August | 2014 | Stacking Functions Garden

August 30, 2014
by Jennifer 1 Comment

Landscape plan: closer to reality

We moved into this house 8 years ago this weekend, looking at the blank canvas of a yard and dreaming of the possibilities. We worked at things really slowly at first (because, hello, TWIN babies). Two years ago, I drew up a landscape plan for my back yard. We made big strides that year and in 2013, and this year, we came close to finishing it and then some (with some design changes of course).Let’s start in the front yard, where Adam cut down our old, crooked, witches-broom-looking crabapple tree. I was not terribly fond of it outside of the 4 days that it bloomed in the spring.

In its place (a few feet behind the stump) we put in a new Mesabi Cherry tree. You can see the lasagna mulching in progress here. The tree will eventually be surrounded by several shrubs and some other perennials; we’ll divide a bunch from other areas of the yard in the spring. I hope to plant the shrubs this fall, including another currant and a (maybe) a snowberry closer to the front sidewalk.

Also new in our front yard, Adam and the kids made this gorgeous birdbath this summer. It’s cast concrete with a stained-glass mosaic. I didn’t have any (non-plant) focal points in the garden, so this adds a nice touch.

In the back, our huge old apple tree finally came down. We spent a few years trying to save it, but the fireblight was decidedly worse this spring, so we decided to just get it over with. We had to hire this out due to the power lines. Removing this tree also removed a major food source for neighborhood squirrels, and we felt their retaliation when, days later, they ate EVERY SINGLE TOMATO in our garden. Our total tomato harvest this year ended up being ONE (ONE!) standard size tomato and a few handfuls of Sungolds.

Happily, the removal of the apple tree opened up an opportunity for more landscaping changes in the back (we also removed the sandbox earlier this summer). So I finally had a spot for my long-coveted Serviceberry (aka Juneberry, Amalanchier Canadensis). It looks rather small now, but apparently they grow fast. Also, we finally planted the area between the fence and the driveway, starting with two Chokeberry bushes (Aronia arbutifolia) and a handful of miscellaneous divided perennials from elsewhere. We’ll also add a few more shrubs here with the Serviceberry; likely a gooseberry or three.

Last but DEFINITELY not least, I finally got my arbor. And, WOW, is this thing ever gorgeous! Adam built it the week the kids were at horse camp, with me staying home from work to help him for one day. Next year, we get to plant grapevines and hops on it. It ties the house and the yard together so beautifully.

With all the leftover wood, Rowan and Anneke felt inspired to build a birdhouse in the image of our house (with Dad’s help). Grampy Junior, aka Rowan, insisted on real asphalt shingles for it, too. The hole’s kinda huge, so I’m not entirely certain what kind of birds we’ll get, but it’s been installed on a tall pole next to the Serviceberry and looks neat.

What a busy summer. No wonder it flew by! We still have some harvesting and preserving to do. My pumpkin harvest is looking spectacular (fingers crossed). I don’t feel ready for fall, but ready or not…

August 12, 2014
by Jennifer 1 Comment

Late summer garden

Less than two weeks until school starts? Say it ain’t so. Here’s what’s happening in my gardens.

We’ve had more bees and butterflies in our yard this year than ever before. It could be because we have more coneflowers than ever before; they really spread. Here’s a tiger swallowtail in the foreground and a red admiral in the background, enjoying the coneflowers next to a carpentry project Adam was working on last week.

I managed to save one of the Prairie Blazing Star plants in my boulevard from rabbits this spring. It’s finally blooming, and looks glorious at 5+ feet tall. Now that the coneflowers are just past their peak, it’s providing some nourishment for this bee. Level two of wildflower gardening is when you figure out a way to provide for pollinators during the entire growing season, and the very early and very late seasons can be tricky. But this Prairie Blazing Star, some sunflowers, and goldenrod are going to be nice late summer/early fall food sources.

My main vegetable garden is being taken over by pie pumpkins and hops (you can see the hops actually coming in through my bedroom window upstairs). The tomatoes (trellised at right) have been a bit underwhelming this year, but I’m hearing that from other people, too, so I’m guessing it was partly having to do with our (so far) mostly cool summer.

A picking of “crazy” vegetables, the theme of our home garden this year. Yard long beans, white cucumbers, a variety of peppers, purple green beans, and some not-quite-ripe-yet Sungold tomatoes. We ripen them on the counter top to prevent squirrel thievery.

