A Veritable Cornicopia

I know! Two blog posts in one week! This could become habit forming! Yesterday I was standing at the stove making a big batch of V8 juice for Bob. He loves that stuff and I decided that since I have all the ingredients and it is time to harvest most of them, then why not make the juice myself. So I gathered all I needed in the morning and by the afternoon I was in the kitchen stirring a pot of ambrosia. Bob was drawn indoors from the aromas and had a taste. He declaired it better than the store bought and I hadn't even purreed it yet! So I suspect it will be a success. It took a lot of cooking down so I decided to finish it off today. Anyways it got me thinking that I should share the story of how I got my veggie gardens with you. Both Bob and I are rather proud of them.

When we decided to sell mostly everything and move east I said I was going to change my gardening habits to better suite our new lifestyle. I was always a botanical gardener. Our yard was a wonderland of color and aromas and the birds filled it with song. There isn't a flower in North America I haven't grown in my gardens at one point or another. It was always a lot of work but I thrived on it. It has always been a passion of mine but when we moved east we were changing from an Urban lifestyle to a country one. There isn't much use for flowers out here. Not in the rural areas anway. So it made perfect sense to switch from esthetic to edible. I was up to the challenge too. Trouble with my plan was that we were moving into the woods and as handy as Bob is , he had no idea how to chop down a tree. We had an acre of old 50 footers that had outlived their lives. They were becoming a danger and needed to go and I would eventually need space for my raised beds & greenhouse that he promised to build me. So we went to Goggle to learn how to cut down trees. How hard can it be anyways?

Turns out it isn't a task for the faint of heart. We thought we were all set to go after watching many videos all showing us different techniques in how to (ahem) properly bring down a tree. Fortunately for us our new neighbor came by to meet us and as we explained our plans on which trees we would be removing he listened politely. He then asked if we had ever taken down a tree before and Bob explained that he was well versed from youtube videos on how to do the job and he bought all the right equipment to get'er done. The neighbor gave us a knowing smile and wished us luck on the job. We had a nice visit and then he went home. The next morning around 6 AM we were sitting with our morning coffee contemplating the task of the day when a truck pulled in the driveway. Bob went out to see who it might be and was surprised by our neighbor coming out of the back of his truck with a big chain saw. He walked up with a big smile and said "morning neighbor!" He then claimed he heard we had some trees to come down. Bob quickly grabbed his new gear feeling like a little kid on the first day of school. Well the day along with the week to follow was a blur of trees and branches being cut down and removed and at the end all that was left were a lot of stumps in what was to become our new front lawn. The neighbor taught Bob so much in tree removal. He knew that Bob was willing to put in the work but it would have been a huge dissaster and a dangerous one at that, if we had done the job the way we intended. Thanks to that awesome neighbor Bob can now take down trees with relative ease. That is actually a good skill to have when you live in an old forest on the east coast of Canada because just out of the blue you can have large gusts of winds come down and push a tree to the ground.

We now feel the house is safe but in order to get my vegetable gardens in I needed to have trees removed on the side of the property where the sun shines the most. More trees needed to come down. We hired an excavator to remove all the left over tree stumps and Bob went straight to prepping the ground for his seed but winter was on it's way so year one came and went with no garden. I understood and was patient. After all, in one year we had not only removed a small forest from the front lawn but we also had a new driveway installed and a 2 car garage built. It wasn't as iff nothing got done.

During the winter we lost our good neighbor to cancer. Can you believe that dear man did all that work for us while patiently teaching Bob all that precious knowledge knowing he was on his last leg? We were flabberghasted to learn this. Even though we only knew him a very short time his loss had a huge impact on us. The utter selflessness of this man was in fact legendary to the people who live in our forest. We have also been assured he did this for himself as well as us. He was not one to sit at home and mope. He wanted to keep busy to the end and we came along at the right time for him to accomplish that.

So we moved on with getting the new front lawn established and Bob spent most of the spring and summer watering his new grass seed and then cutting his lawn. He became obsessed with this lawn and I didn't want to disturb his new found passion so I let the idea of clearing the sideyard for my gardens slide one more year. After all, I did have a little landscaping to do in this new front yard. I opted for less extravant shrubbery to line the new driveways. I planted lilacs, forsythia, burning bushes, weigelas and roses along with hostas and marigolds in between each shrub. Bob also built me a lovely large wishing well on the front lawn. It is in fact to cover a large stump we didn't want to remove because it sits over our septic field. So I planted some clematis on the sides of the wishing well along with some lavender and then added marigolds for color because deer don't like lavender or marigolds. Or so I am told they don't. That year Bob ended it by building a big beautiful front porch across the entire length of the house and put a roof over it so again, I had no room to whine about not having my veggie garden yet. It was on the list.

