April Chores

Today my husband got going on building the compost bin and I got some transplanting chores done.  More on the compost bin when it's complete!

As I said in a previous post, our house is on the market.  There was an initial flurry of activity and showings resulted in offers 4:3.  Unfortunately, all of the deals collapsed and things are currently pretty quiet.  It seems that we will probably be staying here.  Time to get going on the garden!

Transplanted tomatoes

I started off today's chores with transplanting some of the tomato seedlings into larger pots.  6 of the Health Kick tomatoes were moved to bigger homes as well as the mixed up Gold Nugget and Sweet Million tomatoes.  Those two varieties are starting to make their identities known!

Then on to the outside transplanting.  I've been wanting to get the Copra onions in the ground but had to wait until the irrigation pond pumps were up and running.  Then of course, life got in the way with family lunches and appointments.  Today is warm but cloudy - a perfect day for transplanting.  The final 3 Lacinato kale plants found a home and I tucked 91 onion seedlings into one of the raised beds.

Onions planted

The Copra seedlings were a little larger than I usually allow them to get, but a thorough watering of the pot allowed me to gently tease them apart.  I marked out 13 rows on the bed and watered it well.  7 onions went into each row including one little guy with a not very strong root system.  We'll see how he gets on.  The rest of the seedlings were pretty robust and I firmed them into the wet soil.

Tomato cages provide protection for the seedlings

The final step was laying tomato cages over the seedlings.  This prevents neighbourhood cats (which just might include our own!) from digging and uprooting the little plants.

Onion seedling

By the time the tomatoes need their cages, the onions will be well established and not need protection.

Apple blossoms

Spring is certainly roaring on with a vengeance.  All the apple trees are bursting into blossom and the mason bees are working hard at pollinating the flowers.  As long as the weather holds, it looks like we might have a good apple crop!

In Transition

I haven't written in a while - partly because life has kept us busy - but mostly because we have decided that it was time to move.  After dealing with my Father's estate my husband and I realized we didn't want to leave our children with the problems associated with sorting out and selling a property that required ferry trips.  We would also like to downsize the amount of land we have to upkeep.  Moving seemed like the obvious answer.  And we wanted to make the move while we were still healthy and strong enough to organize our own move.

Coral bark maple and King Edward currant

This has not been an easy decision.  We are very happy here.  It's a private, secure oasis in a busy world that is increasingly unsafe.  We put our property on the market with the thought that it might take some time to sell - and that would be fine with us.  Therefore, the garden must go on.

Our priorities for a move will sound strange to many people.  My husband needs somewhere for his woodworking tools - somewhere big!  I need a level, sun-filled yard for my vegetables with no near-by cedar trees.  Oh, yes!  And a house!

I have already started a number of seeds under lights in the house - Copra onions and Bandit leeks - and they have been moved out to the unheated potting shed to join lettuce - Black Seeded Simpson, Drunken Woman and Red Sails, Kale - Improved Siberian and Lacinato, and Santee sprouting broccoli.  I also started my tomato and pepper seeds.

In the tomato line this year I'm growing my Health Kick plus a variety of cherry tomatoes - Yellow Pear is new at my house but comes with high recommendations,  Principe Borghese, Sweet Millions and Gold Nugget.  Unfortunately, in my haste to get the tomatoes planted, I double planted the Sweet Millions and Gold Nugget seeds!  However, once they get growing I know I won't have any trouble telling them apart.

Starting transplanting

Today the tomato seedlings were getting leggy enough that it was time to get them out to the potting shed.  Tomato seeds need heat to germinate, but once they're up, they can take cooler environments.

Plant tomato seedlings deep - almost up to the seed leaves

As always, when transplanting tomatoes, I plant them deep.  That gets rid of the legginess and provides more rooting area which makes for a stronger plant.  I put a small amount of potting mixture in the bottom of the containers and then insert the seedling as far into it as I can so that just a small length of stem is above the soil.

Transplanting finished the seedlings can enjoy a sunny spring day

Transplants finished, everyone gets a good watering with 20-20-20 dissolved in the water.  Later this afternoon when the potting shed is no longer in the sun, I'll put a plastic cap over the tomato seedlings.  This year, with a possible move in mind, I've put all my seedlings in 6-pack planters.  This takes up less space and I can easily transplant again into larger pots if necessary.  Spring gets going into high gear once again!