Here’s a panorama of my community garden plot at Sabathani, which is being overtaken by Long Island Cheese pumpkins. Behind the pumpkins, our dying-off potatoes (we’ve eaten three of the seven hills now), then the brussels sprouts mingling nicely with anise hyssop, and finally Anneke’s strawberry popcorn in the back. Random composting instructions in Español on the side.

At last, my first ever successful brussels sprouts experience. I can hardly wait to eat these!

August 7, 2014
by Jennifer Leave a comment

In the summer kitchen

Here’s what’s been happening in our kitchen this summer:

Towards the end of May, I realized that one of the other bus stop moms is a fellow real/whole foods enthusiast, AND she had kefir grains to share! We’ve made 3-4 batches now, and we are still adjusting to the taste. Co-op kefir must have A LOT of sugar in it, because even after adding various sweeteners, this stuff is SOUR. I may use my next batch in place of buttermilk in a recipe and see how that goes.

We’ve only managed to make two quarts of pickles so far, because we’ve been slicing them up, tossing them with a bit of salt and pepper, and just eating them fresh.

Earlier this spring, we tried a new ice cream recipe. We’re now sold on this new method. For a few years, we’d been stuck on Mark Bittman’s ice cream method, which is a little, well, involved. You make a custard that involves at least 3 but up to 6 egg yolks, then chill it, then finally put it in the ice cream maker.

I don’t have anything against custard ice cream. It’s delicious. But with the price of eggs and our busy daily schedule, we just weren’t making it all that often. Now that we’ve switched to this new basic recipe we make it all the time. The basic recipe is: 2 cups cream, 2 cups whole milk, ~1 cup sugar, and then whatever flavoring you want. Whisk briskly, put it in the ice cream maker, 20 minutes later: done.

Above, we added some mulberry juice (probably about 1/2 c.) that was still leftover from last summer.

We’ve now eaten two hills of our French fingerling potatoes (La Ratte). These things are like buttah. Even the kids went on and on about how delicious they were, just boiled with a little butter, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley.

Here is a quick fry-up of one of our purple cauliflowers, zucchini from the market (didn’t have room this year), onions and purple/green beans from the garden. They grow purple, but turn green when cooked.

Pickling & canning season is really getting underway!

August 3, 2014
by Jennifer 1 Comment

North Shore Inspiration

We went on a camping trip during the second half of July. Our campsite was spectacular: on a cliff above Lake Superior with a view of Split Rock Light House.

The view, with my morning coffee. It’s worth it to pack the french press in.

I also took along a book that I picked up earlier this year, Wildflowers of Minnesota Field Guide by Stan Tekiela. This pocket-size guide slowed down our hikes and made them much more interesting. For one, it helped us identify the not-so-native-yet-gorgeous garden lupines blooming along the highway.

But naturally not everything is in the book, and one flower that I really loved was not included:

The naturalist at Tettegouche State Park helped me identify this small bush as a North Bush Honeysuckle, a native honeysuckle not related to the large tropical ones you usually see in gardens, but somewhat similar in appearance. A very nice compact little shrub that was blooming all over Tettegouche State Park when we were there, in shade to part-shade situations.

Here was another landscape design inspiration that I saw:

I am not great at fern identification, but I think this is some type of wood fern. But I really thought this general look—tall ferns with leafy green groundcover like wild ginger underneath—could look really nice in a deeply shaded city lot. I have not had great luck with ferns in my particular yard; 70% of the ones I planted back in 2012 have perished. The one exception is my ostrich ferns, which are thriving. I think my shady areas are simply too dry.

The wild roses were also in bloom. Gorgeous. Now that my older hybrid rose bush is dying out, I might replace it with an old-fashioned or wild rose variety which would provide us with rosehips. They make amazing herbal tea.

Harebells growing out of rock crevices.

Sure, the waterfall is gorgeous, but there are crayfish in here, Mom!

All this inspiration is going to serve me well, because we’re removing our apple trees this week! The crab apple in front is already gone, and the larger apple tree in back is going as soon as we can get it set up with the power company, which has lines are running through it.

I’m starting my 2015 garden plan already, and there’s going to be two major expansions, one in front and one in back. Exciting times!