Thursday, July 1, 2010

June Garden Update

Most plants, especially those planted directly in the garden this spring, are a week or two behind due to some cool wet weather from end of May to mid-June. But with some recent hot weather, some are picking up the pace.

Unknown variety of Potatoes (above). This is what they looked like before planted (below).

They were received from friends of family in a small town in Saskatchewan who have been growing them for years. They have no scab and looked healthy, so thought we'd give them a try.

The R158 Amaranth seems to be growing very slow most likely due to poor soil conditions. In hindsight I should have dug out some of the heavy clay and planted the seedlings in a planting soil mix within the clay. I did not spread much compost this year due to short supply (it's amazing how much the volume reduces as it digests!). This section of garden was recently overturned sod that has a high clay content and likely low soil nutrients.

The Temuco Quinoa is also growing slow, most likely due to poor soil conditions.

The amaranth and quinoa seeds are from the last Seedy Saturday exchange table. Interestly, they were left at the table by a local garden blogger, whom I asked last year about where to obtain some amaranth and quinoa seeds! There are some excellent posts on Teresa's blog on how to harvest the amaranth and quinoa seeds I plan to reference.

Approximately from bottom to top of above photo: volunteer Chervil forest, Peas, Beans, volunteer Dill, experimental bird scaring device (some seedlings have been disappearing), Potatoes...

... Dill, volunteer Carrot, Potatoes...

... Brussels Sprouts, volunteer Spinach, Utrecht Blue Wheat, Quinoa (left of wheat)...

Delphinium (left), volunteer Oregano and Strawberries (behind).

Volunteer Chervil thriving where even the dandelions hardly survive.

Volunteer Chervil "forest". Chervil has a pleasant licorice flavour.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's one massive spud! Your garden still looks a bit ahead of mine, but I can't tell size very well in those pictures. All I know is that this time last year I was enjoying salads from the garden and this year nothing is higher than 6 inches tall, except beans and peas. Beans took 3 weeks to sprout. Tomatoes on deck are very happy though. Thanks for the update.

Teresa McLaren said...

Thanks for the shout out and link to my blog. I'm over due for an update. Only my volunteer Quinoa from last year is much ahead of your quinoa and amaranth. What I planted this year looks to be at about the same stage. It starts out slow but should shoot up in July!