CANADIAN REGION - What are you doing in JUNE 2015

The months sure fly by.  I had forgotten that today is June 1st and time for a new monthly chapter in our Canadian SFG.

So, what are you all up to?  I am still planting stuff and playing catchup but not harvesting very much so far due to being unable to get seeds planted at the right time this year.  I am just poodling along and doing the best I can and really planning for 2016.

I have a nice bed of strawberries coming along and just waiting now for the sunshine to return.  A few more days of rain and I reckon I am going to have some large ones this year, enough to share and freeze so that I can have strawberries with my breakfast well into the winter, combined with the berries that I have on my four blueberry bushes.  Also some nice hardneck garlic, about 80 bulbs. The usual lettuce, carrots, cukes etc.  I have planted more perennial flowers and small shrub cuttings this year and ordered some more tulips and and daffodils for fall planting.

My poor old apple tree is responding to the tender loving care I have given it after 20 years of neglect, and has healthy leaves and lots of small apples on it, waiting to be thinned out to get some larger ones that I can actually do something with.

Our Canadian Region manged to post five pages last month, thanks to our posters who love to write.  Keep your posts and pictures coming, as we all love to read and look and try to do better ourselves.

I will leave off the Last Frost Date Sticky as I expect most of us are now past the last Frost date, but will post it again in a couple of months time for the First Frost date. If you need it it, it is on the top of the Canadian Region Home Page. 
Have a great and productive month.
Kelejan

Hello Everyone and thank you Kelejan for calling me over to this thread! It sounds like your garden is doing well.  I would love to have fruit trees but we plan on moving to a new home next year so I am going to wait until we get to our next property before I start fruit trees.

I am new to the forum, and new to SFGing.  I am 35, SAHM of 4 awesome kiddos who are going to love enjoying eating from the garden!  My husband is away at work out west right now so I have built and prepared my gardens solo, but I am quite proud of them!  I have planted 2 kinds of tomatos, bell peppers, rainbow carrots, finger carrots, radishes, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, French green beans, yellow wax beans, garlic, romaine lettuce, mixed greens, zucchini and acorn squash.  I also have a pot with strawberries and a pot with hopi tobacco for my husband.  On my deck I do a herb garden with basil, sage, cilantro, thyme, parsley, rosemary and chives.


Things are going well here and I have completed planting my gardens.  I am quite please with them.  We had a TON of rain over the weekend and I was scared that my baby plants and seeds were going to get flooded out, however my gardens are draining well and perfect!  SO happy about that!  75% of my radishes have sprouted over the last 48 hours, and I have high hopes I will see some new sprouts as the weather warms up this weekend!

I will share pics of my gardens after my 7 days is up and I can!

It sounds as though you are doing wonderfully well, Shrimpsey, and I bet your kids will get interested, especially when they get to eat what I hope they have helped plant and  tended, and happy to know that in Ontario things are coming round.  Hope next winter is easier on everyone out East.

Has your husband seen the results of your work?  I bet he is happy to have such a lovely helpmate.

Look forward to seeing your pictures.

Kelejan

Shrimpsey wrote:I am new to the forum, and new to SFGing.  I am 35, SAHM of 4 awesome kiddos who are going to love enjoying eating from the garden!  My husband is away at work out west right now so I have built and prepared my gardens solo, but I am quite proud of them!

 
Good for you!

I will share pics of my gardens after my 7 days is up and I can!

Looking forward to your photos.

Kelejan wrote:
I will leave off the Last Frost Date Sticky as I expect most of us are now past the last Frost date, but will post it again in a couple of months time for the First Frost date. If you need it it, it is on the top of the Canadian Region Home Page. 
Have a great and productive month.
Kelejan

Uh, frost on the roofs that past two nights here on Ontario's West Coast. Well past my LFD, BUT: the lilac booms haven't dropped yet. (No ground frost though).

I am way behind, no beds ready yet; I can't seem to get enough time off from work. But my tomato seedlings have had enough time to perk up, and I will be planting them in the garden this weekend (I hope!).

I have two boxes almost filled and am working on setting up a third one. I have one 2'x8' box with strawberries that are coming along well, and starting to bloom. I have a 4'x4' box with swiss chard, spinach, brussels sprouts, carrots, and a nasturtium. Most of the plants I bought as transplants from the local farmer clems and farmer's co-op. Also I  have another 4'x4' box with nasturtiums, tomato, spinach, lettuce, garlic, swiss chard and I am planning to put tomatoes in there. I have a 3rd 4'x4' box for sweet potatoes, but it isn't set up yet. I am hoping to do that when the weather clears. its been raining for a few days now.

Way to go, Cherbear, before you now it you will have to do some weeding.  When I started the boxes seemed to be easy to weed, just a few here and there, then a couple of day's rain and then sunshine and just everything takes off. That's when I begin to lose it a bit, but I find that mulching is very helpful.

Please, what is a Cher bear?

FRED58, at least I am glad that it is past your last frost date otherwise it's a for me.

Kelejan ... I really appreciate the support you have provided especially to those of us who are newbies.  I'll keep posting on my "A First Time SFG in Canada" thread. I've got a few squares left to plant.

