The garden! Version 2013

Channeling a green thumb by posting in green...  

Hoping this year will yield a more productive crop than last...  

I present to you: THE MASSON FAMILY GARDEN (2013)!!!

We started a bunch of tomato, cucumber, and sweet pepper seed inside a few months ago and spring has been kind, so most are outside now!  I think I waited too long to transplant last year and I'm hoping getting them in earlier (and this much drier spring!) will help us get a few RIPE cherry tomatoes this year (although I do love green tomato salsa...).  What follows are a selection of what's growing now :)

Cucs!  I'm trying them both in the garden (likely to climb a trellis) and in hanging baskets.  Hoping that we'll get enough for a few jars of pickles!  They're looking pretty weak right now, but we'll see.

 

Lettuce.  I've got seeds planted in pots as well as out in the garden itself (with lots of slug bait scattered about).  I haven't had much luck growing lettuce from seed, but we'll see how this year goes.

 

This is actually a hot pepper plant that I started from seed LAST YEAR.  I kept 3 of these guys alive inside all winter and I'm hoping that now that they're out in bigger pots and seeing some sunshine that they'll take off.  Again... we'll see ;)

Tomatoes!!  These I am also trying in hanging baskets.  All of the seeds I planted germinated this year so we have a gazillion (ok, maybe 14 or 15) tomato plants in the garden.  Nine in hanging baskets and several out in the garden.  The one below actually has some blossoms starting on it!  I think it's a yellow tomato one that I bought started from the farmer's market.

 

Herbs!  Right now we have rosemary (not doing so hot in a pot on the deck), oregano, thyme, sage, basil, parsley (which is so easy to grow!!), cilantro and mint planted.  I'd like to try drying some of my own herbs for the winter - we have many of the fixings for herbs de Provence.  I may also try freezing some.  Oregano, thyme, mint and parley seem to survive the winters out here quite well, so we have fresh herbs all winter!

 

Broccoli.  Another easy easy easy crop.  These are almost ready to harvest already!  And these plants will just keep on going right to fall.  A word of advice if growing broccoli: little caterpillars hide inside the florets.  They are camouflaged too, the little buggers!!  Simply rinsing does not remove them. Remi and I found this out the hard way when we finally, at the very end of a happy summer of eating raw broccoli, steamed a batch and discovered we also had steamed caterpillars on our plates!  Guess we'd been getting a bit of extra protein all summer... *YUCK*  Some broccoli-related tips (including how to avoid eating these little critters): http://www.vegetable-gardening-made-simple.com/harvesting-broccoli.html.

 Strawberries!!  These are still the plants from last year, planted in our strawberry pot.  I think I might emove them into their own garden space this year though.  These are perennial plants.  We have two different kinds. The first picture showing the little guys is alpine strawberry.  These stay small.  Below are ever-bearing strawberries which fruit now and again later in the summer.  Last year we didn't have much of a harvest so this year we're going to protect the plants with chicken wire.  Not only to the birds eat them, but so does MAGGIE - bad dog!

 

 Alpine strawberries again.

Our blueberry bushes are doing much better this year than last!  It's not going to be a mega-harvest, but definitely more fruitful (haha) than last year.

 

Peas.  Also very easy to grow, provided you don't get too much rain when you plant the seeds out - they will rot in the ground sometimes.  They also like the chilly weather, so they can go out quite early.  I'm due to plant another row soon.  I didn't photograph them, but we also have climbing green beans in.

 

I'm also trying carrots and beets this year.  Carrots are quite finicky - I'm not sure that they'll like our chunky soil.  They also need their seeds planted close enough to the soil surface that light reaches them.  I didn't have too many germinate on the first planting.  I need to get some more seeds in.

Beets.

We've already harvested the rhubarb once this year and it's back with a vengence!  I've talked Remi into strawberry-rhubarb jam.

 

Chives.  I guess this should have gone under the herb section...  This was here when we moved in.  They seed themselves.

 And the cherries are out!  We're hoping for a sunnier spring so these don't split on the trees again.

 

Now for some flower shots.  We're really getting the front garden cleaned up.  We've cut down the old rhododendron and replaced it with two new ones (a pink and a white that bloom at different times in the spring).  Both have new growth on them and are looking good!  We've put in hydrangeas out front and a new maple tree!

Old hydrangea bush:

 

Lots of bees around!  They seem to love the rose bushes and the lavender.  We're going to likely plants some lavender out back for next year to keep the bees around all season and so they're there when our veggies/fruits bloom.

 Lavender.  Notice another little bee buddy!

 

 Remi surveying the front garden (new maple in the background).

 

 Roses:

 

 

YIKES!  You're probably all gardened-out!  I'll try to post later in the season again when the plants are larger and hopefully filling our fridge with yumminess :)

Happy spring into summer!
S

Mom & Dad West visit - Feb 2013

My father has informed me, and rightfully so, that Remi and I didn't post a blog from their visit in February!  They were here for a week around family day and as I recall, we had some okay weather and did A LOT of relaxing.  Mom and Dad were also very generous with Remi and I.  For Christmas and Remi's birthday they treated us to a new flat screen TV of awesome, a Blu-ray player and have left their Wii with us.  SPOILED.  Let me tell you, after "suffering" with a 90s Sony hulk of a TV for a decade, we're very happy to be upgraded.  There is nothing like Blu-ray.

Anyhoo, here are a few pictures from the visit.  Lots of pictures of Rosie of course.  This dog loves to have her picture taken and is quite photogenic (don't tell her I said that).

