The Season Progresses

The veggie garden is always in transition...that's the nature of a garden. As the season moves into the second half of the season, some things are finished and other things are still coming into their harvest time.


The spuds were in this plot and now that they are stored it is time for planting green manure--Phacelia in this case.

This is the plot where the broad beans were and now the Borage is coming through.


Now for the white onions: The red ones were finished sooner and were strung-up but these white ones had a ways to go and consequently are a bit larger. After the bif wind storm the leaves were broken and lying flat (usually i wait and bend them over myself once the leaves have turned brown).


That onion patch looked like a real mess, so they had to be lifted after a few days. To begin with, we placed them on this crate with a mesh bottom so some air could flow around them.


After a while they had to be moved again, so we stalled them out on top of the pole rack. Now they can continue to cure further.


The Swiss chard has been growing abnormally slowly this year and suffered from repeated slug attacks, but now it is beginning to take off.


Now for the toms: After their last haircut we have only had to tie them in and re-adjust the trusses a bit. With what ought to be the last pruning and suckering, the plant can concentrate on the development of the fruits.




You can see that the trusses began to form relatively close to the soil surface, which was one of my goals with planting the toms the way I do--this way I will get five or six trusses per stem.

Finally a couple of bee foto's. This first one is of one on the Japanese Anemone's. Notice that her pollen sacks are full.


In this second one, you can see that the forager is not only filling her pollen pouches, but also taking up nectar (see her tongue going down into the Clematis flower?).


Well, that is about it for the garden's progress this time...and it is waaaay past little boys' bedtime.

 

Looking great in the Lottie Sjoerd! I'm wondering what you use all the borage for ... a green manure? Your onions and tomatoes look fantastic!

 

Hiya Netty--Thanks a mil for the nice compliment. The borage: yes it is for use as a green manure. I use Phacelia and Borage as the two primary green manures in my garden. I also use comfrey, but I use that in a different way.

 

Nice Sjoerd has always. Thing are beginning to wind down here also. Will pick the last of my toms this week and pull out plants. Hoping for more swiss chard when the weather cools down. My pantry and freezer are full, so it's been a good season.

 

Yes EILEEN--it is doing pretty well. We are spending more and more time processing veg.The transition of plots as we have finished with the crops into green manure take time, but is a labour of love which I dearly enjoy. There are lots of bees, butterflies and sadly, wasps in the lottie at the moment. The butterfly counting was last weekend. Ironicly I did not have as many then as I do now. The Buddleja was a big attraction for them again this year. I hope that you can begin with your bees before winter comes.

Great to hear from you DONNA-- What good news to hear, that your season has been a success for you. Do you have any pics? Pics of your gardens as well as your pantry. i am interested in seeing how it looks there.

You are most welcome, FRANK-- It is enjoyable to post foto's and text on here about my gardens...fun, but also it gives me a way to see my garden differently and to think about things. Sometimes I can see or think of an improvement. Thanks for the compliment on the onions. I am well chuffed with them myself.

 

Your vegies look great Sjoerd! I have a question about Phacelia. You grow it as a cover crop? Any down side? Is it hard to get rid of in the spring?

 

Your garden looks great Sjoerd! Love that idea for toms, and the replanting of cover crops! Our garden's doing nicely too this year despite the 100 degree temps in long stretches...that's way above our typical weather. Most pics I've been taking is of the skies with the wildfires around here...very smokey.

 

Bunkie, I so hope you're out of the danger area,
I have a niece who lives in Auburn, WA. She and husband are in NH at present.
I pray for rain in your state.

 

Sjoerd, I admit to envy of your onions and tomatoes. I realize you put far more effort into the planting of your tomatoes, so I expect the abundance, but even with hard work and care in growing, my onions cannot compare. It does my heart good to know there are people like you who continue to grow food and store it for the winter season.

 

Hi guys--I apologize for taking so long to get back, but I have been away for a few days.

Hey there, CAYUGA--I grow the Phacelia for the honeybees as well as for use as a green manure. I do not have much of a problem with it the following year as any seeds that germinate are quickly schoffeled away in the spring before planting begins. Naturally, if you do not allow it to bloom and cut it down or pull it up then of course there will be no seedlings at all in the spring. I often do exactly that with some of the Borage patches, even though the bees and butterflies really like the flowers. We eat the flowers here in salads and on meals.

Thanks so much for your comments, BUNKIE--sorry to hear about the wildfires there. It must be exceedingly dry there.

Hello there, 'PAINS--You just say the sweetest things. Thank you so much for your words. I was as pleased as punch with the onion harvest this year as well. I finely chop and roughly chop the onions to freeze-in for use with things like eating with beetroot, stirfrys, chilli and so forth. It is so handy to just reach into the freezer, take out the bag and then take a few finger-fulls of the frozen onions to pop into whatever meal I am cooking. It saves loads of time.
The smaller onions I wind onto a string and hang it up just outside the kitchen door on the loggia.
l'll bet that your onions are just as good though. What types do you grow?

 

Apparently I missed this! Your Lottie always seems so neat and totally weed free. I'm envious as, even though we try, there's always a few weeds though we don't allow them to get big enough to set seeds. I noticed your nice looking corn crop behind the borage and the large leafed plant near them. Is it a Rhubarb plant? As usual I really enjoyed seeing the bees and flowers. It's the first time I've ever seen a bee's tongue!

 

Sjoerd, this year I grew red onions. Then I read that they don't grow well in Michigan.
Next year, I plan to grow yellow onions.
Nice to have you back.

 

Hey there 2-OF--That big-leafed plant is actually two courgette plants next to each-other. Thank you so much for your very nice compliments. I am glad that you liked seeing the bee's tongue. It isn't something that one sees often because it is short and stuck deep into flowers usually. I have a foto of two bees on a frame and they are exchanging nectar. One is a forager and the other one is a "house bee".

Hey there GP-- Thanks. Our climate is somewhat like yours and red onions do not grow terribly well here either. Well enough, but not super. How did yours turn out BTW?