Summers here

Finally the weather seems to have warmed up and it feels like summer.
Even though I was late getting seedlings into the ground this summer in Canada I hoped that lots of hot weather would really get them going. It didn't happen, though now I have high hopes for a warm fall.
In spite of the weather I'm  managing to get a harvest out of the vege garden.
I'm still getting a small harvest from the peas that self sowed in the spring, and the ones I started in July are almost ready to start producing.
The self sown lettuce is keeping us in salads, with new seedlings starting to show promise.
The parsley patch has gone to seed producing lots of flowers for the insect life to feed on and then lots of seed to keep the patch going next year. Last years self sown parsley plants are big enough to harvest.

The parsley flowers look great in a vase with rudbeckia and Echinacea.

I am managing to get enough tomatoes each day for salads. Lots of tomato plants look a ways from ripening, but if we get that warm fall they may make it.

Still in the wings are the squash and beans. We'll see if they make it.
The chillies that I bought as seedlings and put in pots have lots of small chillies on them, so it looks like I'll have enough of those to get through another year.
It's always interesting to see what makes it and what doesn't.

Lots and lots of tomatoes

The tomatoes are finally producing faster than we can eat them.

 

 It is time to make some relish. The rest get cooked up and mushed and preserved as passata to be used in future sauces.

Todays harvest

Wow, has it ever cooled down. last week we were all sweltering, and dare I say it, complaining about the heat. Today it is cold and grey.
So far the temps have stayed well above freezing, and not meant to go down below 6'C at night over the next few days, so hopefully the garden will keep producing for a while longer.

 

The tomatoes are all starting to ripen up. I think it is time to make a big batch of relish.

The summer squash which have been a little slow this year are finally producing steadily. these are yellow crookneck.

The edible podded peas have slowed down, but mostly because so many of them got too big to eat, and got left on the vine to ripen for seed and soups. I am growing sugar snap peas and sno peas.

The bush beans finished producing a while back and are now ripening for seed and dry beans for cooking. The purple podded beans are coming into their own, and I am able to harvest several large handfuls each day.

Still in the garden I have pak choi, and Chinese cabbage. Also some cilantro that has started to go to seed. I'll harvest the mature seeds for cooking. The basil needs to be harvested and frozen, and there is still lots of parsley and other perennial herbs. The winter squash needs a few more weeks to mature.

At this time of the year I just hope for a few more weeks of warmish weather, so we can keep on harvesting the last of the crops.



Red is the new yellow

My first red sunflower of the season.

Perennial sunflower reaching for the sky.

 

Hollyhock

 

Nasturtiums adding a splash of colour. The beneficials love them too. Try them on a salad to brighten it up....yummy

 

Visited my friend Bob's garden. Love the tomato trellis.

 

He has quite the squash crop on the go.

 

And here they are hiding under the leaves.

 

Salad Days

I don't like to buy tomatoes, so it is always a mark of summer when we start harvesting them from the garden.We've been eating salads from the garden for a while now, but it is only in the last few weeks we harvested our first tomato, albeit a cherry tomato.
Here we have 3 different lettuces, arugula, basil,tomatoes, sno peas and the flower petals of nasturtium, bee balm and calendula.

There are some of us (not to be named), who say that a cherry tomato isn't a real tomato. A real tomato is one that you can cut thick slices off and make a sandwich with.
Today we harvested our first "real" tomato.

Now that is a real tomato!

 

There is a chill in the air

There is a chill in the air, and I'm not sure I am ready for it.
We have had way too many night time temps in the single digits this summer, including the last few nights. The day highs are in the low 20's. Is summer over already, or did it not happen at all.
Some things in the garden loved the cool temps and regular rain. The lettuce has done amazing, the sno peas are 7' high and at their peak production. The sugar snap peas are producing well, having recovered from their early summer pruning by the deer.
My current favourite lettuce is Drunken Woman (gotta love the name). It is an amazing green colour tinged with a blush of red around the edges. It is slow to bolt in the heat, which is a bonus in a normal hot summer.

Even the beans haven't minded the cooler temps, and are producing basketfuls each day.
The chili peppers on the other hand, really aren't doing that well. They are only now producing the first few chilies. Fortunately they are growing in a pot. This usually helps, as the roots stay warmer all summer than they would if planted in the ground. This summer however, with the cold night time temps, not so much. However as it cools even further, I can at least run them indoors when necessary. My usual practise, when we leave in the fall is to put the pots-plants and all-in an out of way corner inside, and do nothing else til spring. We then come back to Canada to a plant covered with red, dried chilies,perfect for grinding up and storing. I hope the peppers are far enough along when we leave this year that this will work.

Tomatoes, squash and cucs also struggling with the cold. Maybe the fall will be warm and sunny. We can always hope.
But inspite of this we are now managing to get most our veges from the garden.
We are eating beans, salads and stir fries, almost totally from what we produce.It is the usual story of growing enough variety that there will always be things to harvest no matter what the weather throws at us.

 

Tomatoes

Yesterday I found the first tomatoes ripening. Only about 1 month later than usual.
I blame all the cold weather we've had this spring and summer.

This is the tomato harvest last August.