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This post is part of a seasonal community sharing series, Grow Together Tuesday. You’ll find posts from myself, and award winning gardener Monika Thiessen, of Prairie Girl Pottery.  I love seeing what others are doing in their gardens, and since most of us aren’t neighbors, let’s peek over each other’s virtual fences, be inspired, and learn from one another!  Post a link to your weekly garden notes, updates, photos, and more in the comments – any time this week!

Bittersweet Surprises
Kris Antonius

The past couple weeks in the garden have been bittersweet. The gorgeous Three Flowered Aven seeds were a treat, as well as the strawberry blossoms, chive flowers, many seedlings popping up and growing strong… The lavender came back, and despite no fruit last year, the apple trees are in the least, not dead! We’ve already enjoyed garden spinach in our smoothies, fresh lettuce, and dill.

Yet, this year, unlike pretty much the previous decade of gardening in it’s entirety, I am dealing with pests. I don’t enjoy the somewhat creepy feeling that I am engaging in strategic warfare in my own yard. There are little worms or caterpillars eating the haskap leaves, another type are eating the grape leaves. Something is munching my cucumber and squash plants right at the stem, cutworms, I presume. The borage also has some nibbles. The espaliered apples have some leaf rollers, and something nearby is making pretty, yet unfortunate lace out of the hollyhock leaves.

If anyone has pest management advice, I’m all ears. I have always wanted to learn more about which insects and creatures in the garden are friends, and which are foes.

The back gardens…

Volunteer peas & lettuce.

Pole beans and corn from saved seeds. There is also squash in this garden, for a three sisters grouping.

Flowering chives that will make their way onto our plates this week, and what I think is volunteer lemon balm.

Borage, started from seed indoors. Another of the plants is being chewed on by something. Any ideas?

Strawberry patch. The white blossomed plants came with us from our previous home. We moved seven years ago, so we’ve had them for quite a while. The pink blossoms are from Sage Garden Herbs, and are called Fragoo Deep Rose.

Over by the espaliered apples, a bit of a food forest is growing…

Some more strawberries and a patch of monarda / bee balm / bergamot.

Three flowered avens surprised us with these crazy and beautiful seed tufts.

Volunteer field pennycress. Pennycress can be eaten and also has healing properties. I found a great overview here.

In the front yard…

The lavender is making a come-back. This is its third summer in our yard, and despite hearing that lavender won’t over-winter here in Manitoba, our plants have survived two winters!

The grape vine is taking over and I better get some more trellis up pretty fast. Having to trim it back from growing into the neighbour’s yard. There are tiny little barely visible pale green worm/caterpillars chewing on the leaves. I am not happy about that because the plant needs those leaves for photosynthesis, and I would like to save some for fermenting – the leaves help to keep veggies crisp during fermentation.

Another volunteer plant, that sprouted up in a planter. I am not at all sure what it is. It looks similar to motherwort or wild geranium, though each part of the leaf is quite separate down to the joint, whereas those other plants’ leaves seem to be one whole leaf with lobes. Any ideas here?

The haskaps are beautiful this year. They’re full and lush. Unfortunately, some kind of leaf roller or other agrees, and has colonized our bushes and set to the work of eating them up. I’ve been hand-picking them, and also whipped up a garlic spray based on a suggestion in one of my favourite gardening books, shown below.

Better late than never, hopefully applies to planting potatoes! We picked up some seed potatoes this weekend, cut them up and set them out to dry before planting this week once the soil is also dry (to prevent rotting).

Breann has been working on a book with a page for each garden area, and a list of the plants that are growing there. Kind of like a little plant guild guide of sorts.

Please note that we are a part of the Amazon associates program. If you visit Amazon.ca through a link on Tiny Peasant and make a purchase, our family will receive a small percentage of the sale. The products that I specifically recommend in blog posts are products that we love in our home – if they aren’t they are on my wish list and I will note that. Our bookshop (coming soon) has a mixture of tried and true, and wish list items. If you ever have any questions about a product we link to, please don’t hesitate to ask! Thank you for your support! 

Generally, we have at most two outings a week in order to maintain a sense of peace and rhythm in our home. This week, however, had us out of the house almost every day.

We went to a provincial park beach, where I commented to my friend how nice it is to be around kids who know how to play. We moms simply set our blankets down, sipped iced coffee brought along in a thermos, and watched the children get down to the work of learning through play and exploration.  The important work of collecting and inspecting insects, leeches, and other marsh creatures ensued. A group of the kids worked on a dam of sorts, collaborating, problem solving, and simply engaging in being and working together.

Our crew was excited to find and identify poison ivy and get some photos of it for future reference.

The kids love the Nature Playground at one of our city parks, where they can swing, climb, play with sand and water (more dam-making), and explore. It’s a great blend of playground and natural green space.

