Tag Archives: Premium Ground Cover

The One That Got Away

19 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Recipes

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

I walked by the back stairs where the last of the pumpkins are stored and saw this. THIS did not happen overnight. When was the last time I checked the pumpkins?

IMG_2315

I do not like to waste food. I’m not talking about the lost-in-the-back-of-the-refrigerator kind of wasted food. That happens to us all from time to time. I’m talking about the I-planted-weeded-mulched-watered-harvested kind of waste. We grow food to eat and to give away, and if we have too much to eat before it spoils, I should give more away, for goodness sake.

This is the season of starting seeds in the house, and I am throwing pumpkin into the compost bin. Blaah.

 In the interest of cooking every remaining pumpkin today, let’s make soup.

IMG_2354

Pumpkin Cranberry Soup
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 cup Onion, chopped
6 cups Pumpkin, peeled and cubed
3 cups Vegetable Broth
1/2 teaspoon Salt (or more to taste)
Black Pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 can Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce (or 2 cups homemade)

Cook onion in butter until tender.

IMG_2356

Add pumpkin, broth, salt, pepper, cinnamon and ginger. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low until pumpkin is tender.

IMG_2367

Puree in a blender. Return to pot. Stir in cranberry sauce and reheat slowly.

For a similar soup, substitute sweet potato or squash for the pumpkin. For a heartier soup, add 1 cubed potato to cook with the pumpkin. Stir in several tablespoons of light cream to pureed soup before reheating.

IMG_2410

This lovely, creamy soup is true comfort food. Make it tonight and enjoy, and for goodness sake, give some away.

Advertisement

Tap Tap Tap

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Tasks

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Sugar maples were on the must-have list when we searched for a place in northern Maine to call home, so when the realtor’s ad specified “mature trees”, we asked our son, who lived nearby, to go out to have a look around.

He was a good sport, our Sam. From Connecticut we scoured online listings, then sent Sam hither and yon, on one fact-finding mission after another. They were all wild goose chases until the day he called to report, “I think this property might be it. The house feels just right. There’s an old orchard with apples on the trees, but no sugar maples. I’m sorry, Ma.”

You know the story – love at first sight. An empty house needed a family, and a homesick family longed to own land again and to plant something.

And so we planted trees that first spring, five apple trees and two sugar maples. Sam and I raced as we each dug a hole for the maples – although I don’t recall who won, such was the exuberant laughter. With the trees in the ground and a bit of land tilled for a first garden, the family settled in.

Last summer we decided to take down a dying spruce and plant a third sugar maple in its place. We bought the tree and brought it home. Knowing it would have to survive in the container until we returned from a trip, we hauled it to the east side of the house to protect it from the wind and the afternoon sun. We mulched the pot deeply with Premium Ground Cover (www.PremiumGroundCover.com), gave it a long drink, and went away for a week. When we returned, the tree looked great and the soil was still damp. Then we planted.

IMG_0461

How to Plant a Tree:

1. Determine the purpose of your tree – shade, privacy, food, ornamental. Choose a healthy tree hardy to your zone. Beware of signs of disease and insect damage, stress from lack of adequate moisture, or a tree which is wobbly in its pot or root ball.

2. As you choose your planting location, be mindful of the sun or shade needs of your tree. Consider how windy, wet or dry the environment tends to be. Know the height and width of the mature tree. Maintain an appropriate distance from overhead wires, structures, pools, roadways and gardens which you don’t want shaded. When you think you’ve chosen your spot, place the tree there, then go into your house and look out the windows to be certain the tree will not obstruct any desired views as it grows taller and wider.

3. Take the time to dig a proper hole, generally no deeper than the tree sits in its container or root ball, but 2-3 times as wide. Shovel the soil onto a tarp, removing large rocks. Mix compost into the soil on the tarp if you wish, but at least 75% of the soil should be native to the hole.

