Fall in the Raised Bed Gardens

Welcome!

We have a little raised bed garden on the side of the cottage. It is a bit of a learning curve for us but we are having a lot of fun with it. The climate at the cottage tends to be quite variable and we are not always there to water it or protect it from chipmunks and possibly beavers.

One bed is mainly herbs and we also tried for garlic but that just didn't work out. We have been using the herbs a bit but, more often than not, I forget that that is a cooking option out here! The herbs actually do pretty spectacularly. We put them pretty close together and the Parsley and Cilantro kind of crowded the other herbs but they still did fine.

I tried adding some lettuce seeds, purchased at Dollarama, to the spot where the garlic didn't grow.  I keep reading about how you can have two crops a year of  spring types of plants so I thought I would experiment.  They have popped up and look cute but really, it could freeze any night now.

This is our poor little squash which is still making efforts even though it is too late for this year. 

 Not even one flower was sucessful this year!

Here we have the beginnings of a delicious pasta sauce at the Lake Cottage!

The Tiny Tree

Persistence:

Continuing firmly or obstinately in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

When my oldest was just tiny she became attached to a tiny little sprig of a spruce tree that was growing in a small crack in the big rock that is at the front of our cottage. We never thought the tree would make it but bit by bit the tree has grown. It has forced the crack in the giant rock to get bigger and bigger. The crack gathers bits of moss, the lake washes over the crack and bits of material collect in the depression feeding and watering the tree.
It is exposed to the snow ice and winds  and sometimes in storms the lake washes completely over the rock with great force but that tree, still grows taller every year.

Little Round Mushrooms

I am always amazed by the variety of mushrooms that pop up on the island during the different seasons. I believe these are called Puff mushrooms, but I am not confident enough to cook them.

Reflections

The water plants grow under the water in the cooler days of early summer and then as summer months pass by, they send out tall stocks with a few flowers.

The reflections of the leaves in the still water are beautiful.

July Flowers on the Island

 

The plants of summer are blooming...

 I just took a few quick  and somewhat fuzzy pictures with my phone so I could share the beauty. All of these lovelies are within a few meters of my cottage door.

 

 

 

Saskatoon Berries were everywhere this year.

Lovely lavender colored Harebells Campanula rotundifolia

Raspberries were lovely and full.

Growing Herbs

 

 We keep trying to grow herbs at the lake. The fact is the weather conditions are so extreme  here that it is hard to get the plants to last.  Last year we planted them outside and there are a few still struggling straggling stems but not enough to chop up for cooking. This year we found some nice green pots and we thought we would try and grow a few new plants on the screen porch.  I plan to take them home to the city for the winter and see if I can keep them alive. So far I haven't used this years plants for cooking but I plan to very soon.

We have Greek Oregano, Pineapple mint and Lemon balm growing on the porch and they smell great!