Urban Veggie Garden Blog

Happy Holidays Everyone!

2011-12-24T23:33:00.009-05:00

Well it is that time of year again. The garden has come to a close and I have started to think of next season. That topic will have to wait however because tonight I would like to say Happy Holidays to everyone. I'll be looking forward to following everyone's garden next year and hopefully I will be a bit more diligent blogging about my garden. Below are a few shots I took tonight of local christmas lights, you may notice that we are snowless this year:

.......and I can't resist adding a shot of Charlie:

Harvest Monday

2011-12-05T15:46:00.000-05:00

Here is this years potato harvest. The harvest was a little dismal. I didn't plant a lot of them and what was planted had a rather low yield. The ones I planted in my half-barrel did the best by far.

This weeks main garden task will be to plant the garlic. It is rather late to plant garlic but in the past I have had good results from late plantings. I also have to get my season extenders in the garden. I cleaned them all up last weekend. There is not much point in planting them at this time but I should be able to get something growing in them by late February.

At the moment all that is growing in the garden is broccoli. I'll have to check what is worth harvesting this week.

Happy Gardening Everyone!

Some Photography

2011-10-31T01:25:00.004-04:00

As mentioned in my last post, I have been shooting like mad for the past few months. I have capture all kinds of birds lately! Either I have been really lucky or I have been spending entirely to much time with my camera. Following below is a selection of shots I have on my Flickr page:

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-tailed Hawk, Juvenile

Turkey Vulture

Great Horned Owl

Red Breasted Grosbeak, Female

White Tailed Deer

Giant Swallowtail

Mute Swan Family

Eastern Bluebird, Juvenile

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle, Two year old

Bald Eagle

Black-throated Green Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Pied-billed Grebe

Osprey, Juvenile

Sanderling

Black-bellied Plover

Great Egret

Black-crowned Night Heron, Juvenile

Black-crowned Night Heron, Juvenile

Green Heron

Baltimore Oriole, Female

Baltimore Oriole, Male

Red Headed Woodpecker

Red Winged Blackbird, Female

Common Gallinule

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane Colts

Sandhill Crane

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Cedar Waxing

Mute Swan

Garden Update

2011-10-13T01:34:00.005-04:00

It sure has been a while since I have done a post! The garden has slowed considerably in the past few weeks and I have been consumed with photography this season, hence the blog neglect. Overall this season was so so, good thing there always is next season. There is not a lot left in the garden at the moment, the only thing ready for harvest at the moment are potatoes & peppers. In terms of fall crops I never got around to starting any so the garden will be quite quiet this fall. There is a nice patch of spring broccoli that is starting to produce again though and I will at least try to sow some fall greens. Everything needs a good clean up as well including the blight stricken tomatoes. Below are a series of harvest photos I found on my drive, taken since my last post.

Harvest Monday

2011-08-29T22:42:00.002-04:00

This weeks Harvest Monday includes the following:

Two Roman Candle tomatoes, grown from seed shared by EG
Two Feuerwerk tomato
Two Mortgage Lifter tomatoes (Excellent tomato, the one is the size of two hands!)
A bunch of Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes
Two Cherokee Purple tomatoes
One Pink Berkley Tie Dye tomato
A bunch of Velvet Red cherry tomatoes
Three small heads of my funny looking broccoli
Three Adam's Gherkin cucumbers
A couple handfuls of Dragon Tongue beans

The garden has really started coming into its prime now. It has been a long wait but at least it is starting to pay off. Next week should bring some potatoes, peppers & green pole beans. The pole beans have taken ages, I planted them at the end of May and they are just starting to set now! Good thing gardening teaches patience.....

Harvest Monday

2011-08-22T22:43:00.000-04:00

I am getting my Harvest Monday post in quite late today. As you will see below I am finally harvesting tomatoes. It has been a painful wait this year. I should really learn to not grow all late producing heirloom tomatoes one of these years....

Here we have Feuerwerk, Pink Berkley Tie Dye and Japanese
Black Trifele tomatoes. There also is a group of Adam Gherkin
cucumbers. I am really not fond of the cucumbers. They taste
good but they are really prickly to pick, like a cactus.

This basket-o-maters includes Giant Belgium, Cherokee Purple,
Japanese Black Trifele and Pink Berkley Tie Dye tomatoes.

Now for the prized piece, A Hillbilly Potato Loaf tomato.
These truly are the best tomato ever made and the first one
of the season! Even though the yield is very low I keep growing
them because they taste so good.

Lastly a couple heads of my strange broccoli. They are all
growing heads like this this year. It is almost like it wants
to turn to cauliflower. Tastes fine at least.

Harvest Monday

2011-08-08T22:26:00.001-04:00

Here goes another addition of Harvest Monday. It has been a slow garden this year but things are picking up now.

These are the first tomatoes of the season, a handful of
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes. Looks like by next Monday I
should have actual full sized heirloom tomatoes.

A full basket of Dragon Tongue beans. These always do well
in the garden. Looks like my Blue Lake pole beans are still
taking their sweet ass time.

Two quarts of cucumbers were ready for harvest. This basket includes
Adam Gherkin F1 and Rocky F1, both are Parthenocarpic varieties.

This evening I harvested my Cascade Hops. This is their
second year and they are doing very well. They will be dried
and used to make beer. I am still waiting on the Nugget
and Goldings hops to mature.

Lastly the first head of Broccoli. These took ages this year
and are coming in kind of strange. It would appear broccoli
does not like cold springs followed by hot humid summers.

I've Gone Pickle Mad!

2011-08-04T11:35:00.003-04:00

This past long weekend I turned 2 bushes of cucumbers into 81 jars of pickles. Needless to say I don't want to see another cucumber for a while... I made a few different kinds for the whole family which I will show below. This year I opted for an outdoor propane burner, 60,000 BTU of raw power :-) It boils the canner in minutes and does not heat up the house.

10 jars of Granny's Sweet Pickle Relish.

6 jars of Old Fashion Bread & Butter Pickles, recipe follows
in the post below.

15 jars of Baby Dill Pickles. I tried out some 2L jars for this batch.
They fill much faster and their larger size speeds up the
processing. I think I will use more of them next time.

Now for the big job, 50 1L jars of Halved Dill Pickles.

Charlie helped out too by filling boxes.

Old Fashion Bread and Butter PIckles

2011-08-04T11:23:00.003-04:00

Yields 6 500ml jars

4lbs small pickling cucumbers
1 package pearl onions
2 tbsp pickling salt
4 cups cider vinegar
3 cups white sugar
2 tbsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground clove

1. Remove stem & blossom end from the cucumbers and slice into 3/16 inch rounds. Blanch & skin pearl onions. Place prepared cucumbers and onions in a large bowl, mix in salt and let stand 3 hours. Now drain & rinsed the vegetables.

2. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices in a large pot. Bring to boil over high heat. Then add the vegetables to the brine and boil until they are no longer bright green, about 30 seconds.

3. Remove the vegetables from the brine with a slotted spoon and pack into hot sterilized jars. Pour liquid over the vegetable to within 1/2 inch of the jar rim. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Harvest Catch Up

2011-07-21T22:09:00.008-04:00

Our cool weather has definitely departed now, the last few weeks have been hot and the last couple days have been scorchers. Above is a thermometer shot I took today in the deep shade under the big Maples out back, 36c (97f). Our day time high today was 38c(100f) and close to 46c (115f) with the humidex (heat index) factored in. Now for the task at hand, catching up on what I have harvested lately:

Here are the first cucumbers, Adams Gherkin F1. These
are a parthenocarpic variety that produce cucumbers
without pollination. They are producing very well now

I pulled all the garlic today. Timing their harvest is pretty critical.
They are ready for harvest when the bottom leaves die back leaving
about 5 green leaves on the top. If they are left past this the wrapper
will start deteriorate and the bulbs will not keep.

Here is another first of the season, Dragon Tongue beans.
These are great beans because they keep a nice texture when
cooked. I am still waiting on my Blue Lake Pole beans.

This is the last of the peas because they have all gone crispy
from the heat. I didn't get many pea photos on the blog
this season but they did do well during our cool damp spring.

Harvest Monday

2011-07-04T21:17:00.005-04:00

This is my first time partaking in Daphne's Harvest Monday this season. It has been a long time coming! I'd say it is a mix of weather and weather related laziness. That said, the weather has actually been really nice the last few weeks. Lots of days above seasonal for once and the veg has been enjoying it. Below are some shots of what I pulled from the patch today:

A big collander of Pac Choi, both red & green. I am going to
plant some more this week because it is all harvested now.

Here are French Breakfast & Easter Egg radishes. They have done
well this season. I also need to seed more of these this week as well.

Lastly, I picked a few Purple Podded peas today. They will end up
in a stir fry very soon. These are the only peas that have produced
so far. Snap & Salmon Flowered peas are just setting now.

I'll warp things up with Charlie in a chinese take out bag....

Look for another garden update by the weekend.

Summer Solstice Overview

2011-06-21T23:26:00.003-04:00

Given it is the first day of summer I thought it would be perfect timing to post some overview shots of the patch. The weather this June has been pretty decent and the crops have started to get growing. This will be a late year for the garden but I am hopeful it will catch up quickly now. I'll start with some pea flowers and then proceed from the bottom of the veggie patch:

Salmon Flowered Pea grown from seed shared by Matron. These are just coming into bloom now. I have them growing in a terracotta pot and hope to save some seed from them.

Purple Podded Pea. These are the best producing pea so far with lots of purple pods set already. They are suppose to be rather starchy. I'll shell some young peas soon and see how they taste. They sure look nice either way.

This is the lowest bed. It contains mostly herbs, some recently transplanted red romaine (pouting), broad beans & a black brandywine tomato. The soil in this bed is really bad. Next year I am planning on digging it all out and installing a raised bed with good soil.

Here is my Broccoli bed, they have really been growing lately. Can't wait for fresh broccoli! They are inter-planted with lettuce which will be harvested soon. To the left there are cucumbers starting to grow on the trellis.

This bed contains a mix of lettuce & asian greens, garlic & radishes. The trellis in this bed also has cucumbers growing under it.

These peppers are the only thing growing in this small bed. These are anaheim peppers.

I planted up my half barrel with purple potatoes this year. There also is a cherry tomato in the center, it better get grow or it will be swamped soon.

This bed contains a bunch of onions, 6 tomatoes & a row of garlic.

The rest of the potatoes all went into this bed. Some are growing faster then other but all have sprouted now.

The front of this bed contains dragon tongue beans, in behind pole beans are planted under a trellis. This bed also has two tomatoes & a wigwam of purple podded peas.

The last bed tonight is mostly snap peas. They are growing very well but they don't have a single flower yet. Melons are planted under the trellis behind them.

To wrap things up, here is a shot of a couple lemons growing on my meyer lemon tree. The tree is getting another big flush of flowers now so maybe I'll get a few more this year.

Warm Season Crop Catch-Up

2011-06-16T19:56:00.007-04:00

Tonight I am doing a catch up post on all the warm season crops I have planted. Most veggies in this post went in during the first week of June. This is about 2 weeks later then normal but this was unavoidable with our cool start to spring. The good news is out temps are hovering around normal now so the warm season crops should be pleased.

Burgundy Okra, grown from seed shared by EG . I planted a couple of these in a big hanging basket for some added heat. They are kind of limping along at the moment. They should get growing once they root in and our warm summer weather arrives.

These are Blue Lake Pole Beans. They were direct sown under a A frame bamboo trellis. Can't wait for fresh green beans!

Here we have Dragon Tongue beans that were grown as starts in rootrainers. These are my favorite bush bean, so tasty! They produce a pretty good dry beans too.

This wee thing is a Numex Joe E Parker Pepper which is an Anaheim Pepper. I planted 9 in my smallest raised bed.

This pepper is a Sport Pepper, like the pickled ones on Chicago style hotdogs. If they grow well in this hanging basket I'll pickle them this fall.

