Tigerella

She's as sweet as she is pretty... Tigerella gets the K-Mo stamp of approval!

On The Wild Side

My garden has gone feral.  In a way it's a relief, but it's an odd realization that all of my planning, preening and care is in many ways completely irrelevant.  Throughout the summer, life gets in the way of my good gardening intentions, and I'm left with little choice but to allow my garden to thrive on neglect.  (Oh... did you think you were the only one?)

With vacations, a busy work schedule and old-fashioned summer laziness taking up my time, I've been able to let the garden just... be.  To my chagrin, it remains lush and productive without my intervention.  Who knew?  Yes, the tomatoes are out of control.  Yes, that IS a bolted, flowering head of lettuce in the middle of the photo.  But that's ok.

Here are some additional pictorial updates.  Summer madness - it's good stuff!  

Carrots, mixed beans and thyme for the dinner table.

A 'Dusty' eggplant.  It was a 'cheater' I planted in mid-July when I realized that my 'Little Fingers' were definitely not going to reach fruiting size this season.  A good score from the garden center saves the day... there's nothing wrong with a back-up plan!  I don't feel guilty!

Another ringer.  'Sweet Cherry Pick' peppers I bought at the same time as the eggplant, just because I couldn't resist.  C'mon, look how cute!

'Bright Lights' swiss chard.  Indeed!

Remember how I planted some watermelon in the space left by the spent lettuce?  It's gone bananas, and I couldn't be happier...

Little 'Malali' watermelon.  More where this one came from, too.  There WILL be home-grown watermelons this season, and by any account I can think of, this officially makes my summer gardening effort a success.

The Roots

The early root crops are starting to rock!  Pictured above are the very first carrots of the season, which are the yellow variety from the Rainbow Mix I planted from seed, and below is a teeny Chioggia beet.  Stripetacular!

The 2010 Crop at a Glance

I can't believe it's June. What the heck happened?

Things have been busy, to say the least, and I thought I'd share a glimpse of the crop to date. I painstakingly selected varieties and started sowing this season's crop from seed indoors in March, after weeks of obsessive seed collecting. I really couldn't help myself! I took a trip to Toronto for Seedy Saturday (on a Sunday) and came back with enough seeds to grow food for the entire city, if space permitted. Here's a look at how it went down...

On March 21 I planted these to grow indoors:
Eggplants - Rosa Bianca & Little Fingers
Hot Peppers - Orange Thai, Early Jalapeno, and a cook's mix
Sweet Peppers - Little Bells
Tomatoes - Yellow Pear, Rutgers, Green Zebra, Black Plum, Box Car Willie, Black Krim, Fox Cherry, Tigerella

On April 12 I started direct-sowing in outdoor containers:
Radishes - Purple Plum, Cherry Belle
Lettuce - Heirloom Leaf Mix, cook's blend
Arugula
Evergreen Bunching Onions
Chives
Pansies

While I was outside anyway, I decided to start the back bed too:
Peas - Mammoth Melting Sugar, Thomas Laxton
Beets - Golden Detroit, Chioggia
Lettuce - Buttercrunch, Black-Seeded Simpson
Carrots - Rainbow Mix, Red Atomic
Onion - Mini Purplette
Swiss Chard - Five Colour Silverbeet

As May crept up, miraculously, things started growing. For real! So while the little ones outside started showing signs of life, the indoor plants were thriving and it was time to sow some more!

On May 1 new additions joined the indoor grow-op:
Beans - Dragon Tongue, Littlefields' Special Dry, Lazy Housewife
New Zealand Spinach
Costata Romanesca Zucchini
Cucumbers - Pickling, Muncher, Straight Eight
Watermelon - Malali, Cream of Saskatchewan

On May 14, I ate my first salad of homegrown greens, relishing the sweet, fresh crunch of soft leaves that were still breathing just moments before I put them in my mouth.

On May 16, the first tomatoes, eggplants and peppers were planted into pots on the back deck, nestled between seeds of cilantro, dill, and basil.

Then, finally, on May 23, the entire garden was planted. Thankfully, my partner in crime was easy to convince to lend some assistance...



As the season progresses, I'll share some stories surrounding my plant choices, and I can't wait to tell you how they grow, flower, and TASTE!
Mmmmm - sweet summer!