Ground pepper video

The day before Christmas I decided to ground my chili pepper that had been hanging by the patio door.....here's the video....and it's a great way to store you excess peppers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMG9mdA3aWk

2010 planning!!!

It's been a few days now that the weather has been really wintery. Snow, wind and cold! So I've decided to start planning my many gardens for 2010. The more I do I realize that I'll have lots more cultivated space than in my first year. I'd say 3 to 4 times more. I hope it won't be too much. I guess I'll see!!! But just the planning part is new to me. I used to plant everything where it looked good. But with a little research I found some plants go well together. Even help each other out with bugs and nutrients. I used the resourses on the veseys website. It's one of the best canadian seed company and they are from the maritimes as I am. have a look if you want, lots of info. http://www.veseys.com/

Season's greetings

Well winter is here....to stay this time.

I suppose I'll keep quite for a while.

I'm currently working on a plan for my 2010 garden. Soon I'll order my seeds. I can't hardly wait 'till Spring!!!!

But in the meantime Merry Christmas.....or any other Holiday you're celebrating! =)

Here's a little gift...chicken wings recipe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr0JZzhlkkE

More first snow!

Finally winter has arrived. Took a long time this year. And even now it's raining so....But at least the ground is starting to freeze. Wich will be great for killing fungus and some bugs. So the outside part of my gardening is over. My indoor gardening is going ok......I could've cared for it better...but since I had so many small flies....I had to let the dirt get dry so the maggots die. But a plant with minimal water doesn't grow very well. Next year I'll start with new dirt clean of flies =) So have a great week!

Beware of rocks!!!

I don't have a picture for this entry because by the time I was finished there wasn't enough light. Late this afternoon I dug up a trench at the end of my yard for future asparagus plants. It's approximately 2 feet wide and 16 long. Since the seedling need to grow for 2-3 years before you can harvest.....you want a place out of the way so they'll grow quietly. Anyway......rocks! The spot where I dug was, like I said at the end of my yard. When my parents used to grow vegetable they threw all the rocks they found there. So today when I jumped on my shovel it didn't even go in! And I had a really bad time taking all those big rocks out. So what I want to say is throw your rock away for real. Not in a place you don't use. Because one day you may want to use it and will be really frustrated at yourself....or maybe your kids will be in the future =)

Oh and we are having really weird pre-winter weather. Normally there's snow and cold. But so far no snow, beautiful over freezing weather and just awsome Fall!

Composting more leaves!

Tonite after work....just before the sun went out.....I composted more leaves. This time I just added a huge load on my compost and covered it with garden dirt. When I take my greenhouse in the garage I'll use the dirt in the pots to cover some more leaves =) It's weird but I love composting!

Compost your leaves

Yesterdays I finally got around raking the rest of the leaves. There was a lot and I placed them in my larger garden. They will add precious organic materials to the dirt for next year =) I also cleaned the garage so I can put my car in this winter. Now I only need to find some help and put mt small greenhouse in it =)

Have a great week everyone!

Here's the video I made that day..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Fvlj2GaL8

First snow!!!

Last night I had my first snow. Wasn't a lot of it but it did cover up everything with a thin layer of white. This afternoon when I came back from work I went have a look at my lettuce and spinach plants. The smaller leaves I left were still in perfect condition. Even after spending a whole night covered by snow. This is pretty amazing for a comestible plant! I'm gonna grow much more next Spring and Fall.

Last gardening days

Today I took my seasonal things back in the shed and garage. Winter is coming, I can feel it. I also harvested the last of my spinach and lettuces. I left the stems out just in case the weather get warmer. And finally I raked 4 big bags of leaves. Once I clean the ground of my main garden of rocks, I'll add those to the dirt. It will add desperatly needed organic material.

Climat differences

Last night there was a snow fall. All around here but not actually where I live. The same thing goes for frost. The main thing is that I live in a coastal town. And the humidity and warmth (I suppose) from so much water affects the climat. Plus the unstable maritime weather all year round can be a challenge for gardening of all kind. Especially for trees. Some winters can destroy much of the buds...or just be too humid....weird. The last two years, we had a lot of snow at once before the ground froze. In Spring the snow melted diffrently and broke everything that was under it. I don't know what kind of winter this will be but I hope it's cold with less snow. Anyway I'm babling on....have a good one!

Raking the leaves

My porch vines lost most of their leaves. So I rake them. But instead of putting them to the curve, I've mixed them in my squarefoot gardens. It'll mulch and compost on it's own making my dirt rich with organic materials. I wanted to get the leaves form strangers on trash day. But I worried about introducing new bugs around my house. So I'm only going to use the leaves from my lot and my neighbors. So besides work and going to the vet, this is what I did today ;) Have a great week everyone!

Harvesting and video log

I don't really have time for a long entry but I did make a small video on Youtube. I harvested my carrots today, well what was left if them, I had two yellow ones ??? The only thing left outside are my lettuces, spinach and a few beets that are only leaves. I'll harvest those as soon as I'm done eating what I have in the house. The leaves are actually quite good when steamed or boiled for a few minutes. They taste like cooked spinach. And that's it! I'm still not spending as much as I can but I'm not too strict. I'm not ready to become a full hippie just yet. I'll ease into it as I get closer to my ten year deadline =)

The video log of today

It's time...

