Potatoes of Unknown Variety gradually being consumed. We dig them as we eat them, since no cold room or root cellar for storage.
Above: Unknown potato variety and Utrecht Blue Wheat. The wheat heads have begun to form but are green at this stage and not yet "blue".
Delphinium (transplanted from neighbour last year)
Amaranth R158 (Amaranthus cruentus) has decided to grow after all, though still slowly. The R158 variety is described as "developed by Johnny's Selected Seeds and Rodale Research Centre. The leaves and seed heads are mostly red. It is early and heavy yielding." The grains are rich in protein (16 - 18%). Amaranth is believed to be a domesticated form of Pigweed (Amaranthus hybridus). It was historically grown in Central America as long ago as 4000 BC [unreferenced wikipedia info, to be confirmed].
Carrot going to seed in its second year. The carrot was found in the garden this spring left behind from last year. It was transplanted to an appropriate location so we could collect the seeds.
Mystery volunteer plant/weed in compost pile.
Close-up of the mystery weed flowers.
Possibly some kind of volunteer Wild Mustard (possibly Brassica kaber)? I was debating letting it go to seed and try eating the seeds, but I changed my mind and pulled it. I might try if another one pops up. I think this is the Mystery Weed posted previously. 
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.
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.Recently talking with some friends about how potatoes are grown commercially in Alberta, I realized I know very little about how the potatoes we buy in the store are grown. We try to buy local food when we can but often don't know much more about local food than imported. I don't really know much about growing them in our back-yard either, but I'll save that for another post!
Reading up on the Alberta Potato Growers website has provided some interesting info about locally grown Alberta potatoes, some of which I'll summarize below:
Table Potatoes
Process Potatoes
Seed Potatoes
We are hoping to find local sources of organic potatoes to buy in winter when our garden supply runs out. I've come across at least one grower (Gold Forest Grains Farm) near Edmonton, and we hope to find some near Calgary.
Why Buy Organic Potatoes?
Unfortunately, conventional commercial potatoes receive more chemical application than most agricultural plants. Typical chemical application schedules used to grow potatoes in Alberta includes:
*An interesting note: A study found peeling potatoes removed 91−98% of total CIPC residue; washing reduced residues by 33−47% [Source]. There are organic sprout suppressants/inhibitors found be be effective, such as the essential oil of various herbs and hydrogen peroxide (approved as an organic sprout suppressant).
I understand that growing organic potatoes on an industrial or small scale would be more difficult, thus the higher cost of organic foods. But I wonder more and more if the organic option might more closely reflect the "real" cost of growing food in a "normal", healthy way? It is sad that the organic farming industry seems supressed (economically, politically, etc) in North America in many ways, or at least this is the perception I have. But this seems to be a trend that is already changing as we speak. The buying public is demanding it.
For now, I will continue to grow mostly organic potatoes in our backyard and buy high quality locally grown Alberta potatoes, but will be on the watch for organic options beyond our backyard. I mentioned "mostly" organic potatoes in our backyard as I have not been using organic seed potatoes, I have yet to source some organic suppliers for this.
Came back from vacation after 1.5 weeks to find the Thornton Potatoes had grown nearly 10 times in height since before we left! They were only a few inches high pre-vacation. I dumped some compost on them just before we left since they are heavy feeders plus it rained while we were away. And we had great friends watching over the garden for us. A good combination for lush growth.
A single Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard plant has bolted. Since then, no more have bolted. Not sure if this is normal. The marigolds (yellow, left in above photo) have finally started blooming.
Burgeoning Prairie Pride Tomatoes. They better get ripening quick before Jack Frost comes! Ripening has been slow with the rainy, cloudy weather. While visiting my aunt on vacation, she informed me that Prairie Pride Tomatoes are a "determinate" variety that grow out instead of up. Which explains why the wire cages I bought are not helpful. I've resorted to jute string staple gunned to used survey stakes from work (that would otherwise have been discarded). Determinate means (I think) they mature and die after a certain timespan instead of growing indefinitely until the first frost. However, in our climate this seems not likely to be any different with short growing season. There may be other differences I have yet to learn about.
