Today harvest

So, I got some big zukes, the biggest one is 475 grams, the third harvest of peas, second harvest of beans ( beans are 756 grams ), and ipomoea aquatica.

Beauty in the garden

Early August blooming

What's blooming now ? Let's see, I got sweet pea, onion ( in the vegetable garden ), statice ( from seed last March, good for drying and cut flower ), dahlia.
And here are blue queen salvia, early charm aster and gailardia ( from seed last March ), verbena .

July Harvest

I just harvested when I need it. There are still a lot in the garden.

Small carrots are from thinning out. Snap peas, hot peppers, zuchinni, beets, head lettuce.

Grand rapid lettuce, swiss chard, zuchinni blossoms, green onions.

Alaska peas, and there is still a lot in the garden too.

Update vegetable garden

Vegetable garden in first week of August. Everything grow good, I didn't get any damage from hail storm last July.

The view from the other side.

The narrow view.

The 2nd floor view. The other side by the back fence still in progress, It is next year project.

Herb garden, hubby is so happy to harvest his first onion bulb for tomato salad, and he said can't wait for fresh tomato and fresh onion on the bowl, he he he.

Head lettuce, ipomoea aquatica, beet, hot chilli. I just harvested big bunch of beets , and still a lot in the garden.

Swiss chard, zuchinni, heirloom tomato, red currant.

Tomato patch , bean, lettuce, sweet corn by the porch.

June and July blooming

What's blooming in June? Well, a lot. I did not expect any blooming for perennial, because most perenial will blooming in its second year, but I'm lucky, maybe because I choose easy growing perennial , I even started them last March from seed. Sweet pea , ornamental allium, agastache start blooming.

Aster alpinus on its second year, multiply readily and blooming a lot, campanula carpatica started indoor last January, wee willy from saved seed last year, gomphrena started indoor last February.

July update in vegetable garden

Herb garden in first week of July, everything grow good, I grow parsley, chive, sage, sweet basil, lime basil, lavender , mint, thyme, they are growing in the black plastic nursery , so they don't take over the entire planter box, and look neat. Onion , garlic and strawberry are growing around them. Poppy is growing in the corner and echinacea is in the other corner. Bees and butterfly look busy in this area.
I sowed corn seed on June 2nd, they grow fast almost catching up some corn that grow earlier indoor. Sunflower grow in each back corner. Zuchinni grow in the front corner and the middle of planter.

Pea pods and sugar snap peas are climbing the trellis I built using twine on the iron rod and bamboo stake. In the front row are Early great Lake Head lettuce, carrot, beet, swiss chard, for interplanting I plant radish and green onion around carrot. But since onion is bad companion planting for peas , so I plant onion about 2 month later after peas start climbing the trellis.

Cucumber with radish for companion plant. I built cucumber trellis using bamboo stake and put it on 50 deg angle, so when cucumber get mature provide shade for lettuce. Beet, nasturtium, green onion, calendula grow here.

Bush bean, grand rapids lettuce and spinach.

1st batch of beet, head lettuce, carrot and green onion. Beet need thinning when they grow around 4 " tall, and use the green for salad or stir fry.

I don't plant this , but it keep pop up around the garden, and I keep it grow , it looks like kale or chinese brocolli and it look yummy too, lol. Does anyone know what is it ?

Bright Light Swiss chard. Good for stir fry. I keep harvest them for my self and give away to my neighbour and friend , but it keep growing nicely, the leaf even bigger.

Spinach ready to harvest. Yum yummy...

Ipomoea Aquatica. In south east Asia like Indonesia and malaysia, it called kangkong or kangkung, it is very popular on spicy stir fry.

Tomato, Long bean, onion, calendula, parsley, mint grow here. Parsley and mint improve flavour for tomato, calendula and onion to keep pest away. But keep onion more than 1 ft away from bean.

I plant little blue chili pepper, cayenne, habanero and green bell pepper. Onion, marigold , calendula, basil grow here for companion planting to keep pest away.

Honey bicolor sweet corn grow by the back porch with sunflower , long bean and zuchinni. Lavatera grow in the back row. Golden Bantam corn and super sweet corn grow in the other side by the nook. I planted them earlier indoor on the cocopeat pot to see the different between indoor seedling and direct sowing.

