blue hydrangea

A while ago, a bride who had her wedding at the Lighthouse on Mayne Island last weekend requested a bouquet of blue hydrangea and a boutonniere for her fiance too.

So I went to my blue hydrangea bush and picked a few blooms.

And made this bouquet.

And this sweet little boutonniere too.  Lovely, all-natural, Mayne Island garden-grown wedding flowers!

mint

This is one of my mint patches in the sunshine.  Spearmint.  It's growing in three big tubs near the cherry tree.  One summer a few years ago while I was working away in the garden,  a car suddenly came barrelling down the driveway.  A youngish guy jumped out and ran through the gate.  He was looking for mint.  He was with a group of friends who'd come to the island from Vancouver for a few days of fun and the plan was to have mojitos.  He told me how he was in charge of the ingredients and he felt really bad because he feared all his friends were seriously disappointed with him because he'd forgotten to bring mint from the city.  Well you just can't make a mojito without the mint!!  
He'd been to the Farmer's Market but there was no mint there.  Those days, I didn't sell at the market much but someone there had told him that he could see if I had some mint, so that's how he ended up in the garden.  Luckily, I had lots of mint for him.  Yay!
I'll never forget that frantic little scene and thanks to that guy and his anxious search for mojito mint, I always try to have some spearmint on hand for those summertime vacationers that have forgotten to bring their mint from the city.  And I continue to sell lots in the summer.  If you're on Mayne Island and you need some mint, let me know : )

I also sell little mint transplants in the springtime, for those with home gardens who want to grow their own. 

Pretty bundles of spearmint, it looks lovely in flower bouquets too (or just by itself in a jar on the kitchen counter) and the smell is one of the best!

On market days, the jars of spearmint are there.  4 bundles per jar for display, $2. per bundle.

 One of the little market signs I use to label things.

This year,  I'm drying spearmint and peppermint in the garden kitchen for nice teas in the wintertime.

This is the peppermint patch, growing same as the spearmint, in tubs.  I like using peppermint in flower bouquets so I always let some go to flower.

I've discovered that Richter's Seeds is selling a type of mint plant they're calling "Mojito Mint" .  There's a link on that page to a story about it and some mojito recipes too.  Perhaps I need to grow some next year!....and Chocolate Mint too.....

potato harvest

I've been growing potatoes in pots for a few years now and I'm still so happy with the results.

I'm almost finished harvesting the first planting and am on to planting another crop for late fall, early winter and Christmas dinner harvests of oh so special and delicious new potatoes.  I can't get over the ease of this method and the incredible blemish free, beautiful young spuds that I can produce this way.  Tip the pot into the wheelbarrow and there they all are!   The soil and plant material goes to new beds I'm creating on the edge of the forest, "lasagna gardening" style.  Or sometimes into my compost pile.

This year, I had so many pots on the go that it got impossible to water them and keep on top of adding potting soil, grass clippings and straw on time as the plants grew.  Disappointing, but it's part of the process of expanding, I suppose.  Now that I'm truly sure of this method and ready to commit, we're putting some irrigation lines together for the 100+ pots that I'll have going next year.  That will help a lot.  Getting the systems in place is so integral to success!

Even with the growing pains,  I had piles of potatoes this summer.

Seiglinde,  Chieftain,  Russian Blue.

All bagged up in their 2 lb. bags, ready to go to the stores.  I sold quite a few at the Farmer's Market too and of course, we didn't forget to eat our share!