Transplanting the Corn

Today marks the beginning of some nice, warm weather.  It's a perfect time to set out the corn.  I started the seeds in the potting shed - actually 2 plantings as the first one had spotty germination.  Only one section of my 32-section planter has failed to produce a corn seedling but I haven't given up on that one yet.

The bed was started a while ago with 3 wheelbarrows of soil removed.  The soil was put on top of composting vegetation to grow squash on, but that's another post!  Today I raked 2 wheelbarrow loads of finished compost on the bed.

This year, I'm going to plant the corn in a different pattern.  It seems to me that it will grow more stably if I plant the seedlings in small bunches with a bean in the centre.  I drew 8 rough circles in the soil, each of which will hold 4 seedlings and one bean.  My planter has large holes in each section, which allow me to poke a finger up to help ease out the seedlings.  Corn isn't really meant to be transplanted, but I do it anyway!

After the circles were planted (one has only 3 seedlings) a Fortex bean seed was planted in the centre of each.  The beans will grow up the stalks of corn and give them stability while adding nitrogen to the soil - a happy pairing.

Finally, the bed was given a good watering.  Tonight I'll put Remay cloth over the corn to give it extra protection.  In the background, you can see that the Italian heritage beans are flourishing and almost ready to start climbing the bean frame.

In the rest of the garden things are growing well.  The snow peas are in flower and within the week I will be picking the bounty.

A Bonica rose which came from my daughter, is in full bloom.  It always puts on a great show.  Too bad it's unscented.

Not to be left out, Abraham Darby, a David Austen rose, is in full bloom giving us beauty and lovely scent to boot.

Building the Tomato Support

With the hot weather we're currently enjoying, I do my gardening in the cool of the morning and save the afternoons for sewing.  This morning, it was high time to finish the tomato framework.

Since we vegetable garden in concrete raised beds, there is no depth of soil to take stout poles to support the growing tomato plants.  Most tomato cages are simply too small - even the biggest ones - and I was still left with drooping plants and sometimes broken stems where they fell over the wire of a cage.

Then one day I had a brainwave!  Why not build a bamboo framework to support the whole bed.  On its own, a bamboo pole is not much support, but when part of a structure, it gains strength.  And it worked!

Looking down the bed through the structure.

Over the years I've improved on the structure, with this year being no exception.  As I stated in the last post, I put 10 poles in the tomato bed, one for each tomato.  The pairs were topped with curves of plastic water pipe.  This gives a bit more strength to the structure and if need be, I can drape clear plastic over the bed in times of rain.  The main poles were purchased from Lee Valley and are metal coated with plastic so they'll last for years.

Closeup of the lash work

Today I lashed bamboo poles about 2 1/2 feet up the main poles.  Then I lashed more poles diagonally down the structure - that's this year's innovation, which should provide the strength of triangles.  I use hemp string to tie the pieces together.  At the end of the season, it's easy to cut the structure apart and if any string is missed in the cleanup, it will simply rot away.

The finished framework - potting shed in the distance and peppers to the left.

I'll add another section to the framework about another 2 1/2 above this first section if it's necessary - last year I did fine with just one section as all of the tomato plants, like this year, are determinate and don't get too tall.

Sweet Million in a half-barrel

The one tomato not in this bed, a Sweet Million, received my tallest tomato cage and 2 Lee Valley poles to anchor the cage in a half-barrel planter.  I have one more half-barrel planter waiting for a tomato which I hope to buy at jollityFARM tomorrow.

Bonica Rose

And of course, although vegetables are my focus these days, I do have a few flowering plants.  Above is a Bonica Rose.  This rose is in a bed that I'd hoped to grow rhubarb in.  Cedar roots have foiled the plan, but Bonica seems to not mind the intrusion.  Not a scented rose, although literature will tell you that it is lightly scented, nevertheless, it's welcome in my garden because of the profusion of small pink flowers.

Mid-June Update

I'm delighted with how well everything is growing.  Even the weeds are flourishing - which tells me that the SeaSoil we added has made a big difference.

The beans are over the tops of the poles!

The Three Sisters Garden is charging ahead.  The beans grew so quickly that I had to put in bamboo poles to support them for now.  They've gone over the tops of the poles.  Click on the picture above to get a better look.  The two beans which were planted directly into the ground inside protective collars are the correct height.  From this I've learned that next year I seed the corn in the potting shed, but plant the beans when the corn is 6" high.  The literature I found on Three Sisters Gardening told me this.  Why didn't I believe it?