Another local treasure is the St. Norbert Art’s Centre, with it’s overflowing permaculture gardens. We hunted for stinging nettle, climbed willows, tasted rhubarb, and took in the sights, smells, and sounds on the property. Milo had an unfortunate run-in with what is likely wood or stinging nettle, and got an instant and painful rash, which we alleviated with our favorite salve and it cleared up within a couple hours. When the nearby splash pad was sadly found closed, we ended up stopping for ice cream cones, which was a welcome alternative. There is just this one place that we know of where we can get our tall order of dairy-free, gluten-free, peanut-free, and egg-free ice cream! They make a delicious coconut based soft serve, and have new flavors all the time. This week we had strawberry-guava-chocolate. Yum.

Chives are one of those plants, like zucchini, that are so prolific that it can be a challenge to use most of what they produce. We have about a dozen chive plants in our yard right now with swelling buds about to blossom. I want to commit this year to embracing this tasty plant – both stem and blossom.

In years past, we’ve chopped up chives for dips, and to add to various recipes. We’ve also made chive flower butter, using our homemade butter recipe. This year I’m going to be more intentional. Which is why I chose these three recipes to share – they aren’t just another recipe with some chives tossed on top as a garnish. Aside from the second one – but it is so unique and tasty looking, I had to include it!

Share a link to your favorite chive recipes in the comments. Also, stay tuned for one or two of our own recipes in the next week or two.

1. Chive Pesto / Bon Appetit

2. Apple, Manchego and Chive Salad / A Couple Cooks

3. Chive Blossom Tempura Salad / Veggie Belly

Volunteer Wormwood

Looks like a delicious salad of volunteer lamb’s quarter.

Yarrow. Helps improve essential oil potency in herbs.

Pea shoots.

Lemon balm bordering the back patio. The citrusy scent is supposed to deter mosquitoes. With a bat house nearby hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy many mosquito free backyard fires.

A mish-mash of tulips, garlic, lilies and strawberries. I’m keeping a really close eye on the lilies this year in hopes of staying a few steps ahead of the beetles. So far, so good.

Salvia starting to bud out. Bees LOVE this plant!

The ferns have shot up like crazy over the past 10 days or so.

Clover seed doing pretty well in our little white clover patch. The dandelions and quack grass are also doing very well.

Wild bergamot and tomatoes.

Oriental poppy buds.

Brewing up some comfrey tea.

Prairie Magic apple blossoms.

Cherry blossoms!

Kale sprouts! Better late than never.

Little maple weeds. Will have to remember to spread corn gluten in between the bricks next spring in the hopes that it stops the seeds from germinating.  Imagine all that time not spent weeding!

Tomatoes planted and staked.

Ancho peppers finally in their summer home.

Nasturtium sprouts.

Squishing lily beetles and a thorough spray of neem oil has proved to be an effective method thus far.

Volunteer vetch

This years squash treliis. A two-year version of the three sisters garden.

Gorgeous colours of spring.

Sign of a healthy mycelial network.

Nanking cherries in full bloom last week, but hardly any blossoms left today.

Volunteer sorrel plant.

Monika Thiessen is a potter, permaculture designer, urban homesteader and all around prairie plant girl. She’s happiest with the sun on her back and her hands in the soil.  To check out Monika’s pottery, visit Prairie Girl Pottery. 

This post is part of a seasonal community sharing series, Grow Together Tuesday. You’ll find posts from myself, and award winning gardener Monika Thiessen, of Prairie Girl Pottery.  I love seeing what others are doing in their gardens, and since most of us aren’t neighbors, let’s peek over each other’s virtual fences, be inspired, and learn from one another!  Post a link to your weekly garden notes, updates, photos, and more in the comments!

Buds + Blooms
Kris Antonius

It’s been such a joy to see the daily growth and beauty unfolding in the garden. I’m pretty excited about all of our volunteer plants this year – spinach, lettuce, lambs quarters, and dill from plants that went to seed. Low maintenance gardening at it’s finest!

Ammending the soil with compost, weeding, and planning are in full swing, and seeds and plants should be in the ground this week. I am a bit behind as I’ve been knee deep in planning this event, rather than knee deep in the mud…

Strawberries (and bee balm)

Raspberries

Haskap

Romance Series Cherry (I can’t recall which one. I think Romeo or Juliet.)

Apple

Luzi, our urban mouser

Rhubarb

Daffodil Buds

Daffodil Blooms

Chives

Volunteer Lettuce

Volunteer Spinach

Fairy Furniture on the Door Jamb

Pumpkin Seedlings

Cuke Seedlings

Tomato Seedlings

A collection of photos from highlights in the week, including last weekend at the lake.  The lake is for sure a transformative place for me, and is quickly becoming so for our crew of kiddos. Fresh, crisp spring air flowing off the lake – and space. Space to roam, to play, to create, and to just be.

