Onions have appeared, and one tuberous begonia

Many onions have appeared, and one of the tuberous begonias.  This happened within the past few days or so.

Still no sign of tuberous begonias

Still no sign of tuberous begonias, but that seems to be normal.  In 2017 it took 3 weeks to see growth; in 2018 it was closer to 6 weeks.

Started celery, parsley, onions, lupins

Started these today:

- celery ("Tall Utah Improved" from foil pack)

- parsley ("Single Hardy Italian" - heirloom)

- onions (collected from last year's onions!)

- lupins (collected from last year's lupins) (an experiment)

All are in vermiculite, scattered seeds, except the lupins, which are in soil, two each in a little pot.  All in a mini "greenhouse" on the heated mat.

Used the last of the beets today!

Wow, beets store great in the fridge.  Used the last beets today, for a pasta recipe.

Started tuberous begonias

Started the two tuberous begonias saved from last year.

Cleaned / bleached all pots

Cleaned / bleached all pots. Rinsed off outside to remove excess soil, then soaked in tub with bleach for a while, then rinsed off and air-dried.  What a huge task. 

Hopefully this will help prevent whatever last year's problem was where everything inside became terribly stunted.

(wrote this note on Feb 16th but it was a couple of months ago when I did this task, so guesstimated Dec 20th)

In my fridge / on my table/counter right now

In my fridge / on my table/counter right now!

- tons of tomatoes, cherry and normal, some ripe, some still green
- 5.5 cups of de-husked ground cherries ready for pie
- a huge bag of swiss chard
- a huge bag of beet greens about to be made into a pasta dish
- a big bag of beets
- a sandwich bag of potatoes (puny harvest)
- several cucumbers
- a bag of celery
- a few jalapeno peppers
- one small green pepper

Still in the garden:  more chard (about half has already succumbed to the cold but some still crisp) and celery; a few more beets; maybe a few carrots but not sure if there's much root to harvest

Sowed garlic 'German White'

Decided I hadn't planted enough garlic.  So, this time bought 'German White'.  Put 8 cloves in the south tip of the west bed, and, 5 bad-looking/partly rotten? cloves on the north wall bed along the patio, the section at the west part of the patio, on the north half of it so the part right next to the neighbour's house.

First frost will probably be tonight

First frost will probably be tonight.  Harvested the almost-last Malabar spinach tonight, and some ground cherries. 

==> Edited afterward to say yes, there was a light frost that did in the Malabar spinach.  Not heavy enough to bother the chard, celery, beets, or carrots.

Marvelous malabar

Sure do love Malabar spinach.  First year trying it; it was sooooo slow to take off, but then when it did, wow!  So prolific, with huge, lush leaves.  Still harvesting it now although there's red spots on most of the leaves.  Frost called for tomorrow night so will try to bring it all in before then.

Sowed garlic ('Music')

Sowed 'Music' garlic today.  8 cloves on the window narrow bed plus around the corner to the back wall.  And, 4 cloves on the nice bed adjacent to the patio stones, running north-south.

Fall peas were small and few

Better than last year when they seemed diseased; this year just small, not a lot, and not very flavourful.  Not really worth doing, especially the cost of peat pots.

Maybe don't do fall peas next year.

Fall peas are forming

Several young pods, and flowers, have formed.

Red peppers harvested

Harvested two small red peppers from home-started plants!  Woo!

The store-bought plant has three green ones.  (Scooter ate some earlier buds.)

Black swallowtail

Found a black swallowtail caterpillar on the carrots about a week, week and a half ago.  Turned into a chrysalis within two days.  Brought inside, turned into a butterfly today.  Farewell!

Sowed carrots, beets, lettuce

In the vacated zucchini spaces, sowed:

- carrots in the space near the patio stones (where I plan to have next year's carrot bed)
- beets near the peas (just a few in among the green onions)
- bok choy and lettuce in one of the middle spaces

Zucchinis all kaput and removed

Came home from camping today to find two of the plants clearly mostly gone and the other two on their way out, all due to the borer.  So, pulled them all out.

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.

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.