Tomato Blossom End Rot

It's August of what is turning out to be the driest year on record.  The garden is suffering!
In spite of the deep watering I'm doing in the tomato bed, I'm seeing blossom end rot on some of the Health Kick tomatoes.

Blossom end rot

I've seen this a lot in plum-type tomatoes in my garden when they haven't had adequate water,  but Health Kick tomatoes have been better at withstanding the problem in the past.  Not this year!  I think it's because the crop is so heavy. I've never seen so many tomatoes on plants before!  Most of them are sound, but if I turn over smaller, stunted tomatoes, there's the rot starting.  I pull those ones off right away and discard them.  I know that the bed was well prepared with home made fertilizer, compost and SeaSoil, so I don't think that nutrition to the plants is the problem as it usually is with blossom end rot.  In my case, I think it's just that the crop is so huge that the plants can't keep up moisture-wise.  So I keep watering and pull off the ripening fruit and finish the ripening in baskets in my kitchen so the plants have less fruit to cater to.

Aphids

The kale is also struggling.  In the Russian Red Kale, whenever I see a leaf curling over, it's got aphids inside.  Unfortunately, it's the tender young leaves that are most affected, so today I'm going to pull up the Russian Red Kale.  Blasting the aphids off with strong water streams is not keeping the problem in check.  So far, the Lacinato and Siberian are managing to avoid it, but in this dry heat, I don't think it's going to be long before I see aphids on them as well.

Sprawling butternut squash vines

The three butternut squash planted in the compost bin have been doing their best to escape into the garden.  Every morning the vines look happy and healthy, but by afternoon the leaves are drooping.  I give this bin a good, deep watering every day and spray the leaves as well, but it seems to make no difference to the afternoon droop.

Big squashes!

Fortunately, it hasn't seemed to affect the fruit of the plants.  These have to be the biggest butternut squashes I've ever grown!  I guess the plants are putting all the energy into the fruits!

Italian heritage beans under the bean arbour

The only bed that's been able to maintain a good moisture level is the corn/beans bed.  We've had a wonderful crop of corn and its pretty much finished now, but the beans are just getting going.  They are so rampant, that I'm going to see if my husband will tie ropes from the bean arbour to the fence so the vines can have more areas to sprawl to and make picking easier.  It seems that all in all, my vision of the bean arbour is going to work.  There are beans hanging down underneath the arbour already waiting to be picked.  I'll put them in tonight's butter chicken dish!

El Nino in the Garden 2015

This is turning out to be the driest year we have experienced in the garden and many of the crops are showing stress in spite of all the water that I'm giving them.

Butternut Squash

Many crops are very early.  Strawberries were weeks ahead of time and the crops were pretty good.  The corn is loving the heat, as are the beans.  Other heat-loving plants like peppers and squash are quite happy so far, but they all need water.

Fruit trusses on Health Kick Tomatoes

The tomato plants are huge and early on set a bumper crop of fruit, but now the flower trusses are not setting.  I've had to really keep an eye on this bed because it's one of the beds that cedar roots have managed to creep into.  I hadn't realized what was happening and almost lost one Principe Borghese plant before I discovered how dry the soil was. (Update 5 hours later:  with a temperature of 28C and a strong wind, the tomato plants were losing moisture so quickly that they were starting to wilt and a second deep watering was required.)

Principe Borghese Tomatoes

In checking back, I can see that most years at this time the fruit is just starting to turn on early tomatoes.  We've been snacking on Gold Nugget and Sweet Millions for a couple of weeks now!

Corn is a heavy feeder, too, but this bed is maintaining a good quality of moisture and I think it's the tallest corn we've ever had.  I'd say we're only a couple of weeks off harvest for the corn and the Italian heritage beans haven't even started to flower yet!

Signs of aphids on the kale

Kale is a cool weather lover and it's really struggling in the heat.  I've noticed leaves are starting to curl up and there are signs of aphids starting to make their homes in the leaves.  I'm picking those off, and the kale is getting lots of water, but the heat is telling on their general health.

Harvested garlic sorted into varieties

I just finished harvesting the garlic and am quite disappointed with the size of the bulbs.  This might be because of the heat.  They reached maturity a couple of weeks early and this means that time that might have been spent growing was lost.

Copra Onions starting to fall over

This was also true for the onions.  The yellow onions have already been harvested and I'm seeing signs that the Copra plants are approaching maturity.

