Back to the Garden

    I arrived back in BC on the 5th and did a quick walk around the garden before unpacking a bit and heading to bed early (it was a long day!).  

    Yesterday, I got a closer look at how the garden fared.  It's obvious it was a rough season, weather-wise.  Many of the tomatoes are underdeveloped, marked from hail, or so cat-faced they won't be worth the effort to process.  It looks like Neves Azorean Red and Gary O'Sena will be write-offs and Mrs. Schlaubaugh's Famous Strawberry is very, very small and is not true to form.  Some of the tomato plants had reasonable fruit on them, but only 2 or three on the whole plant.  I began pulling tomato plants that were not going to produce anything useable, as well as those that had only a few fruit on them.  

 

Neves Azorean Red

 

Bellestar - productive, though a number were damaged by hail.

   The radishes had gone to seed, so I pulled those, too.  The green shelling peas, which produced almost nothing this summer, started sending up new shoots a few weeks ago.  I doubt they'll produce anything and would prefer to just pull the plants, but R. figures we should leave them a while longer just in case.

   The beans (Tiger Eye, Beka Brown) had very stunted growth and any bean pods that have developed thus far are small, thin, and green.  Again, I think these will be a write-off and would just as soon pull them and clean the beds, but will hold off for a while longer.

 

Tiger Eye beans - usually 3 feet tall, by this point!

   The yellow dry peas (Gold Harvest) did very poorly.  Still, R. managed to save enough to replace the number in the original packet.  We'll try them again next summer.

 

Gold Harvest dry peas

   The majority of strawberry plants in the strawberry bed roasted in the heat and died. I think we only have 8 left.  

   A small plot of carrots were planted, but they didn't get thinned.  The largest I've pulled has been the size of my pinky finger, with the majority being very small/thin.  I will pull the whole kit-and-kaboodle in the next week or two.

 

Carrots

  

   Raspberries were a complete write-off this year.  The patch is grown up like a jungle with grass and weeds.  Due to the extreme heat and lack of rain, so raspberries developped (the few that did roasted on the plants).

   The crabapple tree produced about 1/3 of the amount of apples it usually does. They were smaller than usual, and started dropping off the tree before they were even ripe. Weird.

The apple tree has produced some apples - far fewer than usual, and the apples are smaller than usual, but there are enough for a small harvest.  They started to drop off the tree this week.

   On the positive side, the Swedish Red dry peas produced 2-3 times the amount that was in the packet R. planted this Spring. No doubt they produce much more in a good growing season, but this year, I'm happy if anything produced the amount of seed equivalent to (or exceeding) the amount planted.

 

Swedish Red dry peas

A few new Swedish Red dry pea shoots have come up in the last few weeks.  The flowers are so pretty!

  There were two green and three yellow zucchini on the plants. They were quite large, so picked them and then pulled the plants.

   The onions were pulled before I got home and are in the laundry room waiting to be processed.  They are all smaller than usual this year.

 

My assistant this afternoon, Loulou.

 

   The garlic bulbs and rounds were pulled last month by R., and were cured and sorted by type.  The bulbs are MUCH smaller than usual.  It was shocking to see Red Russian, typically a large, solid, dependable variety, a third of it's usual size.

   The peppers did better this year than any other year we've grown them. The ones planted in pots and placed on the black weed cover on the East garden did the best.  I don't think they'll ripen on the plants - our season is too short - but they'll be a good size when picked this month and they can ripen in brown paper bags.

 

Shepherd peppers

 

Shepherd pepper

   The potato plants look fantastic.  Hoping the harvest of potatoes is just as good.

   Update:  R. dug up some potatoes today (September 8th) for supper.  Looks like they did well!  This is a portion of what was growing in one mound. 

   Volunteer pansies are everywhere!

 

   The herbs - mint (several kinds), pineapple sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley and marjoram - all did very well.  Some came from overwintered clippings, some was grown from seed, and some (the oregano and 2 mints) were bought as transplants.  There will be plenty to use fresh and in teas, and plenty to share with friends.

   There is one small pumpkin going strong from a transplant in a raised bed near the East garden.

   Of the tomato varieties grown this summer, the ones that have done the best (relatively speaking) are Black Sea Man, Ropreco, EM-Champion, and Valencia.  

Ropreco

 

EM-Champion - of all varieties, these fared the best.

Valencia

A sunflower on the South side of the house.

 

   Today, I took a bunch of clippings from the herbs and planted them so we can overwinter them indoors.  I also planted clippings from the French lavender and the variegated ivy houseplants - they were on their last legs and new plants need to be started.  For now, they are sitting in the shade, very wilted.  Hopefully, they will bounce back, getting their roots in this month sitting out in the sunshine, and then we'll bring them in. 

 

 

 

   I also deaded-headed the dahlias and irises, and started organizing/putting away the pots, transplant trays, heat mats, and assorted seed-started paraphernalia in the storage trunks outside. It's nice to have that task mostly finished by the time hard frosts begin to hit.

   Overnight temperatures for the next week are forecast to be well above zero.  It's so unusual to reach mid-September without having had a hard frost or two.  It's nice to have the "extra" time to let things mature and not to have to run around in the evenings covering the garden with blankets.

   On tomorrow's agenda: onion and zucchini processing.