And Then It Poured

    After weeks and weeks of high temperatures (including two heat waves) and almost no rain, a thunderstorm passed through the Peace Region last night.  It brought with it a heavy, sustained downpour and hail.  The potato plants ended up surrounded by little mounds of hail, and the alley behind the house turned into a small river.  Fortunately, the ground was so dry that most of the rain was absorbed, and there was no pooling in the garden plots.  I'll know later today whether the hail caused the plants any damage.

Early August Update

   An update from R. on our garden in BC!  While temperatures have returned to "summer normal", it is still very dry there.  The air has been hazy for weeks from the wildfires in the province.  Several of the crops R. planted were negatively impacted by the intense heat in July. Despite regular watering, some of them have just not bounced back or performed the way they would in a typical year.  (We haven't had a "typical" growing year in the past three.  This year, intense heat and lack of rain...2020 and 2019 were cool, overcast, and very wet.)

   The shelling peas (Green Arrow and Alaska) were stunted in their growth and put out far fewer pods than usual.  The Green Arrow pods were also smaller than usual.  I think the goal, at this point, is to snack on the precious few that are till tender and well-formed.  The rest will be allowed to dry out and will be saved as "back-up" seed for next summer.

   This was a day's harvest picked this past weekend.  Normally, a day's harvest of peas would be two or three full buckets. 

Alaska peas

 

 

Green Arrow  (shorter than usual)

 

Green Arrow (peas smaller than usual).

 

 

   The dry bush beans haven't been doing that well in the heat, either.  That's unfortunate - I always look at dry beans as one of the foolproof crops!  We'll see in the coming weeks what the harvest looks like.  In poor growing years, I'm happy if we're at least able to harvest the same amount of seed that was planted so we'll have it to plant again the following year.

   Bea, lounging on a warm water barrel while supervising R's effort.  Tomatoes and lettuce in the background, south side of the house.

 

 Tomatoes in the back, ground cherries in the front.

 

Ground cherries

 

 

   The Swedish Red dry peas seem to be doing well.  At the very least, we should have enough to grow out next summer.

 

 

   The potatoes are thriving.   Fingers crossed that the crop below the surface is as abundant as the leaves above ground!

 

Little Lou snoozing in the tall grass. 

 

 

   The peppers have loved this summer's extreme heat and are doing well.  I started Sweet Chocolate, Shepherd (a sweet, pointy red pepper), and Tam (mild jalapeno) seeds before leaving in late March.  

Not sure which pepper variety this is below...

 I think this is a Shepherd pepper plant.

 

 

And maybe this is one of the Chocolate pepper plants?

 

 

   The Pineapple sage flourishing!  We must pot some of this to overwinter inside again this Fall.  :)

 

 

Fermented Cauliflower & Carrots

 

   The sauerkraut started last week is percolating along, so today I decided to start a cauliflower and carrot ferment.  This method uses a brine that is made and then added to the jar of vegetables, whereas the sauerkraut produced it's own brine after salt was worked into the cabbage before it was bottled.

  Using several recipes as a reference, I combined 2 Tbsp fine non-iodized salt (e.g., sea salt or pink Himayalan salt) in a quart of filtered water to make the brine.  About a quart and a half of brine was used for the two jars pictured below.  Garlic cloves were placed in the bottom of the jars, though I forgot to lightly crush them beforehand.  Hopefully, the flavour will come through, anyway.  If these batches turn out well, I'll try adding grated ginger root to the mix next time.

   Don't you love the owl jar on the right?  (Click to enlarge)  It was a "jackpot" find Dad made at the Dollar Store a few years ago.  He had a knack for finding neat little things like this!

 

 

   July 28 update - bubbles galore in both jars for a number of days, though the amount is much less now.  The brine became cloudy, moreso in the mason jar than the owl jar.  This cloudiness is apparently a normal by-product of the fermentation process.  I was worried for a while!

Looking forward to doing a taste-test on the weekend.

 

 

July 30 - Opening the jar for a taste test was an experience.  Pouff!  What a strong smell!  I don't know if that is from the fermentation process in general, or if it's because of the presence of cauliflower.  In any case, the carrots are crisp and taste very similar to pickled carrots.  The cauliflower pieces still have a nice crunch and are tangy.  Good for snacking, and they'd be nice in a salad, too.  I would ferment both again, though in separate jars, and would add a bit of ginger root to the carrots.

 

Making Sauerkraut

   Yesterday, I decided to take the plunge and try making sauerkraut.  I've had good results making milk kefir and kombucha in recent years, so this didn't seem too daunting.  There are a few different ways of doing it.  For the first batch, I decided to go with a 2% non-iodized salt ratio (2g salt : 100g cabbage).  Pink Himalayan salt was on hand, though sea salt also seems to be a favourite of many people who regularly ferment vegetables.

