Blooms and Fruit...what is happening in the garden

Niagara Grapes

The last of the day's sun on Fuchsias

 

Black Krim Tomatoes...the cracking is normal and to be expected

Asters.....usually bloom in the fall. Never in July before.

The greenhouse addition is coming along...Part two

 

A bit of glass is on now. We need more of the wonderful tape that holds the glass in place before we can continue. Our greenhouse 'guy' is on vacation.

 

Notice the three plants inside the actual greenhouse now.

Two of the shrubs have been removed and potted.

I have removed the black currant and one of the guava's

The newly potted up Chilean Guava waiting to be replanted.

I think I know what is eating my peaches off the tree

There has been a Robin around the yard for several months. I am pretty sure she is a juvenile from the spring hatches. I have a feeling that she is the perp. I took a half dozen peaches off the tree yesterday and there were another six or so today. So I dug around in the shed and found netting and did a real amateurish job of covering the tree. So here they are...and no more damage.

 

 

Update: I no longer think that it is a Robin. Could it be a squirrel? Photos to follow.

An addition to my greenhouse...oh joy!! Part one.

 

Allan regularly watches usedvictoria for another greenhouse for us. We wanted to put up a second one without a concrete pad...just soil and manure and put the citrus trees right in the ground in it. We lost out on two 8x12' greenhouses that have come up in the last year, but this weekend Allan found a small greenhouse 8x6' that is exactly like ours but shorter. What that means is that it can tack onto the existing greenhouse making it 8x18’ from the current 8x12'. It is tricky and will be a lot of work, but my greenhouse is growing by 50%. When we put the greenhouse up about 35 years ago, I situated it with the intention of buying a six foot extension when I had the money. It just didn't happen in the timeline I had envisioned. So better late than never.

 

 

The plants that are within this new section are a Black Currant and two Chilean Guavas. There are not staying there, but the guavas are just setting their fruit so I am hoping we can build around them and move them in the fall. The Currant will be cut back and moved shortly.

 

This is the photo from the ad for my greenhouse. I must say I do get a bit sad every time I see empty greenhouses. It's a greenhouse not reaching its full potential and dreams.

The gardens are pretty much weed free finally...and manure spreading has commenced

Shiro Plums....oh I cannot wait for these luscious babies to ripen !!

Getting sick with the mold/second hand smoke induced cough had set me back a few weeks, so weeding wasn't really possible and things got a bit out of hand. The other thing I noticed was quite a few yellowing plants. I suddenly realized that I hadn't done full on Back to Eden in my yard and much of the new garden I put in last year had lots of wood chips but no manure. Duh. So I am spreading manure around and things responded really quickly.

I put two big loads of manure on Jinxed Bed #3. It is where the Strawberries from next door ended up. If you remember, there was a strawberry patch next door that had so many Buttercups, you could hardly find the strawberry plants. I found a few I could get out and cleaned the roots completely to make sure there were no Buttercup roots. They produce loads of large, red, sweet strawberries. Neighbour Judy gave me an Albion strawberry today that was so good. I am going to take it the strawberry patch that doesn't produce well and try this new variety.

Here is a photo of the actual strawberry bed before it was removed. I bet you thought I was exaggerating about the strawberries being hidden. There are a few blackberry canes lying on the bed, but honestly, can you see any strawberry plants?

 

Picking blueberries...a very satisfying endeavour

Cleaning blueberries. With Charlotte by my feet...as always.

 

It was the perfect day to pick blueberries. Garden Cat Beamer helped of course. He was on my lap as I picked and at one point he was curled up napping on me. So I sat and waited for him to wake. It was nice just to sit in the bushes for a bit. Then I resumed. I planted the blueberries three years ago and dreamed of having a nice harvest like today. It is a small 'walk' with ten blueberry plants. I thought I would have one nice old Tupperware bowl full but in fact I got two heaping bowls. They are huge and were so heavy I weighed them. 6lbs and 9.3ozs. I'm going to make a nice batch of jam. Maybe tomorrow!! The Blueberry Walk is exactly as I envisioned three years ago.

 

***For the record, I have not watered these blueberry plants at all this year. Not once. They are proof positive that the Back to Eden way of gardening absolutely works just as they say it will***

The house next door...the back yard after pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a glimpse of what it looked like when we bought the house. It sure is different isn't it. Here is a link to the complete before picture post !!