Alien Pods and Where's The Squash?

   A week of cool, damp, cloudy weather followed the short heat wave we experienced at the end of May.  It was nice to have a break from watering the garden and the brassicas seemed to love the cooler temps.  Most of the beans germinated despite the very cool nights.  The squash, on the other hand, is MIA.  Of the 23-25 seeds I planted, only 2 (Gold Nugget) have germinated!  Summer squash has usually broken through and started growing by now.  Note to self: start squash indoors next Spring.  Yes, even the summer squash.

North garden - dry bush beans (Tene's Beans, Ireland Creek Annie, and Vermont Cranberry) and winter squash (Gold Nugget)

North garden - dry beans, squash mounds, garlic

   North garden - snap beans (Red Swan and Roma) just starting to come up, cabbage, and garlic.

   R. and I spotted some cucamelon transplants at the greenhouse last week.  Neither of us has grown or eaten them before.  This will be an experiment.  I'd seen pictures of cucamelons on the seed sites and always thought they grew on plants with a bush habit.  Nope.  The transplants had very fine vines and tendrils.  When I did an online search for more information about them, I was astonished to read that cucamelon vines can reach 8-10 feet long!  R. found a light trellis and put that behind them, positioned against the fence.  Hopefully, that will do to support the vines.  I have a feeling our neighbour might be able to enjoy some cucamelons on his side later this summer!

   South garden - except for the peas, things seem slow in this patch.  No sign of squash (Early Prolific), few carrots (Red Chantenay), and no sign of snap beans (Calima and Slenderette).  The collards, chard, and kale planted in the shady section seem to be coming along nicely.

Tiger Eye beans - dry bush beans with short runners

R. bought two solar lamposts that have large flower pots at the base. 

This was taken around 10:00pm last night.

We like solar lights.  Can you tell?

   We went to the greenhouse to get some "basket stuffer" transplants.  I got lobelia (mixed colours - blue, white, pink, fuschia), dwarf Baby's Breath, a few kinds of petunias, and dianthus.

   The picture does not do them justice, but I think these are my favourite petunias so far.  ("Johnny Flame")

   These petunias are neat, too (it was the only item R. chose himself!).  I think it's called, "Starry Sky Burgundy".  They are deep burgundy with white speckles.

   Cucumbers are planted in the container with the spiral tellis.  The rest of the containers are different kinds of mint. 

   The planter on the saw horse contains petunias ("Black Cherry") and dianthus.  I'm glad I went with the "Black Cherry" petunias - I almost didn't.  They go very nicely with the dianthus!

   The Bathtub - begonia (from the greenhouse - I treat myself every year to one), yellow pansies, flat-leaf parsley, kale (Dazzling Blue), Swiss Chard (Rainbow and Red), arugula, mint (most from the greenhouse), Pineapple sage (from the greenhouse)

   South side of the house - tomatoes, dry bush beans (Beka Brown), thyme, and rosemary (from the greenhouse this year!).

    South side, continued - tomatoes, a bit of lettuce, dahliettas (still very small).

   Purple Vienna kohlrabi planted on impulse at the back of the house.  So far, so good.

   A good friend gave me some Iris sections from her garden last year.  It is nice to see them coming up so well.  Bittersweet, as she is no longer with us.  Seeing them every day will be a lovely reminder of her generosity and friendship.

    I had never seen Irises grow and kept wondering where the stems were.  So many long, lush leaves but no stems!  I discovered on the morning of June 3rd some alien-looking pods that had broken through some of the leaves from the inside.  So that's how they grow - neat! 

Irises, June 10th

   Onions and cabbage (foreground), potatoes, and winter squash (Lower Salmon River)

   Finally, some carrots are appearing.  Slow germination for carrots this year.

   L-R in the raised beds: Coastal Pride Orange tomatoes, Mitla Black dry beans w/runners, Early Romanesco cauliflower.

   East garden (we tend to call it "The Potato Patch" whether we're growing potatoes there or not). Potatoes (Kennebec), a few zinnias, marigolds, Dwarf cosmos, and Lemon Queen sunflowers, tomatoes (Midnight Sun, Black Prince, and Polish Linguisa), peppers (jalapeno, Tam jalapeno, and Orange Spice jalapeno), "Veronica" Romanesco cauliflower, dry pole beans (Dolloff), zucchini (Black and Fordhook), volunteer potatoes, and a volunteer bean (hopefully, a bush bean!)

   Potato leaves began popping up all through this tomato bed.  R. had put compost from our bins beneath the soil when he turned the beds this year and didn't recall seeing any potatoes.  He finally dug down to investigate and discovered potato peels that were sending up shoots from a good foot below the surface.  The peels were "fresh" from a month or two ago.  We pulled them all out, but I am still finding new ones every day in this bed.

   I had a startling encounter yesterday afternoon with a furry visitor!  I was outside puttering on the south side of the house and wanted to water the dahlias on the front step, so headed in that direction.  I came around the side of the house just in time to see the back end of an animal who was motoring at top speed off the step, belly low to the ground.  I stopped dead in my tracks, eyes like saucers.  What had I just seen?  It wasn't a cat, rabbit, guinea pig, or ferret.  Prairie Dog?  Groundhog?  Marmot?  Do they have those up here?

   About 10 minutes later, while watering near the squash mounds in the north garden, it came back on the step and paused, so I got a good look.  It stayed on the step for a minute, then slowly walked to the water barrels at the south front corner and peered out in my direction.  It retreated between the barrels and then stood up on it's back legs, gently pawing the side of the house (maybe getting it's bearings?  Or seeking a place to hide?).  It disappeared after that and though I went out again with a camera a short time later, he didn't return.

   It wasn't that large and it also had a bushy little brown tail.  Mostly tan with some dark brown flecks through it's fur.  I wonder if it was a youngster.  I poked around online and thought it looked like either a marmot or a young groundhog.  R. thinks it must have been a groundhog, as marmots are more typically found in southern BC.   In any case, he must have been lost, as I have never seen one in our yard or in town  (I have never seen one, period).  Poor little guy.  He sure was cute.  I hope he made it back out of town the way he came in, likely through the ravine near 96 Ave or the railroad tracks. 

Afternoon update  

   Perhaps the squash seeds were abducted by whatever arrived in the alien pods.  

   Frustrated, I went poking through the squash mounds to see what was going on.  Of the 10 zucchini seeds planted, only one was found.  It had germinated but was dead.  Only one of the Early Prolific squash germinated and only two of the Gold Nugget. The majority of the squash seeds I had planted couldn't be found, so I assume they rotted in the ground during the cool, wet weather (it was hot out the week I planted them).   I planted new seed this afternoon to replace everything that hadn't come up.  Two days ago, new Table King Acorn seeds were planted for the same reason.  Arhg.

   Hoping the heat will return and remain so the squash can get going!