Peas, tomatoes, watermelons, tomatoes, pumpkins

I spent quite a lot of time aggressive weeding the garden post-vacation and things are now much more in hand. We're also starting to see some meaningful amount of produce!

I picked a gallon of peas last night, shucked them and then blanched and froze them this morning (maybe four cups in the end). We also have some stupid tomatoes ripening.

By the garage, we're starting to see some progress with the watermelons. Not every flower is being fertilized but there are few. I think, with two months of summer left, we might get some melons!

The tomatoes are also ready plentiful and a few are beginning to redden. I imagine later August will be the bonanza time this year.

The pumpkin patch is entirely overgrown (four plants!) and has climbed the raspberries and worked its way through the fence into the neighbour's yard. There are a few five-pin bowling ball sized pumpkins growing. Good thing the raspberries are starting to wind down, because picking is challenging. I'be got four gallons in the freezer for jamming this fall.

Some the climbers are also making their way up the trellis we built, albeit slowly. I think this is a cucumber.

I'm having better luck with bell peppers this years. movie them up to a hotter bed has done the trick.

I also harvested two spaghetti squash in the hope that the plant would make some more. I hauled the dehydrator out last week to put away some dill weed.

The bees are enjoying the sunflowers that the birds planted. The sunflowers I planted are well behind. 

And the corn is likely a bust this year. Probably not enough light in the bed I choose. Maybe next year!

Pumpkins, scapes, and berries

We're back from a week's vacation to find the garden has very much grown! The pumpkin patch has really jumped up and I'm hopeful for some good-sized squash this fall. I also had to retire a rain barrel and ended up running the eaves into the pumpkin patch. Happily, I managed not to cut myself on the sheet metal.

The garlic scapes needed to come in so I cut 40 or 50 this morning, blanched them and then froze them for future use. 

I also cleaned off most of the Saskatoons and put a gallon away in the freezer. The raspberries are just starting to ripen so we've been eating them fresh with ice cream and I've been putting some away in the freezer for jamming. It looks like we'll have a lot of berries this year.

It looks like we'll also have a good crop of tomatoes and even a bunch of bell peppers. I wish the watermelon would grow a bit more and set some fruit. That might be a bust this year. The corn is also looking a bit behind. Maybe it is not getting enough sun so I'll try a different bed next spring.

Poppies, Tomatoes, Melons, and Berries

June has been alternately hot and wet and the garden is starting to fill out a bit. The big surprise of the summer has been a bed of poppies that had grown up around the asparagus. The bees are loving this.

Most of the tomatoes are doing really well. Below, the first of the stupice have set fruit. I'm still eating dehydrated tomatoes for last year and these are super tasty.

The black tomatoes we planted are also doing well. Both of these types were in high raised beds. Other types, in lower raised beds, are still doing well but are a week or two behind.

The melons and squash are starting to come. I think there is a nitrogen shortage in two beds due to the wood chips in the manure I put in so I am culling a bunch of feral arugula and dumping it in to the beds for a bit of a shot. That seems to be working.

It looks like the plants are indeed climbing the trellis although I spend a fair bit of time helping them wind their way upwards.

The cherry tree seems to have produced real cherries! I look forward to the the taste of a $20 cherry.

As the cilantro is starting to bolt, I have been cutting it and freezing it for winter use in salad dressings. Some I am letting go to seed to save. A second planting is just now coming ready for use.

The Saskatoons are also ripe, a couple of weeks ahead of usual.

I'm just freezing these and will add to the raspberry jam when I get around to that in the fall.

I expect the first raspberries will be ready in the next two weeks. The second sowing of peas should also be producing by then.

Plums, potatoes and peas

Looks like I forgot to post last week (it was busy!). This week, the crazy heat turned into endless rain, which has really helped the garden. Before the deluge began, we went out to Prairie Gardens and bought a pair of plum trees for father's day.

Jenn helped me get these into the front beds and they seem to be doing okay.

The potatoes have really shot up with some more water and have started to flower even.

The garlic out back is also much larger (18 inches?) and is starting to put out scapes.

The tomatoes are a total mixed bag. The best performers are in the raised beds against the garage and some have fruited. The one sin the ground are just now starting to catch up.

The pumpkins have also spent the month putting down roots and are now starting to vine. I'm hoping for some monster pumpkins this year.

We're also starting to see some of the vining plants climb up the trellis we built. Early days, though!

I did get a small harvest of early peas from behind the back fence. The rest of the peas are still growing and haven't yet flowered.

This week looks to be mostly about weeding in between rainy periods. If I get ambitious, I may also start to clean out the canning cupboard and maybe dry some oregano.

Flowers, cherries, and arugula

The hot weather continues in the yard so I am watering a lot. The flowers are starting to take and show off a bit of colour.

Out back, I have an enormous arugula plant. Too spicy and chewy to eat but ridiculously big. 

The cherry tree we planted last years has a dozen or more cherrie son it and they are starting to turn red and swell. This is very gratifying!

And this one columbine plant is coming back yet again.

Most of the yard work now is watering and weeding. We are eating greens out of the garden, which is nice and the early peas are flowering. With a week of +30 ahead of us, some stuff (like garlic scapes) will likely be ready weeks early this summer.

Corn and Saskatoons

The corn I planted a few weeks back has finally started to germinate. This is very exciting. The stuff that is up is an heirloom variety with jewel-coloured kernels. I also planted some peaches and cream corn last week, which is still thinking about coming up.

The asparagus bed is not really yielding much asparagus but there is a huge bloom of something. I though arugula but it doesn't look right. Facebook gardeners suggests poppies. That was one of my guesses, although I can't imagine how they ended up there and so thickly. I did dump a bag of commercial manure in the bed. Maybe it came in with that?

Out front, the yellow-flowering ground cover is spreading nicely. I finally called it and chopped down the crab apple tree that has been doing poorly for a long time.

The saskatoons are setting berries and looking pretty good this year. The potatoes are also up out front.

I'm hopeful to get a first cropping of spinach off this week and then maybe I'll seed in some more lettuce and cilantro. The melons and squash seem to be doing alright in the heat. I'll be happier when the tomatoes start to look a bit bushier. Some are doing great. Some are not.
 

Tulips and cherries

We had a nasty weekend of smoke from the forest fires (air quality was an 11+ on a scale of 1-10) so I didn't get out much. As things improved, I finished seeding and putting in the last of the flowers. I also cut out the dead raspberry canes and passed on some suckers to the neighbour.

One of the bright spots has been the tulips we planted last year, which have been really doing well and adding some interested as the perennials are still filling in.

The cherry tree we planted in the back flowers like crazy the spring, which is good sigh. There are a small number of baby cherries tucked in among the flower clusters. I'm hopeful we'll get a taste of what these will be like in future years come summer.

The rest of this week has been given over to fighting with some ants and weeding the vegetable beds. t looks like the crab apple tree in the front yard has finally given up so I may also go and cut that down and clean up around it. I've been looking for a spot for a a plum tree. Perhaps this is it?