Garden Update #3 – Week 10

This weekend marks a handful of events in our lives: two years ago Steve and I moved onto acreage, ten years ago we had our first date, and 10 weeks ago we planted this year’s garden. 

We’ve had a crappy summer this year: our temperatures have been slightly below normal, we’ve had an absurd about of rain, and it always seems to be windy.  At times I’ve wondered if we’d ever get any vegetables out of the garden. 

Until a close examination yesterday I assumed that everything was about two weeks behind where it was last year in the end of July; thankfully I was wrong.  Everything seems to be growing at varied rates: some plants are small and growing at a slow rate, some are on par, and other flourishing.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the beets, turnips and carrots have grow since thinning them.  All the root vegetables seem to be growing very well and I think the carrots are large enough that we can start to eat them.  This is exciting as we eat a lot of raw carrots and the fresher they are the better they taste!

Over the past few weeks the beans have been full of flowers.  Last week we strung them up for support placing a string on either side of the plants.  It might just be me but since then they seem to have really grown.  The flowers are also starting to turn to miniature beans.  Weather depending, it’ll probably be a few weeks before we have beans to eat.  Last year our plants were heavy with beans already.

The potato plants are big and bushy and most look quite healthy.  There are a few plants that have leaves with black or rust spots, I think it might be a type of potato blight from all the moisture; hopefully the spuds in the ground fair well.  We haven’t seen any flowers, an indication of spuds in the ground, but when the plants were hilled last week a few were dug up so we know they are there.  We’re thinking that maybe the wind blew them off before we could see any.  And when Steve hilled the potato very few grubs were dug up, hopefully this means there aren’t too many around this year.

The peas are giants.  They are supposed to grow to a height of 28” and on average they are about 42” with some as high as 60”; I think they really like the rain.  If the seed didn’t come out of the same bag as last year’s peas, one would think they were “Jack and the Pea Stock” peas.  The funny thing about peas is their status can change fast; one day they are thin pods and the next they are ready to be picked.



Hmmm…. What else?  The dill has been really slow this year.  It has just recently started to grow well and is probably only about a foot tall; last year it was probably close to three feet tall already.  I was starting to think that I might not be able to use our dill when I do my pickles – thankfully it’s starting to depend flowers so hopefully it will continue to grow well and I will be able to use my own dill.

So far we’re a little disappointed with the zucchini and tomatoes. 

We have had female zucchini flowers for a few weeks but there have been no male flowers until recently.  There are a few zucchinis that seem to be developing so hopefully we are into a cycle with both sexes of flowers and an abundant amount of vegetables.  Last year we had our first zucchini in early August but the seeds were planted in the end of June, not the end of May.  I hadn’t had any luck with the Spaghetti Squash either, I finally noticed one male flower and hopefully the other buds will start to bloom soon.

And the tomatoes.  Our poor tomatoes.  We have close to 2 dozen tomato plants and only a handful of small green tomatoes.  Every time I check the tomato plants I seem to find a small tomato hiding in the bushy plant, hopefully I continue to find more.  I think the plants are victims of blossom drop this year.  Blossom drop is when the flowers drop off the plant before they develop into a tomato; this can be caused by several things including heavy rain.   Last year in the end of July we had tons of green tomatoes with some ripening already.  At this rate we’ll be lucky to get any ripened on the vine.  It’s definitely been a disappointing tomato year.  All one can do is wait and see.

OH! One more thing!  I forgot about the raspberries.  The raspberries are very far behind.  Normally they are ready mid July and they are just starting to ripen.  We had a small feast of them last night for dessert.  Every time we look at the bushes there seems to be more and more ready.  How exciting!  (And now I know where I can find Steve if he disappears.)

Last week on the radio I heard Environment Canada is forecasting a cooler than average August for our area.  As they always seem to be wrong I’m hoping for a warm August and guess what?  It looks like some warmer temperatures are on the way.  We have forecasted highs of 25C and 27C later this week and I’m looking forward to it.  After all the rain some heat would really do the garden some good.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that they don’t change the forecast and hope we are in store for some warm weather.

For those of you interested, I've posted more photos on the Thristy Dirt Facebook Page.  Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.175971769138899.47272.150263811709695