Around the Veggie Patch

Everything in the veggie patch this year revolves around July 7th - that's when Dan Hinkley comes to visit along with the rest of Normandy Park.  So I've planted things that should be ready on that day for snacking on - like peas, strawberries, and carrots.

Several different types of peas scrambling up a bamboo scaffolding

We've already eaten about a hundred strawberries already with a ton on the way!

Yum!

The raspberries are at least still two weeks away from ripening.

Come on, ripen!!

I started with about 30 seedlings each of broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels but the cabbage root fly killed about a quarter of those.  The rest are going strong and there haven't been any more casualties in about a month.

Front to back: Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts

Nothing like home-grown cauliflower

Red cabbage

This basil is stubbornly reluctant to grow in our unseasonably cool late spring/early summer.

This Ed Hume mesclun mix keeps pumping out new leaves and shows no signs of bolting.

Amazingly the corn looks like it will be knee high by the fourth of July in spite of the persistent cold weather keeping other crops from growing well.  The seeds were planted directly in the soil in late April.

These tomatillos have also been growing well in the cooler than normal weather.

Of course the potatoes are just going nuts.

As are the pumpkins.

Looking at this rhubarb makes me think of one thing: strawberry rhubarb pie.

Playing in the Mud

In the midst of dredging out the clay soil from underneath the good soil in the vegetable garden today, I made an interesting discovery.  Have you ever seen a worm this long?  It is at least 10 inches, maybe a couple more.  How do they burrow all the way down into that hard clay anyway?

As you can see in the above photo, I dug out the clay soil in order to effectively deepen the vegetable bed allowing for roots to grow deeper.  I surreptitiously relocated the useless clay by wheelbarrow to the city-owned greenway nearby.  In between wheelbarrow loads, I snacked on the kale and Brussels sprouts growing happily in our mild winter weather.  This year was my first time growing either of these.  Out of about 12 plants, I only had three Brussels sprouts that have done really well, with a large variability between the size of the plants and how well they formed closed sprouts.  I'm not really sure yet why some formed "open" sprouts while others - growing in the same conditions - formed perfectly closed sprouts like the one I'm holding.  But you can be sure I will get this fixed for next year...

 

The Garden Is Getting A Raise

During Winter Break, I decided I would spend my time converting the vegetable garden into a super efficient food-producing machine by installing raised beds. I expected it to rain a lot, and that has happened. I expected it to be muddy, and it certainly has been. Cold and windy? Yes. I expected the experience to be miserable but have also realized that I need to work in the dark if I want to finish by New Year's. So I generally start work around 8:00am and finish around 7 or 8pm at night. It's nearly as grueling as teaching but will pay off big time.

Here's sort of a before shot (about two days in to the project). In this picture I am working on lowering the level of the pathway by about 4 inches.


Once the pathway was lowered and leveled, I dug a trench in the middle and installed a perforated 3" corrugated pipe for drainage. This will ensure there is never any standing water on the walkways.




Then I covered it all with a 1/4" screened gravel/sand mix. It will provide an ideal base for the pavers and allow water to flow into the drainage pipe.


Next the paver stones were laid down followed by the wall stones.