Sweet Potato - Lime green, Ornamental

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
November 30, 2015

feels like -10C outside

Today, it was a regular busy Monday. Kieren cried all the way from the kitchen to the bus stop, he does not want to get to school. Tell me why I hate Mondays? That's right, my little one need more cuddles from mama, but its time to go.

I also clear some trays for more seed propagation project.
I am very surprise to see sweet potato sprouting. I know, this was like a 2 inches small tuber from the garden last Fall. I never think it will thrive, since I never watered it, just stuck to a pot with dirt. However, today, I was ready to use the pot and saw some nice lime green leaves. It makes me smile.
Cheers me up because it is very cold out there.

Hope a good coffee cheers you up...or tea. Because I am smiling with love today for this awesome lime green sweet potato.

November 30, 2015

sweet potato - lime green

Basella alba (Asian spinach, malabar spinach)

Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Dear Basella alba, you are an awesome spinach. 

Its 8c outside, I just cut the last of what I call tender annuals. I drag basella alba inside and some sweet potato slips, because ...just I can't leave them frosted outside.

Inspired by Telsing, I will plant sweet potato next year. Yahoo!... That's decided. Hurray to sweet potatoes. It will be in the ground and in the tubs, and everywhere.

http://asterlanedibles.ca/1/post/2015/01/veg-staple-sweet-potato.html

24C and raining

Teusday. September 29, 2015
Ottawa City, Ontario, Canada

Today is such a nice day, a little bit of humid in the morning. My gardening work takes me to Stittsville, a perennial bed which has become overgrown after 3 years. So, we moved around 2 big Emerald Cedars, some daylilies, a hydrangea, and hosta.

3 hours after, the rain pours. We accomplished most of the bed, I have 2 more daylilies to split, and nice Karl Foerster grass, but it will be next week.

It is 24C high earlier  and it is now 14C raining. Signal for fall I think. In general, gardening calls for clean up is still around. I only work 3 days a week now, as I have my Fall 2015 course in Soils for Monday and Wednesday.

I hope everyone is doing well with fall, if the weeds took over your garden last summer, its time to hack them all out and bag them. Hoping spring is a clean season for all the blooms.

And BTW, the craneberry bush beans have dried too. Time for seed saving.

Phlox Purple

A neighbor friend of our gave us Purple Phlox. Kieren is my happy planter.

Amazing weather... summer is great.

Garden Jedi

My darling daughter, my gardener in training. 

March 2015

Crunch time, from winter to spring.

I have enjoyed every moment with it with my kids and family. let it be skiing, skating or hockey.
Now, where are my seeds?

oct 14, 2014 nice clear morning

It is nice clear morning, and I went for a run after dropping the kids to school. I still have that cough and stuffy nose.
30 minutes run, that is all I can master.
i love fall, but this cough is not the best way for me.
i really do not like being sick.

And on the other news, Vertical reality is opening, October 31. get your heel hooks ready.

Fall 2014

It's been awhile that I have posted. Well, it's no excuse, but I can say it is beyond my control.
Hint: a painful separation.
Fast forward, I trained myself hard and I successfully finished the army run on September 21 2014. If you were there, you know it was blessed with good rain. Yes, swish swoosh slip slush!! Soaking wet! Yes, I finished the half marathon. I finished strong, proud and ready! Just like the army! However, I also admit that I run too slow, 2 hours 30 minutes to finish a half is not the best time. So, that's one disappointment. However, the strong point to that is that I did not have any blister, cramps and I was not walking funny on Monday. I came home that Sunday, I cooked, do the laundry, iron my kids clothes for Monday. I packed their lunch kits. I also ran the next day, just like any regular day of my life.
So, that is mission accomplished.

I also need to slow down to smell the roses. Therr are emotional scars within my soul that could use some healing, some feeling of relaxation! Yeah... tell that to a runner! slowing down is really hard to do. I run every chance I get, so today, I decided to wear stilleto, tiny heels. Lol it might work, it might not! I might end up running on this shoes, pretending that I am training for the stilleto run! I hope not, I hope I really slow down, and take it easy!

