Sauerkraut, Cole Slaw, or Casserole?

   Woohoo!  First cabbage of the season.  This one is just over 6 lbs and is free of caterpillar and slug damage.  A combination of BTK spray (to protect from the cabbage moths) and floating row cover (to protect from the deer) did the trick.

 

 

Mid-Summer Update Part II - Tomato Edition

  Continuing the Mid-Summer Update with pictures of the tomato plants' progress, some more flowers, and Little Lou.  (Click on pictures if you wish to enlarge them.)

Bellestar - I grew this variety once, a number of years ago, and the results were less than stellar.  The plants were spindly and production low.  I decided to give it another try because, in addition to being a Canadian heirloom, it is described as being a good paste and canner that also tastes good fresh (many pastes do not).  What a different experience this time!  The plants are compact, sturdy, and loaded with tomatoes.
 

 

Dwarf Speckled Heart - These were grown for the first time last year and the plants were sturdy and productive.  They are doing well again this year, though the plants are a bit smaller, likely because they are growing in pots rather than in a raised bed.

 

 

Dwarf Arctic Rose - this is my first time growing this variety.  There are two in a raised bed and several in buckets and pots.  The plants are very compact and have the ruffled ("rugose") foliage typical of many dwarf varieties.  The plants all have put out a few small tomatoes.  It's an early variety, but they seem to just be getting started.

Dwarf Audrey's Love - Last year, I was able to obtain 5 seeds to grow.  I started 3 and of those, only 1 survived to make it into the garden.  My main goal was to save seeds to grow out this year, so I wasn't all that concerned about tomato production or how glorious the plants did - or did not - look.  Mission accomplished, and this year, I have several Dwarf Audrey's Love growing.  They are compact, sturdy, have rugose leaves, and look like they will be fairly productive.  Two are growing in a raised bed and the rest are in pots.  A few little tomatoes have appeared; it is just getting going.

 

 

Early Annie - Holy smokes!  Early Annie has always been a dependable, early, productive variety, but this year, it is really outdoing itself.  The plants are loaded with tomatoes and there are plenty more to come.  I actually had to tie some of the side branches to the tomato cages so they won't snap in a few weeks' time from the weight of the tomatoes.  If they continue to develop well, I will be able to finally make some green tomato chow chow, something I have wanted to do for years.

Fisher's Earliest Paste - These are planted in the East garden this year.  The plants are determinate, but sprawling, making them hard to stake/support. (It also makes getting a clear picture of the plants challenging.)  These tomatoes were wonderful for making sauce and dehydrate well.  Looking forward to a bumper crop.

 

Principe Borghese - a variety I grow almost every year.  It is so productive, hardy, and dependable.  Great for dehydrating or for adding to salads.  There are loads of tomatoes on the plants already.  This is the first time I have grown them in pots (rather than in deep raised beds), but they seem to be doing just fine.

 

Moskvich - This is one of the first tomato varieties I ever grew.  I had little experience gardening, so planted them in an area that didn't have adequate sun.  Production was low, so I concluded that maybe the variety wasn't as outstanding or prolific as the online descriptions said it was.  I wanted another early red variety, so decided to give Moskvich another try.  Suffice to say that, given the right amount of sunshine, it performs well!  The plants (though semi-determinate?) are taller than some of my indeterminate varieties.  The plants are loaded with flowers and have already developed some tomatoes. Moskvich is described online as being very tasty for an early variety.  I can't wait to see if this is the case!

 

 

 

Indigo Pear Drops -  second time growing these.  The plants are full of flowers and several tomatoes have begin to develop.  It's neat to see the tomatoes are dull purple rather than the usual pale green.  The plants are somewhat sprawling this year, so I had to tie some of the side branches to the tomato cages.

 

 

Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye - these plants are healthy and producing tomatoes, some of them are already a good size.  PBTD isn't a high producer, but the tomatoes are pretty, early, and flavourful.

 

 

 

Marina's Praise -  This is their first year in our garden.  The plants are sprawling and the foliage is on the wispy side.  The foliage is variegated, but it is more obviously so when the plants are younger.  Some of the variegated colour can still be spotted on the leaves, though.  It looks like this will be a moderately productive variety.  The flavour is supposed to be delicious, though, so that is a fair trade-off.

 

 

 

 

Katja - This is Katja's first year in the garden.  So far, it is living up to the positive descriptions I have read online.  It is semi-determinate (only about 2.5 -3 feet tall, but a bit bushy) and produces large pink beefsteaks.  It is an early producer and the tomatoes are apparently quite flavourful despite being early.  Katja was the first in the garden to produce tomatoes this summer, and it has the largest tomatoes right now of any variety.

 

 

Orange-1 - This is the first year growing this variety.  According to descriptions, it is semi-determinate, productive, and sweet with a globe to slightly oblate shape.  The plant is similar in size and habit to Katja.

 

   Little Lou followed me around the garden while I pruned tomatoes, watered the garlic, and weeded.  She needed a rest after all that supervising, and thought the warm top of a water barrel would be a nice place to do so.

 

 

 A few more flowers from around the garden...

Most of the pansies were eaten by the deer, but a few survived and other have bloomed since then.

 

 

 

 

 

 "Pink Blush" lavatera

 

 

 A few more poppies...

 

 

 

Mid-Summer Update Part I - It's a Jungle Out There

   It's just after 6 o'clock in the morning and a cool 9 degrees C as I sit down to tackle an overdue garden update.  It rained steadily overnight and the rain is still coming down.  A welcome relief, not the least because it will save us from having to water the garden for a few days.