I am growing two Parthenocarpic cucumbers this year. They only produce female flowers and are seedless. Because they don't need cross pollination they are suppose to be more productive. This particular plant is Rocky F1 (Persian/Greenhouse type) and the other variety I am trying is Adam Gherkin F1 (European Pickling). Both will be trained on a trellis.

These are Montreal Market Melons. A Canadian heirloom that was world renowned in its day. They will also be grown on a trellis.

Last but not least, one of the Tomatoes. I have Tomatoes all over the place including 3 parts of the garden, 2 hanging baskets & one in a half barrel filled with potatoes. If you would like to see a list of tomatoes I am growing this year check out this link .

More planting...

2011-06-06T11:50:00.000-04:00

The past few days I have been planting all the warm season crops. The garden is about 80% planted now, quite late compared to last year but it should all work out in the end. I'll post about that once everything is planted. Today I am going to post about what I planted the last week of May.

Here are all the potatoes I planted on May 25th. I was not going to plant potatoes this year because I really don't have the space to grow them. But, Fresh ones taste so good I just couldn't resist. This year I am growing the following:

German Butterball - yellow skin, yellow flesh
Warba - yellow/red skin, white flesh
French Fingerling - red skin, light yellow flesh
Russian Blue - blue skin, blue flesh

French Fingerling

I planted 3 of the varieties in one raised bed. In place of hilling I planted the tubers 4-6 inches deep. I have found it is pretty difficult to hill potatoes that are block planted in a square raised bed. I have done this in the past and it works well. It does require a lot more dig though, particularly at harvest time.

Russian Blue

The fourth variety I planted in my half barrel. Potatoes do pretty well in large containers and this was the only place I had left to plant them.

The last week of May I also planted all the onions. These really should have been planted long ago. They would have taken the cool spring weather fine. This season I will be growing Bottle Onions & Ailsa Craig Onions. I am hoping they will amount to something even with the late planting date.

Clematis 'Nelly Moser'

I'll wrap up this post with a photo of my Clematis. I planted it three years ago and it is just starting to flower for the first time.

Weekend Planting

2011-05-24T21:07:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I managed to get quite a few things on my to-do list done. Not everything but a good first round. Here goes a bunch of photos of what was accomplished:

9 Green Goliath Broccoli were planted.

3 Happy Rich Sprouting Broccoli went in. This is my first
time trying these and the plants are still quite small.

I planted a bunch of lettuce starts including Winter Density,
Merlot, Black Seeded Simpson & Buttercrunch.

A good amount of seeding was done. Seeds include Radishes, Romaine,
Mixed Greens, Pac Choi ( red & a bolt resistant variety) & Tatsoi

The peas I planted on May 4th are off to the races. They need
a good thinning after my heavy seeding.

The Crimson Flowered Broad Beans that I planted as starts
are just coming into flower now. I am growing these as a seed
crop so if you want some let me know.

I also cut the lawn for the first time this season. All the clippings
were used to get my compost cooking again. All this material went
back in the bin in layers. Next time I cut the lawn I need to do the
same thing for my leaf composter.

I planted up a few ornamental's this weekend as well, two cast-iron urns
and two hanging baskets out front. This particular plant came from
the Variety Store just down the road, cheap and healthy.

There are still many things to plant. This week I have to plant all the potatoes and onions, they should have already been planted. I still need to get all the warm season crops in too, I will probably plant all them this weekend, it is suppose to be a hot one.

Inside the Season Extenders

2011-05-20T01:45:00.003-04:00

First off a little follow up from the post below. My laptop is officially dead, the motherboard is fried. The hard drive was still okay though. I was able to hook it up to a hard drive enclosure and transfer the few things off that were not backed up via USB. We now have a spiffy 27" iMac which truly has been a pleasure to use so far.

Now for the task at hand, veggies! Below is a bunch of photos of crops I have growing in the polytunnel and coldframe:

Broccoli, Green Goliath

Onions, Bottle

Peppers, Anaheim

All the Tomatoes for my Sister & I

Beans, Dragon Tongue in rootrainers. These are on my
heat mat, I am sure that is not recommend for outdoor use :)

Melons, Montreal Market also on my heat mat

Okra, seed shared by EG They are not growing much
but the warmer weather coming will help.

Basil, even though I don't like basil very much.

Herbs & Greens

Here we have a bunch of ornamental plants waiting
to be planted in pots and garden beds. Some are doing
better then others.

The long weekend coming up is our traditional planting time in Southern Ontario. Usually I have all the hardy things planted about a month ago but not this year, It has been to cold. Friday evening and Saturday will be spent doing some major planting. Everything is going in except the warm season crops, those I will just keep in the polytunnel for a little longer. Rushing them never turns out well, they like it hot! Look for a garden update this weekend with lots of photos of planted beds.

Technical problems....

2011-05-17T23:59:00.004-04:00

Last week blogger deleted post from May 10th on. Did anyone else have this problem? Then when they reinstated the post all the comments were gone. I apologize if your comment was deleted, there was about 8 lost.

Tech problem number two was when my laptop got a pretty bad virus. I ended up having to do a clean install of windows 7. Thankfully I was able to backup most of my photos, except what I was going to post earlier this week. Everything was going well until the laptop just shut off today and would not turn on... I am really regretting that I did not just replace the laptop when it did almost the same thing last spring. Since then I learned to use an external hard drive but not to ditch windows :)

Look for a post on what's happening inside the polytunnel in a day or two. Bare with me as I am working on a dinosaur PC I dug out of the basement!

I'll end with a photo I took of a pair of Blue-winged Teal Ducks:

Peas Are In!

2011-05-11T13:45:00.000-04:00

Our weather has greatly improve now, seemed to take forever this year. Over the last few days I have planted out all the peas, last year they were planted April 21st. I am slightly concerned about them producing this year. They should have been planted long ago and if summer weather comes on fast they may just fry. Time will tell I guess. I'll start with my problematic peas:

I ordered snap peas last fall and they just would not germinate for me this spring. I replanted twice in the rootrainers and only a few plants grew. I ended up getting new seed and direct sowing them on May 4th:

They were soak over night first.

I then planted two rows, heavily in hopes the Squirrels leave me some.

After planting I used a bunch of sticks to support them.
I like sticks because they are free and look good in the patch!

Today, May 11th the snap peas are sprouting. There is hope!

Above is a shot of one of the other peas that I grew in rootrainers. When the seed is good these planting packs really grow nice starts. Below are all the peas grown as starts in rootrainers:

Salmon Flowered Peas, Seed shared by Matron.
I am looking forward to these beauties.

Purple Podded Peas. These are a soup pea so they will likely
be treated as an ornamental.

Snow Peas.

Spring Veggies

2011-05-02T21:24:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday was a beautiful spring day so I cleared the whole veggie patch of leaves and dead plants. The beds are now ready to be turned, amended and planted as needed. It was nice to feel the sun again! Here goes the spring veggie photos that I have been neglecting to post. I'll start with outdoor veggies first:

Garlic, there are three rows this season.

Rhubarb

Claytonia in the coldframe, seed shared by Thomas last fall.

Now for all the seedlings that are growing inside and in the season extenders:

Basil, Purple & Green.

One of the pepper flats, I am only growing
Anaheim & Sport Peppers this season.

One of the Tomato flats, all the varieties are listed here.

Okra, seed shared by EG.

Broccoli, these are Green Goliath.

Various Herbs & Lettuce that were recently started.

Salmon Flowered Peas, seed shared by Matron.
There also are Snap, Purple & Snow Peas growing.

Crimson Flowered Broad Beans

This is a not so clear shot of Bottle Onions. I am also growing
Ailsa Craig Onions this season.

That is all for now. Later this week I am going to start planting out various things like onions, broad beans, peas & broccoli. It will be nice to have a green garden again!

Wildlife Photo's

2011-04-26T21:31:00.004-04:00

Long time, no post.... There is still not much happening in the garden but the weather is starting to improve. I am hoping to get the rest of the garden cleaned up this week, in between the rain. The post on my seedlings is also overdo as well! Until then I am going to share some wildlife photo's I have taken over the last few months:

Pileated Woodpecker

Nesting Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Cranes

Painted Turtle

Trumpeter Swans, wild nesting pair.

Wood Ducks

Northern Shoveler Duck

Redheaded Duck

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

More Spring Seeding

2011-04-13T15:22:00.002-04:00

It appears that spring weather has finally arrived, It seemed to take ages this year. With the cold start I am quite a bit behind compared to last year. I will likely now have spring crops in spots that need summer crops in a few months. I am sure it will all get figured out when the time comes though.

Monday evening I started quite a few things. First I had to replant half the pea's do to some deaths. I placed them out in the coldframe a while ago and the cool, cloudy days rotted a few shoots. I also started some late sown Broccoli in hopes of stagering the harvest a bit, both crown & sprouting broccoli was started. The last thing that was sown was all the tomatoes. I wanted to start them a little sooner this year but neglect to follow through. I am hoping to find room for the following tomato varieties this year:

Black Cherry
Velvet Red
Sungold
Cherokee Purple
Japanese Black Trifele
Roman Candle (Seed from EG)
Purple Calabash
Hillbilly Potato Loaf
Feuerwerk
Pink Berkley Tie Dye
Mortgage Lifter
Giant Belgium
Black Brandywine (Early Sown in January)

I'll end with a couple shots of Charlie out for a little adventure.

Look for a post on my seedlings in a few days....

Pea Planting

2011-04-01T11:21:00.004-04:00

Earlier this week I planted all my peas & broad beans. There will be quite a few varieties this year. I forgot to mention them on my garden plans below this post. They will mostly be planted on the trellises and they will be replaced by the melons and what not once summer arrives. Here is what will be grown:

Sugar Sprint Snap Pea - these will be the main crop of peas. I like that you can eat the whole pod which greatly increase the pea harvest.
Salmon Flowered Pea (shared by Matron) - These have a really nice salmon flower. From what I read they are best picked as a young shelling peas or use the older starchy ones for soup.
Blue Pod Capucijners Pea - A purple podded pea that also is a starchy one.
Oregon Sugar Snow Pea - Always nice to have a few snow peas in the spring.
Crimson Flowered Broad Bean - I am growing out a bunch of these to replenish my seed stock.

They were all planted in rootrainers and placed on top of the fridge. The heat mat is in use at the moment so the fridge heat will have to do. As soon as they start germinating I will place them out in the coldframe. Hopefully in about 2-3 weeks they will all be planted out in the beds.

Today the first Iris reticulata's opened. There is hope that spring is coming.....

2011 Garden Plans

2011-03-27T13:36:00.003-04:00

The weather has been pretty uncooperative this spring which gave me time to do some garden plans. Next week it is suppose to go back to seasonal so hopefully I can start doing some prep work outside.

Lower Beds

Middle Beds

Upper Beds

In addition to the beds I will be planting various containers including half barrels, hanging baskets and terracotta pots. Things that will be potted are Okra, Tomatillos, Potatoes and what ever else I can't find a spot for.

Spring Sowing

2011-03-21T21:17:00.005-04:00

Spring is finally here so it is time to catch up on my sowing. Tonight I started Burgundy Okra (seed shared by EG), Anaheim Peppers, Sport Peppers & Green Goliath Broccoli. They are tucked in the heated propagator now in hopes they germinate quickly. Next up will be Peas in Rootrainers and some 3" pots of Herbs.

To wrap up this post, here is a shot of the Super Moon that I took on March 19th. Unfortunately I missed the largest view of the moon when it was at the horizon. The sky did not clear until 11pm and at that time the moon was quite high in the sky.

Mixing Homemade Potting Soil

2011-03-16T12:34:00.000-04:00

Seed starting is about to get underway again so I needed to mix up some potting soil. I used to just use pro-mix but it gets quite expensive once you start doing alot of potting. You are looking at saving about 50% when you mix your own. Here is my recipe:

Dan's Mix

3 parts peat moss
1 part compost
1/2 part vermiculite
1/4 part pearlite
2 cups dolamitic lime (based on a 23.75 gallon batch, adjust accordingly)

I measure all parts with a 5 gallon bucket, this simplifies the process. The real key to this mix is the dolamitic lime. Peat moss is acidic and the dolamitic lime gently neutralizes the acidity, making for happier seedlings & plants.

