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 Year 2

Last year, the Three Sisters garden was quite successful and so warranted trying again - with some changes.

This year, I planted the corn in the potting shed as I've done for years now.  As can be seen from earlier posts in this blog, mice have decided I'd given them a banquet!  I therefore had to plant the seeds directly in the garden and after trying twice in the potting shed, didn't have enough Bodacious corn seeds to fill the beds.  Unable to find any of that seed, I planted a row of Peaches and Cream.  It will be a week later than the Bodacious, but this year I'm planting my rows in diamond pattern so hopefully if they tassel out at different times, there won't be much of a problem with pollination.

Remay protection on cool days and at night

The first seeding of corn is up and about 4" high.  I'm covering it at night with Remay cloth and opening it up during the day.

Remay off on sunny days until the weather is reliably warm.

At the same time that I planted the corn, I set out 3 butternut squash plants.  2 of these are at the south ends of the beds and 1 is in the centre.

Bodacious corn seedling

As I said above, the corn is about 4" high now.  When it reaches 6", I'll plant the Fortex beans and protect them with water bottle collars.

So what am I doing differently?

Last year the beans were so lush and heavy that they broke the corn stalks.  This year, I'm growing Fortex beans in the corn.  It's not as big-leafed as the Italian heritage bean which I'm growing elsewhere.  I planted it at the same time as the corn last year, but this year, I'm giving the corn a head start - which I was supposed to in the first place.

Last year, I grew too many squash plants and the ones at the back of the beds didn't do nearly as well as the ones in sunnier spots.  This year,  I'm only growing 3 plants and all are placed in the sunniest spots.  In addition, I didn't seed corn to the end of the beds at the inside where the 2 beds meet.  Hopefully this will give the squash enough room to grow.

I grew zucchini in the tires at the back of the bed last year.  This year, the zucchini is planted in a concrete bed in front of the Italian heritage beans seeded at the bean rack.  I'll plant impatiens in the tires as they like a bit of shade - and we always need flowers in our lives!

Melons and Strawberries!

May can be such a variable month!  This morning it was pouring with rain and chilly.  This afternoon the sun has come out and it's HOT!  Actually pretty good weather for getting a number of chores done indoors and out.

After we cleaned out the pond filter (whew!  stinky!) I planted out the melons.  I grew them in the compost bin last year and am doing the same this year.  I am, however, preparing a little better.  The wood bugs attacked the young plants last year and I almost lost them.

This year I dug holes in the compost and filled them full of potting mixture.  I transplanted the young melons into the mixture, firmed and then carefully put a water bottle collar around each, then applied a generous ring of diatomaceous earth around each one.  That should keep them safe!

Strawberries are forming and some of the berries are getting quite large.  Keep your fingers crossed that the birds and raccoons leave us some!  The last time I grew strawberries, I protected them with special bird netting cages.  Just as the berries were ripening I went out one morning to find all the cages thrown off and no berries left.  Raccoons!  It was the same for the grapes and hazelnuts.

The beans are lapping up the heat.  The beans on the rack were started in the potting shed and are ahead of the half barrel beans.  They're starting to form vines which will quickly scramble up the rack.

The half barrel beans aren't far behind though, and they got a good dose of pond filter water to help them along.  All in all, the garden is coming along well.  I planted out the last of the corn today - Peaches and Cream as I'd run out of the Bodacious seed.  So the Three Sisters bed is mostly Bodacious with one row of Peaches and Cream planted 4 days later.  When the corn is 6" tall, I'll plant Fortex beans.

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!

First Homegrown Salad of 2014

Okay - I cheated a bit.  The red pepper and cherry tomatoes were bought. But the lettuce, arugula and green onion all came from the garden this morning.

The dressing is a very easy ranch dressing and we like it so much it's what we use all the time now.  The chives and garlic are from our garden.

Ranch Dressing

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, pressed
chives and other dried herbs to taste

Put all ingredients in a jar and shake up.  I refrigerate it for a couple of hours so the flavours blend.  Keeps for 3 days although it rarely lasts more than a day or two.  Make it 2 parts buttermilk, 1 part mayonnaise and add garlic and herbs - so easy to remember!

Frameworks for Tomatoes and Beans

Today's garden chores were all about providing support for tomatoes and beans.

Italian heritage beans in a half-barrel

The framework for the Italian heritage beans planted in the half-barrel was already in place.  The tripod of stakes had 6 seeds planted around it and all are now up.

Zucchini and Italian heritage beans.  Potatoes in the background.

Since a mouse has decided that the potting shed is a great place to grab a meal and that beans are next to corn in deliciousness, I thought it best to plant out those beans now.  We have an 8' framework that sits on the end of any of our raised beds and is easily moved from bed to bed.  Six of the Italian heritage beans which were started in the potting shed were transplanted to grow on the framework.  Two zucchini seedlings were planted in front.

Bean seedlings are protected with water bottle collars

The bean seedlings were protected with plastic water bottle collars and a bamboo stake was placed beside each plant.  The collars protect the bean seedlings from wood bug predation and they can grow up the stake and then grab onto the framework.  By the time they reach that height wood bugs won't be any match for the beans.  The final step was to liberally dust under each framework "foot" with diatomaceous earth.  This is a natural material composed of tiny exoskeletons.  The sharp edges of the exoskeletons pierce the bodies of wood bugs and earwigs, dehydrating them.  Harmless to humans, plants and animals.

Sweet Million tomato growing in a barrel

The other job for today was making the framework for the tomatoes.  The one tomato growing in a half-barrel this year is a Sweet Million and as it's indeterminate it requires sturdy and tall staking.  Three tall stakes were placed in the barrel, lashed together at the midpoint with short bamboo stakes.  One upright provides support for the tomato until it reaches the first horizontal framework point.

All of the rest of the tomatoes in the garden are in one raised bed.  Each tomato has a wire cage around it and a 6' stake beside it.  These stakes are lashed together with bamboo stakes horizontally.  The tops of the stakes are tied together with twine.  It looks pretty rickety but it's surprisingly sturdy and I've been growing tomatoes this way for years now.  As all these tomatoes are determinate and not too tall, the one horizontal framework will probably be enough.  I can easily add another layer if needed.

Chives

Next week after we get rid of a small system coming our way, I'll seed the corn and plant out squash and melons.

Mouse Destruction

Actually "Mouse Mass Destruction".  Because it's back.

Obviously the half a mouse I found was not the culprit because this morning's visit to the potting shed saw the scene of another raid on my corn seedlings.  This time not only were sprouted corn dug up for the seed, the newly planted corn seeds were dug up as well.  I guess I'll be planting right into the soil this year.  Ah well - that's gardening.

But we're off this morning, so a quick feed thrown to the fish, and away we went.