Garden Update

The harvest is still coming in.

Mixed bowl of calendula, plantain and comfrey, tiny carrots, bucket of eating cucumbers, peas, swiss chard and spinach, pickling cucumbers in a row, dill, lettuce, free potatoes, pepper, rose hips.

The mixed bowl has become a healing salve for cuts and scrapes.  The potatoes are from a few volunteer plants that sprung up in the garden.  The plants were starting to yellow, so I dug them out before I misplaced them.  The rosehips have been added to berry juices through the summer, and now I'm picking for a batch of wine.

Side view.

 I'm quite pleased with my garden this year.  Despite the late spring frost, and still waiting for green beans, it's been quite productive.  A lot of puttering, and small batch canning, but more fun than work.

Crazy tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouse #2.

 Cucumbers have been fantastic.  Every few days I make another batch of dill pickles, and we've had so many eating cukes (Straight 8's) in the last few weeks, I've started giving them away.

Cucumber vines all the way to the roof! (8'!!)

 The question is, how am I going to harvest them way up there?

Pollinators enjoying the still unidentified flowers.

 And in greenhouse #1, the sunflowers are reaching for the sky.

This one hit the roof and kept growing.  It would have been about 10' tall!

Greenhouse #3 is growing well.  I added a couple of buckets of water to help regulate the temperature over night.  The other greenhouses have buckets of water in the corners.

Greenhouse #3, pumpkins, melons, sunflowers

Tiny watermelons have finally appeared.

Greenhouse #3, watermelons, nasturtiums, green beans

Green beans are still flowering, still no beans!

Nasturtium

Nasturtiums are doing great.  I've been harvesting the flowers to make spice.  The leaves and seed pods are also edible, but we haven't tried them yet.  I keep meaning to pick a few to add to salad, but forget when I'm in the garden.

The Algonquin Pumpkins are a win-win-win!  Lots of pumpkins on the vines, early fruiting, and continue to ripen after picking.  My research says to pick when the underside turns bright orange.

Algonquin Pumpkin

Underside of pumpkin

My tiny Far North Melons are also a keeper.  They seem to be stunted, but I think they're supposed to be that little.

Far North Melons

I picked 4 pumpkins and one melon.

4 pumpkins and a melon harvested

The pumpkins are in the cold room, while the melon made a tasty snack!

Far North Melon

Outside in the garden, the potatoes are monstrous.  I haven't hilled them well, and only planted half of a short row, maybe 12'.  Half of them are the Russian Banana that I grew last year, that never got big enough for anything other than seed potatoes.  The other half are Yukon Gold that I picked up free from the hardware store long after they should have already been planted.  The garden beans appear to be at the same stage as the greenhouse beans.

Calendula, Potatoes, Beans

More manure goes onto the fallow side of the garden almost daily.  It should be very rich and healthy next spring!

Manure spreading

The garden sunflowers are much smaller than the greenhouse sunflowers.  I don't remember if I planted all of the same variety or not.

Sunflowers in the garden

Lettuce is still edible, but the outer leaves have started to rot.

Lettuce

Watermelon radishes were not a hit.  Too mild for Husband.  I left them to go to seed, and hopefully the seed pods will make a bigger impact.

Radishes flowering

Mangels are very small this year, probably from lack of rain early in the season.

Mangels

Peas are still producing well.  Shells are harder and rusted now.

Peas

Carrots are small and sad.

Carrots

My Mennonite dry beans were hit with a late spring frost.  Four plants survived and have flowered, despite their stunted growth.  No beans yet.

Mennonite Beans

Swiss chard is coming in now, with just enough to harvest for dinner every 3 or 4 days.

Swiss Chard

Parts of Alberta got snow yesterday.  That usually means we'll get the cooler weather within 2 weeks.  I'm really not ready to quit yet this year (especially without ANY beans!), but I guess it's time I got the greenhouses sealed up tight, and started harvesting the garden more rigorously.