I start by screening the peat moss into a wheelbarrow and gradulaty add the dolamitic lime. With that done I screen the compost into the wheelbarrow. Screening is not imparative but it does remove alot of sticks and clumps that little seedlings don't like. Leaving the sticks in also robs the soil of nitrogen as they break down.

When the soil is prepared I then added the vermiculite & pearlite. Then everything is mixed thoroughly with a square shovel.

Here is the final product. It is airy, holds moisture well and should make for some happy plants.

Soggy Creek Seed Co. Samples

2011-03-09T22:06:00.004-05:00

Last week I got a bit of a surprise in the mail, free seeds! Yan from Soggy Creek Seed Co. was very kind and sent me some more samples. If you recall from last year, they sell organic open pollinated seeds that they rename with rather funny variety names. Who knew seeds could be funny? I will look forward to sowing these seeds this season. Particularly the purple topped turnip, always wanted to try them.

Yan also mentioned in his postcard that he would love to supply some seeds for a seed draw. I will get in contact with him about this and then update everyone.

Harvest Monday

2011-02-28T15:39:00.002-05:00

Here is my first harvest for 2011. Some bean sprouts grown in my Homemade Bean Sprouter. I don't grow these often mainly because it can take up to a week for them to be ready. They are really easy to grow though if you plan your stir-fry a week in advance.... They do taste extremely good compared to store bought sprouts. I find they have a much sweeter taste compared to the starchy/rancid store bought sprouts.

More seed starting

2011-02-16T12:38:00.002-05:00

Spring is a little over 30 days away so I started some spring greens. They include Winter Density Lettuce, Shanghai Bok Choy, Tatsoi and Boston Lettuce. I also started a couple trays of Alisa Craig onions. I am hoping to plant out the greens in the polytunnel during the first week of March, weather permitting of course.

The seeds I started late January are also doing well, here are some photos of them:

Bottle Onions - Germination was a bit spotty but that seems to be
the case with this variety. Of the three trays I should have plenty.

Siletz Tomato - The first three seeds I planted did not germinate.
I replanted five and now have three seedlings. Some fresh seed will
be needed next year and I'll replace it with a faster producing tom.

Black Brandywine Tomato - This one germinated well so I thinned
to the largest one and potted up. I am really looking forward to trying
this one. The early start should help this late producing variety get going.

On the weather front, this week is bringing a much needed warm up. Friday is forcasted to be 10c (50f). I hope this is a trend that will continue! The sun is feeling warmer, the birds are starting to sing, bring on spring!

First Seeds are Sown

2011-01-23T22:08:00.000-05:00

I started the first plants for the 2011 veggie garden tonight on the kitchen island. It is still a little early but I like to give the onions and a couple early tomatoes a good head start. These early starts will be nursed along under my grow light and then placed out in the coldframe as soon as it is possible. Here are the varieties I started:

Three small flats of Amish Bottle onions. These are rather rare onions that produce a long shallot like bulb. They produced well last year and are good in storage too. Seed for them can be found at Heritage Harvest Seeds. I am also going to try some Ailsa Craig onions this season but have yet to order them.

I also start two extra early tomatoes. I have tried them in the past and they do give an early crop so it is worth the extra effort. This season there will be a True Black Brandywine & a Siletz tomato for early ones.

When it is cold outside......

2011-01-19T17:59:00.005-05:00

.... Charlie finds the warmest spot. This is an old cast iron grate that is retrofitted to our high efficiency furnace. She certainly is a cat that likes warmth!

Another sign of the cold weather is Amaryllis blooms. I placed this plant under the grow light about a month ago after letting it go dormant last fall. It quickly sent up two flower stems which will give use some nice colour during these grey days.

A quick update on the veggies: Look for a post on seed starting soon. Onions will be started this week which will kick start the 2011 planting season. I also need to take cuttings and pot-up a few plants under the grow light as well, look for a post on that too. I have not forgot about the seed give away either but have been neglecting to sort my seeds. Must get to that soon!

Garden Update

2011-01-05T18:05:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a while since I did a post on the garden. This is mainly because not much is happening. I neglect to plant much for the fall/winter season and what I did plant really didn't take off this year. All is not lost though, once the sun starts strengthening late February I will have lots of area ready to plant. This should give me a nice head start on the spring garden.

Here is a photo of the garden presently. We have had kind of a strange winter so far. Snow levels have been really low. Seems we get about an inch at a time followed by a melt shortly after. More normal weather is forcasted now however so all we are waiting on is a good snow cover.

This year I am going to try my best to not over plant the garden. So there will be much less variety this year. This will allow better plant spacing and more of each crop to harvest. It will make for some hard decisions, mainly that I can't plant 15 different kinds of tomatoes!

Below are a few photos of the crops that are growing in the coldframe right now. They never really grew much this fall. Hopefully I will be able to harvest something from the frame once the sun strengthens.

Claytonia, seed shared by Thomas

Red Pac Choi

Tatsoi

Red Scallions, seed shared by Thomas

I planted these this spring and they grew bulbs instead of
scallions. I saved some bulbs this fall and planted them up.
Hopefully they will grow into some bunching onions.

The last point of today's post is to announce I will be doing a seed give away soon. All I have to do is go through my seeds first. My seed box is overflowing and there also is half a drawer full. Once I short thought what I have extra off I will make a few groups and do a draw for them. Keep an eye out for the post and maybe you'll be lucky enough to win some free seeds!

2010-12-25T20:27:00.002-05:00

Happy Holidays

Everyone!

....from Charlie too!

Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-21T03:32:00.003-05:00

Early this morning there was a lunar eclipse. From what I have read, The last lunar eclipse that fell on the winter solstice was back in 1638, a rare occurrence for sure. I took some photos of the eclipse, both outside and from a second story window. Below are three of the best photos, a little grainy but not bad for a cheap 300mm lens:

Harvest Monday

2010-12-13T10:59:00.003-05:00

Over the weekend we had some rain and warmer weather so I was able to dig the rest of the root crops. Good thing I got it done because shortly after it turned really cold again and started to snow. Only four more months of this weather.....

Here are all the fall carrots I planted. There are red, yellow & orange carrots. The red ones are Purple Dragon, they did the best this fall.

I planted these parsnips early in the spring and they grew to be monsters. There is still a 5' row of them in the garden. I am leaving them in, they will either be harvest during a winter thaw or early in the spring.

I also dug the remainder of the celeriac roots. I am looking forward to trying them for the first time. Maybe a celeriac soup will be the first thing on the list.

Harvest Monday

2010-12-05T22:07:00.002-05:00

Sunday afternoon I managed to dig up a small harvest from the partially frozen ground. In the basket is the last of the fall broccoli, a celeriac bulb, Bright Lights chard & Tuscano kale.

I am hoping for a little bit of a warm up soon so I can dig the rest of the root crops. There is still lots of parsnips, carrots & celeriac in the ground. Looks like Friday maybe a good day to bring in the last of the unprotected crops. The cold seems to be setting in fast this year.

Dry Bean Summary

2010-11-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

The cold has arrived, the ground is starting to freeze up so I thought I would focus a post indoors today. This season I grew a nice variety of dry beans for the first time. They really reward the grower with lots of variation. Here is a shot of all the dry beans harvested this season:

I am pleased with the results from the beans. There was a 4'x4' area for the bush varieties and three 6' wigwams for the pole varieties. Given the small area they produced quite well. I have yet to cook any but given the weather some hearty meals will be cooked with them soon. A close up of each variety and description fallows:

Borlotti beans:
pole habit, very productive
seed shared by: Gary

True Red Cranberry beans:
pole habit, very productive
seed shared by: Kath

Soldier beans:
bush habit, low producer
seed shared by: Kath

Trail of Tears beans:
pole habit, very productive, produced two crops
seed shared by: Daphne

Vermont Cranberry beans:
bush habit, productive

Tiger's Eye beans:
bush habit, low producer

Purple Podded Pole beans:
pole habit, very productive
These were grown as a snap bean but the dry beans look
pretty good too. I'll report on their taste when I try them.

Garlic's In

2010-11-12T00:28:00.002-05:00

Today I planted all the garlic, a total of 35 cloves. First thing was to get the soil in shape. The bed was turned and weeded. Then I amended with a couple inches of leaf mold compost and dug that in. With the bed ready I dug a trench and then sprinkled in some blood & bone meal. The bulbs were spaced about 4" apart with each row 6" apart. This spacing is a little close but it worked out well last season.

Here is the garlic I planted. It is from the farmers market and they call it Elephant garlic. Not to be confused with the other huge Elephant garlic that is actually in the lily family. None the less these are big cloves! It produces around 6 cloves per head that are 2-3 times the size of your average garlic. It is a hard neck variety with a purple flecked skin and had a nice flavor.

I really wanted to order some interesting garlic varieties this season but did not order soon enough. Seems garlic is a hot commodity. Maybe next season I'll get to try some purple, red & spicy garlic.

Harvest Monday

2010-11-08T22:50:00.001-05:00

A wee Harvest Monday today. Harvesting has really slowed down now. There are a few hardy vegetables left but I am only harvesting them as needed. In terms of true fall crops things a pretty dismal this year because I never planted many. My plan is to try and transplant some things soon into the poly tunnel in hopes of extending the harvests.

I dug up some Parsnips and was pretty surprised at the size of most of them. This bunch weight in at 2lbs 1oz. The cores were pretty fibrous so I just cut out that part. There are still lots of parsnips in the garden, probably more then I need. Unless I need some I am just leaving them in until the ground starts freezing. They can also be left in and dug in the spring before they bolt.

I also cut some more Red Celery. This bunch is not overly red at the base due to shading. Next season I need to give them more spacing so they get redder. The celery and parsnips went into a batch of chicken pot pie.

These snap dragons are still going strong even with the heavy frost we have been having. They were sown this spring from seed shared by Granny.

Leaf Season

2010-11-03T11:33:00.001-04:00

The time has came to start composting leaves again. There are 10 large maple trees along the property line that drop lots of leaves. Last year was the first time that I started to compost them on site, previously I put them out for the city to compost. That turned out to be a pretty big mistake because leaves make some excellent compost for the garden. Here is how I went about composting leaves from last season:

To collect the leaves I used a mower with a bag attach, this really makes the process easy and mulches them up nicely. They then went into an open top bin were I compacted them down and watered well. The photo above shows them in early summer. They shrink down considerable over the winter and starting in the spring I start working them into compost. As the photo shows I dump out the bin and then rebuild with a mix of leaves and grass clippings, about 10 parts leaves and 1 part grass clippings. I did this 3 times this season and it did a good job of speeding the process along.

Now that it is time to start the process over I screened out the black gold making way for the new leaves. Last year I only collect leaves from the lawn and ended up with two big wheelbarrows worth of compost, about 12 cubic feet. The end produce was so nice this year I am collecting as many leaves as I can.

Here is a close up of the compost. It's about as good as it gets, airy, retains moisture well and is full of goodness. This was screened with my Compost Screen, a bit tedious to do but I think it is worth it. It removes sticks, stones and some maple roots that started invading the bin. This season I am putting landscape fabric down in hopes of keeping the trees from growing into the bin.

At this point about half the leaves have been collected and the rest are still on the trees. In a couple weeks they should be all down and in the bin. If I run out of bin space I am going to start storing them in leaf bags over the winter. By spring it should shrink down enough that they will all fit in the bin.

Wine Brewing

2010-10-27T19:57:00.004-04:00

I started making my first batch of wine tonight. Since starting to brew last fall I have made three batches of beer and a batch of hard cider. The only thing left is wine so I thought I would give it a go.

Here is the grape must all mixed with pitched yeast on top

Here is the wine in the fermentor with an airlock on top

The kit makes a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc which is my favorite white wine. I am hoping it is really close to the Stoneleigh Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc that I prefer. If everything goes well there will be 30 bottles on Dec 8th which I will split with my Sister.

