Volunteer Sunflowers, New Rhubarb, and 'Maters-A-Plenty

   Welcome, June!  It has been a cool, cloudy start, but today is a comfortable 21 degrees C and sunny.

   The last 3 weeks have been filled with garden-related tasks.  Almost everything is planted now and the next step is setting up trellises and stakes for the things that will need them (tomatoes, beans with runners, etc.)  

   Wildfires in the region (as well as in the Prairie provinces) are, unfortunately, already raging.   A number of evacuees from a wildfire 80km south of our town have come here to wait it out.  The air has generally been clear, though yesterday the air was hazy with smoke. 

   In the garden, volunteer sunflowers (hundreds of them) and tomato seedlings (dozens of them) have been popping up everywhere.  We actually transplanted some of the volunteer sunflowers into some of the raised beds.  My fingers are crossed that they will be single-stem/single-bloom sunflowers and not the branching, multi-bloom kind (which would interfere with the crops growing in the raised beds).  Here is one small section of one of the gardens, where volunteer sunflowers are growing:

 

.

..and some more coming up in a planter...

 

   There are 87 tomato plants in the gardens, raised beds, and free-standing containers.  That's a record.  I started more varieties than usual this year and wanted to grow them all.  Many are lined up against the north fence, along with a few peppers, dahlias, and marigolds in pots.  I gave some transplants to R's brother and then was able to sell the remaining ones.  It's nice to make a bit of money from the transplants; it helps offset the cost of potting soil, fertilizer, and other gardening supplies.

   Some of the early/early-midseason tomato varieties already have flowers: Taxi, Katja, Bellestar, and Japanese Black Trifele (pictured below).

 

   Cabbage (mostly Copenhagen, and a few Jersey Wakefield) is planted, as are the fresh beans (Giant Roma bush, Galopka, and Provider - planted May 30th).  

 

   The dry beans, listed below, were planted May 28-29.  Some varieties take up half a raised bed, and some were planted in window boxes, holding just 6-10 beans.  My attempt to keep as many varieties viable as possible.

Flagg (d/pole bean)

Yer Fasal (d/bush)  - Turkish heirloom 

Butterscotch (d/bush with runners)

Tene’s Beans (d/bush)

Beka Brown (d/bush) 

Coco Jaune de Chine (d/bush)

Orca (d/bush) 

Fiesta (d/bush)

Ruckle (d/bush) 

Tiger Eye (d/bush with runners)

Black Coco Beans – (d/bush) - older seeds - 2018

Canadian Wild Goose (d/bush) - older seed – 2016

Blue Jay (can be used as d/b or sn/b) – older seed - 2014

Ireland Creek Annie  (d/bush)

Painted Pony (d/bush)

Arikara Yellow (d/bush)

Anasazi (d/bush with runners)

Light Red Kidney (d/bush) 

Zuni Shalako (d/bush)

Speckled Algonquin (large d/bush) -  old seed – 2013

   The varieties of winter squash on the go this year are Galeux D'Eysines (raised bed), Lower Salmon River (south garden), Bush Delicata (a new variety for me - planted in large containers), and Butterbush (planted in raised beds and the east garden).  They were transplanted in late May.  If it decides to germinates, I'll also have some Table King Acorn to find spaces for!

 

   Odds and ends... Early Charm asters, marigolds, Unwin's Mix dahlias, Russian Mammoth sunflowers, a variety of kale, parsley, Swiss Giant Pansy, nasturtiums, cosmos ('Sensation Mix'), lavatera ('Pink Blush'), and a variety of lettuces have been planted around the garden.  Transplants from the nursery include Pineapple Mint, Mojito Mint, Pineapple Sage (smells heavenly), Spanish lavender, and catnip.   

   The deer returned mid-May to snack on the strawberry plants, so R. had to put up plastic netting around the strawberry bed.

 

 

A new spot we're planting tomatoes, peppers, herbs, etc...

 

 

Pictures from around the garden (click to enlarge):

 

The north garden 

 

 

 Pansies

 

 

 

Sage

 

 Along the driveway...

 

 

 

New spot for rhubarb...

 

...and some spare ones to plant. 

 

 The garlic patch

 

Trellis for the dry pole beans (possibly much too short, but we'll see!)

 

 

The dill patch (I hope I don't have to thin this...)

 

 

A bit of kale

 

 

 Swedish Red cooking peas

 

 

Lou in a sunbeam.  The transplants are gone, and she finally has her plant room back.  

 

 

 

 

Hot Chocolate and Winter Socks

   Brr.

   I'm not sure what happened to the warm, sunny (albeit windy) weather we've had.  It feels like someone flipped a switch that sent us back to March.  It is overcast and 5 degrees this morning.  The furnace just kicked in.  I dug out winter socks and put them on.  After days of cold drinks and sunscreen, I want nothing more than hot chocolate and a cozy sweater right now.  

   There is a welcome drizzle outside but the overnight temps for the next 14 days is forecast to remain well below 10 degrees.  (Daytime temps forecast to be in the teens.)   If that's the case, planting the tomatoes and peppers might have to be put off until early June.  It has been years since that has been necessary!  It will also delay the planting of beans, squash, and cucumbers.    

