CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing in June 2016?

Raining hard here today. The farmers and the SFGer will be happy.

trolleydriver wrote:Raining hard here today. The farmers and the SFGer will be happy.

Ooo, I'm soooooo jealous! 

It has been pretty warm these past two days here in Southern Interior B.C.
37C/99F so I was up early this morning before it peaked to spread some grass clippings from my neighbour,  to get them dry and ready to store for the fall leaves.

After the first hour I went outside to  turn them over and all of a sudden I was swarmed by dozens(it seemed like hundreds)  of ants crawling up my bare legs.  I bet I was a funny sight dancing around trying to shake and brush them off.  At least I did not scream.  

I think I must have placed the grass clippings over an ants nest in the lawn and they did not like it when I disturbed them.  Anyway, they are all dried now and still green, so they will do as the green part to my brown fall leaves.

For once the weather co-operated with our annual SunFest held this weekend.  So often it is cold, wet and windy. Never anything in between.

Two or three more days and then the temperature will gradually drop and become more bearable.

Working on a rain barrel system. Hoping to do gravity fed drip irrigation on a timer for my sfg. 

Starting out with 2 55gallon plastic barrels,. Made a stand for them, working on the syphon system to balance both barrels. 

Will post pics later. 

Peter

Well up until this past weekend it was nice out, but its taking a turn for the cold-and-wet this week.  The Spinach I started a few weeks ago will love it but I'm afraid much of the planting I did a week ago is going to be slowed or halted.  Onions are doing great, Kale is up, swiss chard is showing, lettuce looks good but.....

Cucumber so far is showing only 3 out of 8 planted....but even more disconcerting is not a single carrot is showing, not even a fleck of green, out of 96 (I planted a total of 6 squares across 3 different beds).  Seems a little odd since carrots are the one idiot proof crop out here.  These are Bolero (organic hybrid Nantes) which have always done well for us. Peas seem to be having a hard time taking off as well but they are up and out at least.

Yikes ... going down to 6 Celsius (43 F) on Wednesday and Thursday nights in Ottawa. That will not be good for my peppers and eggplants.

trolleydriver wrote:Yikes ... going down to 6 Celsius (43 F) on Wednesday and Thursday nights in Ottawa. That will not be good for my peppers and eggplants.

While my peppers wilt in the heat.

Very hot again today, 37C/99F.  I mowed the lawn over the course of the day, working where ever there was shade.  The grass is thick and lush. Over the summer, like last year, I expect it to stay fairly green.  Towards the end of summer it was only just beginning to turn a little golden where the soil was not very deep due to the underlying flat rocks.

Picked my first two strawberries.  Weighed in at 2oz for the two of them. Many more to come. The potato beds are doing well; I have Yukon Gold and some French Fingerlings. 

My self-seeded nasturtiums are beginning to poke through the wood chips.  It made a lovely display last year and lasted until well into September.

Tomorrow I will lift my tulips and then look to be lifting my garlic. I planted my garlic last fall; this spring a huge bear trampled them so I  may have lost about half of them.

My store of canned fruits and veggies is gradually being used up.  I must stock up on canning jars etc., and not make the mistake of canning five pounds of pickling cukes but double the amount of peaches.

I can't believe how hot it is in BC and cold in Eastern Canada! Petee, yes photos.

Couple of photos from Mrs TD's gardens.

Yellow Iris.



Lupines are just starting.

I started mowing the lawns and then the sky opened up. Try clicking on the image below to see the video (not sure if it will work).  Anyway, my apologies to our friends in dry California but I had to post this.

trolleydriver wrote:I started mowing the lawns and then the sky opened up. Try clicking on the image below to see the video (not sure if it will work).  Anyway, my apologies to our friends in dry California but I had to post this.

Show off! 

That little pond is so pretty, TD. Nice and peaceful looking.

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:That little pond is so pretty, TD.  Nice and peaceful looking.

CC

Tks.  Does the video work when you click on the image?

trolleydriver wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:That little pond is so pretty, TD.  Nice and peaceful looking.

CC

Tks.  Does the video work when you click on the image?

Yup, it sure did. Lovely.

CapeCoddess wrote:That little pond is so pretty, TD.  Nice and peaceful looking.

CC

Yes it is.   

I can't see it but am sure it is pretty!

A big change in our weather: right now it is 17C/    F after a thunderstorm.  I certainly feel invigorated.

Before the storm and continuing rain, I finished mowing the roadside grass, trimmed the edging grass, and picked a pound of strawberries.

The rain wind was so blustery and the rain heavy, that one of my flowering shrubs suffered having one branch completely break off due to the loaded blossom, and the rest of it looks rather sad as well.

KJ, What a big difference in weather! And, yet, you got a lot done.

Nothing like rain to motivate the mowing! Lol

Perhaps a little guidance is in order.  Here are my spinach





They may have grown to a total of 1" and 2" and now they are done and I did not get anything off of them obviously.  What is happening.  It is far from hot here although they are in full sun more or less. These are the ones that I planted early and took a long time to sprout and they did not grow very fast.  The same thing happened last year and I planted at the correct time, but I chocked it up to the terrible weather we had last year.  Maybe that was not the case. The variety is Bloomsdale savory.  I have direct sowed a few more in a planter in the front of the house where it will only get a minimal amount of morning sun and I will see how that goes.  They have just sprouted so time will tell.  I have fear the the lettuce will do the same thing very shortly.  Time will tell.

On the plus side, I guess I get to plant more beans now (some beans are just starting to sprout).  Yummmm beans.  I like beans.  Also, my peas have started to blossom.

Interesting. Maybe someone can suggest a different variety for your area. ??

Just found this new little tidbit that I didn't know before:
"Spinach bolts when there's 14-16 hours of light, regardless of the temperature, although warmer temperatures will cause it to bolt faster" from  http://veggieharvest.com/vegetables/spinach.html

trolleydriver wrote:Raining hard here today. The farmers and the SFGer will be happy.

Yes, we rode home through your rain.  It was not very pleasant!

But I'm sure you are right - farmers and gardeners are delighted!

trolleydriver wrote:I started mowing the lawns and then the sky opened up. Try clicking on the image below to see the video (not sure if it will work).  Anyway, my apologies to our friends in dry California but I had to post this.

Your gardens are lovely!  And I love the pond!