Fall cleanup

The following photos were taken by Natalie during the garden tours we had in August.  Natalie also published these photos along with a few more in the Wakaw Recorder (the local newspaper) with an article she wrote about the garden tours at Mistik Acres.

Hen & Chick Poppy

Checking out the Sea Holly patch and the honey bees 

which love the Sea Holly flowers.

We are enjoying the wonderful warm weather we have been experiencing, spending all of our time outdoors cleaning up the gardens.  The plants have been dug out and are now drying and waiting to be shredded with our chipper/shredder.  The only soil ready to be planted, is the area we are planting the garlic.  If you are planting garlic this fall it may be best to wait just a bit longer before you plant, as the temperatures should be cooler so the garlic does not decide to sprout in the warm soil.   I planted some new perennials and moved a few others, but our soil is very dry right now and we will have to water all the perennials before freeze up, if we do not get any rain.

We hired a local businessman to break up the old cement foundations and haul them away.  He completed the removal of one foundation and there is one more beside the house, along with old cement sidewalks.  I have been waiting a long time to see the disappearance of this cement, so now I am doing the happy dance. 

Last week we enjoyed a weasel visiting the farm.  It was very inquisitive and would come right up to us if we did not move too quickly.  They are very efficient at keeping the rodent population down, but unfortunately we have not seen it for a week now, so hopefully it will return to the yard.  

Asiatic Lilies

The following lily bulbs will be available at the market this weekend.

Centrefold

Unknown

America

Raspberry on Whip

Stones

Unknown

Time flies.

I cannot believe it already has almost been three weeks since we last posted.  I always like to post every week, but it has been a few wild weeks around here.  Basically we have been cutting flowers every second day and then delivering them to the city the following day and then at the end of the week we would prepare for market and it would start all over again on Sunday.  There also were a couple of weddings thrown in the mix, but as of Sunday we have now become flowerless (if that is even a word).  We had a frost kill pretty much all of the flowers.  There are a few things that were not affected, but for the most part we can start cleaning up the gardens.  Pat was doing the happy dance Monday morning.  I always have mixed emotions about this time of year, but it has been an incredibly busy summer for us that I, as well, am relieved it has come to an end (in some ways).  I am going to miss the dahlias as they were extra beautiful this year and we were reminded of how nice they were all the time by our customers at the market and our florist customers.

Dahlias, Cosmos and Sweet Peas

The wedding flowers we created this summer were well received and hope to do more of this next summer.  We had a successful crop of corn, along with the celery, both of which enjoy lots of moisture, which was in abundance.  We were able to harvest all the tomatoes, corn, peppers, cucumbers and herbs before the frost hit.   Excellent crops for all the above.  The peppers, jalapeno and cayenne, are full of heat this year and we have started to make salsa and tomato sauce.  As I write this I am munching on roasted cherry tomatoes that have been in the oven for a few hours this evening.  They are like candy, chewy and sweet.  Planning on making a batch of tomato jam, will keep you posted as to how it turns out.  The garlic crop was bountiful, the cloves are large, crisp and very strong flavour.  A little goes a long way.

This week I am going to dig a few varieties of Asiatic lily bulbs to sell at the Saskatoon Farmers Market and will make a few bundles of dried flowers.  Pat made the first batch of horseradish for market sales this past weekend and we sold all but one jar.  He will make more this week and will have the root available to purchase for this weekend.  There will be a few varieties of dried herbs, garlic, fresh celery, green onions, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and hopefully fresh cilantro.