Late Veggies

List of things we could plant now.

Six weeks in the garden

Just planted during the last week of May:

Our newly planted garden. We divided the garden into three beds, each roughly 4 feet wide with paths between them. At the top centre you can see the bean tee pee which is at the Southwest corner of the plot. Beside it in the bed is spinach and lettuce and then three tomato plants. This is the shortest bed of the garden because of the raspberry bushes.

In the centre bed we have carrots, 2 pepper plants, cucumber and zucchini and onions and garlic.

In the bed nearest in the photo we have tomatoes, wild strawberries and mint, and the herb circle. A few more herbs are tucked in around the other plants - calendula, chamomile, and nasturtium. The rhubarb is at the northeast corner of the garden. We inherited it from our friend and previous plot holder.
The north end of our plot is marked by a path and a large patch of raspberries.

The herb circle just after planting. We haven't got the garden paths marked with stones in this picture.

And six weeks later:

Here is the herb circle 6 weeks after the bulk of it was planted.

And here is the garden roughly one week ago at the 6 week mark. The wild chicory marks the beginnings of our neighbours plot

Company in the garden

This little bunny is only about 6 inches from nose to tail and hasn't quite figured out how to hide. He loves to hang out in the plot beside us which is a bit wild and full of low hanging treats. The kids were entranced to watch him the first time we saw him. I could hear him nibbling while I worked a bit last night. While there hasn't been any signs of him in our space yet, I'll happily offer up lettuce and carrots for more of his company.

More colour for the garden

The heat wave finally broke and we are getting some much needed rain. However that means helping the kids find things to do indoors. For ages I have wanted to try this project and we happened to still have some of the rocks we scavenged for the garden in the back of the van. The project was addictive. We all could have done a few more and have plans to do another round. These rocks will be added to our garden space to mark the paths.

The kids also worked on their garden signs for the fairy garden and the wildflower patch. Emily wants to make one for the blueberry bush as well.
Apparently we think the garden could use a bit more colour.

Colour in the garden today

Windchimes

The kids would love to make these.
We'll have to check the garden and the sumacs at the park to see if there are any branches we could use. A small version would be lovely in the kid's fairy garden.

The plot after a month away

Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden.
~Robert Brault

We returned home from the extended (and somewhat unplanned) trip to the cottage not really knowing what to expect in the garden. With only a short garden visit on our one weekend in June that we were not at the cottage, we were a bit worried about the state of the plants. Thankfully all was well, if a bit weedy and dry. The rhubarb has grown by leaps and bounds, there are plenty of zucchini flowers, lots of green tomatoes, the beans and peas are trailing up the tee pee, and the herbs look great with the exception of the basil which I am hoping will bounce back.

There were lots of raspberries and some early blackberries on the canes that surround our plot and the kids quickly gave up weeding and watering chores for picking. (I think one or two of the raspberries made it home -  grin.) Colin and Sara came back however, and spotted a "gigantic" cucumber. Well two actually. And as they are the cucumber fans in the family it was quickly decided that they could do the honours and do the first official real harvesting.

In addition to the weeding and harvesting, we've been working on the structure of our little space. We've exhausted the onsite rock piles and so have made a few late evening runs to scavenge rocks from various construction sites around town so we can ring our beds and mark the paths in the hopes of stopping any further trampling.  The kids thought it was a blast to pick rocks (!?). However our favourite chore by far was the installation of our new garden sign, which was made by friends as a birthday gift for all of us. We've already had so many comments about how lovely it is.  It makes the garden seem more like our special space, and as a bonus it helps mark the division between our space and our neighbours.

Sara and I also spent a few hours there on Sunday. We planted a high bush blueberry which we picked up on clearance from a local nursery, in part to "pay it forward" and in part to pay back those past and current gardeners who planted all the raspberries. We've also planted a small wildflower pollinator patch across from our plot and need to make a sign to encourage people not to mow it. Most of our garden plot has been weeded, we've planted some more calendula and nasturtium and will replant lettuce and spinach and carrots this week (once this incredible heat settles down.) 

Since returning home last week, we have also stopped by the garden with little neighbourhood friends and treated them to a tour and a taste of fresh picked, still warm from the sun raspberries. It was heartwarming to see my kids give the tour of "their" garden and talk about our garden neighbours and the idea of a community garden. I love that they get that benefits of community gardening are about more than just the garden.