   I have fermenting stones and "burp" lids at home, but don't here in Halifax.  Trying to improvise weights, I came very close to using marble chess pieces (only the very best for my kraut...ha!), but ended up using decorative houseplant stones from a package that Mom found instead. 

   Updates will be added below as the sauerkraut ferments and the taste-tests begin.

 

 

 

 July 20 - the cabbage is now more yellow than green, as expected.  Bubbles can still be seen in the brine, though the amount of brine in each jar seems to be less than it was a few days ago.

   I ordered some fermentation stones and plastic jar lids online this past weekend (should have also ordered silicone fermentation lids, but I can do without them).  I'm already planning the next batch of fermented vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, and garlic sounds good).

   July 29 - The sauerkraut tastes great!  If I had known it was this easy to make, I would have done so years ago.  I put one jar in the fridge, and am leaving the other out to ferment a bit more. 

Hot and Hazy

A garden update, thanks to R., who sent pictures!  I'm still in Halifax and miss seeing how things are growing 'back home' in Northern BC. 

Irises in the flower bed

 

 Dahlias

 

 

   The heat wave that hit BC last week has taken a bit of a toll on the garden. A week of daytime temperatures in the high 30s/low 40s, and overnight temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s.  Uhg.  Daily watering has been needed, even in the sections that have been mulched with grass clippings.  The peas and strawberries aren't liking the heat.  Some of the Beka Brown beans got scorched...

 

...as did about half the carrot seedlings.
 

   As if the heat wasn't enough to contend with, an anonymous critter (a magpie, perhaps?) chewed off the tops of some of the bean plants.

 

   

   Temperatures this week have returned to normal (daytime: mid-to-high 20s), but the air is hazy with smoke from the hundreds of wildfires burning in the province.  Extreme heat + lightning storms are a terrible combination.

The garlic patch, tomatoes, and a few sunflowers in the south garden.

 

 Ground cherries from the greenhouse.

 

 Bea having a snooze in the tall grass of the raspberry patch.

 

 Lou, contemplating a snooze as well.

 

 Dwarf sunflowers

 

 Lemon mint going to flower.

 

 Tomatoes, peppers, and greens along the south side of the house.

 

 

More tomatoes (I'll know which varieties are where by the end of the summer!)

 The potato patch (North garden)

 

 The Swedish Red dry peas are developing flowers.

 

 A few tomatoes are starting to form (pictured below is a Bellestar tomato).

 

 The long view...

 

 Yellow zucchini from the greenhouse.

 

 Green zucchini from the greenhouse.

 

 A cucumber plant from the greenhouse. 

Honeysuckle From Below (Halifax Update)

    It is a cool, rainy day here in Halifax.  There has been a lot of precipitation since I arrived here in March.  I'm not complaining - it has made people's yards and the Public Gardens lush and beautiful, and it has kept the summer temperatures in check. (The same can't be said for BC, unfortunately...so many heat records have been broken in the past week, and wildfires now abound in the province.)

 

   The woman in the apartment below ours is a gardener, and set to creating her own personal garden on the apartment grounds around her first-floor balcony/deck when she moved in years ago. I don't think this is generally permitted.  My impression is that she is not one to take no for an answer and so she went ahead with her plans.  Sometimes, the "ask forgiveness, not permission" approach works out for everyone involved!  

 

   There are all sorts of lovely hosta varieties down there, as well as beautiful pink peonies, assorted annuals, and this honeysuckle, which grew up the side of the building. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)  Mom tended it once it reached our balcony. The chickadees and sparrows love hiding in it. 

 

 

 

 

   The only way I could get a shot of the largest hostas was to take the picture through the bottom of the honeysuckle vines.
 

A few more hostas and some peonies.

 

   

   This picture doesn't do the flowers justice.  These large, fluffy peonies are a gorgeous pink and look like soft powder puffs.  They are a tad droopy following a night of rain.

 

 

   These are a few extra transplants from my "garden" on our balcony.  Mostly kale, parsley, chard, and pansies.  They will soon to be moved upstairs to another neighbour's balcony where the rest of the garden plants are.  

 

 

Update (August 4) - Sadly, the neighbour downstairs who created the lovely garden of hostas, hydrangeas, and other perennials recently went into hospice care and will not be returning to the building.  As part of preparing her apartment space for new tenants, some of the things she planted are being removed.  The first to go was the honeysuckle.  We'll miss seeing the chickadees and sparrows resting in it.  I hope the hydrangeas (one of which is purple - really unique!) and hostas might be left in place.