Gardening: (2016– )

[Paul Bacino]

On 7/17/2023 at 11:57 AM, Shelby said:

We need a shock face emoji.  OMG!  I'm so sorry!  Domestic turkeys?

Yes.  .the chickens are fine  but gobblers... gobble tomatoes 

[chromedome]

17 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Quit sniffing 'em and eat the damn things! 

 

They are delicious.  And at those size, screaming to be stuffed with some gooey cheeses (fava paste also works great).

 

 

Oh, that's the longer-term plan.

Right now it's still early and I'm leaving the male blossoms in place to attract pollinators. Once I have two fertilized ova per vine, they'll be fair game and I don't intend to waste any. My filling of choice is crab, but I'm sure there'll be lots of cheese-filled ones as well since that's my girfriend's fundamental food group.

[chromedome]

35 minutes ago, Darienne said:

I posted a photo of my dirt bag  garden recently and noted that my Eggplants were not producing anything...a couple of little flowers followed by nothing.

 

My question:  Many garden centers still have vegetable plants for sale for planting even though it's half way through July.  Could anyone suggest what would be the most useful seedlings to buy to get some kind of crop in Central Ontario...zone 5a.

You may just need to manually pollinate the blossoms (see my pumpkin photos upthread). Take a male blossom, peel off the petals, and poke the pollen-bearing bits into the female blossoms. Alternatively you can transfer the pollen with a paintbrush or Q-tip.

 

As for your second question, I don't garden in Ontario but I'm also zone 5a. The brassicas in general (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc) are good late-season options, because they're pretty cold-tolerant. In fact, in my area, I find this is about the best time to start cauliflower. They don't like the heat, and my springs just aren't long enough for them to fill out.

[chromedome]

24 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

We actually have cool springs and can often have frost after the May long weekend. Doesn't often get warm here until later in June.  And can start raining and not stop

by the end of August.  This year so far had been good for the tomato plants.   Places like Windsor, Ontario  and the surrounding area have an extended spring and an extended fall so

perfect tomato growing . Moe grew up in Windsor.   

Thanks for the info, I guess the metaphorical grass is not as much greener as I'd expected. I lived in Vancouver in the 80s and remember how much earlier everything greened up, and how much later it stayed that way.

[Ann_T]

2 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Thanks for the info, I guess the metaphorical grass is not as much greener as I'd expected. I lived in Vancouver in the 80s and remember how much earlier everything greened up, and how much later it stayed that way.

Everything is definitely green here.    All winter actually, except for the few days that we might get snow. But tomatoes really need a lot of heat.

Even the corn out here isn't as good as corn from Ontario and is ready much later.  One of the reasons I love it out here

is that it is green year around except in the summer when you would expect it to be. 

With the water restrictions on from lack of rain, the grass every where is basically brown and dry.  First rain though it will be green again. 

  A hot summer is what I miss the most about Ontario. That and the wonderful restaurants in Toronto. 

  But people here start to complain when the temperature gets over 70°F.  So I will take the mild summer to not have to deal with a long cold winter. 

 

[MaryIsobel]

22 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

Everything is definitely green here.    All winter actually, except for the few days that we might get snow. But tomatoes really need a lot of heat.

Even the corn out here isn't as good as corn from Ontario and is ready much later.  One of the reasons I love it out here

is that it is green year around except in the summer when you would expect it to be. 

With the water restrictions on from lack of rain, the grass every where is basically brown and dry.  First rain though it will be green again. 

  A hot summer is what I miss the most about Ontario. That and the wonderful restaurants in Toronto. 

  But people here start to complain when the temperature gets over 70°F.  So I will take the mild summer to not have to deal with a long cold winter. 

 

I'm surprised at your comment about corn. We had our first local corn a couple of days ago. How early is it ready in Ontario? Chilliwack corn is pretty famous around here and different varieties are ready at different times. Right now it's Jubilee, later will be the bi-colour.

[Ann_T]

23 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

I'm surprised at your comment about corn. We had our first local corn a couple of days ago. How early is it ready in Ontario? Chilliwack corn is pretty famous around here and different varieties are ready at different times. Right now it's Jubilee, later will be the bi-colour.

Haven't seen any local corn here yet.   Or any from the mainland.   Will watch for it though. 

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by Ann_T (log)

[MaryIsobel]

9 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

Haven't seen any local corn here yet.   Or any from the mainland.   Will watch for it thought. 

