Pulled Out Some Dead Plants

Last night signaled the start of the end of this year's gardening season.  I pulled out most of the dead plants.  All I have left growing now are the beefstake tomatoes, which, for some reason didn't grow as big as they usually would have.  Maybe because of the excess rain that fell over the last month or the cold snap we had.  All in all it was a fantastic growing season this year.  We had very little in the way of bugs and disease which was great!

In total we got 9 cucumbers from our two plants, 27 zucchinis from our 5 plants (one plant died without producing anything), 2 squash (one on each plant and they tasted kind of gross), and far too many tomatoes to count from our various plants, and a handful of snap peas (they did not produce as they should for some reason).

Join me again next year for adventures in my garden.  Please feel free to leave me questions on gardening or baking.  I will be more than happy to answer them for you.  I'm always looking for new recipes too.  Until next year.....remember to eat as local as possible and support your farmers and farmer's markets.  Our kids should know how their food is grown.  It doesn't just come from a grocery store it's grown on a farm.

The Only Yellow Squash & Lots Of Tomatoes

As you can see, not all of the garden is dead yet.  My one and only quash to survive to maturity.  I had a second one but an animal took a bit out of it and then spit it out.  The nerve!!!!  And then there are the tomatoes.  Lots and lots of tomatoes.  All different kinds.  We haven't had to buy any for a few months now.

Well, that's it for tonight.

Still growing

 Here's a peek into our zucchini fridge.  There are seven zucchinis in there right now.  I am going to make a zucchini cake out of at least one of them and a zucchini soup.

 Oh and did I happen to mention that we have some tomatoes?  We sure do.  Lots and lots of tomatoes.  There are all different varieties.  Tonight I picked the first Roma Tomatoes and a few Beefstake as well.  It's a good thing we like to eat tomatoes.

Zucchini & Tomatoes

Here is what I went out to find in the garden today.  Lots of different kinds of tomatoes and two zucchinis.  I am sad to report that something is wrong with the zucchini plants now.  They have some sort of white on the leaves and I think this may be it for them.  I really wish that our gardening season would last so much longer.  I love to putter around in the garden and grow things but I guess Mother Nature has other plans.  We more than made back our initial investment of $36.  So much love went into the planning, growing and tending.  When you grow vegetables yourself you appreciate more than just going to the grocery store and buying food.

More Vegetables From My Garden

 Good evening once again I bring you photos from my garden.  I went out to have a look and found one cucumber (it's the one with the slight curl in the end) and the zucchini.  The heavy rain of the last few days has made the plants so healthy and started everything growing again.  It probably helps that it's a bit cooler out too.

Here are some more peas and all different kinds of tomatoes.  I really enjoy the yellow tomatoes the best.  They are much tastier.  Well, that's all I have for you today.

Lots Of Tomatoes

Wow!  After the major thunder storm last night and heavy heavy rain, it kick started the tomatoes to finally turn red/yellow all at the same time.  I think they just want to come inside.  Thankfully there is no hail damage to any of the plants even though the hail was grape size.  The larger tomato is called a Big Boy.  You also see some more peas as well.

The zucchini seem to be taking a break now with lots of flowers but no more fruit.  I have one more cucumber growing on the vine.  I am really disappointed in our squash.  One plant had a squash on it and some animal ate it.  It wasn't the variety that the tag said either.  Oh well, live and learn.

We Finally Have Peas

I am so excited to say that I have finally picked the first three peas of the season.  I'm not sure what happened this year but the plants are tiny but the peas taste amazing!!!

More Zucchinis, Cucumbers and Cherry Tomatoes

 After our short vacation I went out to the garden to find some more giant zucchinis out there.  Our neighbour's took care of the garden for us and did a great job.

Here is a cucumber that had to be rescued from an animal attack.  Whatever animal it was ripped it off the vine and just left it there.  I guess it didn't like the prickles that are all over the cucumber.  Here are some more tomatoes.  They are not as sweet as the yellow tomatoes.

Sadly, whatever animal tried to steal the cucumber also took a bite out of my only squash.  I am really sad as I don't think we are going to get any other squash.

Lots Of Zucchinis

This is what I picked from the garden this morning.  I had to wait for the rain to stop.  5 zucchinis and a bunch of cherry tomatoes.  Mom is making a zucchini pudding out of some of these and my brother is baking some zucchini muffins.  YUM!!!!

Cherry Tomatoes

Just before the rain started today I picked some of our cherry tomatoes.  I really find that the yellow tomatoes are much sweeter than the red ones.

Our zucchinis are producing at an alarming rate.  We are going to have to set up a roadside stand just to deal with all of them.  If anyone has a good zucchini recipe that they want to share please feel free to send it along to me.

