Last year on Victoria Day I gave you a tour of my garden. It seemed appropriate, since the May long weekend is traditionally dedicated to gardening here in Canada. Also camping in the rain and drinking lots of beer, but since I hate camping in any weather and I’m not really a beer drinker, I’ll stick with gardening. There may be dirt involved, but afterwards you can retreat back inside and sleep in a warm, dry bed.
I thought that I’d create a tradition and once again seize this chance to show you what my garden’s been up to. My garden is sort of haphazard, and I really fly by the seat of my pants with my planting, but I really do try. Unfortunately, this has been a slow spring, so my garden is still in its early stages, but I’ll show you what I’ve got.
Up first, I’m still hardening off my melon seedlings in a sheltered spot before planting them in the ground. The plants on the top are canteloupe, and on the bottom we have watermelon.
I moved some of my flowering plants into pots to save valuable room in my garden for veggies. Behind the pots you can see my raised bed on the right, and some of my other garden beds on the left.
Here’s a close-up of the garden bed that you can see on the far left of the photo above. It has sage and mint. At the top a few little corn shoots are sticking through, and at the bottom I’ve planted dill seeds, which aren’t showing signs of life yet. Fingers crossed, though.
Continuing along the back of my house we have the sunniest spot in my garden. This year I’ve planted tomatoes, pepper and parsley here. On the far right of the photo we have raspberries and strawberries, as well.
Around the corner, along the East wall of my house, I have little squash seedlings.
There’s also my very healthy blueberry bush. I am tremendously grateful to whoever planted this blueberry bush, which produces a bumper crop year after year after year. You can see that it has blossoms already.
And finally, at the very end we have chives and potatoes. The potato plants have not yet made it to the surface.
Let’s not forget the raised bed, though. My father-in-law built me a pea trellis, which you can see on the top right. In this bed there are sunflowers, some very healthy garlic, peas, lettuce, chard and carrots. The melons will also be planted here.
But you know what makes me happiest of all right now? Little white blossoms, promising strawberries in the not-so-distant future.
What about you? What does your garden look like right now?
amberstrocel
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My garden is starting to fruit, but I won’t show photos until I’ve removed the weeds. Picked up a cold on vacation last week and even if that weren’t the case, it’s to rain again today. [excuses, excuses]
Oldnovice’s last post … Gardener in Training
My garden is full of weeds. There’re also some very enthusiastic volunteer leeks, and a game little rosemary that’s been mowed over twice!
Katie B.’s last post … Wordless Wednesday- Infant care
We don’t get a three day weekend, but for once the weather was okay, and we were not sick, so we got some gardening done! So now we have five tomatoes in, beans (including a teepee!), and sunflowers. Our potatoes, herbs, and greens have been in for a while and are doing great (they probably enjoyed all that rain). We still have cucumbers, dill, borage, more sunflowers, and calendula sprouting in pots. I don’t usually do summer squash because I get so sick of it, and I don’t do melons or winter squash because our season is just too cool … I’m always jealous of folks who can grow watermelon, yum!
Inder’s last post … I sewed with knits! And the world didnt end!
Twitter: AmberStrocel
says:
It remains to be seen if I can grow melons. I would think that my area is even cooler than yours, but I did taste some locally-grown melon last year, so I’m feeling optimistic.
Twitter: ladymrules
says:
I love home gardens! As the boys get bigger, I want to have planters with tomatoes, both because they love them so much and because they’ll get to experience what growing your own food is like. We have the clementine tree, but it doesn’t require any care from us, so it doesn’t feel like it counts!
Lady M’s last post … Hats and Bustles
It’s beautiful! I’m very envious of people with gardens, as long as we remain in Vancouver we will very likely never have one. Right now this is the best we can do:
http://www.aias.ca/2011/05/family-friendly-kitchen-table-gardening.html
Monika’s last post … Sunday Brunch- Fresh and Healthy Blueberry Pancakes
Ooh, your garden looks lovely! My garden is growing nicely, thanks for asking. I have similar strawberry flowers (yay!) and I went ahead and planted my tomatoes even though it’s not that warm yet. I was sure my potatoes weren’t going to sprout…so very sure that I almost dumped them out and used the pots for something else. Glad I got too busy to do it because they’ve sprouted up now and they’re growing fast. I am having a bit of trouble with ants eating my broccoli plants, which I’m fairly bummed about, but oh well–gardening is an experiment!
Amy’s last post … On Labels and Boxes and Trusting Your Gut
Twitter: mothersofchange
says:
Dude, blueberries are awesome for bumper crops around here!! I’m that person, who keeps planting awesome blueberry bushes everywhere i live and leaving them behind for the next people who move in!! =) But tell me how you do garlic? I want to grow garlic this year but all I found was elephant garlic, 3 bulbs in a pot for $7.99 at Port Kells. Did you grow them from seed? I just planted my garden last week and garlic is the one thing I haven’t found a plant or seeds for. Help! =)
p.s. my personal blog, although i know you are busy and have lots to follow, etc, but just in case you wanted to add to your blogroll, lol
http://www.vosefamily.blogspot.com
Melissa Vose’s last post … Birth In The 70s
Twitter: AmberStrocel
says:
Garlic is super-super easy to grow. Go to your local farmer’s market and buy a couple of bulbs. Break off the cloves, and plant them individually in the fall, like you would a tulip. In June, you’ll get the garlic scapes, which you can eat. In late summer, you let the plants dry out a bit and dig up your garlic. Easy-peasy.
Amber, Is your blueberry bush right up against your house? I have a couple of blueberry bushes I’m about to plant and I’d like to put them in a bed up against the house (like your squash seedling bed). Trying to research whether that’s an ok idea and came across your site:) Thanks!
Twitter: AmberStrocel
says:
Yes, the blueberry bush is right up against the house. I have no idea if this placement is optimal, as someone else planted it there, but it’s been very successful for me.