Happy Easter Monday! 18C/63 F

Garden's  last for hundred years, companies don't. That's because people love and take care of gardens.
Larry Ellison - CEO Oracle Corp. ( Excerpts from Softwar)

I think gardens are immortal. People die, seasons change, but the garden renews itself each season. The joy I found looking at tulips poking  up from beneath the ground, the mint showing buds, ready for the next mojito. Reminds me of life springing right in front of me again, the passion I took up in life is the very passion that drives many people to give reason to live - just one more day, regardless if you are a penniless mom or a handsome billionaire. Each person has a special place in their heart when it comes to gardens.
It could be the flowers.
It could be the meals over fresh herbs and BBQ.
It could be friendships.
It could be empowerment, because the smell of Mother Earth inspires you.

I don't know about me, I know working in gardens brings the best  in me. The bees buzz around me, the  birds sing, the sun bath me with glistening sunlight, my life is never the same without a garden. My parents always remember me as such the math wiz kid, who would just love to come home to water her tomatoes and bougainvillas. Plants love me too, my presence let them bloom. They feel my energy, some sort of living breath within me.

While I mentioned that life has been rough lately, I should need rest and forget about gardening for my clients this season. But....i personally think that gardening will re-energize me again. Gardening gives me hope, makes me smile, brings me money and  makes my clients happy.

I never meet a sad client after my work...all of them were very happy sipping ice tea after a long day of work. All of my clients enjoy my company while gardening. I have many clients all through these years who call me each spring for gardening work.

Sometimes, I think I was born to garden...and maybe I really was. I should move somewhere warm and garden all season. But I love Ottawa, this is my hometown, regardless if the winters are harsh. I love the variety of season, I love the winter surprise.

Gardening is my therapy. Gardening makes me smile. Gardening makes me feel satisfied with life. Gardening is a welcome rest, from the hustle and bustle of life.  The plants around me, gives me one more reason to live. The flowers are just so beautiful.

I cannot find a price for the feeling of being one in the universe by being a gardener.

Good Friday 9C/48 F for you my dear friends over the border

good friday
april 18, 2014

I have been silent all winter season, I was in school and most of my plants in my basement died. I know I was grieving for them.

Actually, life has been very rough for me. And let us put it that way for now.

Today, I went in the front yard, all the snow were gone. I picked up the garbage and sprinkled some seeds. It always make me feel alive, the smell of earth, the smell of dirt.
I went in the backyard, it was still snowy. I manage to remove the debris and clear few pots. Clearly, the mint are coming back. The smell of mint and perilla were so good.

I sprinkled many seeds, bok choy, marigold, coneflowers and some beans.
The beans might be too early, but i covered them deep enough to acclimate.
I won't be doing anything special this summer, simply let the perennial grow back, make sure the herbs are in full abundance for BBQ and summer mojitos.
Speaking of mojitos, I really do hope all of them are still alive. That is my fave summer drink.:)

So, happy spring everyone, I am back to work on my final school report, work for my job later while the laundry is going.

First Snow in Ottawa

October 30, 2013

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Weather : 1 degrees C

Yes, it did snow this morning.
Kieren was happily stumping every snow flake he found in the ground.

Just like the days when he discovered his shadows, and every chance he got, he try to chase his own shadow or his sister shadow.

My plants were not too impressed with snow, of course, they are tropical. LOL
see my snowed in avocado!

i have lots of basella rubra and basella alba in my basement.
a pot of mint
my herb garden (parsely, oregano, mints, lemon balm)
pineapple sage
coleus

and yes... my basement is getting crowded.

Fall: Frost visited my garden?

Thursday
October 21, 2013
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


Mr. Frost, did you visit my garden?

I was so oblivious with weather lately, and the garden was neglected. The midterms ordeal was a perfect excuse.