Henry approving the hole

Henry approving the hole

4. Remove or cut away the container, including ropes or wires. Burlap may be left in the hole to decompose, but it must be completely buried so that it does not wick moisture away from the roots. Lay the handle of your rake across the top of the hole, and adjust the hole depth to allow the top of the root ball to be even with the rake. Encourage circling roots to point outward to prevent root strangulation. Prune off girdling roots. When planting bare root trees, form a mound in the bottom of the hole to raise the tree to the proper planting depth. Place the tree on the mound, spreading the roots over the mound and out into the hole.

5. Return about half the soil to the hole, tamping to remove air pockets. Roots need to make good contact with the soil. Water thoroughly as you tamp. Continue to add soil and water until the hole is filled, tamping as you go. Mulch to a depth of 2-4 inches to help maintain soil moisture and discourage weed and grass growth. Take care to keep the mulch a few inches away from the trunk of the tree. Stake only if the winds are very strong, unless it is recommended for your tree. Use hoses or straps to protect the bark from staking wire or ropes. Allow the tree to sway. Remove stakes after one year.

Planted and mulched with Premium Ground Cover

Planted and mulched with Premium Ground Cover

Giving your tree plenty of water is critical to its survival during the first growing season. A good way to water is to drill several holes into the sides of a 5-gallon bucket near the bottom. You can add water to the bucket quickly with your hose, but the bucket will release the water to the soil slowly.

Unless we live to be very, very old, we will never tap the trees we’ve planted. Perhaps our children will make maple syrup, or our grandchildren. One day, many years from now, when sugar maples are on someone else’s must-have list, these trees will be ready.

Our three sugar maples - including the tenacious little one eaten to a stub in its first winter by a moose

Our three sugar maples – including the tenacious little one, eaten to a stub in its first winter by a moose

Out of the Way!

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Top Five

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Let’s put the new raspberries here,” I suggested. Tim and I were standing waist deep in an untamed field near the vegetable garden. In an area a bit rocky for root crops, fruit canes seemed a good choice. With sun shining there all day and water easily accessible, the decision was made.

As I began to mark the perimeter, Tim went to get the scythe. “How much can I have?” I asked tentatively, realizing that he’d have the worst task – knocking down the tall, tough grasses before we’d be able to rake and mow.

“As much as you want.” Tim is a jewel I don’t deserve, who lives by the motto, “Happy wife – happy life.”

IMG_0299

We opened much more than we needed just for raspberries. I’ve been wanting to get the pumpkins out of the garden, and this was a great opportunity. By fall when it was finally tilled and ready for planting in the spring, we were pretty proud of ourselves.

Our son, Sam, came over to see. “Is this really where you’re planning to plant raspberry canes?” he questioned. “You’re going to be plowing snow right through there all winter.”

Ugh.

Sam was right. In the midst of summer, it’s easy to forget what happens on a piece of the earth in the winter. Here in northern Maine, where we expect lots of snow, we plow the snow back far beyond the driveway, leaving a wide place to deposit the snowfall from each storm. The new garden will freeze and we will have no difficulty plowing over it, but annuals, not perennial fruiting canes, will be our best option. 

To help you avoid a similar mistake, I offer these suggestions:

Have you already chosen your plantings? Consider these before choosing a garden location:
1. What are the sunshine or shade needs of your plants?
2. What will be the size of the mature plants? Will they spread? How much room will each plant require?
3. What are the water needs? Is there sufficient access to water nearby?
4. Look up and around. Are there existing plantings which will compete for soil nutrients, water and space? What will be the mature sizes of existing plantings? Will existing plants eventually crowd or shade your new plantings?
5. What does the plant need after the growing season? Will it die back to the ground or need to be mulched (Learn about my favorite at www.PremiumGroundCover.com), wrapped or supported in winter? Will it provide interest and beauty in a winter garden? Will you want to see it from your window?

Have you already chosen your garden location? Consider these before choosing your plants:
1. Is the garden in full sun, partial sun or shade?
2. If the garden is next to a house or other structure, how much room do you need to maintain a proper distance between plants and foundations, steps, windows and gutter downspouts?
3. Are you looking for plants of a particular shape, color or size? Fast growing or slow-growing? Annual or perennial?
4. How far is your garden from a water source? Can you provide adequate moisture, or should you choose more drought tolerant plants?
5. What happens in your garden’s location in winter? Will it be under a snowbank? Exposed to harsh winds? Plowed over?

