June 23 Looking Good

Getting a nice harvest from our Amish Deer Tongue lettuce and mesclun mix

and the raspberry harvest begins ...........

Sowed: short row of French Breaskfast radish; resowed carrots due to poor germination - Berlicuummer; also Lungo Fiorentino zucchini; and more Red Russian x Redbor kale

hopefully our mesclun bed will provide a few more harvests through the approaching heatwave - at least the zinnias should be happy

both the beans and tomatoes seem to be enjoying their new soil

June 16 Garden Update

Garden is looking good ........... and we have nice fruit set on our earliest tomato - Kimberley

the self-seeded nasturtium is starting to bloom ............ petals can be added to salads for colour and leaves provide a spicy note

We also added two new trellises for our cucumbers in bed 1 and the Black Krim and Stupice tomatoes ........check out our newly germinated beans too!

  Our mixed green cutting bed is looking good, with zinnias just showing along the back

The earlier planted beans and potatoes are taking over their beds .............. almost time for a potato harvest, and the bush beans should be flowering soon

June 9 Volunteers Make the Garden Happen

Two of our volunteer members .......... hmm what to plant next

June 9 The Garden is Full

Good day at the garden today, even if we did get caught in a brief rain storm ...........

Planted another bed full of green bush beans - thought we'd try a comparison of Valentino, Lynx and Maxibel

Harvested Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce to make room for cucumbers, two plants of each:  Diva, Saber, Poona Kheera and Salad Bush.  Both Diva and Saber are parthenocarpic - have all female flowers and do not require any pollination.

The Russian Blue potatoes are flowering - a few more weeks for baby potatoes

Even spotted a lovely bunch of strawberries

The tomatoes are looking fabulous, with fruit set on Kimberley

And have a look at this critter ..... a ladybug pupa at 7 days .....  discovered a fascinating website re the life cycle of the ladybug http://www.hmrprint.com/helensphotos/LADYBUGS.html

Now the beds are fully planted, so time to take a wee breather and think about our fall and winter crops - check out Linda Gilkeson's articles on winter gardening ........

http://www.saltspringenergystrategy.org/food.htm

June 2 - Productive Day at the Garden

The lettuce is heading toward harvest, and next week we hope to add cucumbers as companions; the beans show good germination two weeks after sowing

Lots accomplsihed in the garden this week, and a good turn out of volunteers ......... the flower bed gets a new look

Finally time to put out the peppers, a nice variety of sweet peppers:  Melrose, Gypsy and Purple Beauty and one hot pepper:  Mucho Nacho

Large cloche moved from tomatoes to peppers

Also planted Pixie cabbage, parsnips and purple beans

And our newest member took some time to smell the flowers

Next week our last bed will be planted with more bush beans, then time to start thinking about our winter crops!!

May 26 More to Plant

The garden now has a dedicated herb bed ...... we planted Moroccan mint (in a sunken pot to contain roots) - great for mint tea, baby sage, thyme and direct seeded parsley and oregano

Our transplanted Deer's Tongue lettuce seems to be making a comeback - with the help of regular watering ......

The raspberries are starting to size up

Also trying out some signage to introduce new comers to the wonderful world of gardening

All the tomatoes have now been transplanted ........... added this week were Black Krim, Stupice, Sunsugar F1, Durmitor and Black Cherry

Potatoes continue to take over ........... and mixed greens planted last week are just sprouting

The garden at end of May is looking good after a late start

May 19 Progress at the Garden

With the arrival of our new soil we opted to start again on many of our beds ..........

Three beds were seeded today

Bed 11:  Red Ace Beets, Nantes Coreless Carrots, Early Wonder Tall Top Beets, Berlicummer Carrots and Kincho Scallions - one row of each

Bed 9:  Tri Colour and Green Bush Beans and Kentucky Pole Beans
 
Bed 7a:  Mescluns, Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce, Kale and Red Salad Bowl lettuce were broadcast and two rows of California Giants Zinnia sown along the back of the bed

We also managed a small harvest of Celery Leaf, Parsley and Chives

Now we just have to make sure we keep the seeds watered, carrot seed especially requires moisture until germination

Some of the tomatoes have now been planted out ..........Kimberley, Sleeping Lady, Dwarf Jade Beauty and Cheerful F2 - for more information on dwarfs check out the  Dwarf Tomato Project

And the potatoes and flower garden continue to put on growth

May 14 - Garden Upgrade

An amazing team effort ............ some new beds and some wonderful soil to fill them ..........

a big thank you to all who showed up for the work party

April 28 Many Tasks

The weather cooperated and what a great turn out we had this Sunday .........

Lots of work in the garden, from clearing out old plantings to building new fences; someone had  helped themselves to our entire remaining crop of purple sprouting broccoli, so we decided to clear that bed as well.  At least the compost will benefit!!

The potatoes are sprouting, the strawberries are blooming ............

Not much to harvest this week, but we did get the last of the chard, a few beets and a wee carrot from last fall's planting