Bring on the rain

So after 6 hours of weeding and turning soil I finally have a garden to call my own. Two actually. My lonely rhubarb now has a friend and two more on the way. I planted some yellow and green zucchini on the left and some donated mint on the right with room for a few peppery plants.

The side garden is where I'm housing my herbs and tomatoes. Gold heirloom (left) and cherry tomatoes to go along with blue spice and cinnamon basils (from seed) and cilantro (seed), some donated oregano and lemon thyme from the neighbor, and what I expect will either be garlic or spring onion. The tenant planted what she said was chives but it is clearly not.

Also the baby maple has sprouted it's first leaves of the year and I found a pine cone that sprouted in the back so I planted that too.

More work than I've ever done. It's nice not having a job sometimes.

24C in Ottawa today. 

Update: chicken wire added to thwart the digging squirrels! 

Horbz

That's the crappiest greenhouse ever

What tipped us off was finding one of our tomatoes in a tree. Closer inspection proved that something was plucking the rapidly reddening tomatoes at an alarming rate. What started as a trip to buy some chicken wire turned into one crappy greenhouse. The extra measure was to protect what promises to be a bounty of tomatoes from evening frost, as well as squirrels. The now flourishing, albeit late blooming zucchini also benefitted.

The well protected tomato and zucchini plants.

A bounty of Swiss chard for Monday night dinner

Recent bounty from the garden

Peas vs horseradish

I returned from Sweden to find an epic battle between the peas and the horseradish, each vying for supremacy in the garden. The peas with their constricting vines try to crush the life from the horseradish, while the spicy root has responded by growing broad fan like leaves to block out the precious sunlight.

The peas have also sprouted pods which get plumper by the day. I take this as a sign they are confident in their victory.

It was also amazing to see how many giant weeds had sprouted in my absence. The green onions are all but decimated after they were eclipsed by a particularly large weed.

Peas and horseradish do battle as the lettuce and pansies bear silent witness to the fury.

A pea vine attacks a hapless horseradish leaf

A plump pea pod.

Balcony Blooming



Everything seems to be quite happy on the balcony despite my recent 10 day trip to the Kootenays; without arranging for home visits for the flora. Tomorrow I depart for another 8 days away. Will I be punished for my lack of care? 

 

Torill brought lupin seeds back from Nova Scotia two years ago and we now have two very nice plants to show for it.

One plant has decided to change colour from white to purple and has produced some nice blooms already. Now it shows signs of returning to its original colouration. Weird.

The lilys are attracting little bastard aphids; they are proving to be a competant foe:

Hopping into Action

The hops have been growing rapidly, first photos below taken one each day:

Starting to climb

Last weekend while preparing what passes as our backyard for sod, the Swede and I cleared out the fire pit and got the bright idea to put the ashes in the garden. We had no horticultural knowledge to back this up, only the vague idea that plants thrive after a forest fire. 

After a week of steady rain, the garden continues apace albeit without conclusive proof that the ashes did anything.

The peas remain the stars of the show, tentatively reaching for the climbing structures we installed with viney tendrils

The thriving horseradish now towers over the pansies.

New dill makes an overdue appearance