Potatoes, water barrel and new sidewalk

Temperatures are still a bit cool at night, so we have been using the lull to finish some more projects. School has moved home for another two weeks so Jess and I used lunch breaks to make a new stand and install the second rain barrel on the garage. The fence company sent a utility marker around, so I'm hopeful we'll see a fence soon.

The front bed was warm enough to loosen the soil so we planted this week. Mostly carrots, but also some chard, radishes, and lettuce. Jess also put in some onions and potatoes and strawberries down the south side. I think we'll move the raspberries out the front when the fence is installed and put them up against it on the south side. This should make more room for veggies. Oh, and I put in some asparagus crowns around back.

The seed potatoes were pretty leggy under the stairs so they went in. Jess planted 70 plants all told. Which is a lot of digging. I use the time to start some heavier soil moving on the north side of the garage. This is necessary to fix the drainage and also as preparation to repairing the north fence.

We also put aside three beds for some later planting of more delicate veggies. I haven't worked out the square footage of the new gardens but I'd say we're around 1000 square feet.

It is so helpful to be able to just give Jess a list of tasks and say "pick three" and then she just goes and does them (strawberry planting in the picture below) with only the occasionally question ("You bought too many strawberries--what should I do with the extra?").

I use the extra time Sunday to clean out a messy bit beside the house and lay a new walkway that connects to the brick spillway along the south side. Pretty good for free handing it and reusing bricks and left over winter sand. Still need to go clean up the dirt here to make it look more presentable.

We also laid some stepping stones out towards the back alley today. This week we'll set those a bit better and also clean up the canoe with an eye to selling it. I also need to go up the ladder with some sheet metal screws and fiddle with the eaves.

Potatoes and lettuce

As gardening Edmonton tends to go, last week's winter has become this week's full-on spring. A few days of warmth have melted most of the snow.

Jess noticed the poppies were coming up mid-week in the front planter and by Friday the wild onion and tulips on the south side were up.

We went out Saturday and planted a box full of lettuce and radishes for some early greens. The back beds melt out first and get a nice bounce from the garage so heat up quickly. And no one seems to steal leafy greens!

I was smoothing out the beds in the front and noticed am immense amount of bunny poop.

Sunday we pounded in the posts for the pea/bean trellis. Jess can now handle the sledgehammer without me. Notice, though, I am standing well away while taking this picture.

The trellis went up on the north side of the front beds this year. We will plant peas shortly (tomorrow maybe). Beans and sunflowers (in behind) will follow.

I then graded and dug half the front beds for potatoes while Jess cut the seed potatoes. We went wit blue caribe this year--they have been the best of the potatoes in terms of size and scab resistance.

I then sat down while Jess dropped the spuds in and covered the holes. We also did a bunch of potatoes around back (again a safe alley crop as no one knows what they are).

We will plant some peas this coming week and then also put in a couple of hundred onion sets. The back yard needs to dry out a touch before we do any more digging.

...And back now

Okay, wow, a month has gone by without a post. My explanation is that we took a couple of weeks to travel to PEI for a family vacation. Amazing gardens (and beaches) and the red soil was striking.

We returned to an overgrown garden. The lettuce, in particular, was crazy and needed an immediate harvest before it went bitter.

Fortunately, the tomatoes are just beginning to come in. What a treat!

We've also started harvesting some of the root veggies. This turnip was tasty despite its huge size.

The potatoes harvest has been a bit disappointing. I blame a lack of water and some compacted soil. What have pulled so far has been tasty.

The apples are also tasty but smaller than last year (like half the size). Some friends let up pick their early tree this year. Below, Jess has realized I have let go of the ladder to snap a picture... .

We've been enjoying crisps and tastes and buns. Our own apples are just ready this week so we'll be picking one tree and continuing with the dessert theme. This is appreciated as the raspberry canes have packed it in for the year.

We arrived home to the back stairs falling off the house. They were never properly based and, as the soil around the house subsided, they have slowly followed suit. I managed to pull the stairs out of the way, create a proper footing, add some new hardware, and reattach them. It felt good to renew my man-card and cost only $40.

With that project out of the way and the onions and garlic harvested, I could turn my mind to renewing the NW corner of the lot. We originally put in four rows (a compromise caused by a tree removal). These were narrow and, over time, have compacted.

So I hauled some rock around from the back to establish retaining walls along the front walk and then  moved the soil around to create four full rows (about four feet wide each). There is also a half row out of frame on the right.

Of course no house project would complete with breaking something. In this case, the wheelbarrow gave up under the strain of the rocks. A hammer, a new bolt, and some mild swearing yielded a fix.

When the tomatoes are done, I will repeat this in the SW corner. Right now I have planted a cover crop and will add manure on top after the frost comes (all the beds need a good shot of manure).

We also cleaned out the bed below Jessica's window (further to the right in the pictures above). This bed had terrible soil so we planted a bunch of perennials a few years back and basically ignored it. Jess wanted a strawberry bed so I pulled out the perennials, amended the soil a bit, and then nicked some strawberries from an overgrown bed in the back. You can see some extra rocks in the picture below (Jess watering ins strawberries) awaiting the SW bed project.