Our new garden will be planted in pumpkins before long, and they will be free to run as they will. We’ll also plant other vegetables there, long rows of kale and broccoli, perhaps. As for the raspberries, we will be doing some hasty work in the spring preparing yet another garden, this time well away from the path of the plow.

IMG_2256

ChapStick and Five Other Gardening Essentials

01 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in Top Five

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I have begun to believe there are two types of people – those of us who are addicted to lip balm, and those of you who are not. If you are uncertain to which group you belong, check your pockets now. If you find a tube of something to apply to your lips, chances are you’re with me.

IMG_1548

A quick rummage through pockets, bags and drawers gathered this embarrassingly large assortment of lip balm.

An affinity for lip moisturizers seems not limited to humans. Years ago when our Boston Terrier puppy friend visited, he ate a ChapStick belonging to our daughter, Hannah. The tale of Willie’s supple lips continues in family lore to this day.

cropped-willie

Willie, puzzled by Hannah’s outrage

How, you might wonder, is lip balm relevant to this list of gardening essentials. A preference for objects of small size and high function provides inspiration for my first item of garden must-haves.

1. The Perfect Knife

Last summer, when I mentioned to my husband that a simple pocket knife “no bigger than a ChapStick”, would be helpful, he found the perfect knife – small, but orange and easy to see if I dropped it onto the ground.

IMG_1567

2. Comfortable, Functional Footwear 

It’s essential for this happy gardener to have happy feet, and that requires three kinds of footwear. Most frequently I can be found in my beloved old wood and leather clogs, many times repaired. My mud boots are simple and black. Work boots, which fit so well I believe they were made just for me, complete the trio.

IMG_1583

3. Premium Ground Cover – The Right Garden Mulch

As the gardens here on our land grow in size and number, I’m challenged with the task of working more efficiently. This land is my work, and we want to make a life and a living here. Finding ways to spend less time weeding and watering has been critical, and mulch (www.PremiumGroundCover.com) has proven to be a solution. The soil is well nourished as the mulch decomposes during the growing season. Soil, not carrots, onions or herbs, always is our first and most important crop.

IMG_0729

One day’s harvest

4. A Favorite Tool

My oldest tool, a three-pronged cultivator, originally may have had a long handle. It has been with me so long that I don’t even remember where I got it, but it was old even then. Somewhere in its lifetime, someone wanted to kneel and scratch the earth, so the handle was sawed, and it suits me well.

IMG_1597

5. The Best Partner

I’m blessed to be on this journey with a good-natured husband, who shares my constant longings for a few more fruit trees and bushes, a bigger garden here, another garden there. He’s willing and cheerful and often silly, and he works hard away from the farm so I can be here doing what makes me happiest. Then he comes back home to help. With a common vision, we work this land together, and that, we believe, is what’s most essential.

img_0957-tim-tilling

Tim breaking ground for another garden

A Spoonful of Sugar

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Tasks

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

My Dear Aunt contracted polio when she was 11. She ran home from school one day, then never ran again. Unmarried until she was in her thirties and with no children of her own, she was a constant presence in the lives of her nieces and nephews.

Our "Dear Aunt" with my sister (2years) and me (6 months)

Our “Dear Aunt” with my sister (2 years) and me (6 months)

She took us to church, community events, swimming at the lake, and to the farm, where she lived with our grandparents.  She was enormous fun, but strict. She walked with a cane and said she couldn’t chase us, so she expected us to listen.

Whether she had one of us with her or five or six, we cousins knew that our time with her would include playing outside, board and card games, music and stories. We played rainy day games like Itty Bitty Bye… About So High, Button Button – Who’s Got the Button, and another game we called Comesy Come:

“Comesy Come.” “What do you come by?” “I come by silver.” “Is it the little knob on the radio over there?” “No. Guess again.”

