Canadians... give us your June update

What is ready to eat in your Canadian garden this June? Anything over a foot high?

I haven't harvested anything besides garlic chives, which tasted especially great in egg salad sandwiches. But the rhubarb is ready with leaves the size of dinner plates so I am planning some crumble.

My radishes are all top again this year, but I suppose I'll give them 2 more weeks to bulk out.

This week I went to pull out what I thought was a weed, but it was a carrot, about 2 inches long. It was growing right next to the side of the box. It must have been a seed from last year because I only planted "golf ball" carrots in my backyard gardens and they are just seedlings. I also have volunteer lettuce. I might try a pre-snow planting at the end of the year and see what comes up in the spring.

I have posted before the long list of what I have planted in my gardens, but those are the only things I have eaten (or not eaten!) this June.

What about you?

I am in the BC Southern Interior. So far for the last two weeks I have had salad greens each day of two lettuce, chard and some kale, a few onion thinnings and a dozen beautiful radish with more to come.

My potatoes are in pots, and I have heaped them up with for the second time and have reached the rims.

Celery transpants are doing well and I have three staggered plantings of Scarlet runner beans. Two staggered plantings of snow peas and they are doing well also, I think on the verge of blooming? A couple fo different lettuce transplants where I have been picking a couple of leaves each day, the chard and kale are wonderful.

I only have two tomatoe plants but they seem to be OK. A couple of cucumber plants are now nestled on top of the compost heap.

What else? Oh, yes, a few first-year strawbeery plants where I have taken off the first flowers but will leave a few on just to get a taste of what I hope will be coming next year. More radish, some lettuce and carrot seeds are waiting to surface.

I have kept on top of the watering and weeding, something that I did not do last year, I got overwhelmed a bit and have vowed to keep up with the W & W and it is making a big difference.

Last year I had two 4x4s and I added another plus a little 3x2.

Next on my agenda is getting set up for extended gardening with supports and covers etc. and sort out something so that I can have lettuce etc during the winter, and do more seeding next spring instead of buying transplants. Oh, and add another couple of beds, but this time only three feet wide instead dof 4, due to not having long arms, which would look funny on me as I am only five feet tall.

I started small as the book suggests since I've never gardened before and also because I found the start up costs a little overwhelming. I built 2 2'x4' beds out of left over wood but one of the beds is only filled halfway (1'x4') since I wanted to make sure to have enough MM left for my balcony boxes.

Both my attempts at starting from seed failed for different reasons so I bought transplants for what couldn't be sown outdoors.

2 weeks ago:
My Roma plant died but is now rooting in water.

Transplanted 2 beefsteaks, 1 fantastic tomato, a green bell pepper and a jalapeno pepper in one bed. They've grown some and I think they're doing ok, despite my clumsy mistreatment
Also have a pink indeterminate my Dad gave me in a container. I've been pinching the suckers diligently but I'm still confused as to the main stem. :scratch:

1 week ago??: Reseeded scarlet beans, kentucky pole beans, some italian pole beans and a few really old beans my Mom insisted I try. (Crossing fingers)

2 days ago: Transplanted a Celebrity tomato in large laundry basket and an Early Girl into the bed. Added a Cloud Nine Eggplant where I pulled out some of my dead strawberries. Added a purple bell pepper and a Fairy tale eggplant to the tomato/pepper bed.


Today: Spinach in balcony boxes are growing despite some black bugs in the soil. I seeded some more this morning... I lovvvve spinach.

Reseeded Romaine and Grand Rapids lettuce in another balcony box set on the ground this morning too. For some reason my 2 outdoor seedlings died and the other 2 never sprouted.

I removed the black plastic covering the container for my future sweet potato slips and covered it with 2 large cloches... hopefully that will work better to warm up the soil.

Everyday: I stare at the 1 1/2 square with dying strawberries and wonder whether I shouldn't just grow something else in there to maximize my small garden. But, my Mom's advice to "let them hang in there" haunts me.

Cheers !

Below are some pictures of my first SFG. It was planted the third weekend in May even though it was cold and wet. I grew most of the tomato plants from seed.

I have a second traditional soiled garden with about twenty plants. I have been amazed at how well the SFG plants are doing compared to my traditional soil garden. And that is with watering them half as much.

I have planted:

7 varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes
2 varieties of cucumber
3 varieties of eggplant
2 varieties of pepper
1 variety of lettuce

Sounds like things are coming along! Thanks for the updates. Anyone else?

I harvested a little lettuce from the garden for my sandwiches today. Also I noticed that I have actual radishes growing for the first time thanks, I think, to the organic fertilizer I added before planting.

Hi, I'm back, I could not get into the site for a while, no idea why, but it seems I am allowed back now. Anyway, June update,

Two 4x4s of strawberries - these are coming nice and I saw one red berry today.

One 4x4 of peas,radishes, lettace, beets, chard, at least that was all planted. Radishes are mostly tops, we have had a lot of rain and I think it did them in.
Lettace is very nice, I have eaten lots and have given some away. Beets are also mostly tops. Chard has not done well. Peas are doing well and I some blooms on them now.

Green onions are doing well and we have eaten a bunch.

Broccoli and cauliflower are doing well. Tomatoes are OK one plant is blooming, one out of three, not bad.

Potatoes are just peeking out of the ground.

I planted some raspberry canes, they are coming. Blueberrys are OK too.

We have had lots of rain, which is not normal for here, and no hot days at all.

nancy in bc

Hi Nancy - Chard is much slower to grow than lettuce but once it takes off you'll have it for a long time. Also, my root crops did poorly in my mel's mix, so I added organic fertilizer this year. You could try "side dressing" with some. But of course radishes are fussy things it seems for what is said to be so easy to grow, so it could be anything.. heat, sun, etc.

I have two gardens in this year: on my roof at home (48 square feet) and at the daycare (18 square feet). So far the daycare has produced two green beans and a tiny cucumber, nothing yet at home (although the daycare got a head start of about a week and a half). Lots of shoots coming up at both. I'll keep you posted. WE got a wicked amount of rain yesterday -- we'll see what effect that has.