It's Gardening Time

While I deplore the labor involved in hoeing, tilling and weeding I love garden fresh vegetables.  I also love to try new things so this year I ordered some so-called heirloom seeds.  I've often heard the adage that modern seed varieties and hybrids are selected on the basis of looks and shelf-life rather than on taste and texture.  This year our garden promises to put this adage to an anecdotal test.

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Tomatoes

Black Krim Tomatoes

We're growing a mix of conventional and 'Heirloom varieties.  Last year we had a poor but tasty crop of black cherry tomatoes, this year we are branching out with a black beefsteak tomato called Black Krim.  It is supposed to be salty, smoky and great for slicing or in salads.  I'm looking forward to trying them out and I will be using them again if they produce well.

We also have a repeat of the black cherry tomato and some conventional tomatoes that we had success with over the years.  In all I believe we have about twenty tomato plants in about 6 different varieties which include 2 -3 varieties of cherry tomato.

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Carrots

Dragon Carrots

I'm not much of a fan of carrots, or most other root vegetables.  However, I do enjoy pulling a fresh carrot out of the ground and eating them raw (after cleaning the dirty off of course).  Since the older Little Miss Bugbear has expressed a preference for purple beans and the movie "How to Train your Dragon"  I decided to go for some Dragon Carrots.  I'm looking forward to trying this purple skinned carrot later this summer.

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Beans

Great Northern Beans

While carrots may not be my preferred vegetable beans are.  I like almost any legume (with the exception of green peas).  Yesterday Mrs. Bugbear bought the obligatory Yellow, Green and Purple beans at our local greenhouse but I decided that some Great Northern Beans would be an nice addition.  For Thanksgiving this fall I will be making baked beans using beans from our garden if all goes well!

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Melons, Cucumbers, Squash and Pumpkins

I'm not the biggest fan of squash so this year I won't be trying any but I do like pumpkin seeds and the ladies of the Bugbear clan seem to love watermelon.  This year's crop of melons cucumbers squash and pumpkins  include:

Cream of Saskatchewan Watermelon

Rouge Vif d'Etampes Pumpkins

Kakai Pumpkins

I've also included some pickling cumbers since the whole McBugbear clan loves homemade dill pickles.

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Cossack Pineapple Ground Cherry

Cossack Pineapple Ground Cherry

I've saved the best for last.  Last fall, while on vacation, my wife and I went to the local farmers market while we were shopping downtown.  While we were sampling some Russian or Polish finger food from one of the vendors I noticed an older gentleman eating a fruit that I was unfamiliar with.  He was kind enough to offer my wife and I a couple of  the fruits and we both were astonished at the pleasant subtle flavor.  We ended up buying a couple of bags from one of the market gardeners and the little Miss Bugbears were big fans of ground cherries when they tried them.  The two bags didn't last long.

I'm unsure but the ground cherry might properly belong under the tomato heading.  Different sources cite it as either being a tomato or just related to the tomato but frankly it's edible and I judge the controversy to be academic.

This year we'll be planting between 4 and six plants and if successful we'll continue to plant them as the small cherry sized fruit are truly a unique and exquisite taste.  I've seen a couple of pie recipes and I think that the ground cherries would make an interesting wine.

The Mother's Day 'I Love You, Dear' Project

West View of the Raised Bed Herb Garden

Since Sunday was mother's day I decided that it was time for another 'I Love You, Dear' project.  I decided to construct a raised bed herb garden that Mrs. Bugbear and I had been discussing for a number of years.

With the move to the country last September we now have the space to implement our project.  In the three pictures you can see the end result of  this weekend's bout of screaming lower back pain.

During the winter we ordered a kit from Lee Valley Tools.  Now generally when I take the plunge and order products from Lee Valley I am pleased with the quality and documentation although I do find them overpriced.  Lee Valley does tend to have some unique products, they are like the Hammacher-Schlemmer of woodworking tools and garden products.  I own some truly great products that I've purchased over the years from Lee Valley Tools.

South East View of the Raised Bed Herb Garden.

