Gardening adventures 2012

I've chosen a green font, but my thumb is more of a blackish with green twinges...  We've been able to eat out of our garden this year, but the tomatoes are still green on the vines and despite the fact that everyone I know with a garden has zucchinis coming out the ying yang, ours (albeit planted very late) are just flowering now.  I doubt they'll ripen and may not even fruit before winter.

BUT!!  We've learned a lot.  Lesson #1 has been plant seeds in the ground and use cold frames.  I started a lot of seeds inside (ambitiously and foolishly in February/March) and planted out late.  I wouldn't do that again, especially for squash.  They seem to do much better if planted on hills (as recommended on the seed packet, I humbly add).  We also need to beef up our soil and so will be adding copious amounts of chicken poop compost come the end of the season.  We're trying to grow organically...

Anyhoo, a few photos:

Broccoli - if you're looking for something easy to start with, plant broccoli.  We bought plants, not seeds, and they did amazingly.  They're still producing lots of veg!

 

 Beans - these did very well too, I just didn't plant enough of them!  Again, planted right into the ground, the seeds did very well.  And they are sooooo yummy when eaten seconds after picking!

 

 This is winter squash.  Needs lots of space and good soil.  We have one fruit that is almost ready (see below) and the plant is still flowering.  Two more fruits have started.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed they ripen before the rains come.

 

 Tomatoes - a fan favourite.  Our plants are huge and there are lots of fruit on them, but as mentioned, still green.  I'm holding by breath that they will ripen before the season is over.  They like hot weather and the heat wave we had last week gave me some hope but it's cool and cloudy this week so we'll see.  Luckily we like green tomato salsa!

 

 Strawberries - delicious little yummies!  Easy to grow and perennial.  I plan to haul these plants out of this strawberry pot and plant them in my garden.  They spread out everywhere but who wouldn't want fresh strawberries in copious amounts??!!

 We also planted flowers in amongst our fruits and veggies to bring in insects and reduce soil erosion.  These are called nasturtiums.  You can eat them, but Remi and I weren't keen on the taste.  They also spread EVERYWHERE, so they need to be kept in check.  The nice thing is, they grow VERY well from seed and are therefore dirt (excuse the pun) cheap.

 Marigolds - because I like them.  I did learn that they grow better when planted in clumps.  The individual plants withered, but when I moved them together, they took off.

 

 Hot peppers and jalapenos - we bought plants of these and they're doing quite well!  Still producing.  I may did them up and bring them in for the winter.

 

 Basil - I kill basil kept in pots, but I planted this one in the ground and it seems to be doing very well!  I'll likely dig it up and bring it in for the winter (at which point, I'm sure it'll die in the pot).

 We also have rhubarb, parsley, thyme and oregano.

We're planning on expanding next year, digging another garden patch which gets more sun.  I'd love to try growing corn and we may yet plant some garlic this year.

Happy growing!
S

Drum Lake

We went up to the Coquihalla area for a Labour Day camping trip.  We chose the July Mountain area for a quiet long weekend.  Somebody put a bunch of money into these trails, but now the access roads are so over-grown we could only get to within 4km of the trailhead - and that's after we used roadside vegetation to scratch the paint off the side of the car.

This is Sarah on the way up.

We eventually got to the trailhead.  Immediately beyond this point the trail is nicely overgrown with alder and visibility was only a few feet.  We sent Maggie to the front to see if there were any bears waiting to eat us.  The bear poop looked old(er than it does on most of our hikes) so we just yelled like lunatics until we were through.

 We crossed a neat meadow on the way up.  Lots of blueberries to supplement our regular food.

 We went through early summer to early fall as we climbed up.  This one is early fall.

The final push up to the lake.  Sarah likes climbing big hills carrying a big pack.  I had to jog to keep up with her.

Some hellebore on the side of the trail.  This stuff is pretty toxic.  I've seen tourists carrying it in bouquets.

 The wind was howling when we got to the top.  We pitched the tent in a tiny open patch in a grove of sub-alpine fir to avoid having the wind buffet the tent all night.  We don't have picture of that.
This picture is of the following morning.  Nice view, but it was cold and not quite as windy as the night before.

 We took our sweaters, fleeces, coats, hats, and mitts off for this picture.  If it were a dozen degrees warmer we might have sat by the lake.

 We sat in a sheltered spot to read by the fire.  I thought it was nice.

Nice, if a little chilly.  We ended up deciding to head out early - we figured we'd be home in time to go to the pub and have a quiet Monday.

 I like this picture.  It looks steep.

 At sea level these come up in June.  It's a red columbine.

Out of order, but this is Sarah sprinting down the mountain.

This one truly catches Sarah's joy after climbing a large hill, sitting in the smoke of a fire during a class 3 hurricane, and hiking back down again the next day.  In boots that apparently hurt her feet.

R