If you would like to see the brewing proccess check out my other blog: Daniel's Home Brew

Harvest Monday

2010-10-25T18:17:00.001-04:00

It has been quite a while since I participated in Harvest Monday. On this rather grey but warm fall day I decided to harvest some crops. I headed out with a basket, clippers, camera and a pint of Muskoka Harvest Ale. The ale was a fine dry hopped pale ale by the way :-)

I ended up with quite a nice mix of veggies today. The fall has been great so far, no frost, lots of rain but a little lacking in sunlight. Frost must be coming soon so I brought in everything that will be affected by a freeze.

Three Waltham Butternut squash
A couple bell peppers grown from Granny's seed. The bell peppers had to much shade this year so they didn't produce well. I'll have to relocated them next season.
A good bunch of Big Chili II peppers, they seemed to do alright in the shady spot. I will roast them, remove the skin and freeze for later use.
My lone head of cabbage was brought in, it was grown some seed shared by Soggy Creek Seeds . The chipmunk ate the rest of the crop early in the spring.
One head of fall broccoli, more to come for them.
I also picked the only Petit Gris melon of the season. They were shaded by the tomatoes early on and didn't seem to like it.

Today I also harvested a bunch of Red Fennel seed. They were not so good at producing fennel bulbs but did produce very fragrant seed. I'll dry them and make porketta and maybe some Italian sausage later on.

Here is what I have harvested in the last couple weeks, Just some red celery. This celery is hallow inside and is only good once cooked. It has a reddish base and adds an excellent celery flavor to soups, stews & red sauces. The celery was used in a Leek & Potato Soup and Lasagna.

Fall Photo's

2010-10-13T10:50:00.002-04:00

Today I have some photos to share of the new season. The air has cooled and all the leaves have changed in our area now. I really enjoy the fall, it's similar to spring but without all the work. The fall has been pretty good so far, fairly cool but no frost yet. Below are a few photos I have taken on the nicer days:

Field o' pumpkins. Spooky Hallow Rd, Norfolk County Ontario

Turkey Point, Ontario

Martyn Line & Jamestown Line, Elgin County Ontario
This was kind of a crazy road. You had to cross a river and
the bridge was really old and had wood paving. Wish I took
a photo of it now.

Levey Lake

Cow's on West River Rd in Glen Morris, Ontario
They appear to be grass feed, not a spec of corn in sight!

Trumpeter Swans. We have seen them nest two seasons
now on this pond. They had two babies this year.

This is another shot from the pond with the swans.

Harvest Monday

2010-10-03T19:40:00.000-04:00

For today's Harvest Monday I have the last two tomatoes of the season. One Kellogg's Breakfast (seed from Granny) and one Japanese Black Trifele. The tomato season was good compared to last year but it was definitely not a home run either. They were late to produce and then got blight late in the season. I tried starting the tomatoes much later this season which resulted in a much later harvest. Next season I am going back to starting them 8 weeks before transplant.

Also in the basket is a bunch of Double Yield Cucumbers. They are still hanging in so they may make a few more appearances.

I also picked this butternut squash that was getting this weird pattern on the skin. Ever seen this before? It almost looked like it was excreting sap that was forming this pattern. I peeled the skin in this area and the flesh looks completely normal and was still very firm. Not sure if I have the nerve to eat it though!

On Sunday I cleared out all the tomatoes plants. Because of the blight they all went out with the garbage. Not running the risk of contaminating my compost! I also knocked off all the lower leaves on my brussels sprout plants . My thought is the plant will now send more energy to the sprouts. Hope it works!

The harvests will now be sifting to cooler season crops. The weather has really turned now, seems like the norm now is 15c (60f) in the day and 5c(40f) at night. The only warm season crops left now are peppers and they will be coming in shortly. I was hoping they would turn colour before harvest but I don't think that will happen now. Seasons are a changin....

Harvest Monday

2010-09-27T22:40:00.000-04:00

For this weeks harvest monday I have a bunch of roots crops and some other warm season crops. We are starting to have much cooler weather now compared to last week, definitely more fall like.

I dug the last of the potatoes, there was about this many already harvested this season. Not a lot but potatoes never seem to produce much in my garden. To much summer heat I think. In the mix are Alaska Sweetheart (red skin, pink flesh), Purple Viking (purple skin, white flesh) and Pacific Russet.

I also dug all the spring planted carrots. The parsnips were completely covering them so they had to be pulled. Next season I need to grow the carrots elsewhere, parsnips just grow way to big. In the mix here are Amarillo (yellow), Purple Dragon (reddish) and Scarlet Nantes (orange).

Here we have a bunch of tomatoes, they are just about finished up now. There also are a few Double Yield cucumbers. I think I am going to try an all female cucumber next year. This variety is just not producing much, probably a pollination issue. Also in the mix are a few Purple Sprouting broccoli florets.

I'll ends things off with the last of the dry pole beans. It is a mix of Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco & True Red Cranberry beans. There also are a few Purple Podded pole beans that I am letting dry. Once shelled they filled two dinner plates.

The Fall Garden

2010-09-24T22:22:00.001-04:00

With a new season upon use it seems like a good time to update on plant happenings. There is not much to update on fall planting because I have hardly done any. However there is still lots out in the garden so here goes a few photos:

There are four nice sized butternut squash ripening. They are about ready now but I will most likely leave them on the vine until we start getting frost warnings. The squash really took their time this year, I think because the peppers shaded them early on.

The mass of green is a double row of parsnips. They are engulfing the fall broccoli in front and smothering the poor carrots behind them. I think I will pull the carrots for this coming harvest monday and tie them back from the broccoli.

There is a nice cabbage forming. There should be two more but the chipmunks ate the other seedlings early on. Must remember to start extra plants next season!

The brussels sprouts are starting to sprout now. Perhaps this will be the first year they actually produce something. They are quite floppy so I will have to stake them up soon.

The purple sprouting broccoli have grown into monsters. So far they have produced a few small broccoli sprouts here and there. Hopefully they produce more as the fall progresses.

The celeriac has been bulking up during the last month. They are in between a hard ball and soft ball size now. I have no idea when they are ready, something I need to look into.

A few 'Petite Gris' melons have been sizing up. They are extremely late this year. I am half hopeful they will ripen before the fall frosts in late October.

Some blight has shown up on my tomatoes a couple weeks ago. It is not affecting the fruit so I am not to concerned. It is late in the season and most of the tomatoes are already done.

Asides from a few stragglers all the dry pole beans have been harvested. I am quite pleased with the dry pole beans. They produced a very nice yield from only three wigwams. I will post a dry bean overview soon.

Now to wrap things up with Charlie, the cat that showed up in the garden this spring. She is now a very content indoor cat. She has been spayed, vaccinated and is up to a healthy weight. As the picture shows she likes to find every new spot she can. Last night that spot was the basements false ceiling. If she only knew the tiles wouldn't hold her weight..... That aside she is a very nice cat and likes lots of attention, almost dog like really.

Harvest Monday

2010-09-13T07:02:00.003-04:00

A small Harvest Monday today, just a basket of tomatoes and a big plate of dry beans. Looks like some cucumbers and snap beans will be ready early in the week though. There are a few Anaheim chilies just about ready as well, maybe I'll makes some green chili sauce this week.

Here are the dry beans shelled. This is the largest harvest of them so far this season. I have been getting a shallow bowl but this week I have a large dinner plate of them. Next week there should be about the same amount. The red ones are True Red Cranberry grown from seed shared by Kath. The other ones are Boriotto grown from seed shared by Gary. Both are pole beans and are alot more produce then the dry bush beans.

Fall Crops Part II

2010-09-08T20:04:00.003-04:00

Today was a blustery cold day, the kind of day that makes you realize fall is not far off. It was motivation enough to do the second fall planting this year. Today's planting should have been done around Aug 15th. I think I should still harvest something from my planting though so all is not lost. The coldframe was planted this evening with Tatsoi, Red Pac Choi & Claytonia (seed shared by Thomas). Tomorrow I am hoping to get the cedar polytunnel planted up. With that done everything will be planted for the fall & winter garden.

With September upon use it is now time to start picking apples. This past long weekend we visited Orchard Home Farm which has turned into an annual visit for use. It is still early in the season so only a few varieties were ready. We picked 23lbs of Mcintosh apples, half will be eaten fresh and the other half I will make apple sauce with. Bartlet pears were also ready so 16lbs of them were picked. The pears I will use to make spiced pear jam & canned pears.

The farm also had a huge earthen mounted that pumpkins were growing over. It was just packed with pumpkins. I wish my butternut squash were as far along as these pumpkins. The skins are still green on them!

Harvest Monday

2010-09-05T23:50:00.001-04:00

Dug these up for Sundays dinner, some spuds & parsnips. This weekend was really cold, like 18c(64f) so I made stew. Strange weather, last week was over 30c (90f) and really cold right after.

Here is what else came in Sunday. The Purple Sprouting Broccoli made its first appearance. I am hoping for lots more from them during the cooler months. The storms this weekend snapped off a few peppers so they came in a little early. The cucumbers are still coming in nicely too, they took for ever to start producing this year. For tomatoes this week we have, Kellogg's Breakfast, Giant Belgium, Pink Berkley Tye Dye, Green Zebra, Monomakh's Hat & Velvet Red.

Here is yet another weeks worth of dry beans. The dry beans are coming near the end though. All the bush varieties are done now and the Trail of Tears (black ones) are pretty much done too. The True Red Cranberry & Boriotto above still have many pods that have yet to mature.

I harvested another variety of hops this weekend as well, this one is Nugget. It is used to bitter beer were as the variety I harvested a few weeks back is used to give the beer aroma/flavor. There also is a Goldings variety growing but it only produced a couple hops. Hopefully next year it will put on a better crop. If you would like to see some of my beer brewing check out my other blog: Daniel's Home Brew

Harvest Monday

2010-08-30T09:06:00.003-04:00

Lots of tomatoes for this weeks harvest monday. Definitely to many to eat so I will can some of them for winter. Tomatoes include: Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple, Pink Berkley Tye Dye, Kellogg's Breakfast, Velvet Red, Siletz & Monomakh's Hat. Also in the basket are a few cucumbers & snap beans.

Here is the last weeks dry bean pickings. It seems every week I get a nice bowl of dry beans and they are starting to add up now. Lots of variety in this bowl: Trail of Tears, True Red Cranberry, Vermont Cranberry, Tigers Eye & Boriotto.

To wrap things up here is a photo of the first Kellogg's Breakfast tomato. It is a whopper coming in at 1lb. There are lots more of them on the vine too although not as big as this one. This one will be sliced up with dinner today. The seed for this tomato was shared Granny.

Late Summer Roundup

2010-08-27T19:27:00.000-04:00

Today seemed like a good day to do an overall update on the garden. I can't even remember the last time I did an update or even a post other then harvest monday. Lets start at the top of the garden:

On the trellis is 'Waltham' butternut squash that have since taken the place of spring peas. The squash have really taken off the last couple weeks with lots of squash forming. In the front is a mix of peppers. This is a bad spot for peppers as it is kind of shady, next year they will need a new spot.

This trellis has all the pole beans, both green & purple. In front are dry bush beans which are ready for the compost now. Tucked in the corner is the early sown Siletz tomato. It is now getting a nice second flush of fruit.

Here are the monster dry bean plants. There are three varieties growing here, up 6' wigwam's and then all the way across the wall. They are absolutely filled with beans! There is Charlie in the window, always watching what I am up to.

This is the area below the dry pole beans. Recently onions were growing here, now the coldframe will be located in this spot. Plans are to place and plant it up this weekend. To the side is a mix of fall carrots that are about a month old.

Next down we have fall broccoli, parsnips & lots of carrots behind the parsnips. Mental note, plant parsnips behind carrots next year.... In the half barrel is a kale & cabbage plant.

This little bed has a few fall parsnips in front with chard & celery behind. The dill looking flower is some bolted fennel. I am letting it flower to collect the seeds for cooking.

Here is the tomato bed, which did contain 12 plants. Two have since died from having the eavetroughs spill over on them. Lots of heavy rains this season. The tomatoes are really coming into their prime now. Next year I really need to grow more early producing tomatoes.