Sanderson mentioned that I should have a herb box close to the house. So the wheels are turning as to how I can make that happen. I would love to put a raised bed on 4x4 legs close to the patio at the back door. However, I've already invested a lot on SFG so this new project may have to wait until next year. Something like the following would work:

http://ana-white.com/2012/11/plans/counter-height-garden-boxes-2-feet-x-4-feet

Trolley, I would like something like one of those 2 x 4s in the picture, but I would add a couple of wheels on two of the supports and a couple of handles at the other end so that I could push it around like a large wheelbarrow so that I could catch the sun, especially in the early spring or the fall. Providing one was wheeling it around on a firm and flat surface I think it would be manageable.

I thank you for your appreciation, it really makes me feel good. I am learning to be a good cheer leader.

A cherbear is like a honey bear, but less honey and more nettles.  I think its a great idea to have a patio planter filled with herbs. Mine are relegated to the side yard with my regular boxes. I'm thinking about what I can do about this... 

So you are not as sweet as I thought you were, Cherbear. Thanks for the info, but I bet you really are as sweet as I thought you were.

TD & Cherbear: check this out--> http://www.upcyclethat.com/vertical-pallet-planter/3745/

I have procured a pallet, and I have some extra weed cloth. I may line it with plastic.I'll likely reinforce it with some wire and fill with Mel's Mix. I think the cilantro will go in a regular bed someplace. I seem to recall that it gets big.

Fred ... my daughter in Cambridge Ontario made her herb garden planter out of a pallet. The pallet is attached to a fence. Last year she had beautiful herbs growing until she went away for a week. The person who was supposed to water the plants did not do it and the whole thing was ruined.

trolleydriver wrote:Fred ... my daughter in Cambridge Ontario made her herb garden planter out of a pallet. The pallet is attached to a fence. Last year she had beautiful herbs growing until she went away for a week. The person who was supposed to water the plants did not do it and the whole thing was ruined.

Such a shame when that happens.

I'm so sorry about that trolleydriver. I guess its good for succulents, and if you have someone who can water it everyday for other plants. Good luck with your project, Fred.

Whoo-Hoo! It has stopped raining here in the Southern Interior of British Columbia after several days of continous gloom that does sap my usual sunny disposition and it is wonderful how a little sun raises my spirits and my little dog will get a decent walk.  He hates the rain.

Now my strawberries can get on to the business of turning hard, green berries to luscious red sweetness.

The rain has made the flowering shrubs look very bedraggled but I expect they will perk up as the day progresses.  I expect every plant in the garden will now take a leap along with all the weeds.

I was lucky to get the lawn cut the other day in between downpours so at the moment I can leave that for a couple of days and get a few plants put into their beds as it would have been too muddy to work comfortably.  I am a fair-weather gardener, just as I used to be fair-weather golfer, walker, skier etc.

I wish sunshine to the res of Canada.

TD I just have my herbs in those deck railing planters along our deck.  $10 each at Lowes last year and my herbs grow beautifully in them.

Attempting pictures!

This was when I first planted, lots of growth this week already, I will take new pictures on Saturday.  So far almost all my radishes have sprouted, there are only a couple spots where it looks like they are not going to come.  How long should I wait before adding new seeds to those spots?

My garlic is sprouting, and my beans are starting to sprout, as well as lettuce!  So exciting!

Your SFG is looking good Shrimpsey.  The deck railing planters would work if I had a deck. I only have a ground level interlock paving patio. I have a railing on the stairs coming down to the patio but there would never be enough sunshine getting to the plants.

Well, all of you seem to be making great progress. 

Today, the sun is shining but I have some things that must be done that do not involve gardening, and they are time sensitive so the sooner I get them done I can start planting agin, weeding mowing lawn etc.

Good gardening.

Tasty Turnip, Nice looking fencing. Dogs, chickens??

To Turnip and Shrimpsey -

Unfortunately, no urban chickens allowed around here. Can you believe that? Hens don't even make any noise. There is a Kitchener Hen Association - maybe I'll join them in their strife. 

Related but not related, there is now a stray cat in our neighbourhood...and I confirmed it belongs to my direct neighbour...although its a friendly feline, I'm worried about it using my beds for you-know-what. I'm also too nice (read: Canadian) to say anything about it. Le sigh. I can't even lie and say I'm allergic since we have one indoor lol.

Too bad about the chickens. That would be cool.

As for the cats, I have two suggestions, I have used them both and they work

First, do you have roses? If so, bury some rose cane cuttings just under the soil. Scratching the soil becomes painful and he'll stop using the garden as his litter box. (Don't forget they are there!).

The other is water. MY cat was digging in the neighbor's flowers. I told him to squirt the cat with the hose whenever he got near. My neighbor was reluctant, but I pointed out that it wouldn't hurt him, but that he was a smart cat and would soon get the message. It took three squirts.

Good luck.

We are not allowed chickens even though a number of us have campaigned for it.
But I am sure that one day it will happen.

There are plenty of people living outside the city boundaries that do have chickens so I am able to get organic eggs and chicken manure quite easily.

TT - Lovely garden! I planted my garlic last week. I know it says you're supposed to plant garlic the fall but I put mine in anyway, lol. It has all come up so I'm interested to see if I'll be harvesting full bulbs come fall.

I decided to add in a few more radish seeds in the spots they never came up yesterday.
The weather is supposed to be good this week with 2 days of rain. We shall see! Oh! I think I am seeing some of my carrots breaking through the soil this morning!