Signs of a Cool Spring

We've been experiencing the kind of spring we usually had on the West Coast of Canada - cool and damp.  Summer so far hasn't been much better.  Our previous several springs and summers were hot and dry - which brought their own problems - and I think we got used to thinking that's how it should be!  Well here we are again!

Garlic rust

My first clue that things weren't going the way I wanted them was the rust on the garlic plants.  At first I thought it was pollen - but I was wrong!  It's resulted in tiny bulbs of garlic - definitely not what I've come to expect.

Tomato leaf curl

Then there was the tomato leaf curl.  This has affected mainly the cherry tomatoes.  The Health Kick tomatoes haven't been bothered at all.  Indigo Rose, a cherry tomato given me by a friend, has been the most affected.

Blighted leaves

Some tomatoes also are showing signs of what I think might be blight.  I actually had to discard Yellow Pear.  Sweet Million has lots of yellowing leaves but is still soldiering on.

6 Kick Tomatoes

Good old Health Kick is looking as wonderful as it always has.  The first year I found a tiny Health Kick plant in a nursery was a bad year for blight.  Only at the very end of the season did I find blight on my Health Kick.  No wonder it's my "go-to" tomato!  In the picture above you can see how bushy they are - and I really did space them out.

Ripening Health Kick Tomatoes

They are covered with fruit and some is now ripening.  I look forward to lots of roasted tomato pasta sauce, tomato soup base and salsa!

Seed head on Copra Onions

This is the first year in a few that the onions have developed seed heads.  So far I've picked off 4.  That's actually not bad.  One cold, wet spring 3/4 of the plants developed seed heads.  This doesn't really affect the onions except that you get smaller bulbs which don't keep as well.

Copra Onions starting to fall over

Another strange thing happening with the onions is that they've decided they've had enough!  Most of the plants have now fallen over which is a sign that they've matured and are ready to be cured.  I'm not sure why this is happening.  This early maturing means that the bulbs aren't as big I we usually see but there's nothing for it but to go along with what the plant has decided.  When they've all fallen over and have had a bit of time to sit, I'll pull the plants and let them cure in the sun for a bit.  Then they'll go in the potting shed to completely cure so that I can remove the dried tops and nip the roots, then store them away.

Heritage Italian beans in flower

However, it's not all doom and gloom.  The beans are in flower and this year promises to yield a bumper crop of the heritage Italian and Fortex beans.  Luckily a relative has given me a recipe for her delicious dilly beans which will help use up some of them.

Liberty apple tree

This will also be a stellar year for the apples.  Every tree is loaded in spite of thinning.  The poor little Liberty is dragging on the ground - as it is every year.  Liberty is a tremendous producer of tart-sweet small beautiful red apples.  One of our favourites!  And to look at it, you'd never believe that I've removed 3/4 of the apples in thinning!

With vegetable gardening, every year is an adventure.  Things are never the same from one year to the next.  You just have to ride it out and hope for the best.  And every gardener thinks, "Next year....."

A New Strawberry Bed

We are currently growing two kinds of strawberries, everbearing and June-bearing.

Everbearing strawberry planted in a tire

We bought 4 everbearing plants this spring and will start a proper bed with them soon.  Currently they are housed in a temporary bed and are doing very well.  Everbearing strawberries don't have the deep delicious taste that the June-bearing ones do, but they produce right into the fall and they certainly taste delicious when all you can see in the stores are the hard tasteless ones that are imported!

Totem plants growing in a 4x4 concrete raised bed

The June-bearing strawberries we grow are Totems.  I got them from a friend who got them from me!  We stopped growing strawberries as we were tight for room.  Thank goodness he is still growing them!  We planted these ones in a 4x4 raised bed and they did well for a couple of years.  Since this was a new bed, the nutrition wasn't as good as beds we've been tending for years.  The time had come to de-commission this bed and rebuild the soil.  Strawberries are extremely efficient reproducers and are constantly sending out runners.

9 rooted plants waiting to be settled in their new home

I filled 9 pots with soil and anchored a runner in each.  When they had firmly established themselves -it only took a couple of weeks - they were ready to go.  I snipped each runner from its parent and then moved the plants to their new bed.  And as it happened, each little plant was already making its own little runner.

Soil prepared for the new plants

The bed they were destined for had recently housed my poor rust-infected garlic.  Since no alliums should be planted here for at least 3 years, making it into a strawberry bed is a perfect solution.  For now they will share the bed with carrots, but it won't take long for us to eat them up and free the bed for strawberries.  This bed was well prepared for the garlic and had been mulched with SeaSoil.  All it needed was turning over.

Pots set out to get proper spacing

I placed the new plants approximately where I wanted them, leaving plenty of room so that their runners would have room to root as well.

All done!  They just need a good watering

Then the plants were firmed into the soil.  I was careful not to plant them any deeper - strawberries hate that!  If planted too deeply, the crowns will rot.  Then the runners were placed approximately where I wanted them.  Finally the whole bed got a good watering.