More to Sow - April 15

Cleared out the last of our winter parsnips in the garden and sowed beets, carrots and chard in rows in the cleared bed - another suggestion in Linda Gilkeson's book - carrots and beets grow under the soil, while the chard leaves grow above ground - a good use of our garden space.

Also broadcast mixed lettuce seeds amongst the potato onions, and slow bolt cilantro was seeded as a companion to our garlic. And the red mustard continues to amaze ..... if every crop were so hardy and prolific!

The blueberries and strawberries are looking better every week .....

New Bed - April 8

We now have a new bed and will try intensive planting as suggested in Linda Gilkeson's book "Backyard Bounty" ...

Two types of lettuce to start - Grand Rapids and Roxy - to be joined in June with Brussels sprouts once half the lettuce is harvested. By late June all the lettuce will be done and we will set out cucumbers. In August we plan to broadcast corn salad under the vines, then in October when the cucumbers are done they will be removed. The rest of the winter the bed will be dedicated to the corn salad and the Brussels sprouts.

Putting the Garden to Bed - November 16, 2011

Just to complete 2011 - a few final pics .... lots of leaves to feed earthworms and beneficial microbes and enrich the soil

Sept 18 Fall Clean Up Begins

Look at the length of this spaghetti squash vine!! Mildew had taken over the leaves and no more fruit visible - so out it comes

Compost in our three bins has really worked down over the hot weather - this is the second full bin that has been emptied into our beds - lots of eggshells, fruit and veggie peelings mixed with dry leaves saved from last autumn and dry straw .... the best amendment for your garden

Cherry tomatoes are producing well now, although we did lose a good part of our crop to unidentified taste testers, and the red mustard keeps on growing and growing

Almost time to start saving leaves again ......

Sept 11 - Flowers Aplenty - Red Mustard Takes Over

What spectacular end of summer weather we have been enjoying -

bouquets of flowers from the garden

and the red mustard planted for winter harvest has taken over its bed ... this bed was amended with a whole composter worth of compost just prior to planting seeds; the brussels sprouts transplants are also growing well, although suffering somewhat from pest damage

Aug 28 - Purple Beans and Yellow Tomatoes

The last weekend in August - and the beans and tomatoes are producing ........

Weather has been amazing and the warmth is just what we needed to give the tomatoes their final boost toward ripening

More to Harvest More to Sow - August 14

Another Sunday at the SPEC Cambie Garden - rather disheartened that five of our spaghetti squash have disappeared - but we did manage a rather fine harvest of potatoes

We are also trying out some seed tape - no need for thinning - hopefully we will have some lovely Little Finger carrots by mid-October

Dahlias are looking lovely and we have baby beans on our purple pole beans

More radish (China Rose) and Chinese Greens (Tah Tsai) were also seeded in hope of a bountiful fall/winter harvest

More to Sow, More to Transplant - July 31

Still time to sow some fall veggies ... Purple Top White Globe and Tokyo Cross turnips, Toy Choi and Giant Red Mustard

We harvested the garlic bed last week, added a full bin of compost and today transplanted brussels sprouts seedlings into the bed - they should do well with the lime provided by the plethorea of eggshells - if we can keep the slugs at bay!!

We also transplanted purple sprouting broccoli seedlings and did our last planting of pole beans with fingers crossed for a wonderful autumn .....

Summer's Bounty - July 31

A perfect day for work in the garden ........

Harvested golden beets, arugula, spring onions, kale, chives ...

The spaghetti squash has taken off, the sunflowers are in bloom and the Sungold tomatoes will be showing some colour soon - summer at its finest

Blossoms - June 26

We have tomato blossoms! The cornflowers and larkspur add wonderful colour to the garden. Sunflowers are starting their climb to the sky - and the few summer turnips were harvested. The turnips were delicious and quick to mature - hopefully we can find more seed to sow again for a fall harvest.

Lots of Green - June 19

Been away for a bit from posting - but time to catch up - here is the SPEC Cambie garden on June 19

Potatoes have a most beautiful blue flower, which should give us blue potatoes - and look at the snow pea blossoms ...... things are looking good mid June

First Harvest June 5

Time to harvest! And what a great morning we had for the event .....

We cleared out the radish beds to makes way for planting summer veggies, and the spicy mesclun mix and toy choi were also shared by all