Sept 7, 2014

We returned from our epic Alberta road trip to find things much as we expected.  Tomatoes and peppers were ripening in the greenhouse.  Squashes were swelling and carrots were growing.  We also found huge amounts of apples all over the ground.  It appears that we happened to time our vacation for exactly when the apple trees wanted to be harvested.  Oh well, we still got plenty of fruit from them and can look forward to even more next year.  

Shallots curing in the sun.

Purple potatoes, green bans and rutabagas.

Cabbage, a severely over-ripe melon and tomatoes.

Some seriously warped cucumbers.

Salad tomatoes and purple tomatillos.

Bell and Red Bulls Horn peppers.

Jalapenos are done growing.  I figure I'll just leave them on the plant until we need them.

Some bulls horns starting to blush.

Limes!

Big beautiful Macintosh apples.  The apples on this tree are at least twice the size of what they were last year.

The runner beans kind of took off while we were gone.  They're climbing right up into the tops of the apple trees.

Some blue hubbard squashes.

Our big pumpkin which looks like it will be ready about a month too early for halloween.

Some decent sized heads starting to form on the brussel sprouts.

More apples than we know what to do with. 

Our second crab apple harvest.

August 15, 2014

We are about to set out on our epic road trip to Alberta, so I figured I would get in a post before we left.  We weren't sure if the crab apples would all keep until we got back, so we made sure to get a batch of crab apple jelly done.  By the time we get return there could be some major changes in the garden.  I expect to come home to masses of ripened tomatoes and peppers, fat winter squashes, runner beans, and macintosh apples.  Thankfully we've got exceedingly helpful parents that will be looking after things while we are gone. 

Sam picking apples

Cass needed a bit of a boost

cutting, coring and snacking

even grandma helped out

boiled down

the juice

The finished product!!

melons in the greenhouse

Jalapenos

Blue hubbard squash

Vegetable marrow squash

Our soon-to-be-massive pumpkin

Drying beans

Rutabagas

Runner bean flowers in bloom.  A nice snack for the hummingbirds.

The last zucchini of the year.

This zucchini plant was huge and productive, but it was time for it to come out.

It's amazing how much space it took up in the bed.  Now there's room for the fall broccolis and cabbages to grow.

Brussel Sprouts and sprouting broccoli

July 23rd, 2014

We took the kids on a 5 day camping trip this week to Miracle Beach.  We all had a wonderful time, and definitely enjoyed some quality family time.  The day after coming home we ventured out into the garden and found an absolute jungle.  Who knew so much could change in 5 days!

The Zucchini plants and Marigolds are now officially toddler height.

Beans, peas and brussel sprouts are all thriving.

Some of the zucchinis we found were absolutely massive!

My early Rutabaga ready for harvesting.

A pleasant surprise.  A little cauliflower head about the size of a loonie.

Still getting raspberries from the patch,

and more zucchini than we can probably eat in one go.

The first of the yukon golds and the last of the cheiftains.  About 2.2 kg worth.

The first Rutabaga I've ever grown.  Slightly bigger than a softball and weighing about a kilogram.

300g of fresh carrots.

Beautiful little salad tomatoes.

A huge haul of zucchini.  4.5 kgs worth, the largest weighing in at 1.5kg.

400g of peas

Lots and lots of green beans.  220 pods coming in at 4.3kg.

Pretty good for a rookie in my first summer season.