Up next for is us fixing up the back beds. The potatoes are basically done so I'm slowly pulling out a rotten retaining wall (from almost 20 years ago!). I have managed to remove most of the old wall and dig away enough dirt that we should be be able to replace the wall this week. I think we can just burn the old cedar boards in the firepit this fall. We also need to rack off some wine into clean carboys for bulk aging now that they have clarified.

Rhubarb, irises, and peonies

Good weather meant I got a touch behind in garden blogging this week. We had a wonderful father's day trip to Elk Island Park, with cycling, hiking, and kayaking.

We also did a lot of things this week. I sugared the rhubarb, then juiced it, and it is cooking away in the basement. 

We also wrapped up the chive vinegar experiment and bottled it. I used the remaining chive vinegar from last year to make some pink pickled eggs.

The strawberries have formed berries and I' just waiting for them to ripen. I'm hopeful we'll get out to Strawberry Creek Farm in the next few weeks so I can make jam and wine and pie filling. We're just about out of strawberry-rhubarb pie filling from last year!

The garden has been growing. I was thinning the beets and ran across this pineapple weed. I am waiting for this plant to get a bit bigger before harvesting the buds for salad.

The perennial flowers are also starting to bloom, including this daisy (which has seeded itself everywhere).

It is also iris season. It is a bit hard to capture the sheer number of irises that are blooming. There are ta least 500 flowers in the front and side yard. 

Working from home, I often get to listen to passersby during the (the windows bounce sound from the street into my office) and the front seems to be a ht. Shame it only lasts about 1o days. But man, is it amazing.

The vegetable garden that is in behind is starting to really take. The tomatillos are flowing and setting fruit alongside the pepper plant. The garlic are also doing well and the rest of the tomatoes seem to be pushing up (finally).

The violas have seeded themselves everywhere and I've now started to weed them out o the veggy beds when they get too close to the vegetables.

We're also awaiting the start of the peonies. The flower heads are full and the ants are all over them.

I got this shot after a shower. Not the best peony picture I've taken, but a nice one with the water and the sun.

I'm hoping to rack off the rhubarb wine this weekend and also do a later sowing of peas and bush beans (the corn bed was a bust). We should also be harvesting lettuce this weekend. And maybe gooseberries.

Tomatoes, beer, peas and apples

The first of the tomatoes are staring to bear this week and they are delicious!

We were kept fairly busy with projects. Jess and I bottled the beer we made on the weekend and then tucked it away to carbonate. I'll tackle our wine kit next week (maybe!).

We also harvested the rest of the peas and I froze most of these after Jenn and Jess shucked them on the front steps.

Apple season has started early. Friends invited us to glean their tree and we got 15 gallons of apples.

I spent several hours one day turning them into sauce and then another several hours jarring the sauce the next. We ended up with five gallons of apple sauce and a litre and a bit of apple butter. The preserves closet is starting to look a less barren!

This garden on my bike ride is quite the site. Apologies for the panoramic distortion. The south facing part has numerous raised beds that are filled with veggies and I think they are growing borage in the rocky bed on the left.

We have some fruit to pick this coming weekend as I'd like to try currant jelly and also stock up on crab apple jelly.

Salsa, garlic, pumpkins, tomatoes and peppers

It has been a very busy week in the yard and I kind of fell behind blogging! I hauled out the pressure canner and turned several very large zucchini into salsa for the winter. 

I will do another batch (or maybe two) later in the summer. Currently have the zucchini beaten back and waiting for the tomatoes to ripen.

We also pulled the garlic and I have hung it in the garage to cure. It is pretty good sized. I will give the plants a bit more space next year and see if that helps the yield. I suspect water was an issue this year.

We have five pumpkins set (and maybe a few more about to). So fat the hail has managed to miss our yard and the pumpkins are getting bigger each day.

They use a lot of space and I might prefer to have a different kind of squash (butternut makes a nice soup) but these are lots of fun to watch.

I also started to haul out some beets and a few onions. We made a kale-zucchini-potato-onion soup entirely from the garden.

Around front I started make some slight changes to the north beds (with the garlic and a few potatoes out)--basically closing the rows on the north end to get an extra 16 square feet (once I get them all done). I also planted some buckwheat as a green manure. The buckwheat we were growing in the back was cut down and turned under and I planted a late crop of radishes.

I have been watching the tomatoes for signs of ripening and we're starting to see a lot of blushing and few are red (almost red enough to harvest). The paste tomatoes have a bit of blossom end rot from the drought on the earliest fruit so I pulled the off. The late fruit seem fine.

I also have a lone green pepper! Whatever it is that I am doing wrong, I only ever seem to get one pepper from my plants. I will toss this guy in the salsa.

I expect the apple harvest to start soon. Not sure I am physically ready for that kind of onslaught of work, but I may be able to cajole Jennifer and Jessica into helping given how much they like apple sauce.