Rose hips and excellent source of vitamin C

It's time to get out and pick those rose hips at least it is in my neck of the woods.  The best time to pick your rose hips is after a good frost.  Once you have picked your rose hips you can use them to make puree, jelly, or wine.  I like to make the puree and then use that later to make BBQ sauce.

These berries have so much vitamin C in them that 6 - 8 berries will give you your daily requirements.

After you have picked your rose hips, wash and remove the tassels.  In order to preserve as much vitamin C as possible you need to process the hips as soon as possible.
If you are going to be making syrups or jellies extract the juice by partly covering the hips with water, bring to a boil and allow to cook for approximately 15 minutes.  Extract the juice by putting into a jelly bag and dripping over a container.  You can make jelly with the rose hips alone or add other fruit to it.

For pulp I use a sieve to remove the seeds and skins.  This can then be used for making jams.  I have also made a rose hip ketchup that was really quite good.

Some people also dry the rose hips.  I have not done this but the process is simple.  Cut the rose hips in two and remove the seeds.  Then dry in a food dehydrator or in the over at 140 degrees.  Dried rose hips can be added to your baking, cereals, salads etc.

You can find some recipes in the recipe section of this blog.

Enjoy your rose hip harvest!

Deer Tolerant Plants

If you have deer problems, here are a few plants that are deer tolerant.
Lady's Mantle,
Butterfly Weed
Foxglove
St. Johns Wart
Lavender
Daffodil
Poppy

Happy Gardening ♥

Harvesting the crops

Well once again I had good intentions on keeping this blog up to date............yesterday I harvested the rest of the beets, some more carrots and the ever growing broccoli.  Tomorrow I'll be pickling the beets. 

The Garden's almost planted

The Garden is 3/4 planted and then the rains came.  I'm hoping to get out there soon and finish planting, but with all the rain we have had it's pretty wet around here.  They have another rainfall warning out for today.  Hopefully it will rain it self out today and the sun will shine again soon.

The old and new greenhouse

The old greenhouse had lived it's life and was taken down in the spring.  Today we have a machine in to clean up the area and to level off an area closer to the vegetable garden for the new greenhouse. This is an exciting day!
I'll have to post some pics later.

Zucchini and Cucumbers are getting bigger every day

The Zucchini and Cucumbers that I started are growing more every day.  I'll wait until June 1st to plant them out in the garden.  Just in case we get another frost.  Actually everything in the greenhouse is doing well and  I'll start planting the garden tomorrow.

Today I got my flower pots ready to go outside, planted some hanging baskets and have some ready to plant in the flower garden.  Tomorrow should be a busy day.

Cold weather today

It wasn't even warm enough to open the greenhouse up today.  It poured rain most of the day,
I know we need the rain, but it could have been a little warmer.

Raking the Garden

Well it's been a challenge this spring getting anything done in the garden.  Rain, rain, and more rain.  We have managed to till the garden a couple of times, today I raked it out and got things tidied up and the water figured out.  Then came the rains again.  Hoping for some nice weather soon.  I'd like to get out and plant my onions and potatoes without getting covered in mud LOL!

Everything in the greenhouse is growing well and next week I'm going to purchase my tomato and pepper plants.

Happy Gardening all!

Herbs and Vegetable seeds planted this weekend

Here is were I start some of my seeds.  This weekend I managed to get a few things started.  Oregano, Stevia, Corn (peaches & cream), butternut squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.  Also in a large outdoor planter I planted radishes, lettuce and round carrots (something new).

It has warmed up some, the lowest temperature in the greenhouse in the last few days was plus 5.

So with the temperatures rising its time to get real busy and get a few more things started.  Happy Gardening all!

Getting the greenhouse going

With a lot of help yesterday we torn down the old greenhouse, so this year I am using my little one.  I filled pots getting ready to put some things out there.  Put new batteries in the thermometer and tested the high and low temperatures in there yesterday.

It got as high as 20 yesterday, I was in and out of it with the door open.  This morning I check and we had a low of -1. So I guess that tells me I either have to put a heater in at night or what until it warms up some more.

