Spotted in the Garden
One morning last week, Mr Chiots yelled through the office window, "hey you’ve got to see this HUGE slug". I looked out and saw it and decided I must take a photo, but I needed something for scale, otherwise it would look just like a regular slug. Since I happened to be working at my computer I grabbed the first portable thing I saw, my magic mouse. Mr Chiots said, "The highest life form and the lowest life form side by side."
This guy was the biggest slug I’ve seen in the garden so far. We mostly have small black slugs, I see them often around the gardens. They live under leaves and munch on plants. When I saw this big guy I thought, “Some toad is going to be so lucky to find him!”
Slugs are big garden pests for many people. People go through all kinds of trouble trying to get rid of them. I simply let them be and allow the toads that live in the garden to take care of them. This means I have slugs munching on my plants at times and I lose some foliage and a few seedlings. When we first moved in we had tons of slugs, they were eating everything. Then the toads came and now they keep the population at a decent level. So I’ve made peace with the slugs and let them be just like every other garden pest. Every year I spot big toads and little baby toads at different time of the year. I know that because I don’t kill slugs they will stick around and multiply!
I have a few boards in shady spots around the garden because toads love to live under them. Toads also love it if you leave a few piles of leaves around for them to hide under. place a few plant saucers in the garden filled with water and rocks (make sure to change water regularly to keep mosquitoes from breeding), this is beneficial for toads, salamanders and insects.
What do you do when you spot slugs in the garden?
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Quote of the Day: Elizabeth David
“Every day holds the possibility of a miracle.”
~ Elizabeth David
This time of year the garden changes daily, new things are blooming and the world is coming alive. Every time I got outside I see something new and exciting. The world of brown is being transformed into a world of color each and every day. Here are a few shots from my garden this past week.
I’m certainly enjoying this lovely time. Spring is the best time for gardening, the weather is perfect, it’s exciting, there are few weeds and all the chores are fun. I’m making sure to enjoy the most of these early days in the garden. Soon enough the drudgery of weeding and the hot sticky weather will be upon us.
What miracles are happening in your garden this week?
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Garden Harvests
I forgot to mention a few weeks ago when I harvested my first salad from the garden. My spinach that I tried to overwinter didn’t make it so I wasn’t harvesting in February like I was last year. Last year my first harvest was in February, this year it was over a month later on March 17.
I harvested a salad of mache (corn salad), dandelion greens and garlic mustard. The funny thing is that I didn’t plant any of these. The mache seeded itself from a few plants that went to seed last spring. It’s growing around the edges of the raised beds and in the walkways around the raised beds. It overwintered without any protection whatsoever in the garden.
The garlic mustard is an invasive weed that we have lots of, good thing it’s edible! And dandelions, well we all have those, might as well eat them, they’re super healthy. We really loves salads, so we’ve been enjoying a few each week thanks to all of our “wild” plants. There’s nothing better than eating things you didn’t plant!
One of the things I really want to work on this year is winter gardening. I am currently reading Eliot Coleman’s newest book The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses. I’m hoping to use some of his techniques and have a nice harvest of greens throughout the winter.
Are you harvesting anything yet? Do you practice any cold weather techniques?
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Potatoes Coming out my Ears
Come this fall I may have potatoes coming out my ears based on the amount I’ve planted so far this spring. I do love potatoes, they’re versatile, quick, delicious and healthy. So I decided since they’re supposed to be the most productive plant for the garden space they take up it would be worthwhile to plant a lot of potatoes. Another great thing about potatoes is that they don’t require any processing for storage (besides proper conditions).
According to The Worlds Healthiest Foods:
Potatoes are a very good source of vitamin C, a good source of vitamin B6, copper, potassium, manganese, and dietary fiber.
Potatoes also contain a variety of phytonutrients that have antioxidant activity. Among these important health-promoting compounds are carotenoids, flavonoids, and caffeic acid, as well as unique tuber storage proteins, such as patatin, which exhibit activity against free radicals. Read this article for in depth info about the healthfulness of potatoes.