And this makes things difficult for the young Brussels Sprouts plants which were just transplanted.  I will probably have to rig up some sort of shade for them to carry them through to fall.

Everything else seems to be coming along well, but each day I'm out there giving the veggies a good drink.  The perennial beds have been ignored.  Water is so precious that only the vegetables and plants in pots are being catered to.  A newsletter from West Coast Seeds addressed this issue and also finished with the sobering thought that the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting that there's a 95% chance that these conditions will continue through fall - and an 85% chance that they'll go through the coming winter.  Now that's scary!

Confetti Cole Slaw and Garden Update

I make a mean cole slaw - even if I do say so myself!  I apply the "kitchen sink" method - I put in whatever I have on hand, and the more ingredients the better.  Tonight my husband is grilling a steak and baking a couple of our Pacific Russet Potatoes.  A cole slaw is a great addition to the menu.

Ingredients for Confetti Cole Slaw

Tonight's batch will have purchased red and green cabbage, Cripps Pink apple, kohl rabi from jollityFarms and from our garden onion, 3 kinds of kale and carrot.

Veggies prepared

All of the vegetable ingredients  are chopped into pieces except the carrots, which I grate.

Confetti Cole Slaw

The dressing is simple and the amounts vary with the size of the coleslaw.  To salad dressing I add a squirt of liquid honey and drizzle apple cider vinegar to thin the dressing down.  It's all tossed together and put in the fridge until dinner time.  A great addition would be toasted sunflower seeds, but today I didn't have any on hand.

While out in the garden gathering the ingredients, I snapped some pictures to show progress.

Corn, bean arbour, 2 pots of basil and leeks behind them

The corn is growing by leaps and bounds.  In hot weather, you can practically see it grow.  It's now taller than the bean arbor, which has vines snaking all over its top.

Corn silks

The tassels crown the plants now and silks are bursting from the stems where the cobs are forming.  It's hard to believe that the corn was just planted out 7 weeks ago!

Health Kick Tomatoes

We've already had a couple of Gold Nugget and the Health Kick tomatoes are just about big enough to start colouring up.

Yellow onions curing in the sun

Today I pulled up the yellow onions and left them on the surface of the bed to start the curing process.

Butternut squash

In the compost bin, Butternut Squash vines are spilling over the edge.  I placed planks to help them to the ground, but they're ignoring them, choosing instead their own path.

February - and the garden gets going

It's been an eventful past 6 months.  What with family emergencies, urgent business and some illness thrown into the mix, the garden has gotten short shrift.  However, hopefully now things are going to get a little more manageable!

Today I set aside some time to start seeding for this year's garden.  Four 6" pots were seeded with leeks and onions.  This year, I'm trying another leek in addition to my trusty Bandit which holds through the winter so well and is just now finally getting past its prime.  Chinook F1 is the variety I selected especially for summer, fall harvesting and there were only 25 seeds in the package!  I only found it on West Coast Seeds' website - not even in this year's catalogue.  Since I'm growing 2 varieties, I only seeded half the amount of Bandits I usually do.

A full package of Copra onions were seeded in 2 pots.  Last year's onions were outstanding, the biggest I've ever grown and I only lost 2 plants.  Copra is the only onion I grow as it's an excellent keeper and stores extremely well in addition to having great flavour.  Last year I just had to buy about half a dozen when I ran out of my own.

Pots of onion and leek seeds in the house under lights

I brought the pots back into the house and settled them in my lighted tray under a window.  Once they've sprouted, they'll be moved out to the unheated potting shed.

Siberia Kale doing well in the garden

This winter has been quite mild.  We've only had one decent snowfall and one good cold snap.  This doesn't augur well for bugs!  And things are budding very early.

Crocuses peeking out of dead iris foliage

Crocuses are up and wide open when the sun shines (it wasn't today) and narcissi are almost open.  The King Edward currant bush has flowers starting to extend from the buds so we could have an early influx of hummingbirds.

Fuchsia coming back to life

By the pond I found a forgotten planter with a fuchsia plant in it.  I'd assumed it was an annual, but there is green growth on it, so I whisked it into the potting shed to protect it from the cold - it is only February after all!

In a couple of weeks it will be the turn of the tomatoes to get seeded.  The garden never waits!

The Winter Bed

This has been an awkward year for the garden.  Just when it was starting to kick into high gear, life got in the way.  What with one thing or another, there just hasn't been the time to devote to the garden.  And this year, the name Messy Gardener really applies!  The vegetable beds have not been weeded properly and I haven't been able to take full advantage of the produce.

