Second Year SFG in Canada

trolleydriver wrote:I harvested my one and only honeydew melon from the SFG.  It's just slightly larger than a big orange.  How pathetic is that?

It's home grown so it's not pathetic. Is the variety for long day/short season?

CC, The Canadian Long Neck (butternut predecessor) (Baker Seeds) should grow there. ??

sanderson wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:I harvested my one and only honeydew melon from the SFG.  It's just slightly larger than a big orange.  How pathetic is that?

It's home grown so it's not pathetic.  Is the variety for long day/short season?

CC,  The Canadian Long Neck (butternut predecessor) (Baker Seeds) should grow there.  ??

I'm not sure about long day / short season but I grew them OK last year. I think I started them too late this year. BTW it tastes good.

CC ... Go for the Canadian Long Neck. I have it on my list of things to grow next year. An organic seed supplier near where I live sells the seeds.

BTW we ate one of our Acorn Squash yesterday and it was delicious. I got the seeds from that same organic grower.

I get emails from the Farmer's Almanac and the one today says I can sow radish seeds.    It's not over yet!

These multicolour (red, yellow, white) carrots were grown in one square of the SFG with a Top Hat. The ugly one on the right is two inches in diameter.

Today (Oct 1) I harvested carrots (see previous post), green onions, radishes, beans, cherry tomatoes, swiss chard and kale ... all from the SFG. I also thinned and/or removed some of the flowers (nasturtium, calendula, marigold) in the SFG beds.

The following is a lengthy photo album taken today.


First, a photo of a beautifully developed root system on a plant removed from the SFG.




Calendula cut flowers for Mrs TD.



Radishes seeded a few weeks ago.




Small Kale plants seeded in August.




Lettuce seeded in August.




Spinach seeded in August.




Green onions harvested today (they may be past their best harvesting date).




Those same green onions.




The strawberry bed after harvesting the multocolour carrots from the top hat and removing the flowers from the front corner squares. This bed will be all everbearing strawberries next year.





One of two squares of Swiss Chard.




Jalapeno pepper plants are still producing.




Another square of green onions.




A lone Sugar Snap Pea plant climbing the trellis after the cucumber plants were removed today.




Unbelievably the eggplants are still producing.




Still getting a green bell pepper but overall it was not a good year for them in my SFG.




This Cayenne pepper is waiting to turn red. I'm amazed that these plants are still producing this late in the season.




Marigolds in a corner square.




This "bin" next to the compost bin is overflowing with green material collected from the gardens.  Should make a good contribution to the new 3x3x3 compost bin if I ever get it built.




Radishes harvested today (sown back in August).  Some have split.




The cherry tomato plants on the tall SFG trellis are still producing lots of nice ripe fruit.




The green onions and radishes after they had a bath.  The radishes won't win any prizes.  I kept some radish leaves and some carrot tops for green smoothies.




I had to laugh at this white carrot with the barrel body and two legs sitting up against a fruit bowl. Make of it it what you will. 




A beautiful nasturtium flower in the Table Top.




The current (around 5 pm on Oct 1) temperature of the compost in the Soilsaver Compost Bin.




And end of season rose (not SFG).



Another rose (not SFG).

I enjoy your pictures, TD, as always.

With regard to your 3 x 3 x 3 compost bin.  Why not start with four pieces naile/screwed together, then as you get time, add another layer and keep doing that until you reach your height of 3ft?

I have some 4ft planks that I use in that way, but I am going to have them cut down to three ft as a 3 x 3 x 3 is less than half the cubit footage of the 4 x 4 x 4.  The larger size is much too cumbersome for me and takes ages to turn over or sift through.

Kelejan wrote:... With regard to your 3 x 3 x 3 compost bin.  Why not start with four pieces naile/screwed together, then as you get time, add another layer and keep doing that until you reach your height of 3ft? ...

Kelejan ... Good idea on building the bin in stages but I'm thinking of using hardware cloth or chicken wire on the sides rather than wood boards.

I decided to go back through my forum posts for October to December of last year on the "A First Time SFG in Canada" thread. A post dated December 17, 2015 listed a some possible future projects:

Here they are and their current status:

1. "An indoor system (stand, lights, trays, etc.) for starting plants indoors. (Status: Complete - I built a plastic pipe stand for a fluorescent shop light, etc.)

2. A cold frame. (Status: Not started)

3. A raised bed for standup gardening that can be positioned close to the door of the house and used to grow such things as herbs and lettuce. (Status: Complete - I built a 2'x4' Table Top using sanderson's design)

4. Two more 4'x4' SFG boxes. (Status: Complete)

5. An improved setup for both composting and screening compost. (Status: Started - I built a hardware cloth screen that fits on top of a wheel barrow. I hope to start building a 3'x3'x3' compost bin in the next couple of weeks.)

I'm very happy with the progress on these projects.

 Nice job, TD!  Ya done good, boy!  

Scorpio Rising wrote: Nice job, TD!  Ya done good, boy!  

+1

+1 great job!

TD. That is the beauty about having your own thread as a diary. I wish I had started out like that.

I am having a thought that I am using this Canadian Region thread as an abbreviated diary as naturally I put in things that I am doing.

Kelejan wrote:TD. That is the beauty about having your own thread as a diary. I wish I had started out like that.

I am having a thought that I am using this Canadian Region thread as an abbreviated diary as naturally I put in things that I am doing.

I don't see anything wrong with the way you use the Canadian Region thread. I enjoy reading what you write.

General (not SFG) photos.


Mrs TD's yard dog guarding a leg of the SFG Table Top.




Today's harvest of Tomatillos and green Tomatoes (on the right).




One of the goldfish surfaces in the pond.




The following are photos of various flowers.

That guard dog is cute.  Is it winterproof?

Kelejan wrote:That guard dog is cute.  Is it winterproof?

Not sure ... but it most liekly be moved to a sheltered location or put away in the shed for the winter.

Love that guard dog! Your backyard is a paradise of flowers, koi pond, and green, green grass! Sigh

They're beautiful, TD....

Forecast overnight temperature for this coming Sunday is 1 degree Celsius. Sounds like a frost night to me. Better do something about the tender crops such as the few green tomatoes that are still hanging on the vines.

Now I understand why Mrs. TD had those strings hanging off the birdhouse...for the sweet peas to cling to. Smart lady.

With Environment Canada issuing a second frost advisory I needed to bring in some more veggies. There was frost on the roofs of the houses this morning and it looks like it will be colder tonight (zero degrees Celsius).

I brought in most (not all) of the mostly green Cherry Tomatoes. As well, there were some Cayenne Peppers, Jalapeno and very small Bell and Banana peppers.  I also brought in some Leeks that were used to make a Potato Leek Soup (see the "What are you eating from your gadren today?" thread).

The SFG is still producing. I harvest Kale and Chard for my early morning green smoothies just about every day. This morning I also found a couple of strawberries in the everbearing strawberry 4x4 SFG. Amazing to see this so late in the year. I donated the strawberries to Mrs TD and she said they were delicious.

Got some used 2x4s and a 1x6 from a house renovation down the street. Except for all the nails they look as good as new. I'll use some of this wood to make my 3x3x3 compost bin.

Score!
I love that kind of recycling!

CapeCoddess wrote:  Score!
I love that kind of recycling!

Me also, CC.

All your veggies look great, TD!  And bonus strawberries to boot!  

Nice to find free lumber, and all the free extra iron fortifying nails....lol!