Pepper, Apples, Tomatoes, Pumpkins

I'm not sure how I forgot to update the gardening blog for three weeks but there you have it. Things have been busy! First up, I pulled in the three largest papers. I think we'll get 15 this year. These have since ripened and two are in the oven right now for fajitas!

The watermelons are also doing well. I think we'll get three watermelons and two cantaloupes this year.

 

We harvested the first apple tree and ended up with a goodly number of pretty big apples. Some of these have gone into crisps. 

The rest I canned as pie filling to make room for...

...endless tomatoes. I started pulling off the riper ones to help the plants make some progress on the greener ones.

The result was very crowded window skills.

The smaller stupice tomatoes, I mostly dehydrated for the winter.

The largest tomatoes, including some black Russian ones have been ether eaten fresh or crushed and canned.

I have another 40 tomatoes on the window sills ripening. These I'll run through the tomato mill and likely sauce. Finally, we have four (or maybe five) huge pumpkins (four litres ice cream pail for scale).

There are also about a dozen smaller pumpkins. I managed to process the garlic and most of it is in storage. Ditto the onions. The next big rush (other than the tomatoes) will be the scarlet runner beans But those are likely several weeks away yet.

Cantaloupe, watermelons, garlic and pumpkins

As we head into the last two months of the gardening season, we're seeing some progress in the melon patch. I see three cantaloupes so far, which is pretty good news. Not the number I was hoping for, but still better than zero!  

There are more watermelons (at least five). They are growing at a pretty good pace. The pictures below were snapped five days apart. I sent one to Jess and her co-workers were like "does your dad have giant Shaq hands or are those just tiny watermelons?"

We're also starting to harvest tomatoes. Mostly stupice at this point but the bigger tomatoes are starting to ripen.

I pulled the garlic and cached it in the garage to cure. So now everything in the garage, including the inside of the car, smells like garlic.

Things are going so-so on the trellis. I have a few more squash showing.

And a small number of cucumbers. I think the soil needed some amending so I'll work on that this fall.

The raspberries are basically done for the season. I managed to put 5 litres away in the freezer for jamming. The pumpkins are insane, though. The vine just keep spreading. Of the pumpkins I can easily get to, this is the largest so far (thumb to pinky is 9 inches) so I think we'll have a large number of pretty big pumpkins come fall.

The coronet front is probably a write off (not enough sun). And the potatoes have been a real mixed bag this year. Some good sized spuds but not a whole lot of potatoes per plant.

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.