Today, however, it was time to start thinking ahead.  Time to get the winter garden in gear!  The bed that had the onions has been designated as the winter bed.  After the onions were harvested, I turned over the bed - and discovered that the cedar trees around my garden have managed not only to find a way in, but have widened those cracks and taken full advantage of the lovely soil in the bed!  It took a lot of hard work to cut the roots away and pull them from the soil, but it was finally done.  The combination of a very dry summer and cedar roots had left the soil very dry, so I've been watering this bed to prepare it for the plants to I'd planned to install in it.  A lazy woman's purchase 6 Red Russian Kale and 6 Red Sails Lettuce were bedded in as well as multiplier onions from this year's crop.

Kale and lettuce plants for winter use

This bed was also designated for garlic.  I went in with my daughter to buy fresh garlic bulbs to augment three of the best bulbs from this year's harvest.  First the soil was prepared - a good litre of my homemade fertilizer was worked into the soil.  Then the cloves were planted with the new varieties - Spanish Roja, Leningrad and Czech - being labeled for future reference.  There are now 52 potential garlic bulbs nestled down in the soil.  Then the whole bed was mulched with what is left of the SeaSoil and watered well.

Bright Lights Swiss Chard

In spite of my neglect, a number of things are doing well.  This has been a good year for the Swiss Chard.  From only about a dozen Bright Lights and Silverado, we've had lots of meals and it should do well through the winter as well.

Cantaloupe

There's one enormous cantaloupe and a number of smaller ones.  I won't be growing them again, but we'll enjoy what we have for this year.  I'm not sure what I'll grow in the compost bin next year - perhaps squash.  The Waltham Butternut has been excellent this year and if it gets the benefit of a compost bin next year, it should be even better.

Liberty Apple

Now that we're in September, the apples are coming ripe.  Our favourite has always been the little Liberty tree.  Beautiful crisp, tart little apples with brilliant red skins.  This tree was originally nearer the house.  Overshadowed by big trees and well nibbled by deer, when my husband suggested moving it, I didn't give it much hope.  It's thrived, however, and every year is so loaded with apples that the branches touch the ground, even after rigorous thinning in the spring.

And finally, on the flower side, the autumn crocuses are in full bloom.  They are always such a surprise!

I'm hoping that next year's garden with be able to benefit from more care than this year's garden got.  And with gardening it's always, "Next year, I plan to......"  With a garden, there's alway hope.

Things are exploding!

We are in the middle of a little heat wave.  People in regions that are used to hot summers will laugh but 32C is pretty hot here on the coast!  The garden, however, is loving it.  I'm out there watering twice a day just to make sure that everything is happy.  This year I've abandoned my watering systems in favour of hand watering.  Now that I have more time to devote to the garden, it makes sense to pay more attention to what actually needs the water.  Early in the morning when the garden is still in the shade seems to be the best time with a selective top-up in the evening.

Copra Onions

I think these must be the best onions we've ever grown.  It's only the first part of July and already they're bulking up nicely with no sign of slowing down.  This bed had tomatoes in it last year, received lots of SeaSoil and had a good dusting of homemade fertilizer before the seedlings were transplanted.  We only lost 2 seedlings and none of the plants show signs of going to seed, which is the result of a cool, wet spring. So far this year, we've been fortunate.

Corn and beans!

The Three Sisters Garden is a veritable jungle!  There are only 4 squash plants in the beds this year and all are positioned to sprawl out of the bed - which they are definitely doing.  I see lots of little Waltham Butternut Squash forming.  The Fortex Beans are scrambling up the corn stalks and they're a much better choice than the Italian heritage beans, having smaller leaves.  Hopefully they won't break the corn stalks.  The Italian heritage beans are starting to form flowers, so it won't be long now before we can have beans for supper!

Sweet Millions

The tomatoes are also very happy with the heat.  Sweet Millions has fruit starting to change colour.

Classica Tomato

All of the tomatoes have heavy crops and I can see some busy times ahead processing the bounty.  Both Classica and Health Kick have lots of tomatoes and while both are bush varieties, Classica seems to be a bit more compact and the fruit are more elongated.

Cantaloupe

I placed a piece of fencing behind the cantaloupe which is growing in the compost bin.  This way, the vines will climb up the fencing and the fruit will be much easier to find and keep clean.  Here, too, small fuzzy balls are starting to take shape.

