First Harvest of 2013

Today I was able to get my fork in the ground and harvest some carrots. We were luckily missed by the last eastern snow storm so the veggie garden is now snow free. I planted these carrots late last summer and they overwintered well. They are super sweet and crunchy, looks like carrots are for dinner! The variety is Sugarsnax 54, Pelleted.

The bulbs are also starting to make an appearance. These particular Snowdrops I dug up from a ditch a few years ago. Last fall I planted quite a number of spring bulbs so I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom as well.

The Season has Started!

The new season is underway. I started my peppers mid February including Anaheim, Pasilla and Ancho peppers. The only ones not doing so well are the Ancho with only two sprouts. The seed was old (2009) so it was expected. I figure I can make due with two plants anyway.

Just before the peppers sprouted I got my light up and running. All these plants have spent the winter stuffed in the spare room to save on hydro. They are looking a little raged at the moment but they will perk up shortly. Once they do I'll start propagating them to fill the outdoor containers.

It is nice to start growing things again! This year we actually had consistant winter weather so it has been a long haul. It will sure be a releif when the snow melts and I can start tending to things outdoors again.

Keep an eye out for my sowing schedule post, which I should have up by the weekend.

Garlic Planted!

Fall has arrived so it is garlic time again. This year I am planting at the proper time as appose to last year when I planted in late December, tis tis. I decided to finally give in and order some interesting varieties. It can be kind of expensive to order garlic so normally I would just replanted from the current years crop.

The bed was cleared, turned and amended with my black gold. Then to speed things along I just jabbed in a trowel and stuck the clove in the hole. I am too lazy to dig a trench this year! I put in 6 varieties this year which I will show below. Then the remaining area was planted with my standby variety that has monster sized cloves.

To my surprise Wildfire looks like it might be the best of the bunch. It has two huge cloves per head and is suppose to be really hot. Can't wait for next summer when I can give them a try. If you're interested all the garlic came from Boundary Garlic Farm which has a great selection of organic garlic. I believe they only ship within Canada and you have to order in August, they sell out quickly.

Harvest Monday

Here goes another Harvest Monday post. Below is a collection of harvests since my last post. The garden is still chugging along and I am happy to have beans coming in again. It has still been really dry, the only good news is the temperature has cooled a bit.

 Dragon Tongue Beans.

 Tomatoes starting at the left: Sudduth's Strain Brandywine, Kellogg's 

Breakfast, Pink Berkley Tie Dye and Better Boy.

 Slicing Cucumbers.

 Black Summer F1 Pac Choi, Pink Berkley Tie Dye Tomato and

Dragon Tongue Beans.

 Kellogg's Breakfast Tomatoes. They have been a real performer this year!

 Purple Podded & Blue Lake Pole Beans.

 Slicing Cucumbers and Better Boy Tomatoes.

More Dragon Tongue Beans... They are an excellent producer

and in my opinion the best tasting bean.

In other news I started a bunch of fall crops in pots a while ago and they are just about ready to plant in the garden. The polytunnel has also been all cleaned up and it is ready to go in the garden. I'll be planted everything this week so I'll get a post up about the fall stuff later this week.

Harvest Recap

Today I am doing a recap of harvests since my last Harvest Monday post. The garden is doing well overall, it is certainly liking all the heat we have had this year. The stars of the show are Tomatoes and Cucumbers! They have been coming on fast. The only warm season crop that I am still waiting on is beans. I should have some Dragon Tongue beans this week but the pole beans are just starting to flower now. Photos follow:

Harvested today, Kellogg's Breakfast, Giant Belgium, Pink Berkley Tie Dye 

and a bunch of Better Boy tomatoes. 

Also today, a bunch of slicing cucumbers & Sungold cherries.

Slicing cucumbers, Sungold cherries & Better Boy tomato.

I harvested these broccoli side shouts a few weeks ago. They all
went in the compost because the heat made them taste awful.

Slicing cucumbers and a big zucchini. This was the last 

zucchini because the plant shriveled up and died shortly after.

These two were the first full sized tomatoes of the season on July 16th.
They are Better Boy tomatoes and they turned out to be really good. 

I picked the plant up on a whim at the nursery and I am glade I did.

More slicing cucumbers and zucchini.... 

On another note, is it just me or is this new post creator really buggy and annoying? The photos seem to not like to move and it is close to impossible to place text below photos. Any trick for getting around this?