This morning it's litterally cold outside. And I think that tonite it will freeze. So I suppose tonite I'll be harvesting most of my main garden. Tomatoes, zucchinis, the bigger carrots and peppers. I will leave my radishes, lettuce and spinach out. They can take a frost plus they're in raised beds so I think they'll be ok. But before I can do that I need to go to work.

Another update...

Still not spending too much money....but I've been working more and sleeping less. My wisdom teeth decided to finish growing after 6 years. So my head feels like it's in a crusher all the time =S

But at least the garden is not requirering any care. It's been raining on and off since Fall started. My September radishes are growing as well as my August beets. Well everything is still growing actually =) But the leaves are falling and soon snow will arrive.

Happy October

Sorry about the lack of posts.

But nothing has been happening in the past days.

I'm still waiting for my garden to be emptied so I can work on the soil.

Oh I did mix some dead leaves in some part of the garden.

Besides that....everything is still growing, at a slower rate since it's less sunny and colder.

Oh and I've spent 26 dollars so far this week. I bought a computer game. Not working nights is a change and I found it a little boring. But it was on sale =)

It's The elder scrolls 4 Oblivion By the way ;)

Oh and Happy October!!!

Sumary of 2009 (pumpkins and zucchinis)

I've just posted a new video about what I learned on my first year of actual gardening in the earth. So I might as well share this knowledge here too.

First the pumpkins!
I started them inside the house I think it was in the middle of April. I didn't want the worms to eat my new sprouts so by the time they went in the garden they had a few leaves. The vines grew pretty fast. But by mid June I was starting to despair about the pumpkins actually growing. They had quite a few flowers, both male and female but they kept falling off. I though it was a watering problem...but now that I think of it I just think it was too early and the plant wasn't ready to grow pumpkins. By mid June I self polinated the flowers(it was always rainy and the bees were scarce) and they finally stayed on the vine. I had one pumpkin per plant and they grew really fast and took a LOT of space. Now they are all turning orange and will soon be harvested and brought in the house. They can keep for a long while just at room temperature, if you don't overheat your house. So I will have enough pumpkins for a while.

Now zucchinis!

Well again like the pumpkins I grew them in the house, because of the worms that like sprouts. Like pumpkins they grew fast and easily. They do need a constant moist soil. And you have to watch not to get the leaves wet for long time as they grow mildew pretty easily. With a few plants (6) I had more than I could eat, litterally! They do take some space, the vine doesn't travel as far as a pumpkin but the leaves are pretty big. One plant grew at least 4 feet long and was over 2 feet wide. They started dying down as the nights got colder. But since I build my greenhouses around them they started growing again. I will probably have a few zucchinis before winter =)

So this is mostly what I learned about those two squashes. Next year I'm gonna try some more squashes, buttercup and butternut. So if you have advice on those please do tell. I would really appreciate it =)

Here's the link to my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L-hkzrlq0k

No money day 4

Well today is day four and it's still going ok. Tonite is my Friday night since I'm not working tomorow. And after work I was a little tempted by coffee and fried foods. In the afternoon where I worked the lady had the t.v. on. They kept showing ads for "Tim Hortons" and restaurants. So when I got home I made myself a strong coffee and gathered some more lettuce for a salad. Wich was soooo good! And for the fried food...I made myself fried zucchini slices. They were pretty good especially with my homemade garlic diping sauce. But this post isn't about food. It's more about stepping back. This whole experience is starting to feel like a blessing. Makes me appreciate the smaller things in life. And most importantly working to make what you want. Not to buy but to actually make. For a few months now I was feeling like something wasn't right moneywise. And instead of waiting for me to get accustomed to this, I just stopped everything to do with money. It's harsh but it works. The more time passes the more I see that I had lost this self sufficient feeling I love.

Day two...

My second day of not spending money. Going pretty good I must say. But before I start I just want to show the salad I made for supper. All homegrown here. It was the best salad I ever ate =)

Now back to my second day! Well I worked all day and once I finished I was pretty tired. But I didn't feel like a coffee so that didn't bother me. I got home and went into my garden and cut myself lettuce and spinach leaves...oh and cherry tomatoes. My sister had called to see if I wanted to have dinner at her place. But since it would've cost me gas and fries (she wanted me to go get some) I decided against it. So I'd say that so far this weekend I already saved like 10 bucks. Wich is pretty cool. Later on I think I am going to have trouble with one thing . I'm running low on store bought compost and moss for my indoor gardening. We'll see...is it a waste of money if it's for my indoor gardening experiments!?

Getting back on track

For a few weeks now I've been slacking off as far as saving money goes. Or rather trying not to waste so much of it. Today after work I was relived to find that I didn't have change in my pokets to buy a coffee. That got me thinking about the fact that I had started wasting my money again. Like buying coffees everyday or so. Eating from restaurants and such. Now for most people this would sound normal. And it kinda is. But not if you want to reduce the amount of money you need. So for the next three weeks I am going to try to use as little money as I can. Now I'm not going to take into account my many monthly bills. Just the everyday things.

So far my first day seems to be a succes it's 8;25 p.m. and no money was used today. But we'll see how the three weeks goes because I will need to be a little crative with my food. Because normally I would've gone shopping for groceries next weekend. But we'll see how it goes! I'm actually excited about this. And of course I'll comment on this blog and on Youtube about how it is going =)

Here's my first video log http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egwylogx0TQ

Should be a sin...

And that is making or buying toilet paper that isn't made of recycled paper. I mean...cutting trees for this?...really?

Am I the only one who find this to be an absolute wrong!?

I don't even know what else to say....