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...

Beds filled and planted

I now have 3 raised beds.
They have been filled with what looks like great top soil from down the road.

Lettuce seedlings, garlic, mache, broad beans and chives have been planted in the first bed along with some field peas for a green manure.

The other 2 beds have been planted in field peas as a green manure crop. The beds have been covered in netting to keep the deer away until we get some fences up.
The garden is being abandoned til Nov., so I'll see then how it all survived.

Building the new garden

We are making progress with the new garden here on Malcolm Island.

This is the area for the future garden. It is one of the sunnier corners. We are dealing with tall cedars along the south boundary and then the buildings. I think there will be little sun here mid winter, but now in Sept it gets sun almost all day. The first thing that needs to go is the sign!

I've been playing around with plans on paper. It'll all take a while but as you can see below we've made a start, and the sign has gone-yeah.

The tall posts at the north end of the bed will have wire attached for future vines.
The beds are 16' long and 4' wide and are made of 2" x 6" lumber two high to give 12" high beds.
The ground is sloping slightly to the west so we've had to dig in the top edge.

To avoid digging I am going to fork through the sod to loosen it then lay down cardboard then these beds will be 2/3rds filled with some screened top soil sourced on the island, and in the spring top dressed with 'sea soil'- a compost made locally from fines(leftovers) from the logging industry that are mixed with leftovers from the fishing industry. This mix is composted for 2 years and hopefully will grow wonderful veges.

September at the community gardens

Gardening in this environment here, in Sointula, is new to me. The cool but long days during the summer will be a whole new experience.
I was excited to visit the local community gardens and see what was happening. A lot as it turned out.

I am really looking forward to building some raised beds in my own garden here over the next few weeks and getting started growing my own stuff.

Salmon Days

We arrived on Malcolm Island just in time to celebrate Salmon days which is one of the 3 big celebrations during the year on this small island.
The weather wasn't great but the sun did come out while the parade wandered down the main street.

Later in the day the salmon was served. Bar-b-qued on a cedar plank and served with  delicious salads it was a meal to remember. All to the music of Valdi who was playing live for us.

Later in the evening there was lots of dancing with the help of a local band.
The next morning  the main street was closed and set up for a big pancake breakfast put on by Victor at the Upper Crust. All to the sounds of local musicians that entertained the breakfast crowd from an open stage.
It was an amazing event for a small community. I'm really looking forward to the next big celebration here in November-Winterfest.

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.