August 4 Summer Bounty Continues

This great summer weather just keeps going and going .......... no rain at all in July ....... so watering is a must

would have had an amazing beet harvest, but unfortunately our resident rodent got to most of them first;  perhaps a wee bit late, but thought we'd try again and planted more beets and carrots in the harvested potato bed

we did manage however to harvest more green beans, kale, and for those that love those cheesy kale chips, here's a link to West Coast Seeds recipe

http://www.westcoastseeds.com/topicdetail/topic/cheesy-nutty-kale-chips/ 

have a look at our beautiful zinnias - perfect weather for these plants - and this kale should keep going through fall and in to winter ..........

We also planted onions and swiss chard for our winter harvest garden.

July 28 Update

A big shout out to Alex and friend for watering ............  35 days without rain!!

A few issues with rodents - have lost all our cucumbers and peppers to nibbles ........

but they don't seem to be interested in the beans ...........

 

and the garden continues to grow .......... waiting for tomatoes to colour and Painted Lady runner beans and 2nd crop of bush beans to set

 



July 21 - Summer's Bounty Begins

Just a quick check in at the garden today .....

 

and first harvest of tri-colour bush bean mix ............ along with some kale

July 14 Paint In and Harvest

Had a great turn out for our paint in and potato harvest ...........

nice selection from one bed .......... Russian Blue and Yukon Gold

let the paint in begin

and new numbers for our garden beds

July 14 Update

A quick update ........... weather has been near perfect ............ and plants are outgrowing their beds .........  harvested one bed of potatoes, and our recently planted peas are showing good growth

have a look at our tomatoes, beans, nasturtiums and our newly painted bench

the herb bed has also taken off, with our direct-seeded basil, dill and parsley looking good along with the sage, thyme and mint

 

the teasel is just starting to flower - bees love this plant

our peppers couldn`t be happier with all this summer sunshine

and we even have a bush cucumber ready for harvest

July 7 - great weather continues

Just two of us at the garden today ............. decided to harvest the garlic .......... tops had died down weeks ago ............... rather disappointing compared to last year, but at least we had no garlic rust!!

We reseeded the garlic bed with arugula and Dwarf Grey Sugar peas

Tomatoes and green beans are loving this weather

as are the cucumbers; lettuce in this bed is about done, but makes a good living mulch to keep soil moist

a quick look at a few other garden beds:  peppers, beets, carrots

and we can't forget our flowers, crocosmia and sunflower

the mixed lettuce bed is still providing good salad greens, and to finish off, mint and raspberries

June 30 Heat Wave

Well, looks like summer has arrived with a bang ............ this weather should help with tomatoes and cucumbers, but the lettuce is starting to suffer tip burn from the heat

Have a look at our cucumbers, they are all growing so well .......... Poona Keera, Salad Bush, Diva and Sabre

only two of us at the garden this morning, so we watered deeply, tied up our tomatoes, harvested enough greens for a big salad and called it a day ...........

Happy Canada Day to all!!

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