Six on Saturday – 27/07/2019 – veggies

For some reason I haven’t posted many photos of the veggies this year. I’ll rectify that today. Here are some of the begetables I;m growing – almost all started from seed – in my garden this year. Generally t was a slow start but as soon as the temperatures started to soar, just a few weeks ago, really, they’ve taken off.

1 – I may have show you these peas before. It’s a variety called Magnolia Blossom, seeds from Renee’s Garden, and I can’t be more happier with how they’ve grown. At the end of July they’re still producing (mind you, I did a staggered planting in April and May), even in this heat, and the vines are now about eight feet tall. Beautiful flowers, and really delicious peas – pod and all.

You can;t even see the twig trellis these vines are climbing up.
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2 – Just outside the back porch is a small raised bed originally planted with strawberries. Only one plant made it through the winter – on the near right corner – so I planted the rest of it with a variety of greens, beets, herbs, marigolds and a mini eggplant. It’s quite lush now.

I’ve had a few berries from the lone surviving strawberry plant – mostly the chipmunks get to them before I do!

3 – A friend gave me an extra four pack of kale seedlings – I wasn’t going to ant any brassicas this year after last year’s debacle with the white cabbage moths, but hey, it was a gift. So far this year I’ve seen just one moth, and these leaves don’t look so bad.

4 – At the base of the pea trellis, and in a few other spots around the garden, I planted chard that I started from seed There are two varieties here – Scarlet Charlotte on the left, grown from seed left over from last year, and Peppermint Stick – a new variety for me this year. Both are from Renee’s Garden. I really love the deep green leaves and dark red veins and stalks of Scarlet Charlotte, and I’m a bit disappointed with Peppermint Stick.

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5 – Two years ago I grew spaghetti squash, and saved some seeds from the resulting fruit. Last spring I didn’t grow it, but instead gave the seeds to a neighbour, who did grow it. He also gave us several of the squashes, to eat, and I kept those seeds too. This year, the vines are incredibly vigorous and blooming like crazy.

6 – And yes, I do have tomatoes. Five varieties this year, and they’re already competing with the squash to take over the kitchen garden. Here are two, still not yet ripe enough to pick when I shot these photos but I suspect in a day or so I’ll be munching and freezing away. On the left (and at the top) is something called Dancing With Smurfs — a plant purchased from Vickie’s Veggies here in Prince Edward County. On the right is Red Racer – a salad tomato grown from seeds left over from a packet I had last year.

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There’s my six veggies this week. To see Sixes from gardens around the world, including from those in Europe currently struggling with a record setting heat wave (my thoughts are with you… ) – visit The Propagator’s site.