, 4 sage, 1 basil, 1 blueberry, and 2 concord grapes (one on either side of the lattice). I have another grape to plant (I forget the name of it),  and plan to place it near the clematis.

More work to do
I still need to clear the remaining grass from the rest of my vegetable garden, and then get to planting seeds and other root vegetables (such as beets and onions that I bought from the market yesterday). I barely have enough room for everything!!!

Lazy-ass applesauce

I buy produce from door to door organics on a weekly basis, except in the summer when my garden is producing. One of my latest favorites is their ten-pound box of imperfect apples for $6.99 - what a steal! This week I bought two boxes (ahem, twenty pounds of apples)! I picked the worst twenty apples (which weren't really even that bad, perhaps one to two bruises each, and/or a mark or two) of the two boxes to use for applesauce. I have about forty apples remaining, and will make at least one more batch of applesauce, perhaps two.

I have two wee guys at home, and hence don't have time to hang out with a double broiler all day making applesauce. When I bought a ten pound box of apples a few weeks ago, I asked some ladies from a parenting forum to share the quickest way to make applesauce. One person replied with a crock pot recipe, and I was sold!

Ingredients
20 apples, minus bruises, cores and nibbles (be sure to remove all seeds)
1/2-1 C water
2 tbsp cinnamon

The carnage. I use that nifty little gadget there to core and slice the apples in one step. I leave the skins on, because it provides a nice color for the applesauce (pinkish). My mother-in-law strains her applesauce to remove the skins once it is finished cooking, but I don't mind the skins in my applesauce, and hence I leave them in. Feel free to strain as a last step if you wish, or peel prior to coring/slicing if you prefer.

Instructions

1. Add enough water to the crock pot that you have about a quarter-inch of water (to protect the apples from burning until they start to produce liquid)
2. Add those apples (minus cores and bruises, of course)
3. Add cinnamon (I used about 2 tablespoons - use as much or as little as you wish - you can always add more at serving time)
4. Put the lid on, cook on low for 6-8 hours. I stir them periodically (once every hour or two, if I'm around)

The finished product

Storage

I keep some in a pint or quart sized canning jar in the fridge, and also freeze some (in individual six-ounce-glass containers). I pull the frozen ones into the fridge the night before consuming - the applesauce freezes wonderfully!