June in the Garden

It's been a very dry growing season so far.  Since the end of April we have had precisely 7.4 mm of precipitation.  As I noted in July 2013, I now water mostly by hand.  I used to have watering systems in place, but since our garden water comes from an irrigation pond, as the season rolls along, weed grows in the pond and chokes up the nozzles of the watering system.  Plus, I really enjoy watering by hand.  I know exactly which plants need water and it allows me to keep a watchful eye on the garden.  And it's relaxing!

Salvia Forkoahcei next to cattail rushes - it's tall!

Today while watering I was struck by a plant at the end of the pond.  Salvia Forkoahcei came from seed I purchased through Salt Spring Seeds a number of years ago.  It's a rare perennial that gets really large - almost shrublike - and has tall spikes of blue-purple flowers.  This particular bed has received no water other than the above-mentioned rain water and yet it's doing extremely well in very dry soil.  One reference I found mentioned that deer didn't like it.  It has sown little plants elsewhere and I can see that this might be a valuable plant to have in the garden!

Another view of the pond

The vegetables are the only plants that get watered in our yard, and because we are blessed with a big irrigation pond, they are well looked after.  And in the warm spring we've had, everything is doing well and ahead of where they usually are.

The bean arbour with corn in front of it.  Basil in pots

The beans are scrambling up their new arbour and the corn is growing by leaps and bounds.

Suyo Cucumber and Patty Pan Squash

In one of the 4x4 concrete raised beds I planted a Suyo Cucumber and a Patty Pan Squash.  I put a bit of fencing behind the cucumber for it to climb on.  You apparently get straighter cucumbers this way and the cucumber is definitely doing its part to scramble up the fence.

Gold Nugget Tomato truss

All of the tomato plants have fruit on them.  Gold Nugget is always the earliest to ripen in my garden,  and it won't be long until we can help ourselves to delicious sweet little tomatoes.

The celery is doing well.  I'm making sure it gets lots of water so that the stalks don't become hollow. I imagine lack of water would affect the flavour as well as the texture.

We could sure use more rain and none is in the forecast.  In the meantime, I'll keep watering by hand, observing the garden and thoroughly enjoying myself!

Getting Ready for Tomatoes (and other stuff!)

It's almost time to plant out the tomatoes.  Our nights are almost consistently above 7 degrees C and warm days are coming - after a couple of cool rainy ones, of course!  The bed for the tomatoes has already been prepared with a couple of wheelbarrow loads of SeaSoil.  I've decided to plant fewer tomatoes in the bed and only the ones which I'll use for dehydrating and sauces/salsa.  I already have a couple of cherry tomatoes in large pots on the deck and a half barrel in the garden will be home to a Sweet Millions tomato.  So that makes 10 tomatoes going into a raised bed - 4 Health Kick, 2 Classica and 4 Principe Borghese.

Tomato bed ready for plants

I dug the holes for the plants and placed 6' stakes beside each hole.  I'll add a cup of homemade fertilizer to each hole and work it into the soil before planting.  The stakes will be the foundation for a framework of bamboo poles lashed to the stakes.  It makes a surprisingly sturdy support for the tomatoes.  Initially I'll put hot hats on the newly transplanted tomatoes until the days and nights are consistently warm enough and then water lines and tomato cages will be set in place.  Then it's just waiting for the crop!

After reading about all the food shortages which will be coming our way, we decided to be pro-active.  We will already be growing beans in the Three Sisters Garden and I'm going to put up the framework my husband made for me to grow my Italian heritage beans on.  This year I'll plant Fortex beans in with the corn.  The vines aren't as heavy and vigorous as the Italian heritage beans and perhaps I won't have broken corn stalks this year!

A bean barrel experiment

I'm setting up for a third bean garden and this one will be in a half barrel.  I set in a tripod of 6' stakes and joined them to a nearby fencepost with a long, thin piece of wood. I've planted 6 of the Italian heritage beans here and will grow these ones for dried beans.  These dried beans will be the seeds for next year as well as a store of dried beans for using during the winter.  Cheap protein!

The pond from the back looking to the house

I also did a little work around the pond.  The steam leading to the pond had to be relieved of its pebble bottom as it was causing the water to spill over the sides of the stream.  I'd just left it beside the stream and of course, it's created a huge mess as the grass has grown up around it which I've made a start at repairing.  The pond is starting to come into its own with 3 Japanese maples around it. I'm particularly pleased with a self-seeded bullrush which appeared 3 years ago.  I recently saw hummingbirds taking fluff from an exploded seed head for nesting material.  Now if only the redwing blackbirds would come, the pond would be complete!

Working on the Pond

This last week we finally got the equipment we needed to circulate and clean the water in our pond.  It's a fairly large pond - about 10x14 and 4.5' deep at its deepest.  We definitely have too many fish, but haven't resorted to eating them yet - which was a suggestion the owner of the water garden nursery had for us!  It would be very nice to be able to sit by the pond and watch the fish, though, so over the last two days, we set about making that possible.

Filter & UV at the potting shed.

First, we set the filter into the ground at the front of the potting shed.  It does stand out, but perhaps I can make a small flower bed around it to make it less obvious.  It was the best place to put it.  Then we mounted the UV system on the side of the potting shed.

Pump ready to go into the water at the far end of the pond

Then we pulled up a water lily at the far end of the pond and repositioned it at the front of the pond, so the pump could go in its place.

Electrical joint covered from elements - it'll soon be hidden

With the components in their appointed spots, we could now put in the hosing and electrical to the pump.  The cord on the pump wasn't long enough and so where it joined to a heavy duty extension cord, it was encased in a tin can, wrapped thoroughly with duct tape and hidden under a pot.  The cotoneaster which creeps down the wall will soon cover the pot.
The cord was taken up the rock wall and around to the bottom of the stream where it joined the hose, which took the low road at the base of the rock wall.  We carefully covered the hosing with rocks.