 

Too bad - my sister is in Duncan for a few days - I could have sent some with her for you.

[chromedome]

32 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

I'm surprised at your comment about corn. We had our first local corn a couple of days ago. How early is it ready in Ontario? Chilliwack corn is pretty famous around here and different varieties are ready at different times. Right now it's Jubilee, later will be the bi-colour.

I used to live in Chilliwack, and it spoiled me for store-bought corn. I don't know if it's still the case, but back then (beginning of the 90s) farm kids would get their spending money by filling the back of a pickup with corn and selling it dirt cheap and just-picked, from the side of the road.

It's something I eat just once a summer or so, but why not have the good stuff for that once?

(To forestall the inevitable question, I don't eat enough of it to block out any of my limited garden space and grow it myself)

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

You may just need to manually pollinate the blossoms (see my pumpkin photos upthread). Take a male blossom, peel off the petals, and poke the pollen-bearing bits into the female blossoms. Alternatively you can transfer the pollen with a paintbrush or Q-tip.

 

As for your second question, I don't garden in Ontario but I'm also zone 5a. The brassicas in general (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc) are good late-season options, because they're pretty cold-tolerant. In fact, in my area, I find this is about the best time to start cauliflower. They don't like the heat, and my springs just aren't long enough for them to fill out.

Thanks, CD.  We do have much practice from pollinating hardshelled gourds going way back.  Never thought about it.

 

OK.  I'll probably look for cabbage or broccoli.  

 

Thanks again.

[TicTac]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

Oh, that's the longer-term plan.

Right now it's still early and I'm leaving the male blossoms in place to attract pollinators. Once I have two fertilized ova per vine, they'll be fair game and I don't intend to waste any. My filling of choice is crab, but I'm sure there'll be lots of cheese-filled ones as well since that's my girfriend's fundamental food group.

You east coasters are spoiled.... 😛

 

Send some of that sweet fresh crab meat to Southern ON, would ya!?

 

Any rhyme or reason to leaving the males on (when there are no females yet to pollinate?)

 

Curious to hear more about what you stuff along with the crab....

 

Saw your garden pics up thread - everything looks super happy!

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

37 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I used to live in Chilliwack, and it spoiled me for store-bought corn. I don't know if it's still the case, but back then (beginning of the 90s) farm kids would get their spending money by filling the back of a pickup with corn and selling it dirt cheap and just-picked, from the side of the road.

It's something I eat just once a summer or so, but why not have the good stuff for that once?

(To forestall the inevitable question, I don't eat enough of it to block out any of my limited garden space and grow it myself)

The kids with pickups are still a thing. We have a produce stand up the road that gets a load of picked-this-morning corn from Chilliwack every day. We eat it at least 3 times a week for as long as it lasts.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

2 hours ago, Darienne said:

I posted a photo of my dirt bag  garden recently and noted that my Eggplants were not producing anything...a couple of little flowers followed by nothing.

 

My question:  Many garden centers still have vegetable plants for sale for planting even though it's half way through July.  Could anyone suggest what would be the most useful seedlings to buy to get some kind of crop in Central Ontario...zone 5a.

I'm in a 5b zone.

Not seedlings however I would suggest bush bean seeds. One of those bags would support 12 plants, you'll have a crop in 55 to 60 days, and they're tasty. A good compact plant is a French haricot or filet bean variety.

I just harvested my garlic and part of the reseeding was 57 bush beans.

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Harvested my garlic yesterday. Only 58 this season however I will be doubling that for next year.

Hanging in the cellar to cure. Reseeded the area with 2 varieties of bush beans, 2 varieties of chard, lacinato kale, some Russian tarragon and a small plot of purslane (my potted purslane has germinated and I'll see how it goes).

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Outside early this morning before the heat built up. 20 C. with a 20 C. dewpoint and 100% humidity.

Harvested first zucchini, snow and sugar snap peas, herbs and lettuces.

Herb planters on the deck: from the right clockwise: dill and summer savory, basil, germinating Thai basil, habanero peppers (round pots), purslane and oregano and chives.

Snow peas and bush beans.

Fish peppers. The only variety that's doing reasonably well. Spring onions in the same pot.

The weather has not been cooperative for both other pepper and tomatoes. Lack of sunny days, too much rain and damp.

Cukes and squash showing blossoms.

