Pondering Progress

I spent some time looking through last year's blog entries.  They confirmed my suspicion that most things in the garden are a little behind this season, especially the tomatoes.  Even the potato plants don't seem as large and lush as they usually are. 










 
The eggplants are just now putting out flowers.  The peas did not grow as abundantly as they normally do, and started dying before really putting out pods in full force.  When all is said and done, we will have harvested half the amount of peas (~ 20 lbs) this year that we normally do (~ 40 lbs).

 














The Calima and Derby beans seem to be making up for the peas. We have already blanched and frozen more beans this year than in the last 3 years combined.  I will definitely grow Calimas again next year, and maybe the Derbies as well.









The dry bush beans look like they will need another solid month of warm (hot?) weather in order to mature properly.  The Coco Jaune de Chine, red kidney, Kenearly Yellow Eye, and Mrocumiere are poking along, though the Mrocumiere plants look like they are going to produce a LOT of beans.  Woohoo!   The "Tene's Beans" plants are the only ones that seem right on schedule.  This is my third time growing them; they are a reliable variety.  



 
The Tiger Eye beans seem to be doing well, though the plants are not exactly what I expected.  I thought they were typical bush beans and sowed them accordingly.  I was away for most of July, and when I came home, I saw that R. had built a trellis of sticks and mesh to try to contain them!  Haha!  They are taller than expected and they put out runners.  They look healthy, though, so my fingers are crossed that they mature well and that I'm able to collect a nice bunch of beans in September.








This year, I have seen only one grasshopper, while last year, there were so many that it started to feel creepy (think, Biblical plague).  No aphids this summer, whereas in years past they regularly appeared on the eggplants and parsley.  

Cabbage moths are out in full force, as per usual!


Our cabbage seems small this year.  These ones are from transplants bought at the local nursery.

The one on the left is a variety I started from seed (Aubervillers).  Six or seven made it into the garden but the seedlings got scorched, so only two have made it this far.  The little cabbage on the right is from the nursery.

I planted the majority of the beets (Golden, Chioggia, Detroit Red, Cylindra) in the divided wood container near the cherry tree.  They started out very well, but all stopped growing at ~ 2 inches!  Thank goodness I planted some "extra" at the end of one of the raised beds along the driveway.  This small bunch ended up being the only beets I have this summer!

Dahlias

A new sunflower

Tomato jungle

Two Romanesco Cauliflowers

Dwarf French Marigolds

Companion planting - lettuce and carrots

Red Kidney Beans

Lemon Balm

Loulou photobombing the Tiger Eye beans.

North Garden

(L to R) Patio Princess tomatoes, Ping Tung eggplant, borage

Butters (our neighbour's cat) stopped by for a visit and some pettings.

(9:45am, 18 degrees Celsius)