Tucking the hosing and wire under the top side of the stream

Both were then tucked under the stream liner on the high side and taken up to the potting shed to join up with the filter and UV equipment.

The flow is just enough to create lovely sounds and stay in the stream bed

Then for many trial runs!  There has to be a secret for joining flexible hosing to smooth pipe!  We haven't discovered it yet.  All our joins leak to various degrees.  We will find a solution - silicone sealant? PVC cement applied generously?  It'll happen.  In the meantime we can put up with a little leaking until the solution presents itself.

Stream at the bottom just about to enter the pond

Now we have to do some landscaping - covering the liner where it's now exposed.  Rearranging the pebbles and rocks in the stream so that we still hear the lovely rippling noise of the water coursing down, but that they don't force the water outside the stream liner.  Happily, we're now a lot closer to having that pond we've always wanted.  One that fully satisfies the senses of sight and sound.  Beth - just look what you started!

See How They Grow!

With virtually every nook and cranny planted, gardening becomes plucking out any weeds and watching things grow.  If you click on the pictures, you'll get a better view of how things actually look.

The Three Sisters garden is charging along nicely.  The corn and beans are getting so tall that the Remay cloth soon won't fit.  We have one week left of cooler temperatures and I'll try to keep it on for a few more days, but hopefully the cover won't be needed after that.

The difference between the little corn left out in the cold and the rest of the corn plants is still very obvious.  I'm sure shorty will catch up, but he'll probably take longer to set cobs.  Remay does make a difference.

The snow peas are charging up their fence and the lettuces between the zags are doing well - actually getting away on me!  I moved 3 carrot pots into the space left when the radishes finished.  My first planting of carrot pots are just about ready to be pulled.

And as for the tomatoes, I'll have to start setting up the tomato frame soon.  Even little Beth's Big Fat Tomato (bottom right) is doing well.  I'll be sure to save seed from this one so I can get an earlier start next year.

The bees are busy in the chives and at first I thought I'd actually seen domestic honeybees, but on closer inspection, I don't think they are.  It's been a while since I've seen domestic bees.

Too bad the dullish day doesn't do justice to the pond.  It's looking quite spectacular right now with a vibrant mix of colors and textures.  The idea to build the pond there was the brain child of our dear friend, Beth - of the BBFT Beth.  It was a terrific idea!  The vegetable garden is just above the pond to the right.

We spent most of the day pouring concrete for a new raised bed.  The next post will document our progress.

Fall in the Garden

Now that Thanksgiving is done with, there's time for a little work in the garden.  Fall colours are arriving thick and fast due to the warm, dry weather we've been experiencing.  This year has exploded the record books and the Forestry Service says there's nothing left to measure the dryness in the woods. Rain is expected in a couple of days which will definitely be an event to give thanks for!  In the meantime, we'll enjoy the brilliance of Autumn.

Japanese Maple and Robinia behind the pond show off their Autumn couture

The snow pea fence experiment is proving to be a success and I'll definitely be repeating it next growing season.  The vines are scrambling up the zig zag fence which remains sturdily in place.  We've already had a couple of pickings with many more to come.

Snow peas ready for picking

The one zucchini plant is still holding its own and popping out a few babies for future stir fries.

Pick me!  Pick me!

I can't believe that it's almost mid-October and the tomatoes are still producing.  The dehydrator is running again, drying Principe Borghese tomato quarters to tuck away for winter consumption.  Stella's Altai is finally showing promise, although it's too late to have enough tomatoes to make salsa.  The mystery grape tomatoes grown from self-seeded plants are incredibly productive, although the skins are tough.  Gives you a clue why commercial growers like these tomatoes - they obviously travel well!

My tough-skinned experiment.  Pretty, though!

This year I grew Bergamot.  It's supposed to be an ingredient for making Earl Grey Tea.  More reading is required to figure this out, though.  Do I use the flower petals?  The leaves?  Research!

Bergamot flowers

It's not just about the veggies

We live on a Gulf Island and Gulf Islands are not known for deep, rich soil.  Our vegetable garden is on the top of a rocky plateau because that’s the area on our property that gets the most sunshine.  We have tucked a pond into the side of the plateau.  

The Pond, October 2012

It’s fairly large – about 10’ by 14’ – and about 5’ deep in the middle.  The sides slope steeply to prevent the Great Blue Herons from getting a toehold to feast on our fish – goldfish and one lone koi.  There are some planting ledges, but the koi seems to make water gardening a non-event.

The pond has been in the works for about 5 years now.  We had the area dug out by machine – with all the rocks, doing it by hand was an impossibility! The backhoe operator then bolstered up the side of the excavation to create the pond. A lined drystone creek leads from my potting shed to the pond.  When it rains, water from the roof of the shed falls into the creek and makes its way downstream to the pond.  All water is precious on a Gulf Island!

Frozen Pond Winter 2009

We have slowly (emphasis on the word “slowly”) been working on it – landscaping the sides, planting trees to provide a bit of shade and generally making this garden room a pleasant place to spend time in.  And nature has been at work as well.  Two different types of frogs have made their way to our pond.  They did try to spawn in it, but the koi made short work of that!  And a bulrush seeded itself in a pot of yellow water irises!

Rana Aurora

We are still a long way from completion.  Next year’s – or is it years’ – plans include installing a pump and filter, finishing the walkway on the left of the pond, and paving a portion of the grassy area at the front to create a seating area.  Like any garden, it’s always a work in progress!