Garden in Early Summer

A look around at the gardens at the beginning of summer. The artichoke now has two small artichokes on it, the tomatillos are in bloom, I'm harvesting some of the miniature cucumbers and peas and there is a look at the grape vines again which have almost completely covered the end of the hoop house. Like I have done with several on my videos lately this one ends with a look at some of the things in bloom right now in the gardens.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook
42. Common Comfrey

Hoop House in Early Summer

Just a few photos that I took in the Hoop House today.

Pond Life

No narration and no cameo appearance in this video, just the sounds of nature at the pond. This pond isn't on my property but it is adjacent to my land only about a five minute walk away. The pond has been there for many years in a disused gravel pit. It used to be very shallow and would go dry in summer, but in the past year beavers have moved in and built a lodge in the centre of the pond. The beaver is a master at hydraulic engineering, they have damed up the areas where the pond was loosing water and almost doubled the size of the pond and it is much deeper than it used to be. If you notice dead trees around the edge of the pond that is an indication that there are beavers at work, when they raise the water level trees at the edge of the pond suddenly find there roots under water and that kills the tree. Toward the end of the video I show you the very well camouflaged Beaver Lodge but unfortunately I have't been able to video the beavers yet. Since the beavers moved in there is a lot more wildlife than there used to be. Not sure how many turtles there are but as you can see I have seen three at one time and I have seen a number of smaller ones off in the water. not sure of the breed but they might be Painted Turtles if anyone knows for sure please leave a comment  There is a nice close-up of a frog and two different kinds of tadpoles. Frogs, toads and salamanders all lay there eggs in ponds and they hatch into tadpoles. There is also a close-up of one tadpole in it's second year stage starting to grow legs. I know that there are at least two families of Black Ducks but I have't been able to get video of them so far either, so maybe there will be a Pond Life II later on this summer.

Harvesting and Veggie Progress

A look around at how things are progressing in the hoop house. The first Artichoke has started to come up, cucumbers are starting to grow,the peas have lots of pods on them, I thinned the beets and got enough greens for a couple of meals. I'm trying a new way of feeding the grape vines something that I remembered from a visit to Hampton Court Palace many years ago and the video concludes with the time lapse of the peas growing from April 4th to May 7th.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook
42. Common Comfrey

Garden, Hoop House and Harvesting

A look around the gardens and hoop house. The summer and winter squash have been transplanted into the garden. It looks like all of the potatoes and most of the beans survived the week of rain. I transplanted the last of my New Brunswick wild river grape cuttings two on the house and the other four at the base of trees. Things in the hoop house have really improved since I started using Epson Salts. Harvesting some of the mustard greens and a couple of the daikon and a quick little clip about making some pickled daikon. To finish off with a look at some blooms around the property and a couple of clips of some of the local wildlife.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook
42. Common Comfrey

At last the rain has stopped

Unboxing a small shipment of herbs intended for use are a green manure tea for the garden. A look at how I measured the amount of rain we received over the weekend. Transplanting some seedlings into the garden and a look at a few things that are in bloom right now.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook
42. Common Comfrey