Chive flowers are edible and extremely tasty. Here they are hanging out with some radishes and chive stalks.

Garlic Scapes are the twisted flower stalks fall planted garlic sends out in an attempt to create seeds. Fall planted garlic rarely disappoints with large heads of tasty garlic that store well, the Scapes are a welcome added bonus. You simply trim the tough ends and eat raw or sauteed in ghee or butter, my personal favourite method of consumption. Whether you eat the scapes or not, you still want to cut them from the garlic plant. The idea being that the plant will then send the energy back to the bulb and not into seed production. When you harvest the garlic bulbs, around mid summer when the plants die down, simply save some of your best bulbs to plant again in the fall. That's what I call frugal gardening.  

Yum! Ripe strawberries. We always try to leave the strawberries to eat in the afternoon after the sun has warmed the fruit. Quite the treat.

German Reblooming Iris.

Baby Chicks.

30 meat birds, no antibiotics.

 Carrots, Beans and Potatoes.

Carrots.

Peas.

Parsnips, requiring some major thinning.

Brussel Sprout Plant.

Strawberries, just waiting for some sun.

Garlic, Onions, Shallots and Leeks.

The garlic is up to my waist. I am about Five feet 9 inches. The scapes are just starting on the garlic, I can not wait to eat them. I get more excited for garlic scapes than strawberries.

The garlic.

Here we have fall garlic, storage onions, green onions hiding at the other end after the spring planted garlic, red onions, shallots and leeks.

Teeny, tiny green onions.

The Herb Bed.  Literally steps from the kitchen door, I love grabbing handfuls of fresh herbs to add flavour to anything I'm making.

Pansies.

Allium.

Allium and Peas I snuck into the flower bed. I also snuck tomatoes, pumpkin, sunberries and zucchini in my flower beds.

Petunias are extremely easy, and affordable, to grow from seed. You need to think ahead as they need to be started about 11 weeks before your last frost.

Hello Hosta.

One of my favourite corners of the yard.

Artichokes and Asparagus crying for some warmer weather to be planted in the ground.

The contents of the cold frame also waiting for the warmer weather.

Radish

If you have never grown radishes before you may want to start. Radishes are quick to mature, about 25 days, enjoy cool spring or fall weather, although they will tolerate slightly warmer temperatures, and taste great! With their spicy flavour radishes are great raw or cooked in salads, relishes, preserves, sauces, salad dressings, as a garnish or many other ways. 

Radishes are extremely light feeders requiring little care other than sufficient watering, apparently the faster the radish grow, the better the flavour. Few pests bother with radish enough to affect their growth.       

The right tools for the job.

Gardening is big business. If you stroll down the aisles of any home improvement store at this time of year you will quickly see what I mean. Gizmos and gadgets galour are on display with tools, gloves and other gardening equipment. The best investment, in my humble opinion, is gardening literature. I find gardening literature to be very similar to nutrition literature in the sense that you will find conflicting information, varying opinions and different tactics. With both gardening and nutrition literature your best bet is to read everything you can on the subject and note the recurring themes then use the information that applies to your specific situation and works for you.

There are plenty of resources available online from gardening blogs, magazine websites (http://www.motherearthnews.com/, http://www.organicgardening.com/) nursery websites and many more. If you don't know how to plant something chances are you'll find a reliable source through google. Even seed packets can be a wealth of information.

Halifax seed company includes nutritional information as well as growing and eating tips. Veseys (http://www.veseys.com/)

sends a growing guide with each shipment of seeds, bulbs or perennials that I have begun to refer to as my 'Bible'.

Some of my favourite gardening books include, 

Plants for Atlantic Gardens: Handsome and Hard-working Perennials, Shrubs and Trees. - Jodi Delong 

http://bloomingwriter.blogspot.com/

 East Coast Gardener- Marjorie Willison

The New Organic Grower- Eliot Coleman  

Little Baby Kale.

Cilantro from seeds I spread in my herb bed in the fall.

Allium, from the flowering onion family.

New Bog Cranberries.

Pansies and Violas.

Pretty Pansy.

Garlic and Onions.

Romaine and Arugula.

Peas.

Forget me nots my thoughtful boyfriend picked for me.

Tulips.

You can help your tulips with the task of returning the next year by cutting them before they go to seed.

Leave all the foliage to continue growing then die, cutting only the flower stalk. Bring the tulips indoors where they will make a lovely bouquet for your kitchen or coffee table. 

Some Veggies.

Some lovely Romaine.

Cilantro. I have to restrain myself from nabbing early leaves to chew on. I eat half of my herbs while wandering around my gardens weeding or just checking things out. I almost always have chives on my breath when I'm outside.  

Radish, almost ready.

An Artichoke plant.

Potato.

Garlic, Onions, Shallots and Leeks.

Chive flowers are edible too, they make a great garnish to pretty up any plate or salad.