We have a few snow peas just starting to ripen. The plants are still really short but let's hope that the peas taste good.

Sweet Millions, Cucumbers & Zucchini

 Welcome back to my garden and all of the stuff I'm growing.  Yesterday I picked two cucumbers and three zucchini.  I can't begin to tell you how different vegetables taste when you grow them totally without chemicals.  All I add is water, and so far this summer Mother Nature has been supplying her fair share of water.

Here are the first two Sweet Millions cherry tomatoes.  There are a ton more just starting to turn red.

Golden Cherry Tomatoes And Some Lilies

 I went out to the garden this evening to water and look what I found.....the first ever golden cherry tomatoes.  This is the first year that I've planted this variety.  They are suppose to taste much sweeter than your regular red cherry tomatoes.

Here we have the grand appearance of the lilies.  Every year for the past two years they would get completely eaten by lily gnats.  This year, no gnats.  They are so pretty!

We have about 25 zucchinis ready to be picked.

My First Zucchini And Some Cucumbers

I just picked my very first zucchini from the garden.  I think it may be used in a chocolate chip zucchini loaf.  I'm not sure yet.  Also two new cucumbers that were just picked as well.  You know, the vegetables that you grow in the garden taste so much better than the stuff you buy at the grocery store.  I do not use any chemicals whatsoever in the growing of my garden.  YUM!!!!

I Have A Zucchini And Lots Of Cucumbers - July 3, 2014

 So after a lot of rain and very hot and humid temperatures (think tropical rain forest humid) I went out to have a look at the garden.  It's grown a little bit since I last posted.  As you can see we have our very first zucchini.  YUM!  I can't wait to make a zucchini chocolate chip loaf.

We have about 3 more cucumbers all just hanging there waiting to be picked. 

Here is a look at the garden just to show you how lush everything has gotten.  We even have a lot of green tomatoes of all different varieties. 

1st Cucumber - June 27, 2014

Welcome back to my garden blog.  This evening I've finally picked the cucumber.  I was worried that the animals would get to it.  It looks like there are about 4 more little ones out there.  The plants have now outgrown their cages and I had to put a garden stick for one plant and the other plant is climbing up the trellis for the peas.



I hope you all have a great weekend and get out there and plant something.

Cucumbers, Zucchini and Tomatoes - June 24, 2014

 Good evening and welcome once again to my garden.  Here is a better photo of the incredible cucumber.  Can anyone please tell me how do I know when it's a good time to pick it?  I've never grown this variety before, so I have no idea how large they get.

 Here you can just see the start of my very first zucchini.  It's time once again to get out all of my favourite zucchini recipes.  If anyone wants to send me their favourite recipe I'll give it a try. 

Here is a larger view of part of the garden.  Someone asked what the green netting at the back is for.  If my peas start to get taller it's suppose to allow them to climb up the netting.  So far one of the cucumber plants has started to climb up the netting.

Well, until it stops raining, That's all the photos for today.

Happy Summer - June 21, 2014

 Happy Summer to everyone reading this.  The garden has been planted for just one month now and already the plants have grown really well and we actually have a cucumber.  To be specific we have a Long English Telegraph Cucumber.  It still has a lot of growing left to do but I have never seen a cucumber this early in the season before.

 If anyone is wondering what the flowers that are growing in between the plants are for, they are Marigolds and they are to keep the bugs and animals away.  It doesn't keep everything away because something at two of the Marigolds.

 Here you can see some of the Early Girl Cherry Tomatoes.  Almost all of the cherry tomato plants have at least a few green tomatoes on them now.

 Here is what's left of my rose bush.  That empty spot beside it use to be my Queen Ann rose bush.  I'm really sad that they didn't make it through the ice storm.

We also have some strawberries there as well.

Here you can see my two Hosta plants that are about to bloom.  As you can see they are very happy with our beautiful summer weather.

I really hope that by reading my blog you get inspired to get outside and plant something.  It's so important that our kids know where their food comes from.  Farming is so important.  Until next time go out and plant something.

More Storms, Roses And Strawberries - June 17, 2014

 Another hot and muggy day and more nasty thunder and lightening storms.  So far two of them.  Just before the noon hour a storm came up so fast that four golfer got hit while out on a golf course.  They didn't have time to get inside before they were hit.

Then again tonight as we were eating dinner the sky got really dark and the wind picked up and then the torrential downpour along with the lightening and thunder.  A tornado ripped through Angus, Ontario.  It's still very dark out and I have a feeling we're not done yet.


Here you can see the very first rose that opened yesterday.  In the next few days there should be a few more.  This is the only rose bush that survived.







Here you can see some of the first strawberries that I've picked.  The birds got most of them though.  They are very tiny this year, but oh the taste is amazing.  The strawberries you get in the store are horrible compare to these.

