April 2015 - Unseasonably Warm!

In all the stores selling vegetable plants you can see tomatoes, peppers and basil for sale.  With the wonderfully warm weather we've been getting this year, it's very tempting for a novice gardener to put these plants outdoors - after all, if they're selling them, it must be okay to put them out, right?  Not so.  These plants don't go outside until we have reliable nighttime temperatures of 10C.  And as for the basil, you don't dare plant it out until June as it's very touchy to cool weather.

My tomato and pepper plants are happily spending their time in the potting shed.  I'm not worried if the tomatoes get a little "leggy" as I can plant them right up to the bottom set of the first true leaves.  In the meantime, I'm making sure that their new homes outside will be ready for them when the time comes.  I've always known that tomatoes and potatoes are from the same family, but I recently learned that peppers come from this family as well.  This totally blows my garden plan right out the window as you shouldn't really plant these in the same bed in successive years.  Crop rotation means that you should wait until at least one year before planting in the same bed as a family member again.  So it's back to the drawing board!

The onions and leeks have now been planted and as I don't think I'll have enough Copra Onions from what I seeded, I picked up a package of yellow onion sets to fill up the bed.  This year I've planted Chinook Leeks in addition to Bandit.  Chinook are a summer harvest leek while Bandit is good in the cold weather.  Both are protected by pieces of fencing in case cats decide to try out the lovely loose soil!

The leeks are looking wonderful.  Last year I purchased 3 bulbs from Salt Spring Seeds to go with those I've saved from last year's harvest.  Leningrad, Czech and Spanish Roja are at the right of the garlic bed.  Leningrad has enormous cloves - there were only 4 on the bulb!

This year we took out one bed of asparagus and replaced it with new rootstock.  The older bed that remains is starting to show the first new spears and I've already helped myself to one delicious snack of raw asparagus!  The tiny seedlings at the left bottom of the picture are dill seedlings.  I finally have dill volunteers established in my asparagus after years of trying.  They are good companion plants and the dill keeps away the asparagus beetle.

In the snow pea bed, the young plants are just starting to climb their zig zag fence.  Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce plants have been nestled in the gaps.

When I turned over last year's Pacific Russet Potato bed, I discovered that one plant hadn't been dug up!  I found at least 9 lovely potatoes which had already started to sprout and moved them to a new home.  7 of the 9 plants are above the ground now and doing well.  We were very impressed with this potato last year and are delighted at the jump we've gotten on the potato season.  Another bed has Seiglinde Potatoes planted from purchased seed potatoes.

All in all, the garden is doing well.  It's very tempting to push the season and set out plants early, but I'm trying my best to avoid the urge.  And May isn't that far away after all!

Hectic Spring

This time of year is always a flurry of activity.  Each week something needs to be seeded, moved to the potting shed because it has sprouted or transplanted into the garden.  There's also the beds to be readied.  There's a big pile of SeaSoil sitting on and under tarps and as the driver wasn't able to back up to where we wanted it dumped, it will have to be moved.  The maple leaves that were gathered last fall now need to be shredded.

Asparagus roots to be discarded with the finished bed in the background

First on the agenda was removing one bed of asparagus.  These particular plants are quite old - at least 15 years old - and needed to be replaced.  It was a lot of hard work for my husband, digging out the bed and depositing the root-filled soil on a tarp.  Then he sifted out the roots and dumped the dirt back in the pit.  In between layers of sifted soil, we added a good thick layer of SeaSoil.  The bed is filled now to overflowing but rain will tamp it down and we're expecting some this next week.  I'll buy a package of asparagus roots and plant them next week.

I'm growing celery for the first time.  A friend that I give tomato seedlings to has grown it for years and says it's pretty easy.  She freezes chopped celery to add to soups and stews during the winter.  I bought seeds of a variety called Victoria which is apparently quite popular in Britain.  The tiny seeds took a couple of weeks to germinate.  Today I transplanted a dozen tiny seedlings to 6-pack planters and they're sitting under plastic in the potting shed.  Any seedlings that fail to take will be replaced with a good supply of what remains in the spouting pot.

Seedlings!  Seedlings!