Here is another almost empty bed, it only contains some purple sprouting broccoli I planted this spring. This area will house the poly tunnel, another thing I am hoping to get in this weekend.

In behind the empty bed & tomatoes there are cucumbers & melons on trellises. The cucumbers on the left are doing very well. The melons on the right are legging, they were shaded to much by the tomatoes. Looks like I might get a couple melons later in the fall though.

At the base of the garden I have this new bed that is just lightly amended yard soil. The bed comprises of celeriac on the right, potatoes in the middle & brussels sprouts on the left. The potatoes have pretty much died back now so I will be harvesting them soon. I am not expecting much from them because the summer has been so warm.

Harvest Moday

2010-08-22T20:40:00.003-04:00

Today I have a bit of an unconventional harvest monday. This is the first time I have shared a hop harvest and local foraging. I'll start with some garden tomatoes first though:

The first of the heirloom tomatoes were harvested today. I have harvested a couple early hybrid tomatoes already but these are the ones a gardener longs for. Starting on the left in the so so picture is Cherokee Purple, Pink Berkley Tye Dye & Giant Belgium. The small ones in front are Velvet Red.

This spring I planted three hop varieties, they grow from rhizomes and are perennial. This variety is Cascade and they are used in hoppy beers and American ales. Pretty good harvest for the first year! The next hop harvest will be Nugget which are used to bitter beer. The other variety I am trying is Goldings, it is not putting out many hops the first year so it will be a wash. Below is a closeup of a hop:

This is a Cascade hop cut open. The yellow parts are lupulin glands. They contain most of the essential oils and resins which give beer their flavor.

Here is a bunch of Elderberries that I picked today well out in the country. They grow wild in wet areas. I have never tried these before but they seem to be rather prized by people in the know. They have a blackberry flavor but are very astringent without sugar. The seeds also contain a small amount of cyanide so they have to be cooked before consuming them, this boils the toxins off. They have many uses like syrup, jellies & pies. They are also used to make elderberry wine and added to beer as well. Not sure what I will do with them yet.

I also came across an apple tree growing on the side of a gravel road today. It must have been a cultivated variety at some point, looks kind of like a Golden Delicious. It was really neglected but the apples still looked good. I picked a bunch and will probably go back in a few weeks when they sweeten up more. These ones will be made into an apple pie, mm apple pie.

Harvest Monday

2010-08-16T22:31:00.002-04:00

The first potatoes of the season. The plants are just starting
to die back, lots of spuds coming soon.

More dry beans. The dry bush beans are finished up now.
Now the dry pole beans are starting to come in, they are
just loaded with pods.

A few cucumbers and more snap beans. The snap beans
have not given up yet but I am starting to give up eating
them. I think some blanching & freezing is in order now.

To wrap things up there is hope the tomatoes will ripen this

season. This is a Velvet Red just starting to turn. There also
are a couple larger tomatoes faintly turning. Next season I need
more early tomatoes and less big heirlooms. Most varieties
this season are 80 plus days to harvest, to long!

*Be sure to check out everyone's harvest on Daphne's page

Tomato Crop Update

2010-08-13T15:28:00.002-04:00

The summer has been getting the better of me lately. Asides from harvesting it seems hard to spend time in the garden or in front of the computer. We have been on the road a lot lately touring around and taking pictures. I should really post some photos of our finds soon. I was going to do this tomato post yesterday but ended up going to the lake with my Sister. Even at the lake I can find some veggies, below is a photo of a Trailing Wild Bean that was growing on the beach. From what I can gather it is fairly uncommon in the north east, not sure if it is edible though.

Now for the task at hand, tomatoes. They all look very healthy but seem to be taking ages to turn colour. This season I started them 6 weeks before planting them out, I think that is the culprit. Next season I will go back to starting them 10 weeks before transplant.

This was a sucker. They form between the main stem & leaf.

This year I have been religiously pruning out all the suckers. Once the plants reached the top of their 6' stake I also cut the top out in hopes it directs energy into fruit not growth. There are a few reason that I pruned so heavily this season:

It fits more plants in a small space, without pruning they just shade each other
To increase airflow within the plants, this helps reduce the risk of blight
It also makes it easier to see/harvest the fruit

Below are some photos of the fruit, mostly the ones I really wanted to try like last month!

Kellogg's Breakfast, grown from seed shared by Granny.

Green Zebra

Pink Berkley Tie Tye, grown from self saved seed.

Cherokee Purple, grown from self saved seed. They are
starting to get bronze shoulders so it shouldn't be long now.

Harvest Monday

2010-08-09T18:52:00.003-04:00

The last week has been pretty slow in the garden. I am still waiting on most warm season crops. It's been so warm this year you'd think they would be ahead of the game. Good thing I am starting to learn patients. Here goes some photos of the same old harvests:

Bright Lights Chard on the left, grown from seed shared by
Daphne. In the basket is a mix of Purple Podded pole beans
and Dragon Tongue beans.

Almost all the dry bush beans have came in. These are
predominantly Vermont Cranberry beans.

The Kentucky Blue pole beans are starting to produce again.
A nice change from all the funny coloured ones. The other beans
are Purple Podded pole beans.

These onions are multiplier onions, also called potato onions.
You plant a bulb in the spring and end up with 4-6 more later
in the summer. I have yet to taste them but they certainly
produced well. One the other end are a couple retarded cucumbers.

Harvest Monday Catch Up

2010-08-02T22:27:00.002-04:00

Been on a bit of a blogging hiatus so this post includes harvests from the past two weeks. The garden has been producing well but I am still waiting on the majority of tomatoes. The cucumbers and peppers seem to be lagging as well this year. Looks like there will be a bumper crop of warm season veggies late this summer. Here are photos of most things harvested lately:

Tomatoes

The first two tomatoes came in last week. These are from the early sown Siletz plant. As soon as they started to turn I brought them in to ripen on the window sill. Last season the critters got the first tomatoes, not this year! They tasted excellent.

Snap Beans

Above we have Purple Podded poles & Dragon Tongue beans, both have been producing well still. The only ones missing are the green pole beans. They have been on a break but are flowering well now.

Dry Beans

Lets start with the first bean photo shall we. The black beans are Trail of Tears, grown from seed shared by Daphne. They are a pole bean and are the first pole variety to produce beans. The raspberry coloured beans beside them are Vermont Cranberry, a bush variety. They are grown from seed I saved last fall.

The lower photo includes Soldier beans on the left, grown from seed shared by Kath. They are a bush variety and very productive. On the right are Tiger's Eye Beans. Also a bush variety but not nearly as productive.

Onions
Bottle Onions

Red Long of Tropea Onions
(seed shared by Daphne)

Utah Sweet Spanish Onions

Assorted tiny onions.

All the onions came in today. Like the last two seasons they are rather small. Storage onions are typically not all the big but these are half the size they should be. One that did stand out was the Bottle onions. They are like a long shallot and grew quite well. If they taste good I think I may only grow them next season as a storage onion. They are reported the be a really good keeper.

Fall Crops Part One

2010-07-21T23:53:00.000-04:00

The past few days have brought some fall planting, in between the heat & rain. This is the perfect time to get longer days to harvest crops in for a late harvest. Below are what has gone is so far:

I planted the broccoli that I started in cell packs mid June. They were planted within a row cover tunnel, the supports are just coat hangers. The tunnel will shade them a bit from the hot sun and keep the bugs out. Once they get larger I will remove the cover, probably in a month.

In place of the garlic I planted a bunch of carrots. I used Granny's seed mat idea again, it worked really well this spring. I planted out every kind of carrot I had, purple, yellow, orange & mini orange. Hopefully they will provide a nice harvest some time in November.

Here is a double row of Parsnips. I tried parsnips as a late crop last year and they produced a nice bunch of roots by early December. Hopefully they will this year as well. I also have a double row of parsnips I planted this spring.

With the snow peas finished I planted up the empty pot with soybeans. They require 80 days to harvest them green so there should be just enough time. Lets hope for a warm September.

In other fall news, I've done a fall swap with Thomas and his seeds arrived the other day. Lots of goodies, Claytonia, Shanghai Bok Choy, Chinese Celery & Winter Density Lettuce. Time to get planting!

Harvest Monday

2010-07-18T22:24:00.001-04:00

This weeks harvest monday has a bit more variety, I like that! I'll start with the new things first:

To my surprise some of the shelling bush beans are starting to dry already. These are 'Tiger's Eye' beans and this is just a drop in the hat of the harvest to come. Looks like a few Soldier beans (seed from Kath) will also be ready for harvest soon.

Here is all the garlic I harvested this year. Not much was planted last fall and I am kind of regretting it now. This variety came from the farmers market. It only produces 3-5 cloves but they are whoppers! I'd say double the size of an average clove. It is now time to place mail orders for garlic, I won't be neglecting to order this year.

A bit less pole beans came in this week. Last week I had a huge collander worth and this week just a few handfuls. The varieties in the basket are Purple Podded & Kentucky Blue.

Here are the last of the peas. I picked these off the vines before composting them. It was a bumper year for peas. Maybe I will try some this fall as well.

Garden Cleanup

2010-07-15T17:37:00.002-04:00

It was a bit of a scorcher today at 34c (93f) in full sun. What better to do at 4pm then clean up the garden... really need to pick up common sense one of these days. I started by harvesting the last of the peas and pulling all the vines out.

Above are two kinds of snap peas, Cascadia & Opal Creek Golden. They were by far the best producers this year. Now that the crop has finished, I turned the bed and will be planting fall broccoli in this spot. Most likely with row cover because of all the heat we are having this summer.

This little pot was planted with Oregon Sugar snow peas. For being pot grown they produced quite a bit of snow peas. Next year I will have to allot some trellis space for them. This pot will now be planted with some soybean seeds I purchased in 2008. Given a warm September I should be able to harvest some young edamame.

Here are the Victorian Climbing shelling peas. One vine did manage to grow 8' high but they didn't fill out much. I think being against the brick with a southern exposure is way to hot for peas. This trellis is already planted with butternut squash which are just starting to take off.

I then moved onto picking the garlic. The harvest was way to small. The grouping above was planted early fall and developed well. The other group I planted late November, it grew but never developed properly. This year I definitely need to plant more garlic and at the proper time.

The last thing to do was pull all the bolted fennel. I did leave one red fennel in on the far left because I hear they produce very flavorful fennel seed. I will plant some more fennel in August for a fall harvest, hopefully it grows better. The garden frog wanted to get in the shot too, the froggy was shared by Ribbit.

In behind the fennel you will see some lovely 'Bright Lights' Chard, grown from seed shared by Daphne. It is in it's prime and now leaf-miner free. Must come up with some ideas for it. In front are a couple heads of buttercrunch lettuce, Surprisingly not bolting. I will pick them in the next few days as I am sure they will bolt soon.

That's all for today. My next post will be on the fall planting I have to do now that I have some free space.

Garden Happenings

2010-07-13T19:01:00.002-04:00

Lets start out with dinner shall we. Here we have wild BC salmon w/ dill & lemon. On a bed of couscous, surrounded by snap beans from the garden. Wish we ate like this more often because I am starting to get portly....

Back in the garden, the Waltham broccoli is putting out its fourth head from twelve plants. It produces nice broccoli, just not enough of it.

Here we have the next planting of broccoli for a fall harvest. They are 'Early Dividend', I grew them last fall and they produced well.

The 'Siletz' tomatoes are still green. Can't be long now... I keep telling myself :-)

This is the first 'Cherokee Purple' tomato to form this season. This is grown from seed I saved last fall and shared with lots of other bloggers. If you are looking for some seed next season let me know.

All the fennel, both red & green are bolting. Bit of a shame but with all the heat we had last week it is unavoidable. I think I will leave a few in for fennel seed.

The first 'Double Yeild' cucumber is setting. This is a pickling type which I prefer for fresh eating. Grown from seed saved last fall.

