A Life, Lived

How Does the Garden Grow?

Surprisingly well given how dry it has been.

Lots of rain systems come our way but for some reason they all seem to veer off track and head north or south or the system dissipates before it arrives. If I were an egocentric individual I'd think it was nature's way of saying 'FU Jerry'.

Last year it took me about 20 minutes to water the garden, oddly, this year it takes more than double even though I just doubled the plot.

Anyway.

The harvest has begun.

This was today:

The beans are doing super we.. I had already picked them on Monday and two days later here we are.

I'll be giving them away soon!

This pic shows how the corn and sunflowers are competing for tallest plant . . .

Those wooden poles in the background are 8 feet so you have a sense as to how high things are growing.

Knock on wood - no deer yet. This likely explains why everything is growing so well. :-)

Onwards.

Garden Update

It's been a minute since I have posted anything about the garden.

This time last year was the start of the struggle against the deer. IN the end, they treated the garden as a buffet but I was left with enough veggies to make it worthwhile.

This year the deer haven't broken through the fence . . . yet. They have with some of the other gardeners apparently.

One of my struggles has been with potato beetles. Resistant to sprays and powders, the best way to keep them in check in a small garden is to find them and squish the heck out of them. This includes any egg clusters (thank goodness they are a bright neon orange and easy to spot) and larvae.

The weeding is intense - they grow so damn fast and not it is so dry they are difficult to remove properly.

We desperately need some rain. Hopefully the forecast for Sunday will be accurate.

This is a panoramic view of one side of the plot:

Sunflowers, corn, pole beans, potatoes, peas and carrots.

The other half:

Radishes, beets, onions, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, and sunflowers.

Peonies and Family History

The recent hot spell brought our peony plants quickly to bloom.

Now these aren't just ANY peonies. There is a special story behind these flowers.

It goes back more than 200 years ago. My grandmother's family (many generations ago) were living in the 13 Colonies (New Jersey to be precise). Staunch monarchists, they were content to let history with a vile king run it's course rather than do anything crazy. Obviously others were not so patient and they fought in a little 'skirmish' known as the American Revolution.

When it was over and the the forces of the King lost, the upstart rebels were not exactly taken with those who had not supported their cause. Seeing the writing on the wall, many of these families packed up their cherished possessions and fled to Canada. The woman of the Smith household (I don't know her name - have you ever tried to trace a family named Smith?) loved her garden and was particularly proud of her peony plants. Guess what she tucked onto the wagon with all of her worldly household goods?

Once in Canada the family settled in the Niagara region with many other United Empire Loyalists. The story of these peony plants became the stuff of family lore. These weren't just any old peonies, they were family themselves!

My grandfather, who lived in Beamsville, was a brilliant gardener and his peonies were always a beautiful sight. He would often tell us the story of how they were brought to Canada, making sure that we understood that they were family.

After my grandfather died my mother and her sisters couldn't bring themselves to sell the family home. They rented it out to one bad tenant after another. In short, a headache! Finally they had had enough and they made the decision to sell the house. There was a stipulation in the bill of sale: the grandchildren could come and remove any plants from the garden that they wanted.

I wanted some of the peonies which had been so special to my grandfather. Unfortunately I had nowhere to put them as our house was nothing but a construction site at the time. Our friends came to the rescue and agreed to 'plant sit' , taking great care with the plants for close to 2 years until our house was ready.

They were one of the first plants we put in the garden and the rest of the garden grew up around them. Every year when they start to inch their slow progress up from the ground to brilliant bloom I am reminded of that ancestor who valued beauty and roots. It seems strange to think of a plant as family but these certainly are a strong tie to my past, the present, and the future.

Disaster Strikes . . .

Friday was planting day at the garden plot. After a couple of hours work everything was planted and watered. I left the plot feeling good about things.

This tiny bit of garden satisfaction likely caused Karma to kick me in the ass.

On Saturday a rare bit of storm passed through the area. Called a derecho, it blew through quickly with high winds, pounding rain and very black skies. We were at mom's at the time so we didn't get to experience it at home.

When we returned home we drove past the park and there is a part where you can see the garden plots from the road. Paul looked over and said 'some of those fences look funny'.

We thought nothing more of it and headed home to lunch and a well-deserved nap.

We were going out for dinner that evening to celebrate our anniversary. When we woke from our powernap we decided to go and see how things were at the park.

What greeted us was not good. Our fence had blown over completely and a big part of it was laying on top of the tomato plants that had been planted the day before.

