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 -

Cambie Garden June 17 Update

Good news and not so good news last Sunday at the Cambie Garden

we arrived to see the majority of wheat plants pulled out and the flowering Red Mustard plants broken in half - we were really looking forward to baking some bread with our wheat harvest, and the bees were so enjoying the mustard blossoms -

on a brighter note, our raspberries are just about starting to show some colour, and our mixed bed of chard, carrots and beets is looking really healthy - even the brussels sprouts are growing by leaps and bounds - and flower starts are visible on the zucchini

Summer here we come .............

Powdery Mildew Tips from the YWCA Rooftop Garden

We put our summer out early, just like everything else at the YWCA Rooftop Food Garden.  A combination of row covers and black plastic mulch (we re-used black trash bags) kept them nice and warm, and hopefully will keep the encroaching horsetail at bay.  Squashes are starting to emerge, but so is powdery mildew thanks to our rainy BC springs.

The first 'Soleil' yellow squash starting to emerge

pesky powdery mildew

these small round zucchinis are called '8-Ball'

To counteract the powdery mildew, we've been mixing up a foliar spray of 1 part kefir (or milk) to about 3 parts water, and it seems to be helping.  The downsides of this method?  You have to spray about once a week and a sunny day can smell a bit like baby vomit.  Small price to pay for healthy squash though!

Cambie Garden Update - June 10

The garden is looking lush and green with all the rain we've had of late .......

Last Wednesday the City Hall daycare group helped transplant eggplant and peppers (under the hoop house), marigolds, tomatillos and tomatoes and direct seeded carrots, kale and swiss chard .......

Today we broadcast mild mesclun mix around the Brussels sprouts and direct seeded a wide row of Buttercrunch lettuce, one last row of cylindra beets and more nasturtiums - the beds are almost full - now we just need some sunshine to bring on the harvest

speaking of harvest - we had our first harvest today - white icicle radishes ........the Blue Russian potatoes are now in flower, and we even have blossoms on some of our tomatoes - the picture below shows Galina, Gurnsey Pink Blush, Medovaya Kaplya and Kimberley

Cambie Gardens - June 3rd

Another lovely morning in the garden .... no need to water as we've had plenty of rain this past week.  We recovered the hoop house to allow for better air circulation for the soon to be transplanted eggplants and peppers - we are trying out red okra under cover as well - this crop needs lots of heat - so here's hoping for one of our rare hot summers.

Ladybugs have arrived - and the bees are enjoying the red mustard flowers.

Poona Kheera cucumbers were planted out today, the strawberries, potatoes, mixed salad greens, brocolli and wild arugula are all loving our weather ........... here are a few pictures of our garden in early June -

YWCA Garden Update

We use a bunch of season extension techniques at the YWCA Rooftop Food Garden to help us get started earlier, produce later, and keep things extra warm for tomatoes, peppers, or melons.

The carrots we planted in early march are getting big -- row cover gave them just enough protection for the seeds to germinate.   The radishes are out and in their place we transplanted 'Golden Nugget' tomatoes, which are staying toasty in the high tunnel under row cover.

Thanks to Suzanne Fairley for the photos.