Abraham Darby - my favorite rose

In February we transplanted a much-loved rose, Abraham Darby.  This is a David Austin rose and as well as being vigorous and beautiful, it's highly scented.  I'm so happy that it's transplanted well and is now coming into flower.

Bonica coming into bloom

Many years ago when my daughter moved back east, she gave me her little Bonica rose.  It's been transplanted at least 3 times and surges back each time.  Its current spot is now permanent and it is also coming into bloom.  A very pretty rose, the literature tells you it's scented, but we haven't noticed much scent.  However, it's very pretty so it stays.

Aphid infestation before and after spraying with water.

A few weeks ago I noticed aphids on one bud.  Aphids multiply rapidly by asexual reproduction and you need to take care of them pronto before they become a real problem. The easiest way to get rid of aphids is to hit them with water spray.  It knocks the aphids off and they can't get back on.  I checked out this bud today and there are still no aphids to be seen.

Snow peas over the top of their fence

We've already had a couple of meals of the snow peas and they are gearing up into high production and will need picking every day.  They are over the top of their zig zag fence, but they can sprawl over the top so I'm not worried.

Little Beth - bottom right - is even flowering

The tomatoes are also doing extremely well.  All are in flower and all the cherry variety have little tomatoes in evidence.  It won't be long!

Cherry Tomatoes - Gold Nugget, Honey Bee and Sweet Baby Girl

The cherry tomatoes in the tires and half barrel are just as advanced as those in the main bed.  The black of the tires absorbs heat.  The tomato between the tires is one given me by a friend.  Unfortunately this pot was all I had available at the time, so I'm not expecting huge production from Honey Bee until I can find something bigger.

And finally, today we poured another 4x4 bed.  This will be the last for this area as there's no more room.  One bed is totally finished, another bed had its floor poured today while we poured the wall of the third.  Each time we pour a new bed we find ways to improve.  This time we added cross bracing so the walls don't bulge in even a little bit.  Makes removing the forms so much easier!  Now we just need soil.  I've noticed that the wood on the Three Sisters Garden is finally giving up.  It has to be over 15 years old now and has certainly served its purpose.  We're thinking we'll make three more 4x4's in place of what is there now.  Each bed will be a little Three Sisters Garden and the squash can meander at will.

I really do prefer to garden in a raised bed.  A little bit of height makes gardening so much easier.  The soil is untouched by human feet and so I can do all the soil turning myself.  Perhaps now that I have so many raised beds I'll be satisfied!  Perhaps.

Seeds Are Up!

This morning was beautiful and sunny - the kind of morning that you draws you outside.  And there were certainly no end of things that needed doing! First up, check the seedlings in the potting shed.

Seedlings - some potted up and others waiting to be planted outside

All my seedlings are currently in the potting shed.  A few days ago, I potted up some of the lettuce and mescalun seedlings.  Everything is doing fine.  Even the seedlings left in the original pots aren't wilted at all.  If you do it early enough, nothing suffers.  The extras will be potted up as well and go to my daughter and daughter-in-law.

Pots of carrot seeds

Then I filled some 4" pots with soil, wetted them down and carefully placed 9 seeds in each pot.  I learned this way of growing carrots at a workshop last year and it turned out so well, I'm definitely going to continue to grow carrots this way.  In my garden wood bugs eat the carrot seedlings as soon as they come out of the ground.  By seeding in pots and then planting the whole pot outside once the seeds have germinated and gotten a bit of growth, they survive the wood bugs.  I planted 3 varieties today - Bolero, Scarlet Nantes and Mokum, a new Imperator variety. It's a bit fiddly seeding this way, but there's no thinning later on and you can pull up the whole bunch for dinner.  I will be doing more carrot pots, of course.

We also created a new bed in our deer-proof fenced area so we can transplant a much-loved rose.  Abraham Darby is a truly wonderful David Austin rose.  The big, beautiful flowers are strongly scented and the plant itself was a parting gift from fellow staff members when I moved locations.

Abraham Darby Rose

We stripped away the sod from the target area below the pond where we will be able to see the rose from the house.  My husband dug a pit about 2' deep and we built up around the new bed with rocks - of which we have an abundance on our Gulf Island property!  I filled the hole with a mixture of garden soil and compost and then the rest of the bed was completed with sieved soil from the digging mixed with more garden soil.  Another day we'll move the rose.

After a few more chores - planting radishes in the garden and putting compost on a vegetable bed which I'd spaded over, there was time to check for more spring signs.

Fordhook Swiss Chard planted last year is sending up new growth

King Edward Flowering Currant buds bursting open - Rufous Hummingbirds will soon be here!

Coral Bark Maple branches flaming in the spring sunshine