The metal poles that were driven into the ground and used to support the wooden poles had bent over from the force of the winds.

We propped things up as best we could and headed to Home Depot for more supplies. This fence is getting super expensive.

On Monday we went over to the park and added a second metal pole to support the wooden poles and the other metal pole that hadn't quite been up to the job. The fence is quite strong now. Hopefully it was withstand the winds of another storm should one blow through.

Back to our regular schedule of weeding and watering.

 

Fencing it in

One of the big battles I had with the garden plot last year was with the deer. The plot is located in a large Provincial park. A large park with a healthy deer population. A healthy deer population comfortable with human presence and with a taste for the finer things in life. They treated the garden plot like an all-you-can eat buffet. Why battle the wild for edible twigs, leaves and berries when there is a supply of fresh vegetation?

We discovered that the deer loved peas, beans, lettuce, spinach and beets. Later in the season we discovered that they loved green tomatoes (this one was particular hard as I had seen the promise of a delicious crop to come in those tomatoes.

The deer did ignore radishes, corn, jalapeno peppers and carrots. They also didn't seem enamoured of RIPE tomatoes (if you were able to nurse some to that stage).

After each new onslaught I'd try to build the fence a little higher.

At first I joked that we were expecting geriatric deer unable to jump more than four feet.

Ha!

These were Olympic level athletes able to leap 6 feet.

I'm not taking chances this year. We have built the fence higher and stronger than last year. The fence is eight feet tall, the posts are placed closer together than they were last year, the wooden posts are thicker and more sturdy than the ones last year. Finally, we used 100s of cable ties in an effort to ensure that weak areas are strengthened.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that nature will win as always. I just hope that the damage done is limited compared to what we experienced last growing season. I'm actually happy top share with the deer, unfortunately their brains aren't developed enough to understand the concept of taking SOME and leaving SOME for others! :-)

Fence building was a four day process.

The first day was easy - I picked up the supplies.

The second day was more challenging - we lugged all of the supplies to the plot. Drove the metal support posts as deep into the ground as we could and put up the first four foot layer of fence.

We rewarded our efforts with our first picnic lunch of the year.

Yesterday was HOT. We split our work in two because we were getting a bit dizzy from the heat. The first part was placing the 8 foot wooden posts. Then we added about half of the second 4 foot layer. When things cooled down later in the day we went back and finished the final layer.

There is still some more to do - it won't happen today because we are getting some work done at the house and it is raining. When the soil dries I'll go and finish things off by tying down any loose spots.

 

Garden Plot - Preparing the Soil

Gardeners know that a lot of work at the beginning yields a highly productive garden throughout the growing season.

Last year it was simple. I raked it deeply, added some sheep manure and mixed it in. We were good to go.

I hit a bit of a wall this year early on.

But first some back story. The plots are located in a provincial park dedicated to preserving rural history from the Victorian era. The park itself is made up of five old farms. The park employed a farmer who tended the farms, the machinery, and the livestock.

Last year he plowed the plots and did a beautiful job.

Unfortunately the farmer retired and in the Ministry's infinite wisdom was not replaced. Instead the position was outsourced.

This is what the soil looked like after it had been 'plowed'.

What a difference. There is no way anything could be planted in THAT!

On Monday I tried to turn the soil with a garden fork. After about 30 minutes and only managing to get about 2 square feet ready to go I gave up.

I found a place in Milton that rented tillers. This was going to be an adventure! I drove to Milton on Tuesday and picked it up.

You might think that tilling would be easy. While it certainly is much easier than trying to prepare the soil manually it was still hard work. Three hours later the soil looked like this:

My arms were 'jelly' well into the evening from the machine vibrations, my back and arm muscles ache, I forgot my hat and sunscreen so I have a bad burn.

Nonetheless, the soil is getting there!

Today as I was driving back from Milton I stopped in at the dump. They were having their annual compost giveaway. It is a great service - they collect brown bag garden material throughout the year, compost it, and then give some of it away to local residents to assist with their gardens. They offer compost in the fall and spring.

Seven 'containers' were filled.

After dinner Paul helped me carry it to the plot and spread it.

Tomorrow we will add 20 bags of composted manure to the mix. At that point the soil will be ready to go.

The next big job will be the fence. :-0

Time to Garden

Well, in lieu of the last post, perhaps not immediately.

