CANADIAN REGION - What are you doing in July 2015? 5

In a while I will go out and check to see if the radish seeds I planted a few day ago are showing.

Yes, most of them are showing their first leaves.  I find it amazing how quickly they  germinate this time of the year compared with  springtime. But if one looks in our gardening bible under germinating times at different temperatures, one should not be surprised.  e.g. Radishes. 50F 11 days,  86F 3 days which is just about spot on. Looked up carrots and the figures for them are: 50F 14 days and at 86F 6 days so I should be looking out for them in another three to four days time. I am rather liking this planting seeds for fall.

Happy Belated Canada Day everyone! It seems I only get around to this update by mid-month but better late than never  

Its always interesting to hear how the weather is cooperating, or not, across the country. We've been getting a pretty reliable weekly dump in southern Ontario but I've still been doing a little watering with some fertilizer in between.

Here's some fresh pics from today...
A few San Marzano's...cherry tom's and others are having similar progress.


Pickling cuc's on their way up


Beets! and carrots and nearby doing well also


I think this Kohlrabi is ready to eat



So excited about the purple peppers - this variety smells so good!


I can't believe this garden bed - 4 artichokes, 3 celery, Nasturtiums are out of control, at least two squash developing (you can see one lime-green one in the back) and pumpkin are growing off the trellis...oops.


Last but not least, green beans are growing very fast - so fresh . Its a good thing I'm not afraid of spiders because these plants are like spider-magnets.


Any tips for me? See something weird? Please let me know. I'm really happy with how things are going but its still our first year. We pulled up the snow pea plants yesterday and I'm drying the large seeds in the window today for next years planting. Thinking about putting some lettuce or more beets in there for a late harvest.

Hope you're all keeping sun-burnt free!

trolleydriver wrote:Congrats Kelejan on getting a clean bill of health.

Together, my wife and I have medical appointments every day this week. I'm still suffering from vertigo. My wife is wearing a heart monitor for 48 hours. I feel like we are rusting out.

On the upside the SFG has been doing well and two of our wonderful grandchildren are visiting with us tomorrow.

Sorry to hear that, TD.  Medical appointments take a great deal of time as doctors are never ready for you on time.  My appointment yesterday was for 10:30am. I got there dead on time and had to wait half an hour, as as I started out at 10am to walk there so as not to arrived all hot and possible with high BP readings. I got home two hours later.  I am glad that I live only 15 minutes walk away so could take my time.

The slight vertigo I now suffer is bearable and I a sure is getting better, gradually.
I hope your wife gets better as well. At one time I thought I would have to have a monitor as I was feeling quite tired but I have since thought it was the continual high temperatures we had that do not suit me at all.

Enjoy your grandchildren tomorrow and get them hooked on SFG which I think you are doing wonders with. I think in the future people who can produce a lot of their own food will cope much better.  Being able to cope with drought is imperative, imo.  So far in Canada I think things will be better than in the Eastern parts of the USA.

Lovely pictures, Tasty Turnip. My garden has not done so well as I hoped this year; everyone seems to be doing better than I am.  That's fine though, as I should hope that everyone is doing better.

I believe my problem is that the wood chips I have put down need another year of decomposing, as unlike Paul G, my wood-chips had little green stuff in them and I have had to try and make it up with compost and I feel it needs a LOT of compost added. I other words, nitrogen depletion. I continue putting down what compost I have and scavenging stuff like comfrey leaves from near my home.  I do feel that next year will be better.

I am hoping that the radish and carrots seeds I planted a few days ago will show improvement. If they do, then I know I am on the right track.

I'm sorry to hear some of you are suffering from some medical setbacks. I suffered from vertigo a few years ago and it still comes back about once a year. I had no idea it was so common - or maybe just between us gardeners? Conspiracy? I'm glad to hear you're all finding some outlets in family gatherings and getting outside As much as I like to check on the garden every day as a bit of an outlet from work-life, it seems it is a hobby that can go a few days and still be forgiving. Take care everyone.

Kelejan wrote:...I believe my problem is that the wood chips I have put down need another year of decomposing, as unlike Paul G, my wood-chips had little green stuff in them and I have had to try and make it up with compost and I feel it needs a LOT of compost added...

Last year, I thought I'd give it a try on a 3x12 patch of poor native soil. It's not working for me either, and I too suspect a lack of greens. I don't know how one can get adequate greens from fir trees unless one uses only the smallest branches. I should have a surplus of compost this year, so I'll just dump a bunch on top to over winter. I know that will work.

TastyTurnip ... Great photos and what a beautiful, bountiful garden you have. My SFG, while doing quite well, is not as far along as yours in terms of being able to harvest crops. For example, my pole beans are only just flowering. It will be while before I can pick any beans.

Kelejan ... I know what you mean about doctors not being ready on time. My regular doctor is about 15 minutes from my house. I've had to sit in the waiting room for up to 2 hours even though I had an appointment that was made weeks earlier. No wonder he says my blood pressure is a bit high when I get in to see him. On the other hand, the osteopath I am going to is great in terms of scheduling.  Even though he is fitting me in between his regular patients, I have not had to wait more than 10 minutes. The downside is that his office is a one hour drive from my house and that is if I drive over 100km/hr to get there.