Thunder, Lightening, Heavy Rain, No Power, Oh And Squash Plants - June 12, 2014

So last night we had one heck of a nasty storm.  Intense thunder and lightening that was so bright you could see it even when my eyes were closed.  And then the rain came down.  It came down hard for so long that our neighbourhood looked like we were living on lakefront property.  The water inched up from the flood on the road, onto the grass and into the hydro vault that shorted out.  For the next 5 and a half hours we were in the dark.  I had flashbacks to this winters ice storm.  So I called our power company to report the outage and they were telling us to go to their website.  Um exactly how am I suppose to do that when the power is out?  You can't get anyone to speak to in the middle of the night either.  All you get is a recorded message basically saying that they have no clue when the power will be back on or what the problem is.  I called back in the early morning and heard that the power would be on by 7:02 am......that's nice seeing as it's 7:30 am and we still don't have power.  You feel so isolated when the power is out and you can't listen to the news to find out what the problem is.

Sorry I got off topic.  We finally found some squash plants at Canadian Tire.  They are called curly top squash.  I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.  I still can't find broccoli or strawberries.  I think the plants I have are doing really well though.  The peas are getting taller and the zucchini has tripled in size since planting and the tomatoes have flowers.  The one thing that isn't doing very well are the marigold flowers.  I planted them as a bug deterrent and oddly enough the bugs are eating the flowers.  Ok at least they are acting as a decoy eating the flowers and not the plants.  Well, that's all for now.

June 6, 2014 - Sprouting Peas And Flowering Cherry Tomatoes

Last night I went out to water the garden and I am happy to report that the peas have finally started to sprout.  I think the problem may be that I planted the seeds too deep.  Oops!  Live and learn.  I didn't want the birds to eat them.

The cherry tomato plants have got flowers on them already.  This is really exciting!  We've had a lot of very hot weather but in the last two days it's been much cooler.  I think the plants do much better when it's in the low 70's.  They seemed to have grown faster.  The zucchini and cucumber plants have tripled in size.

Some of our strawberry plants actually have tiny strawberries on them.  There aren't many plants left after the horrible winter.  I tired to buy some more plants but nobody seems to have any.  The plant selection at the garden centers this year has been extremely limited.  (photos of my garden to follow later tonight)

Growing Season 2014 - Let The Garden Begin

So once again I have started to grow my vegetable garden.  This year the garden centre was a little understocked.  We are still missing a few plants.  So far I have planted Sweet Millions Cherry Tomatoes, Beefstake Tomatoes, and one Yellow Girl Cherry Tomato plant.  I have zucchini, cucumber, and tomorrow I will build my pea trellis and plant the Snow Peas.  We planted this all last night but ran out of daylight and have to continue tomorrow.  I would like to find some Butternut Squash and broccoli but so far the garden centre doesn't have any.  We are planting late because of the bad winter we just had and the late spring.  Thankfully it seems we have skipped right over spring and have moved right into summer.  It's nice and hot out.

My Hosta have come up nice and strong again this year.  It's weird as they seemed to have moved over from where I had originally planted them.  The strawberries are in full bloom right now so I hope we get a lot from the plants that didn't die off over the winter.  Our Queen Ann Rose bush has now completely died and we just have one or two branches of another rose bush still left.  I will cut it completely back and see what's left.

Well, I'll keep posting photos as things grow.  Wish me luck!

Happy Mother's Day Flowers

 To all the Mom's all over the world Happy Mother's Day! 

I came out yesterday morning to find the these flowers in full bloom and the tulips are just beginning to open.  I'm sure by this afternoon they will all be open.

I'm sad to report that we lost two hanging baskets of strawberries.  They didn't survive the horrible winter.  I will have to replace them when I get to the garden centre.  A few of the strawberries near the house did make it but very few.

We are suppose to be able to plant a vegetable garden in two weeks but there is still a very big possibility of frost.  I will turn the soil and add new earth but except for the frost hearty plants like the peas, potatoes, and onion I will hold off for another week.

Well, that's all for today.  Go out into the garden and teach your kids where their food comes from.  It's so important that they learn how to grow vegetables.  If they grow vegetables they are more likely to try them.

Spring 2014 Has Finally Arrived

Yes my dear readers spring has finally made an appearance after a very very long winter.  As you can see from the photos, the snow is all gone and the tulips and other flowers are just starting to peek their heads out of the ground.  I am so excited to share another growing season with you this year.

My first project will be to draw out the garden plot and built a pea trellis.  This year my pea plants will grow up a nice mesh trellis.  I can't wait to build it.

If anyone has any gardening questions or tips feel free to send me an e-mail and I will be more than happy to respond.