SHIFTING ROOTS

home, garden, food, and prairie lifestyle

Beginners Guide to Peonies: Growing Tips and Beautiful DIYs.

Peony season is finally here!  For two weeks in June peony lovers everywhere rejoice and furiously arrange and photograph their precious flowers. . . or maybe that’s just me.  There’s nothing like those delicate shades of pink and that glorious scent wafting from every bloom.

But peonies aren’t always as easy to grow as they might seem. In this post, I go over how to grow peonies (especially if you’re in Canada like I am), how long before your peony will grow, and some tips for transplanting peonies.

Did you know that peonies make excellent cut flowers? Once they have established, peonies will provide you with many cut flowers to use in the five DIY flower arrangements I’ve listed at the end of the post.

If you live in hardiness zones 2-8, you really need to pick up a peony root from your nearest garden centre or friend with too many on her hands.  Here’s everything you need to know to grow and play with herbaceous peonies.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase something.  You can read more about it in my privacy policy.  Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

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Delicious Maple Spice Crab Apple Butter

Do you have a favourite smell?  One that brings back all your favourite memories?  Of crisp Autumn days or happy times in the kitchen?

If I could pick one smell, it would be crab apples.

Their pretty red-pink might also win for best colour too.  I digress.

Lessons in Crab Apples

I vividly remember picking crab apples growing up on the family farm.  I would pick all the apples as high as I could reach while my mom or grandma got the taller ones with the ladder.  My grandma’s voice still rings in my head, gently lecturing me to not waste a single apple.

Any apples that fell while picking could still be collected for juice.

At the time I thought it was silly.  There were so. many. apples.  Surely one or two going to waste wouldn’t be a big deal?

While I haven’t heard of anyone dying from lack of crab apples, the lesson still sticks in my mind.  Now that I’m older, I confess that I take a certain amount of pride in being able to make my own crab apple pies, juice, and sauces.

Related: How to Organize an Apple Pie Making Day

Have a crab apple tree full of apples and no idea what to do with it? You'll want to make this maple spiced crab apple butter! All the smells and tastes of autumn. Spread it on toast or fresh bread, use it as a pancake topping, or use it to flavour plain yogurt.

Use Early Autumn Apples to make Delicious Crab Apple Butter

Every year I like to try something new.  This year crab apple butter was calling my name.

Despite having the word butter in it’s title, there is actually no butter in apple butter.  Think of it as a thick jam, or a jazzed up version of apple sauce.

Did you know there's no butter in apple butter? It's still delicious.Click To Tweet

The ingredients are simple: crap apples, lemon juice, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice.  Cook, blend, cook again, and serve.  Don’t worry, I’ll go into slightly more detail below and provide the recipe in an easy to read format at the end.

Related: How to Make Crab Apple Juice 

Have a crab apple tree full of apples and no idea what to do with it? You'll want to make this maple spiced crab apple butter! All the smells and tastes of autumn. Spread it on toast or fresh bread, use it as a pancake topping, or use it to flavour plain yogurt.

Use it up!

I can hear you already, “That sounds great, Kristen, but what will I actually DO with this marvellous crab apple butter?”

Eat it like you would apple sauce, serve it over pancakes, serve it IN pancakes, or add it to your plain yogurt.  You can even serve it on top of crackers and cheddar cheese.  Whatever you do, I know that you’ll be coming back for more.

Related: How to make a Simple and Impressive Charcuterie Board

Yield: 6 250ml jars

Slow Cooker Spiced Crab Apple Butter

Slow Cooker Spiced Crab Apple Butter

A delicious apple sauce to use up crab apples.

Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 4 hours
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 6 hours

Ingredients

  • 5 cups apple sauce,
  • 1 cup apple juice,
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup,
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice,
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon,
  • 1 tsp allspice.

Instructions

1.Clean and cut your crab apples, removing all stems, cores, and blossom ends.

2.Fill a large pot approximately 1/2 full of crab apples. Add four cups of water and boil. You may need to add more water as your apples cook so they don't burn.

3.When the apples are cooked through and mushy, remove from heat and put them in a blender. Blend on medium low for 30 seconds, or until smooth.

4.Measure out five cups of crab apple sauce and return to the pot. Add apple juice. I use the crab apple juice I make, but apple juice from the store is fine too. Add maple syrup, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and allspice. Feel free to adjust the spices to suit your tastes.

5.Heat and cook until boiling. Set heat to medium low and simmer for approximately 15 minutes. Transfer to sterilized jars and process in boiling water for 10 minutes, or let cool and store in freezer-safe containers. If canning, it is recommended to follow the procedure and guidelines as outlined here.

DO YOU JUST WANT THE RECIPE WITHOUT HAVING TO SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM?

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This Is What Your Urban Garden Can Grow in One Year

Think you have too little space in your city backyard to garden?  I’m here to tell you that as long as you have decent light, you don’t.

This year I planted a small garden in my backyard in a designated garden area, amongst my flowers wherever there was space, in pots, and in three raised beds.  That sounds like a lot of space, but it really isn’t.

Here are my results.

Have you ever wondered how much you can really grow in your urban garden? It might be more than you think! I'm sharing the results of growing vegetables in a tiny garden plot, on my patio in pots, and in a few garden boxes. #urbangardening #gardening #growingvegetables #smallspacegardening #citygardening

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How to Harvest and Preserve Onions

Harvesting and preserving onions is one of the easier late-summer-early-fall gardening chores that you will do.  If done right, you’ll have onions well into March.

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5 Tips for Making a Pallet Sign You’ll Love

This post is sponsored by Free Spirit Market.   All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Move over paint nite, pallet sign making workshops are where its at.  I recently attended Free Spirit Market’s pallet sign making workshop and it was a blast.

Learn all the little tips and tricks to ensure you'll walk away from Free Spirit Market's pallet sign workshop with a sign you'll love.

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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