   In the last few days, sunflowers, alyssum, candytuft, bachelor buttons, cosmos, kohlrabi, Green Beauty snow peas, zucchini (Fordhook), Early Prolific Yellow squash, and Swiss chard seeds were planted.  A few lavatera (Pink Blush), kale (assorted varieties), dahlia (Unwin's Mix), and cabbage (Copenhagen and Jersey Wakefield) seedlings were planted around the garden as well.  The dill (Bouquet) is about an inch tall and looking good.  A number of potato leaves have poked up in their grow bags.  The cooking peas (Swedish Red and Gold Harvest) have come up with gusto.

   The morning I began hardening off the tomatoes, I was startled to see a small deer quietly nibbling on the strawberry plants.  I scolded her from the step, but she merely looked up for a moment, then resumed her nibbling.  She decided she had had her fill when I approached her, turning and sauntering back toward the street.  R. set out stakes with scare tape throughout the strawberry bed that afternoon and, fortunately, the plants have since bounced back.  

   Deep, distinctive tracks indicate that a moose walked through the corner of the garden patch in the east garden a few nights ago.  It squished one garlic plant and narrowly missed another.

   Several small crows have been frequent visitors since we set out the bird bath.  In addition to drinking from it, they've been using it as a dip tank.  (More later, as that really deserves its own blog post.  I hope to capture pictures to illustrate what we've seen them doing!)

   Bees, bees, everywhere.  That makes me happy.  Wonderful to see so many after several years of having been able to count the number spotted on one hand.  Yesterday alone, I saw 6 big, fuzzy, mellow bumblebees.  Three of them had to be escorted out of the house.

   The kitties have been enjoying the double-decker hammock chairs that R. put together for them.  They are tucked against the lilac bush, in the shade.  Here, the cats can snooze or supervise us while we work outside.  The day R. set the chairs out, Lou decided to investigate...

 

Her sister was sleeping in that one, so...

 

 

In she went!

 

Bea, tucked away and sound asleep.

 

 

   May began with the arrival of some fun snail mail.  Last month, I mailed tomato seeds to a lady in Ontario who was seeking new varieties (one, in particular) to try in her garden.  As a thank-you, she sent me a greeting card with 3 pepper varieties enclosed, all of them new to me: Ají Escabeche (Peru), Padron (Spain), and Espelette (the Basque region).  An unexpected gesture that really made my day!   It is too late in the season to grow them this year, but I am eager to try them in the future.  

 

Volunteer Garlic and The Rake-y Sessions

   Late April/early May has been mild, windy, and sunny.  Yesterday, the temperature reached 27 degrees C.  The day before, it was 22 degrees.  The next week's daytime temperatures have returned to warm-but-not-scorching norms of mid to high teens.

   It feels strange, but nice, to be so far ahead of things with garden prep.  R. has two of the three main garden plots tilled and the main raised beds turned and purged of quack grass.  He also filled dozens of pots and large containers with soil, so they are ready to be planted in the coming weeks.  

 Some of the containers along the north fence, ready for transplants:

 

 

   A combination of abysmal energy levels, vanishing muscle mass, and a sprained ankle has left me less productive than usual in terms of schlepping/garden work.  Weeding, tending to transplants, planting new batches of seeds for later transplants, and planning the garden layout have been my tasks these past two weeks.

   Oh, and relocating the volunteer garlic that has been popping up in the north and south gardens!  More than 20 volunteer garlic and 7 volunteer onions have come up.  I believe that is a record.  They have been relocated to various raised beds and are thriving.   Between what's growing in this year's garlic patch and the volunteers, our harvest this summer should more than make up for last year's Garlic Apocalypse.  

 

Planted in the garden so far...

April 17 

• Carrots (Scarlet Nantes, Cosmic Purple, Jaune Obtus du Doubs, Pusa Asita Black, and Amarillo)
  

April 23

• Dill (Bouquet)
  

April 24 

• Potatoes (AmaRosa fingerling and Kennebec, left over from last Fall's harvest)
• Gold Harvest dry cooking peas

April 30 

• Transplanted the leeks outside (Giant Musselburgh) 

May 1 

• Swedish Red dry cooking peas 
• Dahlia tubers

 

New transplants started:

April 14

• Calendula (Pacific Mix)
•  Lavatera (Pink Blush - Dwarf)
• Dahliettas (Unwin's Mix)
• Shasta Daisy (Alaska)
• Epazote 
• Parsley (Italian Flat-Leaf and Curly)

April 25

• Swiss Giant Pansy

April 23

• Marigolds (Queen Sophia and Janie Bright)
• Cosmos (Sensation Mix) 
• Summer Savoury

May 3

• Chinese Cabbage, (Hilton)
• Pansy (Burpee hybrid - Springtime Mix)
  

   

   The kale and cabbage started in the milk jug greenhouses are doing well, and the daisies have germinated.  The calendula, dahliettas, lavatera, epazote, and a few marigolds (all started in mini pots) have germinated. Still waiting on the parsley, cosmos, and summer savoury (which is notoriously slow to get going).

 

 

Some of the smaller tomato transplants:

 

...and some of the leggier ones:

 

 

   LouLou's favourite summertime ritual has resumed.  After a hard afternoon of supervising our yard work, she enjoys nothing more than being combed with a lightweight flowerbed rake.  R. has the technique down to a science and has begun referring to these interactions (with a straight face) as LouLou's "Rake-y Sessions".  She ends up so blissed-out by these sessions.  Just look at the last picture - look at those toes!