Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Sowed carrots

Scatter-sowed carrots today, in the former yellow zucchini bed by the air conditioner, recently vacated due to the squash vine borer.

Transplanted peas

Transplanted the jiffy pot indoor started peas today.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Bye bye yellow zucchini (squash vine borer)

Noticed over the last several days that the yellow zucchini plant had been fading.  Stems looked chewed up.  Today I noticed the little fruits were hollow or squishy.  Pulled the plant and sure enough, borers.  Oh well, the plant served me well.

As for the other zucchini plants -- the one near the fence and the one near the compost bin seem to be doing well -- slowing down, but still producing somewhat.  The other two, in the middle, look healthy and vibrant, but nothing is happening in the fruit department lately.  We'll see if they've been struck too.

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Garlic -- a nice one!

Picked another garlic today (my third one so far).  Nice!  6 hefty cloves.

Malabar spinach - eww

Ate one leaf today to see what it's like.  Eww.  So slimey.  I'll pass on this crop, thank you very much!

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Harvesting update

Harvesting update reflecting where things are at these days:

Zucchini:  TONS have come in already.  Probably 30-40.  Freezer really filling up.

Tomatoes:  Just starting.  A few cherry tomatoes here and there, and one large one.

Ground cherries:  Trickling in, like the cherry tomatoes.  Finding some on the ground, empty...

Beets:  Two so far, one of which was quite small.

Garlic:  Two so far, both quite small, only 4 cloves each.

Carrots:  One so far, just for fun.  Disappointingly not a good flavour, but edible.

Chard:  Haven't been harvesting much, but plants doing well.  Some were getting shaded by zucchini plant so they really stretched up and have long stalks.  Have now pulled back the zucchini leaves to give more sun to the chard.

Peppers:  A few jalapenos, which really aren't hot.  A few banana peppers.  Scooter harvested one very young and small green pepper.

Sowed second round of peas inside

Sowed the fall peas today, inside in jiffy pots. 48 seeds.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Harvested 1 garlic and 1 beet

Harvested 1 garlic and 1 beet today.

The garlic was just because I was curious.  Will wait longer for the others.  This one is cute, a bulb, but small.

The beet is a little small but not bad.

Good garlic storage article

Good garlic storage article:

https://www.gardenbetty.com/a-guide-to-curing-and-storing-garlic/

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Peppers are a flop

Not going to grow peppers again.  Even the store-bought one on its own next to the step has lots of leaves but no flowers or peppers.

Record number of recipes made today


Made 9!! recipes today, mostly with harvest from the garden, and some with local berries.

Pesto (basil and parsley)
Zucchini soup with rice (zukes)
Zucchini soup with coconut milk (zukes)
The other zucchini soup (zukes)
Zucchini sauce with pasta (zukes)
Zucchini/carrot muffins (zukes)
Zucchini break (zukes)
Strawberry pie
Raspberry muffins

Zucchini harvest galore

With five full size zucchini plants, tons of zucchinis have come in / keep coming in.  Cooked up or gave away about 10 good sized ones this weekend.

Zinnias looking great

These zinnias are way taller than I thought they'd be, but, they're doing great.  Lots of different colours and shades, and some are poofy while others are more daisy-like.

Next year, will grow these seeds again, but will also try some that are shorter.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Monday, July 2, 2018

Sowed beets, chard, lettuce in former bok choy patch

Pulled all the bok choy because it's all full of holes.  Didn't have that problem last year, at least not to this extent.

In their place, sowed beets, chard, and a variety of lettuce, because why not.

First celery harvest

First celery harvest today, a couple of nice decent-sized stalks.

Snipped/bagged onion seed heads

Snipped off two onion seed heads and placed them in a brown paper bag, where hopefully they will finish drying up and then I can shake the remaining seeds out.  I noticed the individual seed "containers" that were already brown were empty, guess the seeds fell the ground.  Wonder if any will self-seed. 

These seed heads are from one of the onions I started last year from bought seed, which survived the winter and I let just keep growing.  Several other onions are also in flower, but not sure which were from the store-bought onion that I planted a month or two ago, so leaving those ones be.

How to grow garlic -- good post

Good article about how to grow garlic:

http://ottawacitizen.com/life/homes/gardening/gardening-think-ahead-and-plant-garlic

Pea harvest almost over

Decent pea harvest the past couple of weeks.  Almost done now, just some stragglers left. 

Harvest was snacking-volume only, not enough to store or give away.  Consider trying two pea trellises next year.

Malabar spinach starting to grow again?

The two remaining malabars (I must have pulled the other ones) near the pea trellis have suddenly started growing.  Maybe due to the heat wave the last few days?  Still only ~6" tall, but pretty sure there's new growth.  Need to pull the dying pea plants to give them sun.

Basil and parsley pesto

Harvested 2 cups of basil and 1 cup of parsley and made the most delicious pesto.

Sowed beets, lettuce, chard (and removed bok choy)

Removed the dreadful bok choy, which this year was full of holes.

Sowed beets at the back, chard in front, and scattered lettuces at the very front.

Zucchini harvest started June 24th, going well

Zucchini harvest started June 24th, going well.  So far 3 yellows, and 2 greens.  There are a total of 5!! plants this year.  The yellow has been most productive so far.