Early August Update

   An update from R. on our garden in BC!  While temperatures have returned to "summer normal", it is still very dry there.  The air has been hazy for weeks from the wildfires in the province.  Several of the crops R. planted were negatively impacted by the intense heat in July. Despite regular watering, some of them have just not bounced back or performed the way they would in a typical year.  (We haven't had a "typical" growing year in the past three.  This year, intense heat and lack of rain...2020 and 2019 were cool, overcast, and very wet.)

   The shelling peas (Green Arrow and Alaska) were stunted in their growth and put out far fewer pods than usual.  The Green Arrow pods were also smaller than usual.  I think the goal, at this point, is to snack on the precious few that are till tender and well-formed.  The rest will be allowed to dry out and will be saved as "back-up" seed for next summer.

   This was a day's harvest picked this past weekend.  Normally, a day's harvest of peas would be two or three full buckets. 

Alaska peas

 

 

Green Arrow  (shorter than usual)

 

Green Arrow (peas smaller than usual).

 

 

   The dry bush beans haven't been doing that well in the heat, either.  That's unfortunate - I always look at dry beans as one of the foolproof crops!  We'll see in the coming weeks what the harvest looks like.  In poor growing years, I'm happy if we're at least able to harvest the same amount of seed that was planted so we'll have it to plant again the following year.

   Bea, lounging on a warm water barrel while supervising R's effort.  Tomatoes and lettuce in the background, south side of the house.

 

 Tomatoes in the back, ground cherries in the front.

 

Ground cherries

 

 

   The Swedish Red dry peas seem to be doing well.  At the very least, we should have enough to grow out next summer.

 

 

   The potatoes are thriving.   Fingers crossed that the crop below the surface is as abundant as the leaves above ground!

 

Little Lou snoozing in the tall grass. 

 

 

   The peppers have loved this summer's extreme heat and are doing well.  I started Sweet Chocolate, Shepherd (a sweet, pointy red pepper), and Tam (mild jalapeno) seeds before leaving in late March.  

Not sure which pepper variety this is below...

 I think this is a Shepherd pepper plant.

 

 

And maybe this is one of the Chocolate pepper plants?

 

 

   The Pineapple sage flourishing!  We must pot some of this to overwinter inside again this Fall.  :)

 

 

June Garden Update - Beans Galore!

 

   R. sent me pictures today to show how the garden is coming along.  I miss being there to see it in person!   He focused on planting the basics this summer while I'm away - tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, peas (shelling and dry), beans (snap and dry), lettuce, and a small patch of carrots. 

 

Tomatoes

 

Tomatoes and peppers along the south side of the house.  I think lettuce is planted in the rectangular containers.

Beans - Tiger Eye (dry/bush with runners)

 

 More beans - Beka Brown (dry/bush)

 

 

...and more beans (Ruckle - dry/bush) and onions.

 The lilacs are in bloom.

 

 

    Last month, R. had someone cut back the trees in the front yard.  What a huge difference this will make in the amount of sunlight the South garden gets.

 

Peas - On the left side of the stake are shelling peas  (Alaska and Green Arrow). On the right side are a few rows of dry yellow peas (Gold Harvest).

 

 

   The potato patch (in the North garden). Along the left hand edge is a row of Swedish Red (dry) peas.

 

 Kitty enjoying the shade behind a tomato plant.

 The garlic patch (in the South garden this year).

 

   Loulou loves to hang out in the garlic patch, especially once the garlic has reached it's full height.

 

 

   Content and heading back inside after a morning of "supervising" R.'s work in the garden.

 

 

 

Borage and the Cover Girl

It is another hot, sunny day.  At 2:00pm it is 33 degrees, "feels like" 35.  Thank goodness it's a dry heat.  The heat here bothers me less than it seems to bother the locals.  Forest fires are blazing outside the town of Tumbler Ridge (about 100km from Dawson Creek) so the air is very hazy.  

This morning, I discovered 7 zucchini flowers, finally a mix of male and female blooms.  We might get a zucchini, yet!

I spotted our neighbour's cat relaxing by the peas when I first went out this morning.  She has the longest fur I have ever seen, and when we "met" her last summer, it was meticulously groomed and soft.  For that reason, we called her L'Oreal - her locks rippled in the breeze as she trotted down the driveway.  Since last summer, her owners had a baby and suffice to say, L'Oreal no longer has flowing, shiny fur.  She is a mass of knots and needs her bum washed.  Yet another pet put on the back burner once baby comes along. Don't get me started...

The borage is getting larger every day.

I think it's going to produce flowers soon!

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, marigolds, and parsley at the side of the house.  The black bag is full of leaf mulch, the garbage cans are full of water.

Corn, with a bush bean growing in the front.

The first eggplant bloom appeared this morning.  This is a Vittoria eggplant - a short season hybrid, so not surprising it was the first to produce a flower.  My fingers are crossed that the other varieties aren't far behind.

Golden beets.  They look so neat when washed and sliced.  Unfortunately, they grow much more slowly than the red varieties.

Today is our nephew Alex's 16th birthday, so we drove to Joe's place (R's brother), about 10 minutes out of town, to visit.  Canola is grown everywhere in this region, and you pass field after field of yellow as you drive along the highway and back roads. We stopped at one spot so I could take some pictures.

Our niece, Izzy (3) next to some flowers I love.  Peonies, I think.

She suggested that these would be the best ones for a close-up.

Joe has a big plot with potatoes, pole beans, lettuce, and squash, as well as a smaller area with radishes and snow peas.  He also has a keyhole-style rock garden next to the house.  Izzy agreed to pose while giving me a quick (and likely tedious, for her) tour of her Dad's gardens.  "This is a plant.  This is a rock. This is a pink flower.  I don't know what that one is.  This is another plant. Can we go colour now,  Auntie Dawn?"

Back For Breakfast

What a nice surprise!   I went to plug in the kettle early this morning and discovered these two enjoying breakfast outside the window. 

Good Morning, Deer!

I was washing the dishes early this morning and when I looked up, spotted this mama and baby outside our kitchen window, behind the neighbour's garage!  The baby decided to sit down and rest while the mama wandered around, nibbling on grass.  A wonderful way to start the day!