The shell bean bonanza is still growing. I am going to have to harvest this with hedge clippers later this season, maybe from the second story. There are three varieties growing here, Trail of Tears (from Daphne), True Red Cranberry (from Kath) & Boriotto (from Gary).

The garlic is ready so it will be picked by Harvest Monday. I only have a few plants because half of them didn't amount to much. Must allot more space for them next year. I'm thinking less onions, more garlic.

I think the hops vines are starting to flower. This is my first time growing them so I am not totally sure what the buds look like. Looking forward to brewing a garden beer this fall!

To wrap things up, here is the first peach Brugmansia flower of the season. The first photo is taken early evening well it is closed and the second photo is taken at dusk when it fully opens. This plant is 4 years old now and always puts on a good show. The fragrance in the evening is amazing.

Harvest Monday

2010-07-12T00:42:00.000-04:00

During the past week, harvests have not changed much but the garden did provide a bit more bulk. Looks like most of the warm season crops are still a ways from harvesting but are looking well. All the heat & rain we are getting will hopefully speed things along. Starting to wish I gave my tomatoes more then a 6 week head start.... Below are photos of what was brought in during the past seven days, the only thing not pictured are some 'Waltham' broccoli side shoots.

This is the biggest snap bean harvest so far this season. The bulk of them are Kentucky Blue pole beans, they are a cross between Kentucky Wonder & Blue Lake. There also are a few Purple Podded pole beans, love the purple colour but they go green when cooked. On the other side there is a nice bunch of Dragon Tongue beans. They are by far my favorite bean. Looks like this will be a good bean year!

I also brought in some peas from the poor heat stressed vines. The peas have been great this year, I have been picking them for over 6 weeks now. There is some of everything in there, Cascadia snap's (from Laura), Oregon Sugar snow's (from Miss M), Victorian Climbing shell's (from Gary) & Opel Creek Golden snap's.

I figured this would be the last of the peas but it looks like they are still putting out flowers, particularly the Cascadia snap's. The crops that will fallow the peas are still a ways from planting so I am going to leave them all in.

Be sure to check out Daphne's page were you can share your harvests and check out what everyone else is harvesting.

Heat In The Garden

2010-07-08T17:24:00.002-04:00

We've been enduring a heat wave this week, with most days at 34c(93f) in the shade and 42c(108f) if you factor in humidity. Pretty nasty but it has been worse. Above is a photo I took about 15 minutes north of Brantford, well coming back from Waterloo yesterday. The far off buildings in the distance is the center of Brantford, lots of haze.

I have been watering the garden ever evening. It has a full southern exposure and being against the foundation things really dry out fast in this weather. With the water most things are not complaining and in fact growing gangbusters.

The only thing protesting are the poor peas. All the new growth is either crispy or yellow. I will be picking some peas tonight and they will likely be the last of them. But this just means new beginnings, soon broccoli will take their place and provide a fall harvest.

Some of the new bean leaves are crisping up as well. With that said they are still growing like mad which I will show below.....

These are all climbing shelling beans. They have out grown their 6' wigwams and starting crawling along the decommissioned chimney. A little further up are the climbing green beans, they are not quite as vigorous yet.

The tomatoes are really growing too, probably over a foot in the last seven days. Lots of flowers but not many fruit yet. The only one with visible fruit is the early started siletz. I think I need a couple more early ones next year.

The pepper are another crop loving the heat. A hot summer was forcasted this spring so I didn't use black plastic this year. It is looking like a good idea now! They are close to waist high and like the tomatoes, lots of flowers but no peppers yet.

Lastly here are a couple shots of the 'waltham' butternut squash vines. I have started tying them to the trellis now that they are long enough. I find all the Cucurbitaceae need a few ties before they start climbing themselves. There are quite a few buds starting, these waltham's are suppose to pump out lots of squash.

Tonight I have a bit of work to do in the garden which I will hold off doing until near dusk. The tomatoes need the suckers removed & tying, many other things need tying up as well, like peppers, cucumbers & melons. There also are peas, broccoli & beans to pick.

This & That

2010-07-04T16:23:00.002-04:00

Above are the summer planters this year. They were all grown from seed out of cheapness. Everything was started in early April and planted out late May. Seemed to work well except the germination rate was pretty bad. We ended up having to buy a few hanging baskets for the porch hooks & upper window box. Next year I know to sow double the seed.

This sunflower was planted by the chipmunk so it is a black oil sunflower. It is quite small, about the size of a tennis ball. All the sunflowers I planted didn't grow this year, possible from chipmunk or from all the rain we had this spring.

The peppers are starting to take off now. This particular one is a Quadrato Rosso D'Asti, grown from seed shared by Granny. They have all grown about 16" high and are starting to flower.

Here are some young Italian Red of Florence Scallions, grown from seed shared by Thomas. I planted them in cell packs back in May and they were planted into the garden a few weeks ago. Before long I should have some nice red scallions.

The row of celeriac is starting to form root balls. I received two kinds in trades this year and I don't recall which one this is. It is either a Giant Prague (from Miss M) or Billiant (from Kathy).

The early started Siletz tomato has a couple fruit sizing up. Wish they were red!

All the tomatoes sown late April are over three feet high now and setting flowers. This particular one is a Cherokee Purple grown from seed I saved last year. I shared the seed with alot of bloggers and I hope they are all doing as well.

I think the Purple Sprouting Broccoli is starting to sprout. This is my first time trying this crop and it is grown from seed shared by Miss M.

The pole beans are really starting to set now. Last years bean crop hardly produced at all so I am happy to see lots of beans again.

The Crimson Flowered Broad beans are starting to set pods as well. They are a cool season beans and I planted them way to late. Hopefully the heat we have been having does not stop the beans from forming. This variety was shared by Matron last year and I then saved the seed for this years crop.
The potato bed is coming into bloom now. This means there are spuds forming now. I may just have to dig around a bit and see if I can steal a few.

To wrap things up here is a photo of Charlie watching me out in the garden. She has been vaccinated now, next month she will get the second shot and will be spayed at the same time.

Harvest Monday

2010-06-28T21:18:00.004-04:00

This weeks Harvest Monday has a little more variety. Still waiting for all the summer goodies though like tomatoes, peppers & cucumbers. Here are some shots of mostly everything that was harvested:

More mixed peas. I picked the vines clean today so next week I am not expecting any. The snow peas are setting blooms now but the rest are not. The next few days are cooling down finally so hopefully they will set some more blooms.

The bean harvest has picked up a little more too. Two handfuls of dragon tongue beans this time. To the side are the first pole beans of the season, kentucky blue & purple podded. Pretty slim pickings of them but lots are setting now.

I had a few comments about the dragon tongue beans last time. I have grown them for three seasons now and they are excellent. They keep a very nice texture when cooked, almost meaty. They also produce early and are very productive over the season.

Here is some of the Black Seeded Simpson lettuce that was harvested. The seed for this was shared by Alex.

Last but not least the first broccoli of the season. The variety is Waltham and I am not totally impressed with it. The plants are spindly and this bunch is from three plants. I will not be growing this variety again, my Green Goliath last year was much better.

Summer Garden Overview

2010-06-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

The gardener has really started to fill in so it seemed like a good time do an overview post. The beds are not showing much bare soil anymore but it will be a little bit longer before the trellises are green. Lots of photos today, I will keep the descriptions to a minimum so not to consume to much of your time.

From the base of the garden. Photos of each bed starting
at the base will fallow.

A bit of a mishmash here. Brussels sprouts, potatoes,
broad beans & celeriac.

This is the broccoli bed. The trellis behind is planted with
cucumbers which are about to start climbing.

Potted snow peas in front of the broccoli.

Next up is the tomato bed. On the trellis behind is french
melons. The melons are a little poky but seem to be doing
well now.

This is another mixed bed. Buttercrunch lettuce, fennel,
swiss chard & red celery.

In front are snap peas, they will be replaced by fall broccoli
in July. In behind are assorted carrots & parsnips.

This half barrel is planted out with lettuce, kale & cabbage.
Looking a little tight, it needs some harvesting.

In front there is a mass of onions. They look a little close,
time will tell if they have enough room to bulb. Beside is
some garlic and behind are climbing dry beans.

This bed mainly comprises of beans. Brush
in the front & poles in the back. Tucked in
the corner is an early started Siletz tomato.

Here are all the peppers in the front, sweet & hot.
In behind are shelling peas and butternut squash
on the trellis. At the top are a few paste tomatoes and
hops strung up the wall.

The hanging basket contains thyme & chives. In the buckets
there are tomatoes growing upside down, sungold & black cherry.

Lastly here are a few other hanging baskets. Starting on the
left, summer squash, mixed herbs & tomatillo's.

Earthquakes & Fall Crops

2010-06-23T22:19:00.004-04:00

Today was kind of exciting, There was a 5.0 earthquake about 6hrs north of Brantford. I was upstairs doing some renovating and the floor started bouncing. This house is quite old which just added to the bounce with its sunken floors. I thought the floor was going to cave in. No damage thankfully but the shelves fell out of a bookcase. Crazy!

After I caught my breath I planted some fall crops.... Above are 9 'early dividend' broccoli and 3 purple sprouting broccoli. Last year I started all the fall broccoli on June 1st so I am a little late this year. The summer is reported to be a hot one so the late start will probably be beneficial.

I also order a few things to plant this fall and they arrived the other day. Here is what came from Johnny's for fall planting:

red pac choi
bonsai pac choi (mini green variety)
happy rich broccoli (asian sprouting variety)

I also picked up a few other things:

Anuenue Summer Crisp Lettuce (for a summer planting)
Savor F1 Charentais Melons (for next year)
NuMex Joe E Parker Peppers, Anaheim type (for next year)
Sugar Snap Pea (for next year)

Harvest Monday

2010-06-21T09:32:00.004-04:00

Here goes a quick harvest monday post, pickings are still pretty slim but exciting non-the-less.

This is the exciting part, the first beans of the season. Just a handful but enough for two to enjoy. In my hand I have dragon tongue beans and assorted shelling beans. I'm guessing the shelling beans are good as green beans at onset?

This is the biggest pea harvest so far this season. There is a bit of everything in the basket, oregon sugar snow, cascadia snap, victorian climbing & opal creek golden snap. The heat is starting to set in now so I may not be harvesting many more peas. Probably one more picking before they go starchy & tough.

Bean Post

2010-06-16T00:46:00.001-04:00

I have been really pleased with my beans so far this year. I started them in rootrainers around the first of May and they were transplanted into the garden on May 24. I am growing quite a mix of them this year, both dry & green beans in pole & bush habits. The bush beans are off to the races so I will start with them first:

Soldier Bean, dry bean.
Seed shared by Kath

Vermont Cranberry Bean, dry bean.
These are from self saved seed from last season.

Tiger's Eye Bean, dry bean

Dragon Tongue Bean, green bean.
They are my favorite bean. The name is a little funny and they
look weird but taste great. Mature pods are purple, white &
green. Great steamed and topped with butter and S&P.

Now onto the pole beans. They are doing equally well but seem to always lag the bush beans. No flowers yet but they have sure been climbing. I will start with my stick wigwam's:

Instead of purchasing more bamboo canes this year I just used sticks & jute for the beans to climb up. At about a buck per long bamboo cane this is a $9+tax saving. This grouping is all dry beans, went a little dry bean crazy this year.... Starting on the left we have:

True Red Cranberry Bean (seed shared by Kath)
Trail of Tears Bean (seed shared by Daphne)
Boriotto Bean (seed shared by Gary)

Lastly here are the typical green beans and they are growing on the bean trellis I put in last year. The two tallest vines on the left are Purple Podded Pole Beans. Last year I only harvested a couple of them so I am hoping for more this time around. Beside them are six Kentucky Blue Pole Beans. They are a cross between Kentucky Wonder & Blue Lake, we shall see how they do.