I also seeded the tomatoes today.  Because I now grow lots of tomatoes for friends, there's quite an array of pots.  I'm not sure where I'm going to put them all because they need heat for germination and there's only so much room under the grow light in the living room.  Perhaps it's time to get a bigger one!  For now I'll probably put them in plastic bags and sit them on the living room window still until the peppers finally sprout and I can move them to the potting shed.

About half of the raised beds are prepared.  Each one had a good amount of SeaSoil added, then a good dusting of my fertilizer.  At this time of the year, I wonder how I can possibly fill them.  By the end of April I'll be wishing I had more room!

Plan 2015

Today it suddenly occurred to me that it might be a good idea to have a plan for the garden.  What a novel idea!

The first step was to go up to the garden, pen and paper in hand, and sketch out a rough plan of the garden.  Most of our beds are concrete and so are permanent installations.  The perennial bed in the centre of the plateau and the asparagus beds are also permanent installations.  Our original wooden beds have just about outlived their purposes and are rotting away.  Two half barrels will also have limited life.  Then there are tire stacks which can be considered transitional as well.

Sketch done, I made a better job of it in the house and scanned the result.  Then out came the seed packages to make sure I have everything accounted for.  And here's the result:

Gardening Plan for 2015

One half of the asparagus bed will be dug up this year as it's nearing the end of its productive life.  These were our first asparagus plants and are about 15 years old.  We'll replace them with new plants and then next year or the year after, do the same to the other side of the asparagus bed.

Beds 10, 11 and 12 will be dismantled after this growing season and at this point we're thinking of replacing them with 3 4x4 concrete beds.  Between 11 and 12 there's the top of a massive rock which prevents us from constructing one long bed.

I've left one 4x4 bed and 2 tire stacks empty at this point as you always forget something.  And in half of the compost bin this year, I'll grow Waltham Butternut Squash.  They should be very happy!

So that's the plan.  We'll see if I actually follow it!

Looking Back - 2014

Now that the main gardening season is coming to a close, it's time to take a look back at what worked, what didn't and how things can be improved.

SUCCESSES

Onions - the best crop ever!  Huge onions and only 2 transplants failed.  In view of what I discovered when I turned over this bed after harvest, I'm not sure why the onions were so successful.  The bed was full of cedar roots!  Perhaps it was the soil itself.  Last year this bed held tomatoes.  The tomatoes themselves weren't that successful mainly due to the fact that the varieties I chose weren't what I really wanted.  A lot of tomatoes fell and were turned into the soil.  So perhaps this bed got some extra nutrients other beds didn't.  Likewise, the shallots and multiplier onions were also good crops.  I have a nice basket of fat shallot bulbs and lots of multiplier onions to start next year's crop.  In addition, I planted 5 multiplier bulbs in the winter bed as an experiment.

Tomatoes - again, the best crop ever.  This time, I'm crediting the success to the varieties I grew.  Principe Borghese always gives me lots of little tomatoes for dehydrating.  Classica turned out to be a good producer as well.  The star of the tomato bed was Health Kick.  I have lots of packages of roasted tomato sauce in the freezer, 2 batches of salsa tucked away in my canning shelves and plenty of dried tomatoes in the pantry.  I'll be growing more Health Kick plants next year - not so much for myself, but because those I gave plants to had similar successes and would like more plants.

Squash - 4 Waltham Butternut plants gave me an abundance of squashes - 20 to be exact and 2 more that may yet ripen before frost.  Next year I might grow squash in the compost bin as I'm going to stop the Three Sisters experiment - more on that later.  Although my husband is not crazy about squash, I love it.  The squashes I have will keep nicely and at Thanksgiving, I'll be using at least one to make butternut squash pie which beats pumpkin pie hands down.  Recipe at a later date!

Swiss Chard - I grew about 5 each of Bright Lights and Silverado.  The Bright Lights plants have huge, colourful leaves, much bigger than the Silverado, so the production is much better on the Bright Lights.  I'll be keeping the plants through the winter.  These 10 plants have given us lots of meals and bunches to give away as well.

Strawberries - This is the first year I can really count strawberries as a success.  This was mainly due to the fact that the raccoons didn't discover them and we netted them against the birds.  We had many lovely desserts of strawberries and ice cream!  The variety is Totem and they are in one of the 4x4 beds.  This fall, I'll have my husband weed-eat the leaves off them, give them a good drink of fish fertilizer and the last of the SeaSoil so that we can have a good crop of strawberries next year.

