Wayne

The park was established in 1987. I too visited the park prior to it being established mainly to hike. The most rugged and isolated portions of the Bruce Trail run from Lion's Head to Tobermory and pass through the park and is comparable to sections of the Lacloche Trail in Killarney P.P.

Fair enough. Apologies if the tone of the post was overly confrontational. Cheers.

At the risk of being inappropriate to the content of the thread I really feel the need the challenge that statement. The LCBO, for all its faults, does not cost tax payer dollars. It is a Crown Co. and contributes significantly to the provincial coffers. Their annual financial statements are all available online to be perused to determine how much it contributes to provincial revenue. The magazine is only free to customers. The ads pay. The majority of the complaining about the LCBO is by groups who would prefer to privatize the distribution side of the business thereby rerouting revenue to the private sector. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the LCBO. Cheers.

Thanks! Looking forward to tasting the garlic. Had a few that were harvesting casualties that will be used as fresh garlic. I like growing onions however it's always a trade off between my amount of space and the cost of growing compared to buying. White onions are very expensive compared to yellow (once fall rolls around I can buy them locally for sometimes less than $1/10 lbs. and store. This year I put in two sets (200) and utilize them as green onions until the green onions planted from seed are ready. I then harvest them as bulb onions. I use them fresh or pickle them. I find them much better in salsas them other onions. I pickled a batch yesterday in cider vinegar however the photo sucked so I didn't post it. Love pickled onions.

Don't know how I missed that.

I must confess I've never been to Manitoulin although I go fishing and hiking twice a year in the upper Bruce peninsula (based out of Bruce N.P.) and once a year to the Sault St. Marie area. It's always been in the back of my mind to visit Manitoulin so I'll be following your adventures with interest.

I harvested the last of my garlic last Sunday and have it curing in the garage. Although the season has been very dry and everyone is complaining about yellow lawns the conditions were perfect for garlic. I was able to control the watering and they came out of the ground in near perfect condition. This year was about two weeds early. Planted 140 this year and harvested 145. Guess some had twins . Lots of tomatoes coming in but won't see any on the table for 3-4 weeks. Yard long beans and cucumbers coming along. @ElainaA My guess is you've got a runner or pole bean and they're all looking for something to cling to. One garlic bed planted with bush beans. I've been harvesting bush beans, beets, lettuce, chard, collards, kale, white onions and spring onions and herbs. These are some of the first zucchini and kohlrabi. As always it's great to see everyone else's photos and how their gardens are progressing. Cheers!

When I make zucchini pickles I have always cut them in sticks but I really like the look of the zucchini ribbons so I'll have to try that.

This season is turning out very well for me. Very cooperative weather and no pest or disease problems so far. Tomatoes are looking good. Lots of flowers and all the plants have visible fruit. Lots of greens: chard, collards and kale as well as mixed romaine (none of the lettuces have bolted yet). Note the empty bed to the left which was the smaller, appr. 30%, of my garlic which I harvested this morning. And the first hot peppers are popping out (sorry for the focus). This year I have Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, Scotch Bonnet, Portugal Hot, Fish and Aji Limon.

Although I'm still waiting for tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and hot peppers I've had a few things going: Starting from the left: A lacto-fermentation of jalapenos, red and orange bell peppers, garlic, garlic scapes, cucumbers, and white onions with dill and mustard seeds. Only the onions, garlic scapes, garlic and dill are from the garden. The middle is a lacto-fermentation of bok choy stems with garlic, coriander seed and a dried hot pepper. On the right are hot water bath canned pickled garlic scapes. Half flavoured with dill, coriander and mustard seed and the other half with tarragon, coriander and mustard seed.

One of my areas for perennial herbs has a sage, a lemon thyme and an oregano. I learned the hard way that I had to 'prune' (take a spade and remove outer growth roots and all) the oregano and the thyme to about a 12 inch diameter circle in the spring and usually twice more during the growing season. Otherwise they would take over. The nice thing about these three is they can be used all year. Even in the dead of winter they are great for cooking.