Gardening, weed pulling, turning over dirt, and raking

Got lots done out in the yard and garden up until today.  Just to darn cold to go out there today.  I got the little greenhouse all cleaned out and ready to go, more of the garden turned over and lots and lots of raking done.
A day off today and maybe the sun will shine enough to warm things up a bit tomorrow......now time to light the wood stove, make a cup of tea and watch a movie.

Garlic is coming up

Today I got in the garden and did some more weeding.  Planted some more garlic, the fall garlic is already coming up, minus a bit of the top because I forgot to close the gate and the deer got into the garden.  They also decided to dig up some of the strawberry plants.....I'll close the gate tonight for sure.

Starting Seeds

Well I think tomorrow is the day.  I am going to start some seeds.  I think I will start some carrot seeds in pots (makes for good transplanting) as well as turnips and lettuce.  I start them in pots and when the garden and the weather is better I transplant the little plants to the garden.  With the carrots and turnips it works great.  It eliminates the thinning process.

Hand care when gardening

Every year I try and keep my gloves on when gardening, but it is just not the same.  I end up taking one off to pull a weed and before long the other one is off too.  If it wasn't for my hand cream I'm sure my hands would be as rough as an unplaned piece of lumber. I use Gardener's Cream and it puts the moisture back into my hands, but before using the Gardener's Cream be sure to wash them up with the Gardener's Soap.

Growing Rhubarb and Strawberries

Even though there is still a little snow in the middle of the yard, I went out to the garden today and discovered the  Rhubarb coming up as well as the strawberries.  So...I have spent the morning cleaning up around the plants.  Just come in for lunch and will go back out and put some mulch around the plants.

Spring is here!!

The Deer checking out the soon to be vegetable garden

Guys Like You

To order the cd go to http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/breannewilson

Seed starting soon

Next week I'm going to get into the garden shed and haul out some soil, get it warmed up and ready to start some seeds.  Fresh lettuce is something we really love around here so that will be one of the first things I start.
Lettuce doesn't mind cooler weather so I'll get some started in pots inside.  I'll haul out my books and seeds and have a look and see what else I want to start.

Last year we built a heated pump house.  I have an electrical plug in for the lights and shelving in it so it should work fairly well to start some seeds before putting them in the greenhouse.  The old greenhouse is coming down this year so I'll be left with my small glass one.  It should do, I don't plan on starting tonnes of things.........

Spring in the Cariboo

Well today was +9 at my place, the water was pouring off the roof and a small amount of concrete is now showing on the deck.  Can it be spring?  There is still a large amount of snow in the yard, more than I've seen in a few years.  I am thinking it may still be awhile before we can get out and play in the dirt.

Snow, snow and more snow

It's March 1st and I'm looking at the snow out there wondering how long until is gone.  It seems to me that we have received allot more of the stuff this year, and it's still coming down.  I guess it will be awhile before we can get into the greenhouse..............

Getting ready for spring planting

I've look over all my old books.  I started years ago starting seeds going in the house.....anxious to get things growing I often over the years started things way to early.  I'd end up with these long stems with two leaves on top and I would nurture them, moving them around from window to window in the hope they would get enough light to grow.  In the end often I would plant them in the greenhouse and lose them to the one day we got frost.

Over the years I worked on my starting techniques.  I've spent a small fortune at Lee Valley but in the end have used many of their gardening supplies.  I made smaller greenhouses inside the greenhouse, anything to get things going.  I look back and think "You were crazy"  I have learned over the years, where we live there is no sense starting anything before the end of April and there is no use planting tender vegetables out in the garden before June 1st.

Another thing I can tell you is that the best investment I have ever made is what I call Ag cloth.  
It is a thin cloth that you can place over your rows.  It has definitely saved my garden from some unexpected frosts.  I plant my garden and then put the cloth over my rows for the first 2 weeks and any other nights that may seem ify.  Then towards the end of the season I do the same.  I have saved allot of vegetables over the years by doing this. You can find it at my favorite store http://www.leevalley.com/ and it is worth every penny.

Potatoes in Straw

Well the potatoes in straw was a bust last year.  They just didn't get enough water.  It was not to bad starting out and then we got a real hot spell and I was away on weekends.  They just got to dried out, and the spot they were in missed gettting watered when the timed sprinkler watered.  That along with the smokey days due to all the forest fires we were surrounded with just did not help.  So this year...........I'm not sure.  I'm thinking of maybe downsizing abit.