   The weather this summer has been closer to what was typical for the area when I started gardening in the mid-2000s.  Most days in the 20s, a few scorchers here and there, and at least a bit of rain - even if just a sprinkle - every week or two.  Thankfully, our region has experienced less in the way of wildfire smoke this June and July than in recent years.  The garden has loved the more moderate temperatures and the rain.  The tomato plants look robust and most are loaded with yellow flowers right now.  The bean and pea plants are going strong and the cabbage looks large and healthy.  

   I am behind on maintenance tasks like weeding, pruning the tomato plants and tying up sprawling branches, but started to work on those this past weekend.  Slowly but surely wins the race (or so I tell myself). 

   Deer have been a problem in the garden this summer.  Little did we realize how fortunate we were not to have had problems with sparrows or deer for the first 15 years we gardened!  Cabbage moths, root maggots, and slugs were about as bad as it got.  Despite a mesh barrier being erected around the strawberry bed, it did not deter the deer.  They pushed through the mesh and chewed down almost every strawberry plant we had.  It felt all the more frustrating because the plants were about 8 inches tall, lush, and full of flowers when they were eaten.  The deer sampled the pansies, lettuce, kale, chard, calendula, the tips of some bean plants, and a few snow pea plants.  One deer even bit a cabbage head THROUGH the floating row cover.  Upon realizing it couldn't actually eat the cabbage through fabric, it spit it out!  

   R. tried several methods he had read about to deter them (everything from little cloth pouches of strongly scented soap hung around the garden to cayenne pepper sprinkled on the greens to peppermint and other essential oils on fabric swatches in key locations).  The best option would be to build a solid 8-foot fence and gate across the front of the property, but short of a lotto win, that is not going to happen (it wouldn't prevent them from jumping over the fence at the back of the property, anyway).  R. finally bought a pricey deterrent that is sprayed on decorative plants and trees.  He sprayed it on the flowers throughout the garden and on a few of the "sacrificial" greens - kale and chard - so the deer would come to associate the terribly bitter taste with the vegetables.  They haven't been back in several days.  Here's hoping they have moved on to greener pastures (or better yet, back to the woods, where they are safer and where there should be an abundance of food for them at this time of year).

They do love a bit of cabbage...

  

 

   One of the hungry visitors...  Earlier this month, when R. returned home from running errands, he was greeted by this doe.  Contentedly curled up beneath the overhanging lilac bushes at the front of the property.  Perhaps resting after a leisurely brunch!

 

 

   Some pictures taken in the last week of June (in my effort to play catch-up).  Here is what the strawberry bed looked like a week or so before the Great Chewing:

 

 

The garlic scapes were curling and getting close to harvest-time (early, this year)

 

 

Pole beans (Flagg - a dry variety)

 

 Poppies

 

 

 

Last year's sage made it through the winter and by the end of June was blooming.

 

 

   We have incorporated a lot of dry manure from R's family's farm into the garden.  This year, R. has kept on top of the button mushrooms as they emerge, getting to them before the bugs do.

 

 

 Gold Harvest cooking beans flowering.  Such a productive variety!

 

   The lettuce in this container was so lush and healthy, and the deer couldn't resist.  Sigh.  Needless to say, the mesh was placed over it after the deer visited.  We had convinced ourselves they wouldn't be such a problem this year and neglected to go all-out with fabric and mesh row covers from the start.  Whoops.

 

Our kitty supervisors, in the shade near the garlic patch.

   On to more recent pictures.  These were taken July 19th.  Things in the garden, particularly the tomatoes and beans, really shot up in the last two weeks!

 

 The north garden

 

 Along the fence...

 

 

Pathway of plants (mostly tomatoes - along the north fence)

 

 The garlic patch.  Looking a little dry, unfortunately.  I gave it a good watering a few days ago (and then, of course, it started to rain!)  With the garlic being several weeks ahead of schedule this year, I might be able to start harvesting in early August.

 

 

 

Swedish Red cooking peas

 

Gold Harvest cooking peas 

 

 

 Black Coco beans (dry/bush) - starting to flower.  :)

 

 Sage

Summer Savoury

 

 Dill

 

Galeux D'Eysines winter squash (C. maxima)

 

 

The first Galeux D'Eysines to be pollinated...

 

 Fordhook zucchini - these are having a great year!  Lots of flowers.  Relish can't be far behind...

 

 

 

Tiger Eye bush beans (dry w/runners)

 

Dry bush beans (Beka Brown and Tene's Beans) and Dwarf Purple Heart tomatoes.

 Peekaboo!  A little sunflower behind the squash plants, and some volunteer bachelor buttons.

 

 

 

The first cosmos have started to bloom.  These ones had a fuzzy little visitor that day.

 

 

R. made small greenhouses for the Ajvarski peppers.

 

 

 Asparagus seed pods

 

 

Calendula (Pacific Beauty Mix)

 

 

  

Marigolds - Queen Sophia

 

 

 

French Marigolds with a volunteer aster (Early Charm) growing out the bottom of the pot! 

 

 Tomatoes along the driveway

 

 South side tomatoes (along with Fiesta dry bush beans and chives).

 

 

Cabbage (mostly Copenhagen, with a few Early Jersey Wakefield).  Three of the cabbage were lost to root maggots, and two had a bite taken from them by deer.  What remains is doing well.

 

 

Dahlias

 

Dahliettas ("Unwin's Mix" dahlias)

 

 

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, Little Lou joining me on my garden rounds.