This morning's haul: various romaine lettuces, kale and collards, white onions, various herbs (sage, rosemary, parlsey and thyme) as well as a bulb of last season's garlic and a large haul of garlic scapes. I'll be pickling the scapes soon. I've already got two lactoferments going so this wil be a hot water bath canning. The rest is all going into Father's Day dinner.

Sorry about your losses. It still may be early enough in the season to recover for a later harvest. The main thing is that everyone is safe.

Really enjoy following your posts. I'd nominate you for an Horticulture McGyver Award.

@rarerollingobject Thanks for posting the photos. The wasabi in the fifth photo would have found its way home with me. Beautiful seafood. Impressed by the variety available, especially the abalone.

Sorry to hear that. I 'lost' the 2015 season and most of my other activities due to bad ankles so I know it's tough not being able to get out there. This year is much better.

I added the flower head and some leaves to a batch of chicken filling for Nuo Mi Ji (based on 'Asian Dumplings' by Andrea Nguyen). The flavour was there although they didn't add any textural component. Thanks for the tip.

Wow! Beautiful photography. I'm impressed with the many ways uni is served. Do post some supermarket photos as one of the things I do on trips is check out local markets and supermarkets (and inevitably buy more than I can possibly use or take home). Cheers.

First nascent tomatoes emerging! Mix of bokchoy, tatsoi, baby kale and beet greens to braise: And for something inedible (as far as I know) but sure looks better than the chain link fence the vines hide:

I too would be very interested. I usually just toss them but if they're usable.....

Just finished 'Empires of Food' http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7277210-empires-of-food A look at the role of agriculture, food surpluses and the rise and fall of human societies. Worth the read.

I haven't had time to take and post photos however I've been busy harvesting: lettuce, herbs, bokchoy and tatsoi. I've had to harvest and freeze most of the bokchoy and tatsoi (leaving a few plants of each for seed) as it is bolting. None of the lettuce has bolted yet so knock on wood. Also started thinning the kale and collards. Spring radishes long gone and succeeded by beans. Started a garlic scape lacto-fermentation yesterday so we'll see how that goes. Best guess is I'll have bush beans, beets and kohlrabi in 2 weeks or a little more. The real disappointment this season was snap peas. Just not growing. Really looking forward to the first tomatoes and hot peppers for the first "garden shakshuka" of 2016.

In reply to dcarch and rotuts. Removing female plants would be counterproductive. I'd have to purchase crowns and wait 2 years to start harvesting. This way I slowly increase the size of the asparagus beds with my own seed (and have been doing so for a number of years). I wouldn't say it is very difficult but it is difficult however the fun is doing it. The more difficult the journey the more enjoyable the destination.

Thanks. If you look at the photo closely notice the dots on the left side. Those are the berries (which will eventually turn red) which contain 8-12 seeds each and each seed can start a seedling. I remember 'Silent Running'. Classic Bruce Dern.

Again it's nice to see everyone's gardens progressing. I've returned from an annual fishing trip in blackfly country to find things transformed. I had someone water while I was away but with strict instructions NOT to weed (last time my coriander got weeded). I would classify my gardening style as freeform square foot gardening First photo is the larger of the two garlic beds: The first garlic scapes are emerging. I usually roast these as you would asparagus or add them to a stir fry but this year I plan on doing a lacto-ferment with some. This bed clockwise from bottom left: bok choy, spring onions, mixed romaine varieties, tarragon, white onions, kale, collards, beans and at the extreme bottom right one of four scotch bonnet peppers. The bok choy will soon be replaced by beans. This photo shows some companion planting: tomatoes in the back (staked), basil, flat leaf parsley, garlic chives, a few white onions, and some beets and lettuce in the foreground. I stopped harvesting asparagus two weeks ago, I planted some of last years seeds to extend the bed and those are coming up in the foreground. Yard long beans and pickling cucumbers almost ready to start climbing: This bed from bottom left clockwise: beans, dill, beets, kolrabi and white onions. Unseen in the center is a late planting of lettuce which will be reasonably well shaded. May has been extremely dry this year. Yesterday we had our long awaited and needed deluge. Things should really progress this week.