In Bloom

Checking on the 'Maters

   The photos of tomatoes I most enjoy looking at are ones that show the wide variety of colours, shapes, and sizes of the fruit.  Tomato plants, with few exceptions, pretty much look the same.  I took a few pictures of the plants today to have on file so I can compare their sizes and growth rates with varieties I grow in the future.  Not so exciting for the non-gardeners among you, but it's helpful to me.  ;)

    The irises have started to open.  They are beautiful; the pictures never do them justice.

   One of the Jewish tomato plants I have on the go.  These will be small, red oxhearts.  The seeds were obtained from a lady in Florida who was hosting a large, generous seed giveaway this past Spring.  This one seems to be a rare variety; there is little information about it online.

Another Jewish tomato

Lou decided to join me in my tour of the tomatoes.

A Hungarian Heart tomato plant (with a bit of sage in the pot beside it).

   The first damselfly of the season!  So pretty.  The picture was taken quickly before it flew away.  Hopefully, more damselflies will visit the garden in the coming weeks and I will be able to capture a clearer picture.

Lou photobombing the picture of the Candy Sweet Icicle plant...

...and the Candy Sweet Icicle without little Lou!

Work Release Paste

Black Sea Man

Bellestar, an open-pollinated determinate paste variety developed in Ontario in the early 1980's.

Too Much of a Good Thing

   
   The last few days have brought a few light sprinkles, but the heavy rain started last night.  The ground is saturated, all the water barrels and buckets are filled with water, and the driveway and gardens have puddles.  The basement sump pump is getting a workout.  This weather is similar to last year's soggy, cool summer. I am holding onto hope that things will dry out and warm up soon.

North garden - garlic, white scallop squash, cosmos, peas

The pea patch in the North garden

Planter with waterlogged flower seedlings

All the rain barrels, buckets, and watering cans are full.

The driveway.  If I can't have a pool, big puddles are the next best option.

South garden - string beans, cauliflower, tomato, zucchini, cosmos

 Grateful for the trench beside the house. This water (which is flowing like a river into the alley) would be in our basement, otherwise.

   Little Lou snoozing.  Or meditating.  It's hard to tell which, but she sure is sweet.  💛

   In the last week and a half, a few more tomatoes were planted (49 in total: 45 here and 4 at R's family's farm).  I also planted wax/string beans (Red Swan, Romano bush, and Calima) in the south garden.  Some of the summer squash (zucchini and Early Prolific) and acorn squash (Table King) that had been started indoors were transplanted into the garden.  The Ruckle, Beka Brown, and Agate Pinto dry beans have begun to germinate, as have the Gaspe Flint corn and the Muncher and Snacker cucumbers.  

   The two North Georgia Candy Roaster squash transplants that were planted at R's family's farm were killed by frost last week.  The Lower Salmon River squash and Long Pie Pumpkin transplants that were planted at the farm are apparently still doing okay.

   The only tomatoes that have developed yellow flowers thus far are "Cole", a very early variety.  The Coles have been transplanted at the farm.

   The flowers beds are a bit of a mess, as the vegetable gardens have taken priority up to this point.  The deep purple tulips planted last Fall have come up (beautiful!) and the irises will be blooming soon (thank you, Jackie, wherever you are).  The sunflowers I planted along the back have begun to germinate and some volunteer pansies appeared. The latter were transplanted into a pot on the front step. Getting the Creeping Thyme under control (it is pretty and the bees adore it, but it self-seeds and spreads like crazy) and the grass weeded out from the Woolly thyme is on my to-do list.

   There are three beds at the back of the house that haven't been planted yet.  They don't get much sun at this point, so I am pretty much limited to planting (yet more...) greens and a few herbs.

   A few items remain on a heat mat under a grow light indoors: summer squash (the one that just germinated is a zucchini), summer savoury, French lavender (clippings from our houseplant), and the waterlogged herb - brought inside from the rain - is marjorum.
    

 

Getting The Garden In

   June already.  How did this happen?  There have been some sunny days this past week, but the weather remains mild rather than toasty warm.  I have managed to get much of the garden in, but it has been slow going this year.

   Broccoli, Snowball cauliflower, cabbage (Cour di Bue, Red Express, Early Golden Acre), White Scallop summer squash, lettuce, kale, a bit of basil and sage, and Swiss chard have been planted.  I finally got the peas (Green Arrow and Laxton's Progress) planted yesterday, but not trellised.  A row of Norland Red potatoes are in the East garden.  R planted the rest of the potatoes (Kennebec, Russet, Red Norland) at his father's farm.  Cosmos (Rubenza and Sensation Mix) were transplanted in small bunches in all three garden plots.

   Peppers (Anaheim and Tam jalapeno) were planted yesterday and today.  The tomatoes were planted over the last three days.  True to form, the first week of June is very windy, so while I have given away a number of tomato transplants, I am keeping a bunch until the second week of June in case any of those I planted in the garden snap in the wind.  The tally at this point is 42 tomatoes in town (the varieties are listed here), and 2 (Cole) at the farm.  About a third of them still have to be staked, but at least they are in the ground.