Grapes - again, this is due to the fact that we beat out the raccoons.  This is only the third time we've done it and I can't hazard a guess as to whether next year we get a crop.  I have one quart jar full of raisins in the pantry and 6 trays in the dehydrator.  And there are lots more waiting their turn!

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Potato Grow Bags - I went into the experiment with high hopes, but this hasn't worked out.  I think growing the plants so close together doesn't give them enough nutrients.  Also, it was difficult to keep sufficient moisture on them.  I will grow potatoes again, but I'll grow in them in the raised beds instead.  We particularly liked Pacific Russet (for baked and mashed potatoes) and Seiglinde (wonderful for potato salads) and were disappointed in German Butter but perhaps that's because they were grown in the bags.

Beets - not sure why they didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.  A friend tells me her beets were disappointing, too.  Perhaps the soil wasn't rich enough.  The beets were small and didn't grow well at all.  I'll prepare the soil better next time.

Parsnips - the germination rate was very poor.  I was using year old seed and perhaps parsnip seeds don't keep well.  I'll buy new seeds for next year.

Herb Pots - another experiment that didn't turn out as I'd hoped.  It seemed like such a good idea to grow these closer to the kitchen, but I think they'd all be better for being in the ground.  I think that our deck didn't receive enough sunshine for the plants.  I'll stick to flowers on the deck in future!

Three Sisters - another experiment that I thought was working out well, but in retrospect have decided that the three plants are better off on their own.  The corn did okay except that because I was growing it with other plants, I didn't seed as much as I would have liked to.  The squash was very happy.   The beans were disappointing.  I hardly got any for picking as they were too hard to find in the foliage.  I think that next year I'll use half a bed for corn and grow a few beans in amongst them just for the stability they provide.  Squash will grow elsewhere.

VEGGIES THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT

Asparagus - my plants are nearing the end of their productive lives.  I have 2 beds a couple of years apart in age, the oldest of which is probably about 16 years old now.  We'll pull up them and replant with new stock after enriching the bed.  Then next year, we'll change the other bed.

Beans - while the beans were productive, my bean rack is too tall for me to reach them.  I'd like to set up some kind of arbour for the beans to grow on so that it will be easier to pick them.

Peppers - the main problem here was the soil in the pots.  One pot had some of the soil I used to fill the potato grow bags.  This plant (a cayenne) grew well and produced lots of attractive red peppers.  The other pots had a different brand of soil and you can really see the difference in the health of the plants.  The plants that were in the raised beds grew well.  Next year I might set aside half a bed for peppers and create some kind of plastic tunnel over them to give them more heat so they produce earlier and last longer.

End of May - Things Are Flourishing!

This post will be mostly pictures so that I can compare end of May progress from year to year.

In one week, the Totem strawberries are plumping out rapidly and a few are starting to take on a bit of colour.  It won't be long now!

In my Tulameen raspberry jungle, flowers are forming.  Raspberries are always later than strawberries and mine aren't in total sun, so they're probably a bit later than most peoples'.

I have moved the cherry tomatoes from the deck.  They weren't getting as much sun as I'd thought they would.  The pots have been positioned in front of the tomato bed.  I bought a small pot of basil and split it into 3 clumps.  They've been planted at the front of the tomato bed as tomatoes and basil go very well together.

Flowers on Health Kick

Flowers are open on the tomatoes in the raised bed and so far all plants are looking very healthy.

The raised bed with the beans planted at the end is progressing well.  This bed houses beans and zucchini at the far end.  Multiplier onions and shallots are at the front.  In between, I've seeded second crops of carrots, beets and parsnips.  The half barrel in the front has a Sweet Million growing in it.  To the right is a bed of leeks with swiss chard at the back of it.  You can see the grapevine scrambling over the fence at the back of the garden.

I have 2 plantings of Italian heritage beans.  Both have been placed where they can get the maximum support.  In the raised bed, they are starting to climb up the bamboo poles which were placed inside their water bottle collars.  By the time they reach the end of the bamboo supports, they'll be well able to withstand the predation of wood bugs and earwigs.

