Berries, peas and scapes

We're back from a short vacation and berry season has begun. I thought the raspberries would be a washout this year because of the insane heat wave. The crop is diminished and the berries are smaller. But there are some to put on top of ice cream.

I've also been picking saskatoons and have frozen about gallon for baking in the winter.

We harvested most of the first sowing of peas this week. Some we ate fresh and the rest I blanched and froze. I did a second sowing late in the year (after the zucchini didn't come up) so we might get a second crop in mid-August. Fortunately, the heat has diminished some so I'm not spending an hour a day watering.

It was also garlic scape time. Sorry the picture is blurry. I gave a lot of these away to friends. We flash blanched about 20 and then blended them into some pesto were were making. This has been tasty in top of pasta. I may also make pizza with it.

The next few weeks look a little slower. I'm weeding a lot, trying to get he tomatoes to come around, and thinning out the carrots. Ive also been doing bunch of succession planting with lettuce and other short-season crops.

Drying herbs

The heat wave has continued this week (>+30C every day), with heavy daily waterings being necessary. The pansies in the front just finally gave up and the strawberry crop cooked on the vine. Other plants are really loving the eat, including the basil. I've never had basil this good!

I culled about 25% of each plant the other day and then hauled out the new food dehydrator. This all cooked down to a large spice jar, which should be almost a year's worth of basil. The next cutting will go into some pesto.

I also did a cull of the mint and oregano and dried enough for next year. I'm going to try dehydrating pineapple this afternoon.

The tomatoes are starting to show some fruit (I think this are Roma). No fruit on the pepper plants yet but they are growing really well. I may try them in a raised bed next year.

I've done some additional seeding (lettuce and such) where plants have either given up or been harvested. With last nights rain and milder temperatures, I'm hopeful this lettuce will last a bit longer before bolting. the garlic scapes are also almost read to harvest.

Basil, peas, poppies and daylilies

This past week has been busy with high school graduation and then getting Jess ready to head off to Junior Forest Ranger camp in High Level for the summer. The yard has been going along nicely now that the fence is in and things are returning to normal.

We have, however, been stuck in one of the longest and hottest heat waves that I can recall. This is day seven, I think, of it being really stupid hot.

This has meant hours of watering in the yard. So far, only the pansies have completely given up. Everything else, we've managed to keep alive.

Some plants are actually doing quite well. The pea vines are now over six feet tall on the south side of the garage and I had to starting tying them up because the stems were starting to break in the wind.

The poppies and daylilies have also started blooming. There is quite a bit of weeding to do but it is too hot to work in the yard after about 9 am and it has not really been cooling down until after midnight. I'm hopeful for some rain tonight and then a fall to more seasons temperatures. This morning it was only 26 and that felt incredibly cool.

The basil has been loving the heat. These were a gift from friends and I thought I'd pooched them when I transplanted. They have fully recovered and are huge. The leaf in the centre of the picture below is the size of two twoonies!

I'm hopeful the temperatures will drop next week and I can get out the dehydrator and get to the herbs. We should also have garlic scapes shortly. I've also done a couple of late sowings of lettuce and carrots. Im not sure the carrots will mature but, maybe, with a hot summer and a late autumn.