Today, after my Earth Science Laboratory midterm, I have enough of academia and decided to come home and cook myself some pancit. I bought a bag of shrimp, Kenny loves it, so do I.

I came home and started on cooking. I usually add all the herbs and veggies from the backyard, so I decided to clip some. And oh my! The backyard is a sorry state, but my favorite mints are still kicking.
Coleus is totally browned - like any tropical plants.

I manage to bring in my "Berries and Cream Mint".
Why?
 Isn't mint perennial in Zone 5?
Beats me, I like my berries and cream mint for winter. So, I rather have this inside, added to my many pots that I drag inside my house.

So, here are some pictures of my plants, evidence that Frost indeed visit. Or maybe not frost, just plain cold nights...

Basella alba

coleus canina

coleus blumei

coleus "peter wonder"

sweet potato "Ipomea batata"

scarlet runner beans and tomato

pot of herbs

pots of herbs

see the totally burned "browned coleus" in the middle


So, how is everyone's garden doing?
Not as bad as mine?

Fall 2013: Is it coming anytime soon?

Tuesday
October 21, 2013
 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

 I am feeling cold, and I am wearing my sweater, so this is rough time for me. Too many of my potted plants outside, I am contemplating of bring them all in. Why not? I love them all equally. So, mint will come back, perennial in Zone 5. But I like the Berries and Creamt Mint Tea? So, this pot is no.1 to come in my crowded indoor greenhouse.

And i look at the beautiful mini-rose. Why did i planted this one in the ground? Should I dig?


 And down with my spinach: Basella alba. This a tropical spinach, it grows in my kitchen, I take one or two leaves to add to my breakfast sandwiches. By next year, I will re-seed anyways, so I am gonna bring her inside. I should start paying Karlina to water my plants in winter.

Peruvian Hot Pepper

Ornamental Peruvian Hot Pepper:)

Liliums in my garden this year

aug. 22, 2013
ottawa, ontario, canada

each year my lilium blooms
the japanese bettle attacks
geraniums decimate them - that you geranium genes

and here are my blooms, planning on adding some more bulbs next year, but darn...no more space.

Cherry Tomato: Brown Berry

august 22, 2013 
ottawa ontario canada

I did not start this tomato from seeds, this heirloom seedling was given to me.
I neglected this one for sure, tuck between one of my pots in the corner.

I was surprise to see fruits and it is very sweet. It is an heirloom variety i was told.
It is called brown berry. Maybe because it is nicely brownish.

For taste - i like the sweetness of this one. I love Tims French Vanilla - so i really like sweet fruits.

Luffa, Giant Zucchini or Cuccuza Squash

August 22 , 2013
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

This season has been challenging for me. I am not a stay at home mom anymore - I work and keep working out of the house, into clients garden pulling weeds, and all weeds. I will come home very tired, and barely have energy to tend for my jungle garden.

This year - I am also very blessed with friends. They gave me seeds and more seeds.

Karen K gave me luffa seeds.

Matt M. from USA gave me some Cuccuzza seeds to try.

And of course i have random zucchini seeds from neighbors. So these plant grow in my front yard, and reaches 15 feet - around 13 feet circumference too. One big fat zucchini and I have no idea if i wait long enough it will like Cuccuzza, or Luffa



I did cook it today - it is young and tender. Maybe young luffa?
Maybe young Cuccuza?

I added slivers of dried fish, ginger, young pods of scarlet runner beans, vietnamese coriander, parsely, green perilla, orange mint, chives, basil, pea leaves, philippine spinach, cucurbits flowers - picked like 30 of them, garlic and onions.

The City Jungle: Bare Fence to Strangling Vines

august 9, 2013
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

I know seasons change so fast, and I am all for change. I like the change, I like the variety of plants in my backyard. I looked at how bare it was in May and now, i cannot walk straight without knocking a pot of eggplant, or beans, or step on the squash.

So, here are some photos to show you how the bare fence become a jungle.