March 22 Jericho Beach Park

 

March 21 Garden Bed 107

Another new temporary garden, until construction begins ........ opted for only one bed here, in case my other temporary garden closes down ..... $15 per year and no volunteer hours required .... there are a number of these gardens around the City; developers get a tax break and gardeners get to garden .....

Anyhoo, still not familiar with type of "visitors" to the garden, so thought I'd start with some early spring greens ..... if they disappear, not much of a loss ..... unlike tomatoes!!

and some snow peas ..... did a double row and will add a short trellis once the peas have started to grow .... 

Bed 107 planted for early spring .....

March 20 Happy First Day of Spring!!

 

March 14 Pepper and Tomato Update

Peppers are up ....... planted March 6 ....... Ajvarski,  Zolotistyi,  Collage - Between the Lines  and  Tangerine Dream (two of each)

and the seeded tomatoes are on the heat ..... here comes Spring!!

March 13 Tomato Sowing Day

now that my sweet peppers have sprouted I have room on my heat source for the tomatoes ...... thought I'd better get these in before I yet again change my mind ....... same soil mixe used for my peppers ...... only one seed planted of each, apart from 8 for Lilibet ...... early enough to replant if some fail to germinate; decided I didn't need/or have space for more than about 20 tomato babies

and here is a brief description/history of my 2023 tomatoes:

Dwarf Sara's Olalla Emerald:  3-4 ft. tall dwarf. Potato leaf. 2-6 oz. Round, green fruit.  Outstanding flavour.   Dwarf Tomato Project

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye:  from Brad Gates; compact Indeterminate. Early to mid-early.  8-12 ounce fruit.  Very sweet rich dark tomato flavour.  Port-wine colored beefsteak with metallic green stripes;   

Chocolate Sprinkles F1:   indeterminate hybrid with high yields of 5-7 fruit clusters bearing 1 oz fruit. Very sweet.  Beautiful red colour with dark green stripes. Crack resistant. Early 

Lilly 12 F3 seed (Lilibet):  My Grow out – plants now F4 (named in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II).   not a big plant – semi-det.? Heart with pink/gold stripes delicious!!  nice texture, good sweet/tart balance, no core, lovely juice ratio, nice and meaty; still segregating, hoping for more tasty hearts and an earlier harvest this year – on the late side

Rebel Starfighter Prime (x 2):  from breeder Russ Crowe - cross of Xanadu Picasso x RHK GWR Heart; two seed sources, as shapes do vary with source; red with with indigo/black anthocyanin shoulders and stripes of pink, bronze-green and indigo; heart or strawberry shaped, wispy and tall 

Momomakhi’s Hat:  semi determinate plants; large pink hearts; on the early side; wispy plants with regular foliage; very meaty and sweet

Dwarf Bendigo Moon:  Indet, reg leaf, 3-4 ft tall dwarf, 1-2 oz white cherry fruit, oval to plum shape with small point on blossom end, high yields, excellent flavour.  Dwarf Tomato Project

Tatjiana:  Indeterminate; 3 - 5 feet in height; compact, sturdy vines, and grows quite uniformly;  early variety that keeps producing;  quite resistant to fungus; dark green rugose foliage and golf ball size round red tomatoes 

Boar’s Tooth:  from Brad Gates;  mid-season indterminate variety with regular leaves;  produces  3-4 inch elongated tomatoes from 2 - 4 oz; very productive, meaty with a sweet and rich flavor; striping with dark red/brown coloring

Lucky Tiger:  from Fred Hemple; indeterminate, tall, regular-leaf vines are very productive and bushy. Fruits are 1 1⁄2 - 2 oz; about 2” long, greenish pink, bi color with subtle orange/green striped color with orange flesh inside; sweet flavor

Yellow Brick Road:  from Karen Olivier’s Wizard of Oz series; yellow on yellow striped mini beefsteak tomatoes on productive and sturdy small dwarf 18-20” plants

Dwarf Harmonic Convergence:  Potato leaf dwarf, excellent medium sized red fruit, good yields, great flavor with complexity, acid and sweetness; Dwarf Tomato Project

Blood Moon:  from Brad Gates; this rated a 9+ flavour rating last year, but fruit on small size and very low production; my plan is to use my rasied bed in an attempt to increase harvest; description calls for:  8-12oz fruit;  meaty, rich, and sweet; cross of Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and Blue Beauty with an  amazing mix of black and pink streaks and stripes

March 12 R Garden Fencing

found items used for some updated fencing ..... just too many two and four legged critters running about, hope this does the job

and the bean trellis is now in place .... although it will be a while before it is bean sowing time

March 10 VanDusen Botanical Garden

not quite spring yet ....... but some wonderful winter colour .....

the Heath and Heather garden

willow

cyclamen

crocus and grasses

not my favourite colour, but the patterns are amazing .....

March 9 Snow Peas

Oregon Spring - my most successful snow pea to date ..... thought I'd start these indoors ...... a bit of a head start on this unseasonable weather of late; haven't decided in which garden these will be planted

March 7 'R' Garden

perfect gardening weather today, so decided to head over to 'R' garden to rejuvenate my rhubarb ......

unfortunately I did not get a picture of the rhubarb roots, but they took up a good portion of the back garden section; I was going to replant the fresh buds, but decided I don't make use of rhubarb and would much rather use the space for snow peas and beans ...... I could not believe the amount of root mass I dug up

also an unexpected bonus - the manure arrived today, so that was added in a thin layer to my garden as well

no before pictures, but the finished product ........ my plan is to use the front half for dahlias, the beans and peas will go in the back portion ...... grow what you eat and enjoy, and consider what grows well in your space (this garden does not like tomatoes)...... my mantra for this season

didn't make notes, but two kales - maybe Scots? and one Red Scarvita Sui Choi overwintered ..

this kale was really good frozen for soups this winter, hope to save some seed

and two Lusia Radicchio, not sure if they will head up?

back end of the garden with the rhubarb now removed ..... manure added, so hopefully snow peas can go in in a few weeks ..... may start some seed inside soon

March 6 Time to Start My Sweet Peppers

decided on four sweet peppers this year ...... three new to me ........ I like to use fresh peppers in my summer salads and add them to my roasted tomato sauce frozen for winter meals .....

Ajvarski,  Zolotistyi,  Collage - Between the Lines  and  Tangerine Dream (two of each)

and a new mix this year ...... seems good so far:  2 parts each Fraser Valley and Pro-Mix seed starting mix with 1 part vermiculite

February 26 and 28 More Snow

wow, not totally unexpected, but there was a lot of it ...........

early morning 

day 1

blue sky

and sunshine

day 3
and it is still snowing

February 15 Beds 10, 11 and 64

thought I'd do a bit of a clean up on Beds 10, 11 and 64 .........  provided an amazing harvest of sweet winter greens ...... have made it through two snow storms to date

Mizuna, Scarlet Mustard, Claytonia and a few Tah Tsai

couldn't positively id much in Bed 64, so out it comes ..... saved a few Tah Tsai