A full weekend of good weather--and some serious "father-son time" for Kevin and Colin--allowed me to get the final bits of my garden planted-out this past weekend. So far this year, I'm doing everything from seed (provided by the good people over at Heritage Harvest Seed Co., but I always find that planting from seed--especially in our Zone 3 climate--requires a huge leap of faith. We only have a three-month growing season, and I just can't believe that seeds can germinate, sprout, flower and fruit all within three months.Part of my problem may be that the only other year I have planted from seed in Edmonton I didn't get to see my garden grow. Kevin and I were in Germany for the entire month of August, and, by the time we got back, the frost had just arrived. Our housesitter said the garden was glorious, but I needed to see it to believe it. There had been nothing but a bunch of short weedy things when we left in July.
Of course, Mother Nature is full of surprises. I sowed the first half of the garden two weeks ago--the lettuces, chard, radishes, and carrots--and despite the near constant freezing rain and the two late-season snowfalls, I saw the first little sprouts over the weekend. I had nearly given up hope, but then again, I'm a very impatient gardener. In fact, were I ever to write a gardening book it would would be called The Impatient Gardener and would feature only very precocious varieties.
The radishes have arrived ...
... but will anything come of my tiny tomatoes?However, I'm going to try one more season from seed and see if anything comes of it. So without further ado, here's the full list for Summer 2010:
Bean, Thibodeau de Comte Beauce
Bean, Improved Golden Wax
Carrot, Scarlet Nantes
Cabbage, Early Jersey Wakefield
Chard, Five-colour Silverbeet
Corn, Simonet
Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson
Lettuce, Drunken Woman
Lettuce, Merveille des Quatre Saisons
Pea, Homesteader
Radish, Cherry Belle
Rhubarb
Tomato, Andrina Cherry
Tomato, Bison
Tomato, Sophie's Choice
Basil, Lettuce Leaf
Chives
Cilantro
Dill
Thyme
Bachelor Buttons, Jubilee Gem
Calendula
Cosmos, "Sensations"
Daisy, Shasta
Daisy, Painted
Echinacea
Hollyhock, "Nigra"
Nasturtium,“Empress of India”
Poppy, "Mary’s Ukrainian"
Sunflower, Arikara
Sunflower, Italian White
Sunflower, Velvet Queen
Zinnia, Creeping
The rhubarb (which I "borrowed" from an obliging field) is doing very well ...
... but, as usual, my best crop is dandelions.
3 comments:
Ah, I love reading about other people's gardens. I am not as ambitious as usual with my own this year, but things are growing. I'm in Wisconsin, so we did have frost up until fairly recently but our growing season is definitely a fair bit longer.
Everything is looking beautiful so far!
you are getting a great start! isn't it the most fun to thumb throught beautiful seed catalogs and choose?
I can't wait to find out how you get on. I wish I could get more in the ground this year, but I think its too late. It's not so much the early frosts I have to worry about in the UK, it the glorious british summers of rain, rain, rain.
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