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.  

 

 

 

 

Flowers, Squash, Haze, and Relish

September, already.  Time flies!

   Smoky skies are back.  The last few days of August brought a yellow/orange hue to the air and the sun looked like neon during sunrise and sunset.  There are large wildfires in southern BC (particularly impacting Kelowna), in the Northwest Territories (most of the city of Yellowknife has been evacuated), and northern Alberta.

   We also had another stretch of 30+ degree weather at the end of August.  The overnight temps are forecast to be well above zero - sometimes in the double-digits - for the next two weeks.  The weather is so different from when I started gardening here years ago.  Hard ("killer") frosts were not uncommon at the end of August and were almost guaranteed during the first week of September.  More than once, I found myself in early September running around the yard, shivering in the freezing rain, buckets in hand, harvesting the tomatoes, peppers, and any remaining summer squash that were on the plants because a hard frost was imminent.  It has been a number of years since I've had to do that.  If the forecast is accurate, we might not have frost until mid-to-late September.  It's wonderful for the winter squash - they always thrive in a nice, long season.  Still, the change in the growing season has been so dramatic in recent years that it leaves me feeling a little uneasy.

   The last of the peas and string beans were harvested mid-month and I canned another batch of relish (Fresh Dill Cucumber Relish) and a batch of peach butter.  I thought I was finished with canning, but I made a small batch of plain sweet pickle relish (using zucchini rather than pickling cucumbers) last week.  Recipe in the video below.

 

 

On to the pictures!  (Click to enlarge, if you wish.)

 

Volunteer sunflowers in the south garden.

 

Double-Click cosmos

 

Dahlias

Volunteer petunias

Zucchini (one of the last ones!)

 

   Fernleaf dill, Double-Click cosmos, and Bush Delicata squash (which haven't, from what we can tell, produced very well.  I'll try them again in another spot).

Dragon's Egg cucumbers

China Asters

 They must taste good.  It would appear that a visiting deer snacked on them!

Strawflowers

Pink and yellow dahlias (Unwin's Mix)

 

Pansies

A "pom pom" marigold (variety unknown)

 

Little Firebirds nasturtiums and purple alyssum.

Pansies

The apple tree is loaded this year, much to our delight.

Sunflowers in the butternut squash bed...

...and more in the French pumpkin (Galeux D'Eysines) bed.

   The Galeux D'Eysines are coming along well.  After the vines were topped and the tiny, stunted pumpkins removed mid-month, there are 7 medium to large ones remaining.

Burpee's Butterbush squash (a small butternut variety).

   A few cobs of the Gaspé Flint corn grown this summer.  I planted the seeds in a smaller space and in fewer numbers than I did three years ago.  As a result of that, and likely of the dry weather this summer, this harvest isn't as abundant or the cobs as well developed as they were then.  The cob pictured second from the left is the size they typically grow.

Here are the ingredients and general instructions for the Sweet Pickle Relish canning recipe featured in the video above (and taken from The Complete Book of Pickling).

• 10 cups chopped or grated cucumbers, or zucchini
• 1/3 cup canning salt
• 2.5 cups white sugar
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper 

Mix chopped/grated cucumber or zucchini with pickling salt in a stainless steel or glass bowl.  Add cold water to ~ 1 inch above mixture, stir, and set aside in fridge for 8 hours.

Strain cucumber mixture, rinse well in cold water, and allow to drain.  Squeeze excess water from the cucumber mixture and set aside. 

In a large stainless steel pot, combine white sugar, white vinegar, and pepper to make the pickling brine.  Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a gentle boil, add cucumber mixture, and bring back to a boil, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Fill washed and prepared 250mL or 500mL jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Process in canner for 10 minutes (adjust canning time for altitude as necessary).  Remove jars from canner after 5 minutes resting time and let jars sit undisturbed for 24 hours before checking seals and storing.