Hi there everyone,
You’re probably wondering what has happened to us. Well, I am happy to say that we are still alive and well and making plans for next year.
Since we’ve moved to the Spruce Woods Park area we have had quite a few challenges, but none we couldn’t overcome.
We got the greenhouse up on July 1st. We had to wait until there were a few dry and wind-free days to put the plastic on the greenhouse. We had a very late start to say the least. We managed to do a few starts in the house until we were able to move them to the greenhouse. The plants were much smaller than usual at this time of year.
We transplanted what we had to the new garden area, but alas, all of our peppers and some of our tomatoes were eaten by a pretty intense grasshopper infestation. We managed to seed most of the garden plot for a fall harvest (planted beginning of August), but everything that came up was fodder for the pests!
The greenhouse harvest was abundant for what we planted – perennials such as catnip, anise, lemon balm and some wintercress. We also got a decent harvest of basil, a modest amount of roma and farthest north tomatoes and a lot of doehill peppers. These lovely little rare heirloom sweet peppers have huge flavour, can be used for stuffing and are very pretty too! We’re in the process of dehydrating most of the peppers for winter storage.
Sweet Earth Gardens (Paulette) produced some French Fingerling potatoes in a separate garden plot and got a very nice yield considering how late they went into the ground. No potato beetles either! What a wonderful potato – firm, lots of flavour, bake and fry well and also good for potato salad. Yummy! Thanks to Boyne River Ridge (Liz and Henri) for the seed which originally came from Littlepath Farm & Market in Minnedosa (Wes and Andrea).
The greenhouse is done for the winter and we are now using it for storage. Unfortunately we are moving again in the spring. We’re looking for land or a place where we can share our vision with like-minded folk.
We are checking out all of our options and want to thank those of you who have offered your suggestions and encouragement.
If any of you have any leads on property whether it be a rental situation, rent-to-own, land for sale, or other alternative arrangement please get in touch with us via our contact form.
Until then,
Paulette