Frankly this raised planting bed kit blows dead bears though.  The formula in the documentation is wrong, the procedure for installation is poorly conceived and one in eight screw-heads snapped off flush.  Most of the screw-heads stripped since the square socket wasn't sized for any standard Robertson screwdriver, those that didn't strip snapped off flush.  Over all I rate the kit as epic fail/Inspirational (see sidebar and amend as appropriate for a construction kit).

Northwest View of the Raised Bed Herb Garden

Nonetheless I managed to bodge the never-sufficiently-damned thing together and it didn't fall apart when I filled the raised bed with compost.


Despite my comments about the poor quality of the kit I am planning to get another set of brackets to construct more beds including a sand box for the little Miss Bugbears.  Now that I've been through the process once and written some notes on how to construct the next beds I should have a much easier and less iterative construction cycle next time.  I'll also build a ramp so that I can wheel the soil up over the side rather than shoveling it from the back of a truck to wheelbarrow and then from the wheelbarrow to the raised bed.  I'll also be buying woodscrews rather than using the ones supplied in the kit.


Thankfully, Mrs. Bugbear is also happy with the final result.

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I've finished putting some trim around the top of the planter bed with Mrs. Bugbear's help.

The 'I Love You" Floor is Complete

Last night was the big push to finish installing the hardwood flooring in the bedroom.  I'm fortunate that I don't have to make a living at installing hardwood flooring since I installed about one box every two hours.  Keep in mind that I was walking out to the garage to make the cuts and the garage is at the opposite end of the house.  The next room will be the small bedroom at the back of the house.  Then the girl's bedroom which will be painted pink and purple (ick...their choice though). The floor looks great.  I, of course, can pick out all the imperfections but I must admit that I like the look of cherry. 

Fortunately Mrs. Bugbear is very pleased with the floor and sympathetic to my screaming back and creaking knees.

Next up is painting and installing the baseboard and trim around the window and doors.  With my encouragement Mrs. Bugbear has decided to use a flat square trim.  At the old house we used a 'Colonial' trim and painting and installing the trim was a pain.  The advantage of the flat trim is that I don't have to cope the corners and painting will be quicker and easier than on the 'Colonial' trim.

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Some good advice, when selecting hardwood flooring always pick natural wood.  The flooring manufacturer's generally don't produce the same colors from one year to the next.  So trying to match the lovely gunstock oak you bought last year (or last month) can be impossible.

Cherry Hardwood Flooring

I've been installing dear Mrs. Bugbear's anniversary gift in the bedroom, cherry hardwood flooring.  Flooring, because you know that nothing says "I love you dear!" like screaming lower back pain.  Forget flowers, forget chocolate, just get down on your knees about twice every minute until you're literally crawling around on the floor because your back won't straighten out.  Then your knees will swell up and every muscle below your short ribs will hurt.   That says "I love you!"  The assorted cuts and bruises from working with your hands are like gentle affectionate hugs and passionate kisses.

Installing the trim will just be the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae of writhing agony.

All jesting aside I put down about 115 sq feet of 3/4x2-1/2" pre-finished cherry flooring, I've got another 72 sq feet of "I love you" to go.

New End Table Project.

Mrs. Bugbear was given the cast iron base of an old treadle sewing machine a couple of years ago and it has been part of the clutter in my garage ever since. In a rare burst of motivation I started cleaning the garage to make room for my previously mentioned gas forge and anvil construction projects. When I saw the sewing machine base I decide to make a table-top for it and thus be able to remove it from the clutter in the garage.

After disassembling the base I used a brass coated steel brush to remove the surface rust and then applied two coats of flat black Tremclad rust paint. Being a great believer in recycling (ie not paying for materials I don't absolutely have to) I used an old drafting table-top for the base of the table top. I then nailed some leftover oak hardwood flooring to the table top and bought some oak trim. After gluing and nailing the trim to the table-top I verathaned the trim and then attached it to tabletop. So after paying $20 for oak trim and about 4 hours of work Mrs. Bugbear has an oak topped end table about 36" high and I have slightly less clutter in my garage/workshop. It was a fun project nonetheless.


Addendum to the original Post: