growing greens

Every year we've been growing herbs, fruits & veggies in our backyard. It's transformed from a little hobby into a big part of our lives. We usually buy little starter plants in May and we transplant them into our garden or into larger pots. This year we decided to take things a step further; we started our entire garden from seeds! Back in April, Matt built a "grow box". He built a rectangular box with a light inside that is mounted on a chain-- as the seeds grew to little sprouts, we could raise up the lamp. It was super cool to grow these little guys indoors & get to watch them everyday as they sprouted little leaves. :)


We started in individual biodegradable pots


These tomato seeds were dyed so you could tell which were which heirloom variety!




our planted seeds in the grow box

AFTER ONE WEEK:

baby spring greens


baby beets

AFTER ONE MONTH:

spring greens growing lots more!


baby kale! Yum :P


thyme


jewel toned beets (you can call us beet farmers now)


heirloom tomatoes

Since these photos, we've transplanted all of our plants outside! We'll post more photos of our garden soon ♥

196: my green thumb

I talked in an earlier entry about how much of a grandma I am because of my love for vegetable gardening. I posted photos of my garden when it was still very young & green but lately, some more tasty treats & bright colours have been appearing! Here's another peek into what's been keeping me busy!


a little harvest of cherry tomatoes & yellow pear tomatoes


cayennes. they are SUPER hot! YAY!


these are some form of heirloom tomato, but we have no idea what kind yet!


aren't these little signs cute? they're from ikea!


our pot of lettuce hasn't been giving us huge salads but we've been able to garnish burgers with it :)


brussels sprouts, which we'll see sprout out in october.

stay fresh, babies.
xoxo

192: it's like a heatwave

Today was supposedly the hottest day of the year! I dunno... it felt about as hot as all the other days this week, so in my head I've been singing "heatwave" a lot.


man, motown is my jam.

Anyway, here I am. Keepin it cool. Although maxi-lengths aren't that cool... I had it tied up for most of the day.


hat from peter grimm, derek cardigan 7004 glasses from clearlycontacts, maxi tank dress from stitches, belt from bluenotes, sandals from gojane






secret love letters necklace from anirtak (aka the demure muse!)




Every year, as the greenery returns during the spring & flowers & plants start coming back to life, I like to decide what plants are my "favourites". This year I have a soft spot for these Hens&Chicks! I've got a thing for succulents right now & these ones are particularly cool because the "hens" sprout little "chicks", so they actually spread like crazy.


This type of hot hot heat is perfect for succulents! See those little chicks popping out from the bigger one?

Stay hydrated guys!

xoxo

161: garden fresh

My friends & family sometimes laugh at me because I have the very grandmotherly hobby of gardening in the summer. I'm not the greatest with flowers and landscaping, I'm really talking about vegetable gardening. I find the greatest satisfaction in growing my own vegetables and herbs & then cooking up awesome meals with my organic goods :) When you know just a couple of tricks on pruning, fertilizing & when to water, you can really end up with a great yield in the late summer & into the fall!

This year Matt & I started up a mini garden patch in our backyard. In it, we're growing some different tomatoes (cherry, yellow pear, & beefsteak) and some brussel sprouts. And on our porch we have pots with some hot peppers (jalapenos, cayennes & habaneros) and some herbs (basil, chives & parsley). We don't get a ton of sun because of some mature trees covering our yard but we're still hopeful.

So after a late spring planting, here are some pics of how things look on the first day of summer! I'm not sure how interesting this is to other people... but for me, it's amazing just watching how my food grows :)


basil grown from seed! Smells SO good :)


cayennes starting to show up!


yellow pear tomatoes on the vine


We just transplanted this raspberry plant from my old garden & I really didn't expect any fruits this year, but I'm so happy to see that they're coming back! As long as the squirrels don't get to them first.

Do you garden in the summer?! What's your favourite easy-to-grow plant? (Mine's raspberry!)

xoxo



ps, a happy birthday to my bff Jenn!!! It's always easy to remember her big day cause it's the first day of summer & the longest day of the year! Enjoy all the sunlight lovelies!

134: my heart bleeds no more

This weekend is the long weekend that is known as beginning of the Canadian summer. We call it "May 2-4" weekend and Monday is a statutory holiday, Victoria Day. We celebrate it on the last Monday of May or sometimes on May 24th for Queen Victoria's birthday.

That being said, this weekend is also when people kick the cottage season.
For those of us that don't have cottages up north stay at home to garden because we don't stop expecting frost until the next Fall season.

So as we garden, it's also when we hold gatherings and have barbecues with of course a 2-4 of beer.

This year has been nastier than last in terms of having nice sunny days. For example, this past week has had enough rain to compare to the amount it rains on average in a month.

I shot a couple of photos of one of my favourite plants! Bleeding hearts!











Happy Gardening! Happy May 2-4!

099: terrariums

I'm big on DIY projects & I'm a liiiiittle bit of a green thumb, so I wanted to try out making a little diy terrarium. These are little self-contained environments that require very little care and look so gorgeous when they're in ornate apothecary jars. I was really excited to be outside this weekend & I found tons of mossy spots in my garden, so I collected a bunch of things to throw into a mason jar to test out a mini terrarium.





I put in some coarse rocks at the bottom, a layer of soil & then some moss & some hens & chicks. I know that by mixing moss (which require a moist environment) and succulents (which hardly need water at all), I might have messed up a bit... but this terrarium is just a test & we'll see if the delicate balance is maintained or if it's a fail.

Anyway, here are some tutorials I've found:
- how to make a terrarium from found objects
- home terrarium how to
Let me know if you try it out! I'll update you on my terrarium's survival.

xoxo