My sister and I decided to split a potato sampler from Seed Savers this year. We got 2.5 lbs of 8 different varieties of potatoes to try. This is what we received:
La Ratta: Long prized by French chefs as a top quality fingerling. We cannot recommend this variety highly enough, an absolute delight to cook with. Long uniform tubers, yellow flesh with firm, waxy texture and a nice nutty flavor, holds together very well. Especially good for potato salad or as a boiled potato. Commands a high price both in the restaurant and fresh market trade. 100-120 days.
French Fingerling: This is a wonderful variety! The rose-colored skin covers its creamy yellow flesh. Very versatile and good for any style of preparation. Peeling is not necessary or recommended. Rumored to have been smuggled to America in a horse’s feedbag in the 1800s. 90-110 days.
All Blue: Deep blue skin, blue flesh with a thin white line just under the skin. A good choice for baking and frying, nice for making colorful chips. When boiled the color turns to a light blue. High mineral content, good keeper. 90-110 days.
All Red: (a.k.a. Cranberry Red) Red skin with delicate pale pink flesh. Low starch content makes this variety a good boiling potato for salads or any dish that requires potatoes to retain their shape. Considered the best producing red-fleshed, red-skinned variety. Introduced to SSE members by Robert Lobitz in 1984. Consistently a good producer at Heritage Farm, regardless of the weather conditions. 90-110 days.
Carola: Our most popular variety. Heavy yields of medium-sized, rounded oval potatoes with straw-beige skin. Excellent when harvested as young new potatoes. Creamy yellow flesh, relatively low starch, great for soups, boiling or fried. Maintains new potato qualities for months in root cellar. 95 days.
Purple Viking: Quickly gaining the reputation of a great tasting, slightly sweet, general purpose potato. A choice variety for any preparation , snow-white flesh is excellent for mashing. Average tubers are 3½ – 4″ in diameter, but in a good year it can produce even larger tubers. Excellent storage qualities. 80-100 days.
Red Gold: Bred by Ag-Canada at the University of Guelph in 1970. Beautiful reddish orange skin with creamy, golden-yellow, semi-moist flesh. Excellent variety for baking, frying, mashing, steaming or roasting. Good disease resistance, best used fresh, not recommended for extended storage. 90-100 days.
Yukon Gold: A favorite among gardeners, consumers and chefs. Delicious flesh is drier than most other yellow varieties, perfect for baking and mashing. Yellow flesh appears to be buttered. Bred and selected by AgCanada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in 1966. Excellent yields and a great keeper. 80-90 days.
I spent Wednesday at my mom’s again this week planting most of these potatoes. If you remember last week we planted Yukon Gold and Kennebec potatoes. I’m hoping to have a pantry full of potatoes this fall. This year is a trial run of trying these varieties. I’ll probably narrow it down to a few different kinds next year.
Do you grow potatoes in your garden? Do you have a favorite kind?
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Plant Spotlight: Siberian Squill
I have these tiny little bulbs that bloom every spring in the garden. I always wonder if they’re going to emerge and then one day – there they are. They’re quite lovely and worth having around. They’re so delicate and lovely compared to most spring bulbs. They also produce food for the bees in an early time when they don’t have a lot of other options. My first scilla bloomed on March 21 this year.
The great thing about scillas or Siberian Squill is that they’re deer resistant (at least in my garden). I’m always searching for deer proof options for plants I love. Since crocuses are a deer delicacy here (although some places claim they’re deer proof), I’ll settle for lovely scillas instead.
Another think I like about these little bulbs is that they’re not very common. I’ve only seen them once in another garden. Having something a little lesser known in the garden is a great thing!
I won’t rewrite all the information about scillas here, if you want more info read this in depth post about them.
Do you have any lesser known spring bulbs that you like?