Harvest Monday

2010-06-14T19:12:00.003-04:00

I have finally harvested some peas. Even though it seemed to take a while this year I think it was sooner then last year. In the colander is a grouping of every pea I am growing this year:

Victorian Climbing Shelling Pea
Cascadia Snap Pea
Oregon Sugar Snow Pea
Opal Creek Golden Snap Pea

There will be a stir fry with the snow & snap peas and some steamed peas with the shelling variety. That is all I have for today. There is a bunch of lettuce ready but we are still munching on lettuce from last monday. Be sure to check out what everyone is harvesting on Daphne's page.

I should also mention that I have given up weighting my harvests. It is nice to have a measure of success but it is just to much work. Previously I had to photograph, trim, wash, dry & weight before posting. Without weighting I just have to photograph before posting and I can get the rest done whenever.

Look for a bean post next....

This & That

2010-06-11T21:32:00.003-04:00

Today seems like a good day for a this & that post. I took some photo of things I have not update on in a while and what ever else caught my eye. Lets start with peas shall we:

Here are all the peas I am growing. They are just coming into their prime now and I should be able to start harvesting some this weekend. Starting from the left: cascadia snap pea from Laura, victorian shelling pea from Gary, opal creek golden snap pea & oregon sugar snow pea from Miss M. Didn't have to buy many pea seeds this year :-) The golden snap pea is kind of puzzling me, it keeps making pods but they don't grow thick like a snap pea should....

Now onto my Hop vines. I started brewing beer a few months back and so far brewed a pale ale and a porter. I figured if I make my own beer I might as well grow my own hops. There are three vines in the patch, Goldings, Cascade and Nugget. Two are growing up string from the soil to the soffits of the house and the other one is growing up a 15' bamboo pole. They can climb 20' from what I've heard.

First tomatoes are setting. This is the early 'Siletz' plant I started. Given some good weather they should be ready in about 30 days.

All the bush beans are in full bloom and starting to set beans. I ought to do a post just for beans next because I am growing a lot of variety, many of them shared by other bloggers. All the pole beans are climbing well too but no flowers yet. The poles always seem to be later.

Brussels Sprout plants are doing well. This is my third attempt with them with the past two being pretty uneventful. If I don't get a good crop this year it will be the last attempt.

Here is a shot of Purple Sprouting Broccoli from seed shared by Miss M. They are a spring variety so they should produce faster. In behind is lettuce and the rest of the typical broccoli.

All the Potatoes are up as are the weeds. I have a Japanese Weeder that cuts them off just below the surface. It works great but has one flaw, you have to use it......

Last but not least Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce from seed shared by Alex. I am going to use it as cutting lettuce so I can start harvesting some anytime now.

Scotts EcoSense Weed B Gon w/ Iron Review

2010-06-09T20:56:00.013-04:00

A few days ago I tried out the sample of Weed B Gon sent to me by Scotts. Here goes a quick update on the product. It is used to control weeds in lawns and it is deprived from iron which makes it a natural product. When absorbed by broad-leafed plants, oxidation occurs inside the plant. This destroys the cell walls, thus killing the plant. The grass plants have very thin leaves and do not absorb much of the solution so they are not affected.

Following the directions I had to wait for the weather to cool below 30c and for the lawn to not be drought stressed. With the condition just right I made sure to shake the container well and then I applied it liberally to the weeds. I also took note that the lawn in the area sprayed may darken but will bounce back quickly. Here goes a before and after of the weeds I tested it on:

Above is a before & after of a treated Dandelion. Within a day the Dandelion had turned black and 5 days later all that was left was a hole in the lawn.

Here we have Common Plantain. Again it showed signs of dying within a day and a few days later the leaves are very much dead. The stems are still green but I imagine they won't last long without leaves.

The last weed I test it on was Creeping Charlie. I find this to be the worst weed to keep ahead of in our lawn. The product again worked really well and killed all the Creeping Charlie in the area.

To wrap things up I must say this product worked really well. It killed every weed I applied it too without harming the lawn. I didn't even notice any darkening of the lawn. I also find the idea of spot treating to be much better then the broad spraying of previous selective weed killers. Definitely something I will be using in the future.

Late Harvest Monday

2010-06-08T00:41:00.001-04:00

I am a little late getting my harvest monday post done today which I will get into below. Harvests are still pretty slim. Today we have rhubarb, green onions, little gem romaine & the little bulbs are last years forgotten garlic. I am still waiting on my peas, hopefully I will have some by next week.

Now let the rant begin as to why I am late. Our neighbor who we have a shared driveway with decided to convert her basement into an apartment. The tenants then use our shared drive to access the apartment. Recently the tenants changed, they turned out to be druggy welfare cases and have been causing issues. First their buddy side swiped our porch with his truck and I had to repaint about 10' of post, balusters & decking. Tonight he decided to drive into the back again even though he was told not to and backed into my composter this time. We then had words to put it politely. Phoned the police and apparently they can't do anything, not sure what classes as a property crime! Oh and you can't forget about how the couple fight and go after each other with chairs. Seriously, why would you ever rent to people like this. We need to move to the country so the neighbors are miles away, erg!

Almost Finished Planting

2010-06-04T17:37:00.002-04:00

First I will update on the kitty. It is still sitting on my lap and so far has been very mellow and healthy. We have been calling her Charlie. It was my mom's idea and google tells me girls can be called Charlie. Thanks for all the name ideas though! I have searched online for lost cats and e-mailed the local shelter and no one is looking for a cat like this. With it being under 6lbs and all scratched up I am guessing it has not had a home for a while. So it would appear we have a pet, first pet in at least 5 years.

Now onto the planting. I have put in lots of things the last few days. The weather has cooled down from the scorcher we had the last few weeks which has made outdoor work very pleasant. The first thing I will update on is all the tomatoes that I planted.

Here is the main bed of tomatoes, 12 are growing in this spot, all different varieties which I will list below. They are kind of close so I will have to keep up with pruning. Strictly one vine per plant and it will be secured to the bamboo canes.

This is the early tomato that I planted beside the bean trellis. It was not started all that early so it is not the largest. It is flower already though so I am hoping for some tom's in 30days.

I am also trying two upside down tomatoes in 5gal buckets. I drilled large holes in the bottom and planted the tomato with a foam disk around the stem to hold the soil in. I also drilled small holes around the perimeter for drainage. Further detail about the disk can be found at this link.

The last of the tomatoes are a group of three paste tomatoes planted at the top of the garden. They will be tied to sticks as they grow. Here is the long list of tomatoes I am growing this year, one of each pretty much:

Pink Berkley Tye Die (from Judy last year)
Variegated Tomato (from Ottawa Gardener last year)
Brandywine, Suddath's Strain
Cherokee Purple
Giant Belgium
Japanese Trifele Black
Kellogg's Breafast (from Granny)
Monomakh's Hat
Mortgauge Lifter
Old Time Red & Yellow
Purple Calabash
Jersey Devil
Martinos Roma
Black Cherry
Green Zebra
Sungold
Velvet Red
Siletz

A short row of buttercrunch lettuce went in. Love this stuff!

Still in the lettuce department I planted a couple Iceburg
lettuce plants from seed shared by Alex. I am guessing they
grow large so I only planted two.

Lastly a row of Red Celery was planted. I grew this last fall
and liked it. It will be the first time trying it in the summer.

Now all that is left to plant are Cucumbers, Squash, Melons. There also is a few annuals left to put in and red scallions. I'm getting tired of planting.... time to enjoy from the patio!

Peppers Planted

2010-06-01T22:06:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I got all the peppers planted. There are 18 plants in total that I started Feb 25th. They were started two per cell and then later potted up to one per cell in these larger cell packs. This year I tried to pot up less and into smaller containers and it worked out well. Here are the varieties I am growing:

The seed for this group was shared by Granny. There are three Golden California Wonder and three Quadrato Rosso D'Asti. Both are sweet peppers.

Here we have six Big Chile II peppers which are an Anaheim type pepper. Heat with them is hit & miss and is quite mild when heat is present. I really liked them last year, good for green chili sauce & salsa.

The last group is a mix of three varieties. Two Ancho, two Pasilla Bajio and two Early Jalapeno. All hot peppers that are on the mild side.

Harvest Monday

2010-05-31T09:50:00.006-04:00

I've been neglecting to participate in harvest monday for the last few weeks. Things have been harvested but just not pictured. Mainly just small things like asian greens and what not. The last couple weeks harvest have been bigger so I have been taking the camera out with me. Here are some photos of what has been brought in:

I harvested all the leeks to make way for peppers. They were
planted last July, overwintered under poly and where harvested
last week. They have certainly been growing for a long time.

Little Gem Romaine. They were harvested this morning along
with everything below. They produce mini head which are perfect
for one per person. Their small size also makes for a quicker crop.

Pinetree Lettuce Mix. It offers a nice variety. Not really a
fan of mesclun mix so this is a good alternative.

I also picked the row of easter egg radishes that were plant
about a month ago. They are a little bug eaten but nothing
a brush and knife can't fix.

Legumes and a garden visitor

2010-05-29T09:28:00.003-04:00

The peas and broad beans have started to bloom the last few days. We have had some pretty hot spring weather the last week with most days around 30c (86f) or higher. The heat has really pushed the crops along and even crisped up a few pea shoots. Here are some photos of all the different varieties of legumes in bloom:

Oregon Sugar Snow Pea just starting to open.
Seed shared by Miss M.

Cascadia Snap Pea. Seed shared by Laura.

Opel Creek Golden Snap Pea, that's a mouth full!
Even the bract is golden.

Victorian Climbing Shell Pea, they are suppose to grow
8' high! Seed shared by Gary.

The Crimson Flowered Broad Beans have started to bloom.
They were started in potting soil and were just planted out.

Now about the visitor. We had this cat show up in the yard and it decided not to leave. It was fallowing me around like a dog outside. Last night I broke down and let it inside. It is really skinny so it has been on its own for a while. It also doesn't seem to like being outside. We will test the water for a bit, if it is going to work out we will get the cat shots & spayed. Any name ideas for a female cat?

Scotts EcoSense Weed B Gon

2010-05-27T06:29:00.001-04:00

Last week I was contact by Scotts about their new product, EcoSense Weed B Gon. They sent me a sample that I will try out and post about the results. It controls broad leaf weeds without harming your lawn and is derived from natural ingredients. Being natural it is safe for people and pets. With the pesticide ban a few years back I was pleased to hear a product is now available to replace the old chemical alternative.

In a nut shell it is an iron solution. When sprayed on the weed it is adsorbed into the plant, oxidation then occurs inside the plant and the cell walls are destroyed. The grass on the other hand has thin leaves that don't absorb much iron and are not affected. It is said visible results occur within a few hours and the weed dies within a few days.

I will be testing this on a few weeds in the lawn, most notably dandelions, chickweed & common plantain. It is suppose to rain today so I will try it out on Friday. Look for a post on the results in a few days.

Beans are in

2010-05-24T23:14:00.006-04:00

It would appear I missed another harvest Monday. Today was a holiday which made it seem like Sunday. I did get my beans in today though so I will post about that.

With rot problems last year I decided to grow all the beans in rootrainers this year. They offer 32 cells per flat and worked really well. I am growing quite a mix of beans this year, I will spare you a photo of each one and just list them below:

dragon tongue
kentucky blue pole
purple podded pole
boriotto (from Gary)
soldier (from Kath)
true red cranberry (from Kath)
tiger's eye
trail of tears (from Daphne)
vermont cranberry

In this bed I have pole beans on a bamboo trellis.
Then in front I have brush beans.

Here I have some more pole beans growing up wigwam's
made from branches and twine. Nice and cheap!

Yesterdays Garden News

2010-05-22T08:41:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I finished planting out the lowest bed in the garden. This bed is new this year and is just yard soil that is lightly amended with homemade compost. At the far end there already is a row of brussels sprouts and a hop vine in the top corner. Yesterday the rest was filled in with potatoes, crimson flowered broad beans & celeriac. First off I turned, amended and leveled the bed which you will see below:

I then planted out all the potatoes. They have been green sprouting on a south facing window sill for about a month now and were ready to go in the ground. I planted them in trenches fairly deep with a some kelp meal sprinkled in. I planted similar to what Laura is trying this year, she has a good post about it at this link. Basically you plant them deeper to avoid hilling and space them closure to save space.