June harvest

Vegetable garden on June 26th, something is ready to harvest.

My first harvest was little blue chilli, chayenne, green onion, and swiss chard , I cooked it for stir fry, hmmm yummy.

2nd harvest on June, grand rapid lettuce, spinach, little tiny strawberry, parsley, green onion.

Cherry belle radish, my husband made cheese spread for sandwich, chopped radish with sour cream and ricotta cheese. yummy...

Vegetable Garden 2010

I design some stuff for my house landscaping, and I want vegetable garden in the backyard , so this spring around end of April ,hubby built it for me , lucky me, I have handy hubby. Long planters are 3 x 12 ft for growing corn, peas, tomato and chilli pepper.

Small planters are 3 x 4 ft for green such as lettuce spinach, cauliflower and bean.

The medium one in the middle is 4 x 4 ft for herb garden. Because of herb is spread faster so I put black plastic nursery container for planting herb, I put some gravel in the bottom for good drainage. That way herb will not spread around the planter . For soil , I use screened top soil mix ed mushroom compost , cow manure and peat moss. So far I'm so happy with them.

Planting Nepeta x faassenii

Nepeta or catmint is one of easy to grow perennial and it grow in zone 3. It can be propagate from seed, cutting or layering. But the easiest way is from cutting .
- In my experience , I propagated Nepeta x faassenii from seed on March 1st in the heated greenhouse. Sow 5 to 8 seeds per plug or 4" pot on good seeding mix, cover by plastic to create humidity. Seed will germinate after 1 to 2 weeks. After first leaves appear, pull out the weak seedling, and fertilize with fish emulsion or starter fertilizer twice for a month. Hardening off seedling when temperature above 10 deg C. I done this in the second weeks of May. Transplant seedling in the garden after danger of frost.
- I propagated nepeta from cutting too. This is the easiest way to propagate the plant and can be done anytime from early spring until August, so the plant can have time to establish the root before first frost coming. Take cutting about 4 " below the leaf node, and strip all lower leaves but the top one to reduce moisture lose. Dip the cutting end tip on rooting hormone and put on the seeding mix or good compost. Cover the pot by plastic or put in the propagator. In about 5 to 7 days, cutting should have root ready. Leave it for 2 or 3 days in its pot then transplant the plant to individual pot or straight in to the garden. Nepeta is fast growing plant and hardy to zone 3.

Seedling picture

Well, spring fever here, and still continue with seeding schedule since I started it last February, I know too early but I want the garden in full bloom . My wishlist in 2010 garden are front yard flower bed, rock garden, cutting garden, and vegetable garden. Because lots of plant on my wishlist , it is about hmmm... 80 seed varieties, and 9 bulb varieties . I know , a lot... So, I have to grow my own seedling. Here my seedling pictures in the cutie greenhouse.

I used plastic cup and foam cup, I got 100 pcs small size per pack for cheap.

Tomato seedling started on March 15th, and gomphrena.

Chilli and petunia double.

Agastache blue fortune and campanula carpatica.

Alyssum snowstorm, this is a must flower in my garden, because it is attract bee and so fragrant.

Calendula for vegetable garden companion plant. Shasta daisy in the bottom right.

Carnation for cutting garden.

Celosia and bachelor's button also for cutting garden, container and bed as well.

Nepeta fassenii. for rock garden.

Salvia blue queen, celosia, statice, bachelor's button.

2 weeks old dahlia.

Marigold bonanza, disco queen, disco red, coleus ( still tiny), african daisy. Sorry picture is blury.

Papaver somniferum or peony poppy, wintersown on end of January and germinate on mid March.

Gailardia. Wintersown on end of January and germinate on mid March.

I try wintersowing , see if it germinate in zone 3 winter. I try coneflower, gailardia, rudbeckia, geum, agastache, wild rose, poppy, campanula carpatica, columbine.

Swiss chard, lettuce and spinach, grow in the greenhouse since last February. But now, I put it outside during the day and put it back in the greenhouse during night . Well, I still have more seedling pictures, I will show it in the next post.