The house before & after the work was done. Yes, we knew we were buying a fixer-upper. That trailer came with the property. We sold it. Click for a larger view.

The truth is that Bob learned a lot about tree removal that first year and he incorperated that knowledge to remove many other trees, some in the area where I wanted my gardens but there were many other trees that needed to come down before the gardens were built and now Bob understood the dangers of the task at hand he knew he wasn't well equipped with the knowlege to take down trees near power lines and we have a power line in the location by the garden. This is the reason for the stalling.

Fotune was on our side though. Before we lost the wonderful neighbor we met another of our new neighbors who was even more knowlegable in tree removal. As a matter of fact our property was originally from his family acreage and our strip of land was his favorite of all the area. He loved that we loved the land too and wanted to improve it by removing these trees. He also likes Bob a whole lot. He liked how we made his friend feel useful at the end of his days on this earth and that Bob worked hard by his side the whole time. To him it was a gift. So he decided he would finish the job his friend started and he came by with his own equipment to remove the last of the trees (in that area) so we could finally build our garden. Again, Bob learned even more and in turn went next door to help our friend build a roof on his new barn. Another learning adventure.

Now here we are, three year after moving to the country and with the spring thaw I was finally thrilled to have Bob start work on my new gardens. I had only bought the kit 3 years previous for the greenhouse. He not only built the raised beds and greenhouse to exactly what I wanted but he did an exceptional job. He poured cement in the post holes for the greenhouse and another wooden frame anchored to that to make sure one good wind wouldn't pick up the structure. We had already lost a lovely little tea shed on the river from a windy day the year before so Bob understood the downdrafts that our property encounters. Since building it we have had some pretty severe winds and not one window was even rattled. He did such an excellent job. He even built me a front porch off the greenhouse so I can keep my potatoe bags. He built me 3 large raised beds from the old steel roof on the house we had replaced when we built the garage. Each bed is 3 feet high and 3 feet wide to suit my own height and reach so no bending needed. I dug one inground garden for corn, garlic and a few other plants that need to be in the ground. He also had the two tables moved to the garden area that he built the year before so I could grow a few things. They would be for my strawberries. Then we moved large totes filled with potting soil into the greenhouse to plant my tomatoes and peppers and we also ordered a truck load of soil for the raised beds. The soil was horrible. It was far from garden soil. It was more like builder's grade but by the time it came we decided we would make it work. I needed to get my seedlings going. So I added peat moss and fertilizer to this sad soil and not nearly enough manure then planted what I had.

So you can imagine how great it was being in the garden this summer. It was such a long time coming. Because of the poor soil some of my plants were hit and miss but mostly everything came in and produced well. Bob again learned a little more of country life by taking up the chore of gardening with me. He worked by my side every morning this summer to water and prep the gardens. For someone who has lived in the city his whole life he has taken to country living like he was born here. The man is finally in his element and I couldn't be happier for him. Believe me when I say he has earned this.

A few pics of the gardens & greenhouse. Click for a larger view.

So finally we are on track. There are still a few trees that need to come down but if they do fall and if they take a power line down the power company will repair it. If we can remove them before that we will but Bob might have the knowledge now yet he doesn't have the equipment. The neighbor has been talking about coming and helping him again but he is a busy man. He owns his own lumber mill. I might dedicate a post about him one day. He is a very interesting fellow but then there are all sorts of interesting people around here. These woods really do help to build character and if you have been honored enough to live here from birth you have been able to store up a lifetime of character.

A few pics of the veggies harvested this year. Click for larger view

Is it any wonder why we love our retirement in the forest of New Brunswick? Now I have my gardens life can only get better. We are already planning next years gardens and the changes we will be making. Next year everything will start from seed early on because the greenhouse will be prepared to handle it. We will put in fresh new garden soil in the raised beds and grow larger, stronger plants. I am already looking forward to the spring.

All my best

Leslie