Nonetheless, we signed the lease and paid for the garden plot last weekend. We take possession of 'our' land on Sunday.

For the next six months we'll be 'farming' this:

Seeds are bought.

I have also bought onion 'sets' and planting fingerling potatoes to try something new (although I think the soil is going to prove too heavy for them).

We will buy tomato and jalapeno pepper plants from a local farmer.

Last year I didn't take the warnings from the experienced gardeners about hungry deer seriously.

I will not make that mistake again.

This year I won't wait until AFTER they have treated the tender seedlings as a buffet to build a fence. I have one all planned out, drawn to scale on graph paper.

Don't ever say that I refuse to learn from my stupid mistakes!

I've also mapped out the plot. Mind you, I seem to have repeated potatoes twice so we'll either plant a few more rows of something or just spread other things out a bit.

The next 6 months will be busy!

Garden Plot Update

I haven't posted an update for awhile.

I've been successful in keeping the deer out for a couple of weeks now. Last week they tried to get in - snapped a fence post - but the fence held and the tasty beet leaves they were wanting remained out of reach . . . for now.

The first tomatoes are starting to ripen. The rain is really causing the tomatoes to grow large - so large some of the stakes fell over because of the weight and I had to buy more sturdy ones.

Everything else continues to grow well (particularly the weeds!)

This pic shows a plot that has not been weeded for awhile. This is what our plot would look like if I didn't spend some time each day weeding.

This is what I brought home last Friday. Leaf lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, and a jalapeno pepper.

How does the garden grow?

I've had a few people ask how the garden is doing. How background please read this earlier post.

Remember my glib comment about the deer? Turns out they were quite capable of hopping a four foot fence. They were partial to beets, peas, beans, and sunflowers.

Needless to say we added another four feet to our fence. So far they have been unable to jump 8 feet.

We planted mostly heirloom seeds. They tend to have a lower germination rate than some of the big cultivators. It was a bit hit and miss, particularly with the beets. I planted three type of beets in each row - the golden beets germinated the worst and so our rows of beets have some gaps.

The garden plots seems to have a hell of a lot of weeds. This week I have spent close to six hours weeding it. In fairness, I had let it get out of hand but still, a lot of crouching in the dirt and careful pulling around the wanted plants.

Here is one half of the garden:

and the other:

This pic is of the garden plot beside ours. She hasn't weeded much. You see what I mean about the weeds? You can imagine how much work went in to keeping our plot so clean looking!

Veggie Garden Update

I've mentioned a few times that we rented a garden plot this year. We hoped to grow some vegetables on the plot - something we can't do at home because the back yard just isn't big enough.

I realized today that I haven't really provided any details.

The plot is located in a Provincial park about 5 minutes from our house. This park is dedicated to farming in an area that is rapidly becoming an urban jungle. It is fitting that they have set aside 70 of these plots.

This is our land for the year.

It doesn't look like much here. :-)

The soil is pretty good - having been used as garden plots for more than 30 years. Nonetheless, we dug in 12 bags of composted sheep manure to help stuff grow.

You'll note the fencing in other plots in the pic above.

This area has plenty of deer and deer LOVE a buffet of veggies. We watched lots of folks around our plot put up fences so we thought we had better get in on that as well.

Imagine - we did this without raised voices or harsh words. :-)

Our fence is only 4 feet and others seem to be 6 - 8 feet tall. Hopefully the deer are geriatric deer and not Olympic jumpers. :-)

We measured and staked out the rows. There is a two foot pathway down the centre and the rows branch out in either direction from that.

While it was still cooler the spinach, lettuce, and radishes were planted.

Later when the nights were a bit warmer we put in 24 heirloom, Italian, and a variety of small tomato plants. We also added in some jalapeno pepper plants.

The rest of the veggies we are growing from seed. We put in two rows of beets, peas, and beans. Three rows of carrots. 4 rows of white corn. 3 hills of yellow zucchini, green zucchini, and cucumbers. Finally, we put in a row of red onions.

I've been going over first thing in the morning and watering. Unfortunately our plot is almost the furthest you can get from the tap. LOL Fortunately it is good exercise and I'm meeting my step targets every day. :-)

Today we went over and knocked over the weeds with a hoe, watered, and Paul put in a row of sunflowers along the back fence. I noticed that everything seems to be coming up already (well, except for the peas - fingers crossed for them.) We gave everything a good douse of fertilizer with water soluble miracle grow.

Now we just watch, weed, trim, weed, and wait.