Six on Saturday – 03/07/2020 -Feeding the Belly and the Eyes

Chris Mousseau

Temperatures hovering around 30 (high 80’s), high humidity, loads of sunshine with the occasional thunderstorm replenishing the rain barrels…it must be July! It was Canada Day on Wednesday and thanks to less than 200 new covid cases a day in Ontario we’ve been able to loosen our social gathering restrictions – eight friends joined us for cake and lemonade in the back yard. One unusual gardening gift brought by a neighbour will hopefully foil the fat rabbits who have developed a taste for artichokes:

These Imperial Star globe artichokes should be much bigger by now, with a lot more leaves. Rabbits (I’m assuming it’s rabbits…) have chomped through most of the leaf stems. Tara brought a length of chicken wire to the party on Wednesday – I’m hoping this will mean I’ll see (and eat) a few artichokes later this summer.
Snap peas are fattening daily – although shelling is a bit of a chore it’s worth it. This bowl gave us more than a cup of shelled peas – perfect for dinner last night! (Would have been more but I snacked my way through picking and shelling! The pods on this variety are just as delicious as the peas.)
On the left, this is what the heirloom tomato ‘Costoluto Genovese’ looks like. On the right, a tomato grown from the same seed packet, definitely not the same variety! I’m not complaining though since it has produced the first tomato of the year! A lovely salad size.
Hollyhocks (Alcea) started to bloom last Saturday and now they’re all over in a wide colour palette. I’m going to do some serious culling later this summer though – the dreaded rust fungus (also known as Puccinia malvacearum) has badly infected all of these stately, gorgeous flowers close to the house.
This is Creeping bellflower – Campanula rapunculoides – a very pretty common non-native flower here that can, within a few years, totally take over a garden bed both by seed and root runner. It’s almost impossible to get rid of without using strong chemicals – I spend a few hours most months pulling flower stalks and the larger leaves.
Finally, what would summer be without roses. These two floribunda – Iceberg and Cinderella – each with loads of buds – are the most successful in my garden this year.

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and the week to come. Happy Fourth of July to our American neighbours – please party safely this year! To see more Sixes from around the world, please visit The Propagator .

31 Comments

  2. My artichoke plants are too tall and my rabbits too small. I don’t need to protect them anymore, but you’re right… greedy rabbits !
    The tomatoes have started here too and every day I taste a new variety among the ten that I grow. Yum ( and with a basil leaf it’s better)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Right! Peas…rabbits….I’m not sure why they haven’t touched them, or the chard and spinach either! I’m kinda thrilled with the tomatoes, it helps that I started them inside mid March!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Excellent tomatoes! That blushing stage is always great, and I eagerly anticipate it here. I like the raindrops on your plants and can relate! Sometimes I doubt that our peas are worth the effort for the yield, but then I taste their deliciousness.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. The Bellflower looks very nice. Pity it is a bit invasive. When I read the variety “rapun-sonethibg” sure does give the impression of speedily creeping around…
    I’m glad that it was possible to have friends along to the garden. We are all a bit isolated so easing of restrictions is very welcome when done safely.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you! I’m interested in tasting the tomato! I think the peas won’t last long – no let up in our heatwave for a while. I’m hoping the cucumber seeds I planted yesterday will germinate and climb the trellis in their place. Fingers crossed!

      Like

Comments are closed.