The three week gardener

Returning to Ontario for a 3 week stint, I am amazed at how the garden holds together with only a few hours of work each June.

Admittedly not many people would covet the plants that are the backbone of the flower garden, but each year they put on a show that starts in the spring and lasts all summer.
My secret is to have planted a lot of thugs in the garden and as they fight it out with each other there isn't much room for weeds to move in.
In June I have columbines, hardy geraniums centaurea and iris adding a dash of colour both in the garden and in the vase
As I am about to abandon the garden again for another year I notice that the evening primrose, perennial sunflowers and spider plant are about to bloom, and in a few weeks the bee balm, black eyed Susans, lilies and hollyhocks will fill in with phlox following close behind.
To fill in the gaps with interesting foliage there are clumps of hosta and cimicifugia(black snake root) and don't under estimate the power of the rhubarb foliage. Mine grows enormous.
The veg garden of course isn't producing a lot but there are herbs - thyme,chives and lots of self sown parsley.
Some old sugar snap pea seeds I planted last year for a green manure have self sown and we have manged to harvest a few peas from them. And the rhubarb has produced many fine deserts.
I spent a few hours weeding the vege garden. I left the self sown parsley seedlings in place as well as a few columbine and hollyhock seedlings. The rest of the space I planted some extra pea, bean and sunflower seeds. Any other bare areas got a sprinkle of some buckwheat seeds I had around.
I am hoping that once again this small amount of work will take the gardens through another year....til I return next June.

Quick Trip

I am winding up a quick trip to my garden in Ontario.
What can you do to a garden in 3 weeks. Actually quite a bit as it turns out.
The weeds have been removed and the bare earth planted. I have sown  lots of beans, peas and sunflowers from seed I have saved over the years.Any other areas I find the space I have sprinkled alyssum seeds. I'll call it all green manure if I don't return this summer and if I do get back there may be something to harvest.
Lots of herbs growing strong- both perennials and self sown. The apple trees have lots of small apples and the flowers are elbowing each other for space, so not so many weeds there.

I may or may not be back later in the summer, but hopefully I have done enough to get the garden through another season.
Now it is time to pack for the return trip to B.C and see how the garden has fared there. I have anxiously been following the weather there and it seems like the rain fall has been adequate, so if the deer kept out all should be well.

End of summer in Ontario

Back to Ontario and to a neglected garden. I'm always surprised at what has survived with no help from me.
The big surprise was the bed that I scattered all my old seeds on in August. Obviously many were still in good shape as lots of beans, peas. amaranth and sunflowers are clamoring for space. There are a few things in that jungle I can harvest for the table, but mostly it will act as a green manure crop.

 I've been harvesting the last of the peas and beans along with lots of lettuce and pak choi and the odd tomato.

The sunflowers are looking great.

The peas and beans that are too mature will be picked and used dried.

We had our first frost 2 nights ago so the beans are no longer with us. But still lots in the garden that didn't get hit.
I'm here for only a couple more weeks. Just enough time to put the garden to bed,
 We then drive back out to BC, so I am wondering how many plants I will be able to dig up and take with me...

Old seeds and green manure

I finally got around to sorting through my seeds. I have collected lots over the years and I had way too many to fit in the seed box. So any seeds over 5 yrs old got turfed. I emptied the seeds from their package into a container, then to see what would happen, sprinkled them thickly over some unused garden beds.

The results were rather surprising. The seeds got watered in really well with a couple of days of rain and sprouted impressively well. So my now 'green manure' is full of beans, amaranth, peas, squash and many unidentified flowers and brassicas. I can probably harvest the tips of the veges I recognise as micro greens. The rest will keep on growing til frost or longer with out amounting to much and then die down to feed the beasties in the soil.
It was great to see the old seeds still so full of life. Also a great way to recycle them through the garden.

Off to B.C in a few days to start working on new garden beds there.

New beds to play with

In spite of my usual delayed planting this summer I am harvesting veg from the garden. Not a lot but enough. The lettuce, pak choi and arugala are great additions to the table and shortly there will be the peas and beans.

The big change this summer is I finally put in a permanent back fence on the vege garden. Every year it has been expanding by about the size of the compost bins as I moved them further back each year. Finally this year I said enough.
Three 4 x 4 posts and a bag of sacrete later I had the supports in. A few hours with some chicken wire and staples and it was done. The paths and the new beds were lined with cardboard. The raised beds were formed from some old lumber that I had around and filled with the compost from last winters bins. The paths were then covered with saw dust. A heavy rain a few days later settled it all in.
Now I am dividing some of the perennials and putting the transplants in these new 'nursery' beds ready to take out to my new garden on the west coast later in the fall.

Making progress

After being back for 2 1/2 weeks it seems like I am making progress in my garden here in Ontario.

 From the weed infested bed above to weed free below with a few self sowns - parsley and lettuces mainly left in.

Add a row of beans and peas that are growing at great rates. The pak choi and lettuce are doing well in their starter pots and I notice flowers on the tomato plant I bought.

The seedling lettuce I bought 2 weeks ago are ready to eat along with the self sown lettuce around the compost heap.

Lots and lots of rhubarb to enjoy.

And lots of flowers to admire.

As usual I am off to a slow start but there is still lots going on in the garden and I'm thinking I'm catching up fast.

Great expectations

I am back in Ontario now and trying to play catch up again.
The flower gardens survived quite well without me and a little weeding has them looking great.
The vege garden not so well. It needs a little bit more work!

After a lot of rain in the last few days it shouldn't take much time to clear the beds. After one afternoon in the vege garden I already seem to be making progress.

 It's a bonus when I find self sown lettuce plants amongst the weeds.

I managed to find the last 6 lettuce seedlings at the local nursery so I am on my way. Also bought basil and a tomato plant.
I have planted lots of seeds, so now waiting for them to emerge. Hoping for a warm summer so they all grow quickly.

The rhubarb always does well here. The perrenial herbs are doing well. Great to have these perrenials in the garden that show up even if I don't.

A couple of my apple trees have a good crop on them. though one of my trees looks like it is dying.
It was a tough winter.

Off to weed more of the garden. Got to be ready for when the seedlings emerge and need to be transplanted.