We also had a great time at a homeschool co-op flower sticks workshop, then a quick but sweet nature walk in a nearby natural area in the city – it truly doesn’t take long to reconnect.  Another day saw a special visit with friends where kids couldn’t get enough of crafting fairy gardens, working with popsicle sticks, shells, wire, ribbon, and hot glue to create miniature lands for fairies to inhabit. Today one of the kids was made tiny fairy letters and fairy sized mailbox to hold them. I’m certain the fairy crafting will continue throughout this week…

Share a link to your post in the comments, or simply share about your week!

This post is part of a seasonal community sharing series, Grow Together Tuesday. You’ll find posts from myself, and award winning gardener Monika Thiessen, of Prairie Girl Pottery.  I love seeing what others are doing in their gardens, and since most of us aren’t neighbors, let’s peek over each other’s virtual fences, be inspired, and learn from one another!  Post a link to your weekly garden notes, updates, photos, and more in the comments!

It’s planting time!
Monika Thiessen

  

Monika Thiessen is a potter, permaculture designer, urban homesteader and all around prairie plant girl. She’s happiest with the sun on her back and her hands in the soil.  To check out Monika’s pottery, visit Prairie Girl Pottery. 

Have you dreamed of moving out of the city, grabbing up a gorgeous, peaceful plot of land, and starting your own garden market or CSA? You don’t have to wait. Take a cue from Nancy Blokland, and start where you are with what you have! Nancy is not only a phenomenal potter, she has also turned her urban yard into a micro CSA that is flourishing. I truly hope her story will inspire you to live your dream now – whatever it is, wherever you are.

– Kris

Living the Dream
Nancy Blokland

My micro urban organic farm, which I call Casi Cielo, or ‘almost heaven’ is a dream come true.  I am the daughter of rural folks and grew up learning to garden flowers and vegetables at an early age.  Not having been an athletic type, in my house my gardening and crafting efforts were strongly encouraged and supported by my parents. I was a Junior Gardener in the St. Vital Agriculture Society and won the only trophy of my life when I was about 13.  I do some things differently than my parents in that I try to avoid all chemicals and fertilizers.  I use my own compost, or that made by Samborskis, which is from restaurants, my own 2 bunnies’ fertilizers, and I rotate crops and use companion plantings.  I am hoping to use my rain barrel, mulch, and reduce my reliance on the City of Winnipeg water resources.

I have always kept  a garden but was drawn to participate in Farmers Markets at Pineridge Hollow and others about five years ago.   I knew that they were always in need of more produce and I thought pottery and produce went well together.  The vegetables sold better than the pottery at the Market, but harvesting and taking them to market and then bringing them home again, and then figuring out what to do with wilty rhubarb, chard and kale was kind of discouraging at times.  I thought it would be a better fit for me to take better advantage of my small house on a big lot in St. Boniface and grow food for people who I was guaranteed would want it.

Sooo… Last year I ventured forth and started my teeny tiny CSA growing for 6 families.  Every week from the end of June to the end of September on Thursday, people come to pick up the box of produce as it is ready to harvest.  Special requests are always granted within reason, like the office potluck with spinach salad for 50 or a boquet of sunflowers for a special event.  It feels really good to be able to offer folks food so fresh, that it has never seen a refrigerator or even wilted.

This year I am expanding to 10 families, but remembering to count my own household as one of those. I sure have learned a lot, and have lots more to learn.  I am really lucky to have a dear friend who starts heirloom tomatoes, peppers and squashes for me, so that increases productivity and reduces crops.  I am working on growing more vertically and in pots for those crops that like heat.  I also have a bigger straw bale garden plan with 10 flax bales.  I spend lots of time researching and reading and just dreaming on Pinterest.

Being fiercely independent, I tried to do everything on my own; I wont  do that again… I hope to incorporate the families I am growing for into all steps of the garden. I give folks choices about what I grow, and they are not forced to eat Rainbow Chard even if I think it is divine. So those folks get more fava beans or rhubarb.  It wasnt the easiest growing season, and I know now there will be thin weeks, where I will heavy up the boxes with baking and preserves.  I have more asparagus, rhubarb, two apple trees, and am working harder and earlier to get those long season crops like pumpkins and butternut squash started in their own little milk jug greenhouses. for the families with young children, I relish the opportunity to share with them where real food comes from, and to allow them to plant, weed, harvest, and taste throughout the season.

If you want to come by, send me an email to check that someone will be here to show you around.  We might even let you weed or pick a strawberry!

Nancy Blokland is the owner and gardener at Casi Cielo – an urban CSA in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is also a potter who creates high fire functional pottery made by hand on the wheel and handbuilt in her home studio in St. Boniface.

This post was shared as a part of Fight Back Fridays, Unprocessed Fridays, Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Fat Tuesday, Simple Lives Thursday, and Simply Natural Saturdays.