 

 

 

 

 

[chromedome]

Congratulations on that first zucchini! Mine are nowhere close (looks like I'm at least close to seeing blossoms). Your garden is the closest parallel to mine, in terms of conditions (and physical proximity, I guess), so I've been eagerly awaiting each post to see how things are progressing down your way.

 

I've had a few harvests of lettuce though less than I'd expected, because my second planting got wiped out by an untimely rain (third planting looks like it'll succeed). Reasonable quantities of snap peas, chard and kale, and as of yesterday my first cherry tomato (which went straight from the vine to my GF's mouth, six feet and a few seconds away). I'll start seeing bush beans within the next week or so, and my shell peas are beginning to blossom so they're close. Garlic is close, too. It's been a couple of weeks since I harvested the scapes, so I'll be keeping a close eye on them for another week or two until I think the moment is right. I'm just now getting blossoms on my Roma and slicing tomatoes, so they're still a month away at least. Potatoes are going gangbusters and need to be hilled again. Broccoli should start heading up soon as well.

[Annie_H]

My first flush of squash blossoms came over the 4th of July weekend. That seems early but I did start a tray indoors a month early as well as some bush beans. That 10-20 tray holds 18 tall pots. A dozen summer squash and half a dozen bush beans. --tall pots are 4 inches square and about 6-7 inches tall from GreenhouseMegastore.

The holiday weekend we had house guests that were hesitant but absolutely loved them. Had them with and on pizza.

More seeds went in when I planted and more again the holiday weekend. Summer and winter squashes. 

Batch last night, #5. About every 3-4 days. 

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@chromedome

That first zucchini was about 12 cm. long so I should have left it but wanted it for breakfast.

Inspecting my bush beans this morning the earliest planting has lots of flowers and emerging beans of about 2-3 cm. so soon.

I haven't started harvesting kale, collards or chard yet as I want them a bit more mature.

My strategy with lettuce is to thickly sow an area (I've 8 varieties) and keep thinning the patch. I usually pick a 2 day supply at a time.

My only tomato variety doing reasonably well is Scotia followed by Golden Nugget (both short season determinate varieties).

Cheers.

 

[Annie_H]

Started harvesting bush beans about the same time. Just a handful every couple days. Now going gangbusters. Put in a row of RG flageolet about 8inches tall now. 

 

[chromedome]

7 minutes ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

@chromedome

That first zucchini was about 12 cm. long so I should have left it but wanted it for breakfast.

Inspecting my bush beans this morning the earliest planting has lots of flowers and emerging beans of about 2-3 cm. so soon.

I haven't started harvesting kale, collards or chard yet as I want them a bit more mature.

My strategy with lettuce is to thickly sow an area (I've 8 varieties) and keep thinning the patch. I usually pick a 2 day supply at a time.

My only tomato variety doing reasonably well is Scotia followed by Golden Nugget (both short season determinate varieties).

Cheers.

 

That's my preferred size for zucchini, tbh. They're tender and sweet, and as a defensive measure it helps avoid the stereotypical glut (you can serve 2-4 as an individual portion!).

 

I grew Golden Nugget last year, but none of this year's starts survived the greenhouse collapse and the torrential rain a few weeks later.

[FauxPas]

Rather tired of zucchini, but very impressed with amount from a single plant. the snap peas are very sparse this year so I've been buying from local farmstands. But tomatoes have been coming along nicely - have been eating quite a few cherry tomatoes plus a few mid-sized ones ripening, even some beefsteak ones that my husband is growing. Serrano pepper plant is doing great. And bush beans also, had steamed beans for dinner last night. 

 

 Picked a few more beans and tomatoes today. Serranos from a couple of days ago and now more are ready to pick. This is a very tiny garden - just a few small raised beds and some pots, so I'm pretty happy. 

 

 

 

 

 

[chromedome]

I feel that potato blossoms are not appreciated enough. These and several others are now living in a small vase beside my GF's desk.

 

[Smithy]

5 hours ago, chromedome said:

I feel that potato blossoms are not appreciated enough. These and several others are now living in a small vase beside my GF's desk.

 

 

Thanks for that. I can see the Nightshade Family resemblance, and I've never seen it before.

[FauxPas]

 

Today's tomato pick and a few more serrano peppers. I also picked some green beans. Yum.  🙂

 

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@FauxPas

I envy your tomatoes. I'm just starting to see fruit forming.