Concerning the grandchildren learning about SFG ... One of them who will be here tomorrow is a seven year old boy. He is already quite interested. When he came to visit last weekend the first thing he said to my wife was, "Grandma, I want to go into the backyard to see Grandpa's garden".  He left with a bag of samples (e.g., radishes, turnips) from the garden.

Good to hear that about you grandson.  Don't forget, when you get old and grey I am sure he will be able to help you.  

My dentist, on the other hand, is great.  I get there two minutes before my appointment and I am in the chair right on the dot.  Maybe the difference is that dental work I pay cash for, and medical is the Health service? Both doctor and dentist have looked after me so in theory I should be treated the same by both of them.

Perhaps I should give the doctor the benefit of the doubt as he would have to attend emergencies such as accidents and childbirth.

TT, that all sure looks nice! Love that area with the artichokes, celery, and nasturtiums. And I hope those purple peppers turn out well. Purple anything looks so cool and unexpected on the plate!

Oh and thanks for letting us know beans are a spider magnet. Now I'm going to have to try not to flinch when I dig through all my tightly-packed bean leaves!

My beans have become a magnet for Japanese Beetles which are making some of the leaves look like filligree. We knock them off the leaves into a bowl of soapy water. Thankfully, there have not been too many so far. We usually get tons of them on our roses.

Other pests in the SFG ... I see quite a few ants on the various veggies. But most disgusting of all are the earwigs that hide at the base of the lettuce leaves. I may have to build a trap for them.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2085202/sure-fire-way-to-get-rid-of-earwigs

My garden is finally coming together. After spending way too much time at work I have everything "in" (two months late), and only lost a couple of plants. The cool wet summer here  is not quite "Julyuary like they're getting in Newfoundland, but I bet we're in for another "Augtober" in Ontario. We've had two hot days (last weekend) and it cooled off again. I wished I had planted more greens and broccoli. I saved some squares for late planting, but I bet I could have had two crops of spinach just as easily. My containers are doing great with Mel's Mix in them (Poblano Pepper, Tomatillo, Zucchini, Mini pumpkins and long keeper tomatoes). My Grandson's 3x3 is doing well, as are my four 4x4s and four 1x4s. Pictures someday. Maybe on the long weekend (if the phone doesn't ring).

Happy to hear your garden is coming together, Fred, and particularly happy about your Grandsons' 3 x 3 because that is the future.

Look forward to pictures.

Kelejan wrote:Happy to hear your garden is coming together, Fred, and particularly happy about your Grandsons' 3 x 3 because that is the future.

Look forward to pictures.

+1

My radishes are growing nicely and the carrot seeds, planted at the same time, are now beginning to show their leaves.

I had better clear the bolting lettuce from another bed  and plant some more seeds.

The weather is cooling down and is now very pleasant.  I am not near any fires and as there is no smoke and the air is clear then, unless the wind changes direction, it will remain nice to work in the garden this evening and perhaps tomorrow.

Sounds delightful.

A little rain today 10mm about 2/5 inch.  Enough to settle the dust and alleviate the necessity to water the radishes this evening.  The temperature is a delight 20C.

This will continue of the next two days. 

How is your weather, fellow Canadians?  (and hon, Canadian.,)

Celebrating my 68th birthday today!

Grats, trolley!

From an honorary Candian here. The evenings and nights are delightful here.  But, we are rolling into a another +100*f session.  

trolleydriver wrote:Celebrating my 68th birthday today!

Sorry you had to remind us, trolleydriver.

Hope you are having great day.

If you are tee-total, then my apologies.  I remember taking a bottle of wine to  new neighbours and finding out they were Mormons.  They took it in good part.  I also took them some worm castings and discovered that all their indoor plants were plastic.  At least I know them better now.

Happy birthday TD.

Still below normal temps here on Ontario's West Coast, but lots of sunshine.

I harvested my first tomato on Thursday! (A Sweet Million). More to come.

On the down side, my beloved beagles got in to the garden (so they could chat with the Rottweiler next door) and stomped more than half of my cukes and one square of Bunny Bite carrots. . I'll replant the carrots and replace the cukes with late peas.

I am happiest / proudest of my Poblano pepper and "Miracle" Tomatillo. Really disappointed that my cilantro keeps dying . Pumpkins are looking good. I'm not going to win any weigh-offs, but they plants look promising. Zucchini too!

looks like clear skies for the next week.

Fred, I know we like to boast how big our veggie get, but I prefer most of mine to be eaten young and tender.

I guess you will be be replacing your beloved beagles?  They take too long to grow.

Kelejan ... concerning indoor plastic plants:  An elderly neighbour volunteered to water our indoor plants while we were away.  When we got home we found out she watered both the real plants and the plastic plants.

trolleydriver wrote:Kelejan ... concerning indoor plastic plants:  An elderly neighbour volunteered to water our indoor plants while we were away.  When we got home we found out she watered both the real plants and the plastic plants.

Better All than Nothing, eh!, Trolley?

How did your birthday go? Get any gardening prezzies