She pounded out songs on the piano as we all marched around belting, “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” and other merry tunes. When the time came for chores – and there were always chores – she made the job a game, singing the role of Mary Poppins as we filled the woodbox and swept and dusted.

It seems natural that I remember her as I consider the task before me. My garden tools, some still covered with dried mud from their last wet day in the garden, need to be cleaned and put away. This important maintenance would have been enjoyable on a warm fall day. Now it’s cold, really cold, and this will be a messy inside job. Where’s the element of fun in that?

IMG_1305

I’ve always had some basic principles concerning my tools: Buy the best tools I can afford. Use the correct tool for the job. Keep tools reasonably clean and in good repair. All tools belong inside at night and never stay outside in the rain.

IMG_1315

A wire brush will remove the dirt from the metal surfaces, and I’ll use steel wool to scour away any rust. I’ll sharpen tools with cutting edges, including hoes and shovels, and lubricate the moving parts of pruners and loppers. Boiled linseed oil applied to the metal parts will help to prevent rust. Wooden handles will be wiped well, and I’ll smooth rough areas with sandpaper before rubbing them with boiled linseed oil.

IMG_1300

A bit of mulch on the tine of my favorite fork

These tools are my companions during long days in the gardens. The pleasure of giving them the good care they deserve is the only spoonful of sugar I need to get the job done. Next fall, however, I resolve to finish cleaning my tools before I turn off the water and put the hose away. Won’t that be sweet!

Fritz and Ollie

20 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Top Five

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Fritz_Ollie

Fritjof was the fiddler at the dance where he met Olive in the summer of 1928. They were both smitten. After courting only four weeks, Fritjof explained that with the potato harvest approaching, there would be no time to call on her. He asked the lovely Olive to marry him immediately, but not wanting to rush into it, she made Fritjof wait until August 24, two more weeks.

During their years together, Grampa kept journals. Every day he wrote a few sentences about hunting or fishing trips, rainfall and snowfall, who came for Sunday dinners and birthday parties, and what he and Grammie were canning from the garden. There he recorded the events of their days, so on December 2, 1986, after 58 years of a fine marriage, Grampa wrote only two words, “Olive died.”

Sometimes without intending to, we carry on the habits of our ancestors. So it happened that I began to record small significances – visits with friends, what I wore to school, thoughts and poems – on bits of paper and in notebooks. Later as a busy young mother, descriptions of our daily lives together were written on calendars, and each child had a book filled with precious first words and sweet sayings: “The maid was in the garden clanging out the hose. Along came a blackbird and sniffed off her nose!”

My record keeping these days is more disciplined. Planting, weeding, mulching, harvesting and other farm chores are documented in a day planner. A gardener’s journal contains similar information, along with records of plant varieties, diseases and insect pests, successes and challenges, and what grew where.

IMG_1154

So what advantages have I discovered as I’ve kept journals?

Prioritizing and Focus: The chores are endless and always will be. It’s all work that makes me happy, but it can be overwhelming without a plan. Creating a work list and checking jobs off as they are completed help me to accomplish more, even when inevitable interruptions change the course of my day.

Plant Identification: I wish I could always remember every plant’s name and variety, where I got it and when it was planted, but I can’t, and I don’t have to.

Buying Seeds: Records remind me what has grown well or tasted good to our family in the past and what we might not want to try again. Seed catalogs are delivered to my mailbox frequently at this time of year. If I want to add something to my wish list, tucking just the page containing the item and the ordering information into the journal reduces the clutter on my desk.

Tools and Equipment Purchases and Repairs: It’s helpful to know when and where I bought my tools, and who can help me fix them if I can’t do it myself.

The Fun Factor: Whenever I read about past seasons, there are moments of “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.” There are entries about hail storms peppering holes in the bean plants. An after supper visit with a neighbor and her children in the sandbox became the perfect end to a day. A moose sighting on the snowshoe trail with a new puppy provided an amusing memory. As this often too busy life claims my attention, how long would I remember these things?

In this season of giving, a garden journal for a friend or for yourself can become the gift of recorded accomplishments and memories – a tool and a treasure for the keeping of days.  