I then ended up with half a row of potatoes so I planted some crimson flowered broad beans to finish the row off. I started these in rootrainers and they are just about to flower. Probably should have planted these weeks ago.

At the front of the bed I planted a row of celeriac. I am growing two varieties, both received in seed trades. The potted photo shows giant celeriac on the right from Miss M and brilliant celeriac on the left from Kathy. Never grown or eaten celeriac so I am looking forward to this crop.

To wrap things up here is an overview of the finished bed. Brussels sprouts & hops at the back, potatoes in the big empty spot and broad beans & celeriac at the front.

Now I am off to plant out all the beans, look for a post on that next.

Baltimore Oriole

2010-05-18T20:28:00.005-04:00

The Orioles started feeding from the hummingbird feeder today. This was the first time I had seen them at the feeder. It seems they can get some nectar out but the ports are pretty small from them. Maybe we will set up an Oriole feeder now, I have heard they like nectar, oranges & grape jelly. This feeder looks like it fits the bill.

In garden news it has been pretty uneventful lately. I have a few things that really need to be planted but I have been slacking. I have still been taking care of everything in the polytunnel though. Hopefully everything will be in by the weekend even though the farmers almanac says it is a barren time from the 19th-23rd.

Spring Update

2010-05-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

I have been blog-glecting lately, mainly because of the weather. The past week has been really chilly with most nights just above freezing. With the weather all the warm season crops came back in, the hardier stuff was buttoned up in the poly tunnel and nothing has been happening in the garden. Tomorrow it is supposed to start warming up a bit finally so I shall have more to blog about now.

Today I moved everything back outside because nights are forcasted to be much warmer. The poly tunnel is now completely filling with things I have sown from seed, mostly veggies and some annuals. Starting to think I may need to build a second one.....

The first bed I planted out is doing well. It comprises of Broccoli, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Tatsoi, Pac Choi, Romaine, Mixed Lettuce & Radishes. Please don't judge the weedy upper bed :-)

Here is a close up of the Broccoli. My transplants were rather small this year so I am happy to see they have bulked up. Technically they should have been this size before transplant at about 6" high.

However, Not all the brassica's have came through unscaved. Something has been chewing on them and wiped out two cabbages & defoliated a couple kale, cabbage & brussels sprout plants. My first thought was birds but I am starting to think it is an evil chipmunk. I have placed TP rolls over the most affected plants to hopefully give them some protection.

The overwintered spinach is still going bonkers. I think I will harvest it all next time. The weedy plants surround the spinach is flowering Mache. Maybe I will save some seed if time allows.

The onions are off the a really good start. The thicker ones to the left are sets and the thinner ones are seed grown.

The tatsoi is bolting even though its been cold. I will use it anyway, bolting doesn't seem to affect the taste.

Peas are taking hold but growing slowly still.

I have been chitting my potatoes for the last couple weeks, doesn't that sound vulgar? The place I ordered from calls it green sprouting, seems more civilized. I was going to plant these last week but it has been so wet I have held off. Hopefully they will go in the ground soon.

To wraps things up I will end with a few spring flowers. They certainly flourish in this cold, wet spring weather:

Foam Flower & Ostrich Fern

Pulmonaria

A Peak in the Polytunnel

2010-05-05T02:41:00.002-04:00

The polytunnel is bursting at the seams currently and I still have three flats of plants under the grow light. At the moment it is mainly full of warm season crops and overwintered plants. The last week or so has been pretty warm so everything has been staying outside. Sunday is forecasted to be much cool though so I may have to start carting things in and out which I really don't want to do. Here goes some shots of whats in there:

Celery & Celeriac

Red Scallions from seed shared by Thomas. The larger ones
were started about a month ago and the wee ones were just
seeded. There should be enough for a good sized clump.

In this flat are double yield cucumbers, butternut squash, petit
gris melons, crookneck squash & zucchini. They are getting a head
start in peat pots and will be planted out in 2-3 weeks.

All the tomatoes for me and my sister. I will be growing
18 plants this year and of those there will be 18 varieties.

Peppers, doing nicely. I may plant them soon if the cold
snap later this week doesn't last.

All the beans. There are poles, bush & shell beans in there.
To many to list so they will have to get a post of their own.

To wrap things up, here is my not so early tomato.
I will plant it out soon in hopes of some early fruit.

I started out my Sunday by

2010-05-02T23:17:00.005-04:00

making seed mats. You didn't think this post was going elsewhere right? I made them fallowing Granny's directions and it worked great. Basically you glue evenly spaced seeds on biodegradable paper products to have perfect rows without having to thin. A little tedious but definitely beats being bent over doing it in the garden. Here is what was matted:

Albion Hybrid Parsnips. 3" apart & 6" between rows

Carrots, 1.5" apart & 3" between rows. Varieties grown are:
Purple Dragon Carrots
Yellow Amarillo (seed from Soggy Creek Seed Co.)
Scarlet Nantes Carrots (seed from Hometown Seeds)

After the seeds are laid out and dried you just roll them out in the garden, cover with soil and water. Now I just have to wait for them to grow. The greens in the middle of the seed mats are Tatsoi. They will be harvest soon so they will not interfere with the new planting. The multiplier onion in the back on the other hand maybe a little close. They may be moved or I may put in some kind of divider to keep the carrot foliage off of them.

More planting....

2010-04-30T22:10:00.001-04:00

I put in a few more cool season crops tonight ever though I am a little under the weather again. Not sure what the deal is this spring but I have been ill like three times. I think I need to eat more of my spinach!

The half barrel was the first thing to be planted. I am growing an assortment of things in it that I will show below:

three early jersey wakefield cabbages, seed from Yan @
Soggy Creek Seed Co. This is the variety that grows like
a cone head.

Filling in around the cabbage will be black seeded simpson
lettuce from seed shared by Alex. I seeded quite a few to
utilize the thinning's as they grow.

In the center I planted a tuscano kale. I seeded quite a
few kale but only two germinated. It should still be good
though, a person only needs so much kale.

The last of the brassica's to be plant was a row of four Jade Cross Hybrid Brussels Sprouts. This will be my third time trying brussels sprouts after two previous failures. I am hopeful this will be the year that I harvest some reasonable sprouts!

I also planted up a cell pack of iceburg lettuce (again from Alex) and buttercrunch lettuce. They will be grown in the polytunnel and planted out after a few weeks.

To ends things off a photo of this beetle that was in the pepper plants. It looks like a ladybug but it is more elongated and more pink then red. Any ideas what it is?

Grow Room Update

2010-04-28T22:47:00.002-04:00

I realized tonight that I had not done an update on the grow room for the entire 2010 season. Starting tomorrow I am going to start placing many of the plants out in the poly tunnel during the day so soon there will be nothing left to post about. Almost everything under the light now are seedlings. All the over wintered plants have been either moved to the spare room, the poly tunnel or just outdoors. Nights have been pretty warm for the most part so they have not been affected. On nights near freezing I have been placing the plants in the shed over night. Here goes photos of most things growing:

Burgundy & purple impatiens. I grew these from pelleted seed and they have grown very well. There is about a flat worth of them growing.

Here are all the sweet & hot peppers. Again about a flat worth are growing. They are really starting to get large so I will start placing them out in the tunnel on warm days.

This is the second attempt at an early tomato after the first one died. It is coming along nicely and I am hopefully the later start will not make much of a difference. I think I may plant it out by the weekend and on cold nights just wrap it up.

These are a bunch of cutting I have taken for outdoor planters. Most of them are geraniums.

Here we have blue wave petunia's also grown from pelleted seed. I wish I started them at the same time as the impatiens because they are growing slowly. There is still about a month to go before I plant them outdoors so hopefully they will catch up.

Dahlberg seedlings. Never grown these before, they have a yellow daisy like flower and will be planted with the petunias. Going for a blue, purple, yellow combination in the pots this year.

Snapdragons from Granny. Never grown these before either. They are a mix of colours and will be planted in the front perennial garden. They badly need thinning which I will do soon.

Basil growing along side many other herbs. Funny thing is I always grow herbs but rarely use them. Maybe this year will be the year.

Here are all my tomatoes that I started not to long ago. I forgot to take the doom off soon enough so they are all a little stretch. There are about 50 growing, half for me and half for my sister. I am hoping with the later start they will not need potting up at all. They also need thinning.

This the the biggest of the two brugmansia sanguinea I started from seed back in January. I am hoping for blossoms in the first year!

Similar to the plant above, here we have a bunch of double yellow datura. They will be grown in outdoor planters.

Last but not least here are all the melons, cucumbers, winter squash and summer squash that I sowed on the 26th. I am sprouting them indoors and then they will be out in the tunnel during the day until planting. I also started all the beans in rootainers on the same day, no picture of them but they are on top of the fridge sprouting.

The Forest has Come Alive Again

2010-04-27T17:18:00.000-04:00

Decided to take a break from veggie blogging today. Instead I am going to show some photos I have taken in the woods during the past few weeks. The forest has come alive again and under closure inspection there is a myriad of interesting things to observes. Many of them only showing themselves for a short time before retreating below ground again until next spring.

Trout Lily mass. Taken on a drizzly day, they only open for the sun.

Trout Lilies with a native bee to the right.

Canadian Wild Ginger. They flower on the ground to attract ground pollinators.

White Trillium. Our provincial flower.

Red Trillium

Red Fern Frond

Native Foamflower

May Apple

Marsh Marigold

Downy Yellow Violet

Bloodroot

Forest Ruins

Onions planted

2010-04-23T23:53:00.001-04:00

Here are all the seeded onions just before transplant. They were started Jan 22 and have been out in the polytunnel for about a month now.

I went kind of crazy with my ruler and some cardboard to make this planting jib. The thick lines are 9 per sqf and the thin lines are 16 per sqf. I just simply stuck a pencil in the corresponding hole to mark out all the planting positions. When the garden is in and I have more time I will make some wooden ones.

Here they are all planted out 9 per sqf using the jig. It worked pretty well and certainly speed the process up. The pencil made a perfect hole that the onion seedlings were planted right into. In total I planted out 84 onions in the photo above as well as 13 multiplier onions in another area. Here are all the varieties I am trying:

Utah Sweet Spanish Onions from seed shared by Hometown Seeds

Red Long of Tropea Onions from seed shared by Daphne

Amish Bottle Onions

Dutch Sets

Red Onion Sets

Multiplier Onions

Lastly these are onions from last fall. I had a few to small to
harvest so I planted them out together before the ground froze.
They have sized up nicely and will be used as green onions.

Peas are in

2010-04-21T19:23:00.003-04:00

Here are all the peas before transplant. They were sown March 25th in rootrainers, they were germinated indoors and then placed out in the polytunnel shortly after germination. In the tunnel they have grown to approx. 6-8 inches tall and have developed a nice root system that you will see below.

The rootrainers offer a good soil volume and direct root growth inwards. I must say I am rather pleased with the rootrainers so far. Next up I will sow all the beans in these containers and will see how they do.

Above are all the areas I am growing peas in this season. Just as before the beds were turned, amended with compost & kelp meal and then planted. This year I am using a combination of sticks & trellis netting to grow the peas up. Below I will go into detail about each pea variety:

Cascadia Sugar Snap Pea from seed shared by Laura.
I tried snap peas for the first time last year and loved
them. I am looking forward to growing a bigger crop this
year.

Victorian Climbing Pea from seed shared by Gary.
These grow 8' tall so I planted them under my
8' trellis. Later in the season I will companion plant
them with butternut squash.

Oregon Sugar Snow Pea from seed shared by Miss M.
This will be my first attempt at growing snow peas.

The last pea variety I am trying this year is
Opal Creek Golden Snap Pea. As the name
suggests they have golden pods and I've
read they are not quite as sweet as the green.

So that is 2 1/2 beds done. Tomorrow I will put in the onion bed and then the potato bed soon after that. Then a bit of a reprieve before planting out celeriac, celery, carrots, beets, parsnips tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, beans, squash, melons & cucumbers. I'm tired already... :-)