Visited the feeder this evening. Couldn't tell which food was the preference.
So, so far in the last week since putting back the feeder, have seen song sparrows, goldfinches, and chickadees.
Adventures in growing edibles veganically in a small townhouse backyard in Ottawa, Canada. (veganic since ~2021)
Visited the feeder this evening. Couldn't tell which food was the preference.
So, so far in the last week since putting back the feeder, have seen song sparrows, goldfinches, and chickadees.
Found 2 of them, on top of the central bed kale's tulle. They're very cute -- bright green (not gray at all) and kind of slow-moving, easy to catch. I feel like I saw these last year on the cucumbers and they ended up not doing any harm. Relocated these, will monitor.
Woo hoo!! The zucchini plants are all doing great, knock on wood! The Eight Ball are definitely more advanced than the Golden Glory, but the first Golden took and will be ready in a few days.
Loving the piracicaba! Wow, today harvested another basketful after having harvested a previous basket on Wednesday! Sure grows fast. It's a "hassle" yes having to remove the tulle and place it back carefully each harvest, but totally worth it.
No idea why this year's peas are so good -- they're the same as I've grown in the past. But dang they are GOOD!
Decided to jump on the kaolin clay now. Same batch/bottle from earlier in the season.
Ah, just when I thought my trick of camouflaging the cukes among the peas was working. Saw two this morning for the first time this year (on the cucumber plants), but they were gone by the time I came back with a container. I haven't been looking closely at the cukes so they might have appeared earlier. At this point will monitor/remove, though really I should probably kaolin.
Have not seen any in the zukes yet and those I'm monitoring very closely, picking the male flowers every day. All of the zucchinis are under tulle (except the two late-sowings which are a long way away from flowering).
So far, visitors to the birdfeeder, who I've seen, are the song sparrow and goldfinch.
The first yellow zuke is from the west bed, north two, east one.
Other than a handful of flea beetles a while ago, no insect pressures yet to mention.
The tomatoes are looking slow to take off -- the one Jasper has a few flowers and a handful of tomatoes forming, and the Scotia has a few flowers, but everything else is taking a bit longer.
Oh and the cucumbers aren't thrilled about being crowded in among the peas and potatoes -- but I think they'll get there.
Lots of green healthy growth everywhere.
Even my home-sown basil looks fabulous! Except for 3 or 4 of the southmost ones which maybe didn't covered as well during the cold (?) as they now have some weird / bad-looking leaves. But the rest look amazing.
And the zucchinis! WOW! Even the two that at first looked pale and I was sure I was going to pull, have pulled through and they're among the first I'll be harvesting from! All 7 of the main* zucchini plants look like they'll be producing fruit instead of the fruit petering out even before the flower opens, as was the case so often in recent years. I can only imagine it's from not putting too much nitrogen, and from adding in the kelp and mineralized rock phosphate?! *One zucchini in the Waltham broccoli bed was verrry late to get planted and is shaded by those broccolis so is unlikely to do much. Also planted 2 late starts a few weeks ago, will see what they do (one in the a/c bed, the other in the south center of the central bed). Oh and all zukes are under tulle except those two late starts. I feel like maybe, just maybe I've given them enough space with the tulle this year that maybe I'll be able to keep the tulle on well into the season.
Put back the birdfeeder today, only with the two trays. (Millet in the small tray, other stuff in the bigger tray.) Haven't had it out since.... last fall?
A house finch couple has a home in the neighbour's hedge thing and often hang out in the dead lilac tree, hopefully they'll check out the offerings soon.
Nights have been going to below 13, even single digits the last 4 or 5 days, so have been covering the basil (with upside down pots covered by blankets). Ready to be done with this soon... but the pesto and zucchini sauce is so worth it.
A handy list of various options for veganic amendments --
from https://www.groworganic.com/blogs/articles/vegan-organic-gardening:
Today makes two zukes hand-pollinated on same-day opening. (both rondes) Looks like the first, from a couple of days ago, took!!!
Lots of side shoots to harvest. Getting a nice amount every ~week or so. Even if I'm a bit late and the yellow flower starts to appear, still tastes fine.
Argh! Because of course under the netting, they didn't likely get pollinated. Tried pollinating them with spent males, just in case.
Both these females were the Eight Ball -- no Golden Glory to that point yet.
The BSSs have mostly started to climb up toward bolting, but all of the Rubies are still low. Maybe grow less BSS next year, and more Ruby.
So, harvested most of the BSS, letting a few grow to seed.
I can't remember if it flowered last year, but my post on May 22nd 2001 commented on how horrible it was looking.
This year the flowers are gorgeous and smell amazing, lots of bees and flies etc. visiting the flowers. However, most of the leaves are very yellow, like last year.
Oh, wait! Google says there's something called a "gold-leaf mock orange", and the photos look similar to mine! This must be what it is! Yay!
This post talks a bit about pruning it, removing the oldest stems, etc: https://awaytogarden.com/great-shrub-gold-leaf-mock-orange/
Some more posts:
https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56959/
https://bambooplants.ca/product/philadelphus-coronarius-aureus/
The 8 Ball is in the hose bed (added 1 Tbsp mrp and 1 Tbsp kelp), and the Golden is in the central bed where I removed a puny Waltham broccoli to free up space (didn't add anything here since I think I already added for the broccoli).
7 runty leftover Banana potatoes (one of which was really runty/shrivelled) planted in the a/c bed.
Wow!! All of a sudden they went from looking like I thought most of them would make it, to wow they all look GREAT! Maybe yesterday's big rain helped. I mean, they're not huge yet by any stretch, but definitely a really nice green.
(The store-bought basil looks good too.)
2 of the 8-Ball zucchinis look pale/wimpy (including the itty bitty 8-Ball zukes which look pale already, I'm sure they have no hope), whereas the other zucchinis are looking promising. So, started 1 8-Ball and 1 Golden Glory in PT today, to replace those.
A few flea beetles seen on the weaker of the central tomatoes, and in the potato bed.
Kaolined select tomatoes and potatoes.
"PowWow Wild Berry Coneflower" aka "Echinacea purpurea PowWow Wild Berry".
The coneflower outside the fence had been totally eaten (the seeds) by the birds over the winter, whereas the black-eyed Susans not at all. So maybe these coneflowers will help bring some birds into the yard this fall/winter.
Pre-mixed seed with topsoil, then scattered this onto the thin/bare patches.
I don't see round 2, but round 1 is going gangbusters in the many places where it did come in well.