It is now summer and the garden is in full swing now. The lettuce and spinach starts to bolt while heat loving plants such as tomato, cucumber, sweet potato and zucchini start to grow vigorously.
The cucumber starts to grow very well with flowers forming.
We bought some brussels sprout plants and they are growing well.
This is Himrod, a white seedless grape. We would like to see if we can harvest fresh grapes in our zone.
Jerusalem Artichokes are growing very tall. When the leaves turn yellow, it is time to harvest the roots.
Finally we have some summer harvest. We now have peas, beans, zucchini and cucumber. I didn’t have any success with cucumber last year and I have to keep picking and killing the cucumber beetles, but alas, we have fresh cucumber.
The season is warm enough now to plant some cool season vegetables. We just received dormant plants of asparagus and Everbearing strawberries. We also planted some seeds in the beginning of May. Let's see how we do so far:
Buck has grown pretty tall now. Soon I would till them down.
This is asparagus. It does not resemble what I see in the grocery store at all.
Carrot plants.
Sweet peas.
This is the white radish, also called Daikon.
This is the children's Square Foot Garden bed .
This is the strawberry plant. Look closely and you can see the flowers which would turn into yummy straberries.
Raspberry plants. We have 3 plants from last year.
Red salad bowl. Very dependable. Virtually no pest problems.
This is Eggplant. It is my first time growing this. I don't know if our short season would give good yield. But it is fun to try something new every year.
Another season is approaching. We have started the seedlings beginning April. This year, we have started cucumber, tomato, various cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, marigold, calendula and nasturtium.
The other day the lamp for keeping the waterer warm was blown and so I replaced it with another 100W bulb. In the evening I noticed the familiar smell of something melted as soon as I walked into the chicken coop. To my surprise, the new bulb burst and the waterer was partially melted by the heat. I cannot explain what happened but eveyrthing is gone. Thank God there was no fire and only the breaker and waterer had to be replaced.
We had our first frost last week and today some areas north of GTA have light flurries. It is that time of the year again – winter. The only plants that’s left in the garden are mostly in the Brassica family – cabbage, kale, spinach. This year, I have enlisted help from Tiffany and Odelia in closing the garden: remove leftover plants and weeds, add some compost and cover the square with straw.
Kale could survive under harsh winter weather. Let’s see how well they do this winter.
Covering the square with straw.
We did get some raspberries this year, hopefully more next year. But based on the spreading growth of the plants, I would have to install stakes.
I tried to plant some oats as cover. Apparently I sow too late. Look how tiny the oats are.
We have decided to switch to organic feed. It is more than double the price but comparing with the adverse and unknown effect of GMO feed that we bought before, it is a small price to pay. Now our eggs are truly organic and free range, the best one can get.
A little report on the progress of summer growing season. As the weather is very warm, everything is growing fast. We also plant some raspberry this year, together with a couple of rose plants.
Kale is growing OK, but a lot was eaten by cabbage moth catepillars.
Swiss chard is a dependable crop.
Sugar snap peas.
Purple cabbage, can grow to 2 pounds.
Purple bean.
Onion.
Herb garden. We have sage, lemon balm, sweet basil, pruple basil, fennel, rosemarry, oregano, parsley, corriander.
Corn.
Banana squash is a success this year because we give it lots of room to grow. Taste is OK. I like butternut squash more.
A little report on the progress of new growing season. This year we have a few revolutionary endevaour. First, each child has 6 small squares of garden. They can pick whatever they like to grow. They would seed, water, weed and harvest. Secondly, I am using the planter box on deck as a seeding bed and later transplant the seedlings to garden.
Kale is a new try
I never had any success with pok choy, let’s see if this works this year.
Sage from last year grows vigorously and starts to flower.
Swiss Chard is a good stable crop.
This is the children’s garden, all done by themselves. There are potato, carrot, spinach, sun flower, marigold, red lettuce, romane lettuce, green onion, cooking onion and swiss chard.
