YWCA garden update

Spudtacular - July 29

This surely must be the year of the potato - the cool damp spring/early summer seems to have provided us with a great harvest

the search begins

and the treasure - Yukon Gold and fingerlings - have a look at the largest and smallest in the upper left hand corner

 

we didn't leave the space empty for long - sowed scallions, frisee, Buttercrunch and De Morges Braun lettuces - also sprinkled some neem cake on the lettuce bed - not only provides nitrogen but also hopefully will help repel slugs and snails 

as our carrot seed in bed 1 did not germinate we decided to resow with Kohlrabi

and final pic for the day - Nasturtiums (leaves provide a nice spicy highlight to salads and the flowers add lovely colour - tomatoes are outgrowing their bed and yet another bed of potatoes ready to harvest soon .......

The Good, The Bad and The Colourful - July 15

As summer moves along the weather of late has, for the most part, been warm and sunny - and watering has now become an important chore for a successful harvest .... and speaking of harvest - have a look at what was waiting for us when we dug the volunteer potatoes ...... and to add to the colourful harvest - "Bright Lights" chard - one of our more successful crops -

That was the good, now for the bad, these two had made themselves comfortable inside one of the potatoes - I thought they were wood bug holes until I saw the slugs curled up inside!!

More colour - this time nasturtiums

And a new bamboo fence - thank you Itzia!!

We covered our carrot seed (planted last week) with wet burlap, with fingers crossed for germination in this heat, and thought we would try some Tom Thumb peas; the purple climbing beans planted last week show good germination and the tomatoes are topping their support poles ... The garden is looking good

Summer Harvest - July 8

The long awaited summer sunshine has finally arrived - and with it our best harvest yet at the SPEC Cambie Garden

A perfect day for our garlic harvest - some really good sized bulbs - the largest measured 3 inches across!! the three white hardnecks didn't fare quite as well- we will keep the best for planting in October. In the space vacated by the garlic we are trying a late crop of peas and some carrots we hope to over winter (if we can get them to germinate in this hot weather)

Raspberries and chard are still providing a bountiful harvest and we checked out a few of the potato onions - these had their tops damaged so hopefully those remaining will be even larger

Beans at two weeks from planting are looking good - although the slugs have nibbled a few and the garden in early July is looking lush and lovely

Cambie Garden Update - Happy Canada Day

July has arrived and hopefully a little more sunshine will soon be in the forecast Today we had a wonderful harvest of greens and raspberries ..... and the bush beans planted last week are just beginning to show ...... unfortunately our newly sprouted lettuce has all but disappeared - this rainy weather makes for a perfect slug diner Starting to think about our winter garden - soon the garlic and potatoes will be harvested

Cambie Garden Update - June 24

Better late than never ........... from last week Hopefully a sign painted by the younger gardening members will help deter future garden mishaps ... Edamame transplants were set out and Golden Child bush beans were planted - the tomatoes are reaching for the top of their stakes and the potatoes are outgrowing their beds -