 She also gets to sit at the table because she is small...  Bad dog ;)

 We were all able (except Remi, who was working) to do a lot of lounging around.  Maggie does this every day, but that's beside the point.

We did leave the house, however, for a couple of nice walks.  We wandered around the wetland, of course.  It was near impossible to get a picture where everyone was looking at the camera (dogs included!!) and Maggie wasn't barking at us.  I believe Remi took 15 photos of this ;)

 Rosie loved the grasses.  Probably lots of voles and mice running through.

 We also walked along the Fraser.  We can't get to this beach now as the water has risen with snow melt and rain (called the freshet according to my biologist hubby).

The dogs had a blast and got nice and dirty.

 

It was a bit chilly but not raining!  Always a bonus in BC in February.

 

I can't remember what else we did.  Ate a lot.  This was also the time Remi and I announced to my parents that we were expecting - much to their surprise and delight!  I couldn't very well go the week without having a beer with my dad ;)

On that note, we have our structural ultrasound today at Mission Hospital.  I've also been feeling the baby kick (right now in fact!!) since the weekend.  It feels like little drops of water (*plop*) in my tummy.  So cool :)

That's all for now :)
S

 

Recent out and abouts

Summer has retreated again.  This weekend we've had lots of rain, as we have for the last few weeks.  But we're still trying to get out of the house on weekends.  I'm still planning on taking garden pictures throughout the growing season to track the progress of our fruits and veggies but I'm quite unmotivated with this icky weather!

Anyhoo, here are a few recent shots.

We took a walk in Golden Ears Provincial Park a couple of weeks ago.  It was grey but not too rainy.  My hood is up here because of the water off the waterfall behind me.  Raging!  And yet I believe this is called a creek... Gold Creek, actually.

 This is a picture of Alouette Lake.

 Apparently my face always looks like this.  Clearly I am responding to something retarded Remi said (he claims I was just tired and whining...)

 Maggie was barking.  As usual.

 Below is from a quick hike we did in north Mission up a logging road.  Behind us is Norrish Creek.  The hike back up was not fun, very steep.  But it was certainly short!  I think less than an hour round trip.  If you squint, you can see my baby belly!  This was from last weekend - 20 weeks.

These last few are photos from Rolley Lake (the fern may actually be from Hayward), our usual rainy weekend walk around the lake.  Maggie can dip in for a swim and it's close to home.  We're going to update our bathroom soon and these may end up on the wall in there.

Not very exciting ;)
S

Baby bump photo shoot: 18 weeks

Yes, there's a baby in there!!

Remi and I headed out to Norrish Creek for a nice, hot summery walk last weekend and to take a few photos of my growing tummy.  Here are a few.  It may not be big but it's bigger than it was!!  As for me, I feel great!  Sleeping has become a bit of a challenge with my hips aching and me having to roll over 3-4 times/night to keep comfy, but that's a minor inconvenience.  I've gotten my energy back (I was zapped in the 1st trimester) and am back at the gym.  Eating lots and generally loving being pregnant :)

Still can't believe Remi and I made a little HUMAN and it's GROWING INSIDE ME!!  So cool :)

 

 

 

 

And one from the garden :)

More to come as I grow and grow! :)

Love S

The faces of Aoife (Long Masson family visit Mar 2013)

We were very fortunate during the last week of March to have our 7.5 month old niece, Aoife (E-fa), and her entourage (Mom & Dad - Megan & Julien) visit us in Mission.  It was wonderful!!  Aoife is such a delight to have around (maybe not at 4 AM... but she's working on that!).  She is all smiles and giggles, loves to be zerberted, tickled, danced about & dipped, and tossed in the air.  Not to mention, she loved my lasagna!  Needless to say, her gaga Auntie and Uncle took a gazillion pictures of her beautiful face.  I think we may have also snuck in a couple of Julien & Megan too!  Here are a few (and yes, I had to whittle it down from over 200!).  Enjoy!

 

 Mmm... Vegetable mush!

 Surprise!

 

 A walk in the wetland.  She was trying to nap here, hence the grumpy McGrumps face (still adorable!!).

 Scary Uncle Remi :(

 Aoife is not really digging tummy time.  Who wants to waste their time crawling anyway!!  Apparently I went straight to walking and so will Aoife (it's what all the gorgeous, smart, talented girls do) ;)

 Tired face.

 

 Maggie was very patient with Aoife!  She must have mellowed out in her old age (I remember some grumbles when Keenan visited at about Aoife's age).  She seemed very interested in what Aoife was doing (especially when she was eating and getting more attention than Maggie).

The week was beautiful!!  A week straight of sun and warm weather!  Close to 20 degrees every day.  I was lucky enough to have a week of holidays.  Thanks to the Long Massons for bringing the sunny weather!!  Anyhoo, outdoor time!

 This child should be a model!

 Playing Scrabble.  I guess I should note for the official record that Julien won against Meg, Remi and I... AGAIN.  Undisputed champion.  There, I said it.

 

We hit up the Billy Miner Pub for lunch.  We couldn't sit in the pub (we had a minor, of course!) but luckily they have a patio next to their pizza parlor where we could order the same food and from the same beer menu (which is extensive and awesome and was enjoyed by 3 out of 4 adults present).

 

 

 Family portrait!

 

Thanks again for the visit!!  Remi and I loved every second of it and can't wait for the next one :)

S