“Here, Mum. Here’s some flowers for ya with bugs in ‘um, but that’s OK. I squished ‘um. Smell ‘um, Mum!”

Protecting the Crown – A Bedtime Story

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Perennials

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

IMG_1087

Here at the farm, it’s finally time for bed. Fall has been long and warm, which has been helpful as we scurry to button up the house. Lack of consistently cold weather has delayed the last of our garden chores, however. Several hard freezes with temperatures falling to at least 25 degrees are needed before tucking in the perennials with their winter mulch.

Yields from our vegetable gardens surpassed all expectations this year. Our baby apple trees settled themselves into the orchard and thrived. The flowers and herbs in our window boxes grew enthusiastically, well into the fall. Pots of annuals were so gorgeous as we approached frosts, I wished for a heated sun room, so I could bring them all inside.

The greatest delight is the condition of the soil in the gardens. Instead of appearing depleted, having given its all to support such a bountiful harvest, the soil is soft and rich and ready to go again. Mulching gardens, trees and all my container plants with Premium Ground Cover has made all the difference. (www.PremiumGroundCover.com) 100% natural and heat-treated to kill weed seeds, this mix of chopped straw, timothy and alfalfa hay is nutrient rich, and my plants and soil love it.

As cold weather approached, Premium Ground Cover was my obvious choice for protecting strawberries and other perennials from winter stress. The purpose of mulching perennials, particularly newly planted, shallow rooted and marginally hardy perennials is not to keep them warm, but to keep them cold. During inevitable temperature fluctuations and periodic winter thaws, soil expands and contracts, heaving plants upward, exposing tender crowns and roots to drying winds and cold. Several inches of loose mulch applied to the soil late in the fall helps keep soil temperatures cold, conserves soil moisture and provides protection from the wind. Additionally, mulched soil warms more slowly in the spring, keeping plants from breaking dormancy during an early warm spell.

IMG_1112

Putting down the mulch is a pleasure. It’s soft and chopped short, so it stays where I want it and does not blow away, even in the stiff wind blowing on the day we put our gardens to bed. The recyclable plastic bag is easy to close, so unused mulch is neatly stored for later.

We’re ready for winter now, I suppose. Long days outside in the gardens will be replaced with shorter days on the snowshoe trails. Inside, we’ll be researching insect pests, studying seed catalogs, and dreaming about next year’s gardens.

Good night, everybody.

IMG_1110

Henry, king of the farm, inspecting the mulch.

Who Goes There?

23 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Harvest

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Did you harvest the rest of the beets?” I asked my husband. With most of the carrots and parsnips and a few beets remaining in the garden, root crops were next on my chore list.

“I didn’t,” was Tim’s response. “I noticed they were gone when I composted the squash and pumpkin vines.”

“Maybe Dave pulled them,” I suggested, referring to America’s finest neighbor.  I hadn’t seen him, but he was welcome to help himself to whatever he wanted.

It was unexpectedly warm after several days of cold and rain, a good day for a harvest. The carrots came out of the ground easily, and soon a wheelbarrow was mounded. But when I neared the other end of the garden, the evidence was clear. Something had been eating my carrots! Where there should have been lush, green tops, intruders had feasted their way down the row. With mulched soil as soft as a loaf of good bread, the uninvited didn’t have to work very hard to tug up a lovely meal. Here and there was a chewed stub of carrot. That’s when I noticed the partially eaten beet. 

I’m grateful for an exceptional harvest this year. Certainly there have been challenges, like the night the raccoons raided the corn. All the corn. Every ear. Every single ear. But there has been plenty to eat, plenty to put by for the winter and plenty to give away. Certainly, I’d prefer not to share with the deer or skunks (or both) that enjoyed my beets and carrots, but as wildlife invasions go, it’s been a tolerable season. Not so for my friend, Shirley, whose garden, well-known in the animal kingdom, suffered a moose family take-out dinner party, among other adventures.

To all my four-legged and winged friends and foes, whatever you find in my winter compost pile is yours, and I promise, you’ll eat well.

The first wheelbarrow of carrots