Today it's supposed to get up to 33 degrees Celsius (it's already 25 at 10 a.m.). After the cold, rainy spring we've had, some warmer weather is more than welcome (although today will be a little on the hot side for my taste!)
I'm sure no one is looking forward to the arrival of real summer weather more than the plants in my veggie garden. They've been valiantly struggling along, surviving cool temperatures, high winds, and nearly half a dozen heavy rainstorms in the past couple of weeks. Despite all the adverse conditions Mother Nature has doled out, it looks like just about everything's going to pull through, although harvest dates may be a little later than usual this year.
My
strawberries look happy in their new raised bed home. The raspberry patch was encroaching on their former garden space, and since I wanted to encourage further raspberry growth (you can never have too many raspberries, can you?) I got my hubby to build me a raised bed off our patio so the strawberries could have their own special space in the garden.
The
parsley, basil and purple basil all look to be growing well. Behind the herbs are my
arugula and
spinach, which have been straggling along but are finally looking like I might be able to harvest them someday!
This bed has
oregano, mint and garlic chives, which are all growing robustly. I just transplanted the oregano this spring (it was over by the old strawberry patch getting choked out by the raspberries). It's definitely thriving in its new home. If you look closely, you can see the purple leaves of
a few lettuce plants just forming beside the chives.
These are my
pepper plants, which, frankly, don't seem too thrilled about life right now. I'm hoping a few days of heat will perk them up. The plants closer to the bottom of the photo are
jalapenos; the ones on top are
sweet red peppers, the Gypsy variety that's my favourite. I have more pepper plants in my other raised bed (behind the arugula and spinach), including a
yellow sweet banana pepper.
This is one of my
Roma tomato plants in a raised bed (I have 4 Roma plants in there, plus two more seedlings that we're building planters for right now)
This is one of my
cherry tomato plants (Sweet Million variety). It's been growing like gangbusters ever since I brought it home (I swear it practically doubled in size in the 48 hrs after I planted it!) I have 3 of these plants, plus 3
yellow pear tomato plants (my husband's favourite) in various pots and planters in sunny spots on our patio and deck.
My
raspberries are starting to flower! All four of us consider raspberries just about the best summer treat going, so I've been thrilled that the 3 raspberry canes I planted about 3 years ago have spread to cover an approximately 12 foot by 4 foot area of my garden. Go raspberries!
I also planted some
zucchini in the same bed as the strawberries - it hasn't germinated yet, thus no photo. I haven't planted my
green beans yet, either. I'm determined to get to it in the next day or two - fresh-from-the-garden green beans are my favourite summer vegetable.
What's growing in your garden?
My tomato plants have really grown quickly the past week, too. I'm not a real fan of tomatoes (I'm working on it) so for everyone else I have a yellow variety, a cherry, and one each of an early, midseason and late beefsteak type plus three romas for sauce. I've also got english cucumbers, red peppers, carrots with radishes mixed in, a few short rows of potatoes for new ones, beets, green and wax beans, short rows of lettuce to be used before heat makes it bolt, green onions and peas. I never have room to plant enough and seldom get any to the kitchen. I'm trying to empty a wire compost enclosure so I can get my pie pumpkin plants in, maybe tomorrow, and then I have to find a place for zucchini. I also got a flat of eight celery seedlings for $1.49, so that is my curiosity plant this year.
ReplyDeleteWe've also got strawberries, red and white currants, raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb and a purpble hazelnut. The foliage is purple, the nuts are like any other hazelnut. It just looks more landscape-ish in my suburban yard. I've got chives, parsley, summer savory, basil and a tricolour sage growing in flower beds. I'll be looking for a spot for garlic. I wish I had room for corn and more potatoes along with pickling cucumbers, lots of storage onions, the cabbage family, different squashes, leeks...
And if I had room for all that I would be looking for space to grow a luffa vine and a few varieties of dry bean.
Ksren
One year I plan to make peanuts my curiosity plant.
Sounds like a fantastic garden, Karen! Space and sunlight are both limiting factors in my small urban garden. I tried to grow a blueberry bush but the soil's not acidic enough here and it died on me. I'll have to stick with my strawberries and raspberries I guess. The purple hazelnut sounds cool! I have a tree nut allergy, otherwise I'd like to give that one a try. Oh, and I'm another person who doesn't care for fresh tomatoes - but I love them in bruschetta, sauce, salsa, and other cooked dishes. Thanks for sharing your food growing adventures!
ReplyDeleteOur soil is not acidic either, but I have used a lot of peat moss and I save my coffee grounds to dig in around the blueberry, and sprinkle over the soil whenever I think of it. So far it has survived. I actually should have a second plant of a different variety - it is supposed to increase the crop of both varieties.
ReplyDeleteThe garden sounds bigger than it is, I have pretty short rows of everything, and whatever can fit into a vacant spot in another bed goes there. By the time the vining crops are maturing, it gets kind of scary in there.
Karen