We've been eating asparagus and the dill I planted in with the asparagus has provided new plants this year.  Dill and asparagus are a good pairing as the dill protects the asparagus from beetles - not that I've had a problem with beetles, but a little prevention could be a good thing.

May is such a wonderful month for flowers!  Irises, peonies, perennial geraniums are thriving in the central bed.

A ceanothus shrub in the garden is loud with bees.  Unfortunately they are all wild bees as it's been a few years since I've seen a domestic honeybee in my garden.

Three Sisters - Part 3 (and another thing or two)

As it's nearly the end of April, I decided it's time to do the final seeding for the Three Sisters Garden.  The squash component of the garden has already been seeded and a couple of zucchini are thrusting through the soil of their pots.

Black Beauty Zucchini Seedling

Today I planted the corn and bean components of the garden.  35 Peaches and Cream Corn seeds were planted in a tray of small pots.  Since corn develops strong roots quickly, they won't be living in their pots for long.  I'm aiming for 30 plants, so 5 extras should allow me to choose the strongest plants.  The beans will mainly be the Italian heritage beans (of no name!) from a friend of my husband's with a few extra Fortex beans to take care of any that fail to sprout.

Corn and Beans Seeded

The Three Sisters Garden bed is prepared and I rake it from time to time to eliminate any weeds.  I won't be planting it until the 24th of May weekend unless my impatience gets the better of me.  Once the seedlings are planted, they'll be protected by remay cloth until the weather's reliably warm and the plants are well established.

The first harvest of radishes

Three Sisters taken care of, what else is going on in the garden?  We've already had one meal of asparagus and I'll have to pick more today.  Radishes are ready to start picking as well and along with arugula they'll go into the salad for tomorrow night's dinner.

Wild Arugula

The mescalun mix I planted is proving to be a disappointment.  It's mostly arugula and is already starting to bolt.  I grew a variety of arugula last year with the same results.  I won't be planting it again.  I much prefer the wild arugula a friend gave me a few years ago.  It's a perennial in the garden, doesn't take up nearly the space these other ones need and is good at seeding itself if I need more.  We live and learn!  However, the snow peas the mescalun mix is planted with are doing wonderfully as is the lettuce.

Too much arugula, but the snow peas are great

Japanese maples around the pond are leafing out

Iris Caesar's Brother

Three Sisters - Part 2 (and a few other things!)

Now that the Three Sisters bed has been prepared, I've been waiting patiently until I could take the next step.  Today I seeded the squash.  I've decided to plant Early Butternut Squash in the Three Sisters bed and zucchini in the tires at the back of the bed.  I seeded three pots with the squash and two pots of zucchini - one is Zucchini Black Beauty and the other Corgette Primula F1.  I put two seeds in each pot and will pinch off the weaker seedling.

The squash component of Three Sisters Garden is started.

Then I decided to try my hand at melons.  I purchased the seeds (Cantaloupe Tirreno) from West Coast Seeds a couple of years ago but hadn't been organized enough to try it, so I now planted three seeds in each of two pots.  I will grow the melons in one side of my compost bin.  This will give them a sheltered spot with rich soil.  I've tried this twice before; the first time with a tomato and the second with squash.  The results were incredible!  I have no doubt it will work again.

My saggy compost bin

A word or two about my compost bin.  My husband built the compost bin a number of years ago.  It has two sides so I can toss the compost from one side to the other and always have some ready to use.  It's on a concrete base so the cedar roots can't invade it and as you'll see from the photo, is starting to sag a bit.  For now it's just propped up but I imagine we'll have to replace it in the near future.  Many years ago when we moved to Thetis Island, a horsey friend gave me a small container of red wiggler worms.  My compost box is inhabited by a seething mass of them!  I also have a black plastic compost bin which I use for kitchen waste.  What with the two-sided bin and the plastic composter, I always have red wigglers to add to a new start - and some to give away to friends!  The side that the melons will go into has lots of uncomposted material but the red wigglers with their voracious appetites will make short work of that.

Red wigglers - the best composters ever!

Squashes planted, there was time to check on how the rest of the garden is doing.

A forest of tomato seedlings in the potting shed

Snow peas sprouting at the base of the zig zag fence, lettuces, mescalun

The garlic is right on schedule.

Asparagus is up - start the water boiling!