I pulled out the snow peas yesterday and we carefully removed the zig zag fence so as not to damage the sunflowers.  Several were staked as I'm not sure how stable they will be now that the fence has been removed.  Then I transplanted 2 of the peppers to this bed and today seeded kale for a fall crop.  If the wood bugs leave the seedlings alone, I'll transplant them to the small bed that had Seiglinde Potatoes in it.  When the garlic has been pulled - in a week or so - I'll plant a fall crop of snow peas in their place.

I may not enjoy the hot, hot days, but the garden certainly does!

Second Seedings

The garden is almost full now.  Today I seeded seconds of 6 vegetables and first seedings of 2.

I have some old New Zealand Spinach seeds which I bought a number of years ago from West Coast Seeds.  I'm not sure if they're still viable, but I might as well try them.  This is actually a "spinach-like plant which produces masses of leaves" and is very slow to bolt.  It can be perennial on our mild west coast.  I planted 9 of the fat seeds.  If they're a relative of beets and Swiss chard, there are several seeds inside the one capsule.  We'll wait to see if they germinate!

I also planted the last of the Vates Blue Curled kale seeds given me by a friend.  I grew them last year and they're compact little plants with tightly curled leaves.  I like to put a variety of colours of kale and cabbage in cole slaws along with grated carrot and chopped apple.  All the colours and textures make a wonderful slaw.

Second seedings of lettuces also went in small rounds.  Black Seeded Simpson, Drunken Woman and Red Sails were planted again.  All of these seeds - the spinach, kale, lettuces - were all seeded in small rounds marked with tags and will be transplanted to their final destinations when I see how many I have.

Carrots - Royal Chantenay and Scarlet Nantes, Cylindra beets, and parsnips were seeded in rows as these root vegetables don't transplant easily.

All that done, there's not much room left in the garden.  In July the garlic will come out and once I have pickable kale, the old Siberian kale planted last fall will be pulled up.  Hopefully this will provide enough room.  It always seems as if there's too much garden to plant - until you plant it - and then you realize you need more!

Mother's Day in the Garden

May has to be one of the headiest months!  The air is heavy with the scent of lilacs and rhododendrons are in their full glory.

Our Cherokee Chief Dogwood is safely behind deer-proof fencing and looking gorgeous against a blue and white sky.

Many years ago I planted a Clematis Montana Rubens at the base of a cascara tree.  Today the top of the tree is a canopy of pink blossoms.  Too bad it's so hard to photograph!

Corn starting to sprout

A mouse has decided to help himself to my corn seeds!  I have 2 trays of corn planted, which is now starting to come up.  They are protected by a clear plastic dome, but evidently it's not tight enough to prevent a mouse from sneaking in!  One tray has been systematically robbed.  There are a few corn sprouts, but I'm afraid most of the corn in that tray is toast.  The mouse might be, too, because not far from the potting shed I found half a mouse.  In the meantime, I've wedged a pot against the plastic dome for that tray and I'll replant the corn.

The lettuces are almost ready to rob a few leaves from.  Time to seed some more!

The 4x4 beds are all full.  Potatoes well up and I expect some flowers on them soon.  Siberian Kale at the back of the kale bed is starting to go to seed.  Three plants each of Redbor and Improved Siberian will take their place when I pull them out.  In the meantime, I'll just snap off the flower heads.

The strawberry bed is lush with leaves and flowers.  Another month and we could be eating strawberries - if we can keep off the birds!

In the potting shed, tomatoes are starting to get a little leggy and as we have a stretch of wonderful weather starting, I decided to plant out the tomatoes today.  The bed has been ready for a while.  I dug 10 holes to receive the plants and poured a cup of homemade fertilizer in each.  This was worked into the soil, the hole re-dug and the tomato plant popped in a little deeper so that stems can form more roots.

Each plant has a galvanized tomato cage over it and a 6' stake beside it.  Now I'll lash bamboo to the stakes to create a sturdy framework.  This bed now holds 4 Health Kick, 2 Classica and 4 Principe Borghese tomato plants.  As they are all determinate, none of these tomatoes will require pruning.   A Sweet Million cherry tomato occupies a half barrel and 2 more cherries, Gold Nugget and Sweet Baby Girl, are in pots on our deck.  I foresee lots of sauces, salsa and salads in the future!