   After last summer's dreadful weather, I decided to start most of the squash this year on heat mats and under grow-lights.  I staggered starting the varieties from mid to late May.  The Galeux D'Eysines was transplanted outside yesterday.  The Lower Salmon River and North Georgia Candy Roaster are hardening off and will likely be planted at the farm.  Long Pie Pumpkin, Fordhook Zucchini, and Early Prolific Straightneck are on the heat mats and will be planted outside once they've germinated and the weather warms up more.

   I planted a few small sections of dry beans in raised beds (Ruckle, Agate Pinto, Beka Brown), though am concerned that they might rot if the soil continues to be cool.  I will hold off on planting string beans until the weather is warmer; I don't have enough to risk them rotting and having to replant them.

   I have become aware that an acquaintance, who has property, resources, and gardening knowledge of their own, quietly follows this blog to see what transplants they might be able to hit me up for in June and what produce in September.  I have always been happy to share what I have but admit to a growing resentment of this kind of manipulation and the expectation that I will simply dish out. There is always one of these sorts in the bunch, I guess.

   The trees in our yard and in several of our neighbours' yards are loaded with blossoms. The scent is heavenly!   It's sad to see the petals being blown off so soon by the breeze, but it looks like confetti in the air, which is pretty in it's own way.

Apple tree and crabbaple trees in bloom

Tomatoes in, as well as a pepper, beets, and lemon balm.

North garden - peas, garlic, tomatoes

East garden - tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, broccoli, cosmos

The view down the driveway

Puddles and Carrot-Planting

   The carrots and rutabaga are planted!  I realized on the 19^th that the month of May was getting away from me.  Between the pandemic lockdown and neither of us having worked/ had a consistent schedule for far too long, my sense of time has been quite scrambled.  I zipped outside that afternoon and sowed carrot seed (Jaune Obtus du Doubs, Atomic Red, Cosmic Purple, Scarlet Nantes, and Koral) in one of the raised beds.  Beside it, I planted some Laurentian rutabaga seeds.  They are among this summer’s growing experiments; I have never grown rutabaga before.

    

   The sky was dotted with a few white, puffy clouds and the sun was beaming down while I planted. Once I covered the carrots with burlap (it helps with germination), I came inside to check my email.  Within a half hour, the sky turned dark, thunder and lightning rumbled through, and it started to pour.  It rained for a while, cleared off, and then started again the following morning.  It has more or less been raining since.

   The grass squishes beneath our feet and the garden plots are so saturated, they have puddles in them.  By this point in May, we usually have potatoes planted, at least one garden plot weeded, the pea trellises up and the peas sown.  It has been too wet so far to get the tilling and weeding done on time. 

  In the “bathtub” and in some of the containers behind the house, I transplanted some of the Lacinato kale, Dazzling Blue kale, Five Colour Silverbeet Swiss Chard, Corcade lettuce, and Crisp Mint (a romaine type) lettuce that had been started in milk jug greenhouses.  They are loving the cool, wet weather.

   Most of the winter squash I started indoors on the 16^th under lights has germinated.  I’ll thin them out on the weekend and hope for hot, sunny days starting next week!

   Cole is the earliest variety of tomato I’m growing this year.  Two of the Cole transplants have already put out flowers. 

  

  The asparagus crowns we planted last Spring didn’t make it through the winter.  I suspect they would have preferred to have been planted in-ground instead of in a raised bed.  R bought more (green and purple varieties) and planted them this past week out of town on his father’s land.

Hardening Off the Transplants

    Two days ago, I began hardening off the transplants yesterday - mostly tomatoes and peppers.  It has been overcast, drizzling, and cool and more of the same is forecast for this week.  This weather reminds me of the entirety of last summer.  Nobody wants a repeat of that!

Lou came out briefly to inspect the transplants...

   Last summer, the only squash that flourished and produced anything was the one I started indoors: Lower Salmon River.  Squash typically don't like to be started indoors or to have their roots disturbed by transplanting, but doing it this way is the main insurance against sub-par growing weather, like we experienced last summer.

   I started Lower Salmon River, North Georgia Candy Roaster, and Galeux D'Eysines (all C. maxima varieties) indoors on heat mats and under grow lights this past weekend.  I'll pick one variety to grow here and will plant the other two out at R's family's farm.  Lower Salmon River was the practical choice to grow - it is one of the earliest winter squashes I have found and it stores very well.  North Georgia Candy Roaster is the easiest to process for cooking and is fun to watch grow.  My favourite, Galeux D'Eysines, is beautiful and delicious.  It is also the least practical of the three to grow, as it takes the longest to mature and is a bit of gamble in our growing zone.  If we have a warm, sunny September, it will work out!

Warm Soil, Happy Kitties