The dill also grew some 10 times in height since pre-vacation, from several inches to several feet. A few dill plants provide more than we can keep up with. Some went to the freezer since they retain flavour better in the freezer than dried. We started harvesting peas and beans since vacation. By mid-August the pea harvest is more or less complete, and bean harvest carries on. Also on-going harvest of brussells sprouts, kale, swiss chard, chervil, oregano, rhubarb and neighbours raspberries. From most to least, the largest producers so far this year have been:
The tomatoes will likely catch up soon, likely climbing up to fourth or fifth place. The herbs have been large producers but we never seem to get around to harvesting them. Will have to work on that. Peas produced a lot less than I expected, but at least they are adding nitrogen to the soil. Good for crop rotation.
July has brought much needed rain, resulting in swiss chard, spinach, rhubarb, oregano, lovage and kale harvest nearly faster than we can keep up! Most is eaten fresh and maybe 30% frozen for use in winter. Bolted spinach harvest has involved chopping entire plants and stripping leaves, leaving most in garden to go to seed.
Most plants in photos are likely obvious, except maybe the Chervil at the bottom center of the above photo. Chervil is a yummy herb with liquorish-like flavouring. Note Lovage behind Brussels Sprouts at nearly 6 feet high (even after I chopped some down)!
The Blue Curled Kale, transplanted outside May 5, was ready to start harvesting the first week of July (left of Brussels Sprouts in above photo). The Dwarf Green Curled Kale (center of above photo) planted directly outdoors from seed (Apr. 11) is not ready yet for harvest, maybe by the end of the month.The feathery looking plants in above photo is Dill, planted directly outdoors May 28. The large leafy looking thing at center right in above photo is a volunteer poppy from the neighbours yard, left to grow.
Should have allowed more spacing for the Bubbles Brussels Sprouts! The sprouts are just starting to form along the stems and branches. This is fascinating for us since we have never grown these before.
Potatoes (between strawberries and tomatoes above), planted June 21, came up July 8! These potatoes were thought to be a one-of-a-kind breed (by myself) since they were re-planted at the grandparents farm for nearly a half century. However, I have been corrected and need a crash course on potato breeding. More to come.The June rainy season winds down and with more sun the plants begin to grow noticeably more. All have been well taken care of while on vacation by neighbours and friends.
Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, volunteer sunflowers from birdseed (not sure what kind yet. Any guesses?).
Norland Potatoes.
Volunteer sunflowers in compost pile.
Tomatoes, peas, carrots, swiss chard.
Rhubard showing some hail damage. Several hail storms with pea-sized hail this year, but most plants survived and recovered. Also purple beans (Royal Burgundy) around rhubard, snow peas and broccoli.
Yet more garden expansion for next year.
Flowers and miscellaneous annuals from Aunt Mary.
Norland Potatoes.
Mystery plant. The bird feeder is just above. The birds are messy eaters. Our neighbour's guess is sunflowers.
Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, red onions, lovage, radishes, random mystery plants (birdseed was likely in the compost).
Tomatoes and peppers from Aunt Mary in the last minute garden expansion due to lack of room.
Spaghetti Squash (Cucurbita pepo) which grew out of the compost from seeds of the discarded innards of a Spaghetti Squash which we bought from Co-op that we ate during winter (ate the squash, composted the innards, not vice versa). The squash's parent was grown in Mexico, so we were surprised to see it grow here! The flowers made great salad or stir fry additions. For the latter you can batter and fry. It did grow some squash, though they were mostly small and did not ripen completely before the first major frosts at the end of August and early September, but we still ate them anyway. In the end we harvested more flowers than squash! The flowers kept popping up every couple of days all summer.
Smooth Brome (Bromus ramosus ssp. racemosus) in the back alley. We are thinking to try planting some raspberries here.
Unknown Mystery Flower that came with the property. Any guesses? 
Potatoes (store-bought from Co-op), we didn't eat them in time so into the garden they went. A struggling paper birch (Betula papyrifera) behind dying a slow death due to my destruction of it's roots in the above garden expansion.
Mystery flowers, peppers, and spaghetti squash attacking the baby stroller.
Spinach (left), rhubarb and snow peas climbing in the back.
New garden expansion, ready for next year.
Left to right: 
The Purple one is "Clustered Bellflower" or Calmpanula glomerata
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