With the first day of summer getting closer I am happy to finally have some veggies and fruit planted. It seems like it has taken forever to get as far as I have, and I’m nowhere near finished as much as I wanted to by this point. Between night temperatures hovering in the single digits (yes, still 😡) it’s not making for happy plants. My peas are doing okay but not much else is thriving. I planted radishes, arugula, peas, tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Oh, and cucumbers. The radishes aren’t up yet which is surprising. I also planted 10 potatoes in a raised bed filled with straw. Yes, I’m trying it again. I haven’t had much luck with that method but maybe one of these years. Now to answer the question I asked you, I would have to say my 5 favourites are: 1. Peas 2. Cucumbers 3. Onions 4. Spinach 5. Carrots I started this post while my grandson was napping and my granddaughter was playing, but she has decided to crawl all over me so I have to cut it short. Let me know your 5 favourite veggies.

This is taking much longer than I expected it to, but when the weather (and body) don’t want to cooperate then one just has to get done what they can. I got my topsoil, sand, and gravel brought in earlier this week so I have been trying to get the beds ready. Two of them still have the straw in them that I used last year (straw bale gardening did not go as well as I had hoped) so I’m going to top them up with soil and sand. The smaller of the 4 has been layered with cardboard, grass clippings, soil/sand mix, straw, more soil, and more straw. The top will be a mix if sand and soil. That one is going to be for a variety of flowers that will bring in the pollinators and feed the birds. The 4th one (empty at the moment) will hopefully get filled by the end of the weekend. It’s times like these I wish I had a little tractor with a bucket. I put up a cattle panel so my hops have something to climb. I’m thinking perhaps cucumbers along the right side of the panel, because they’ll be great for fresh eating. I just hope I don’t run out of summer before I get everything finished that I want to. How is your garden coming along? (Even if it’s just a pot of herbs or some flowers, it all counts.)

Okay, maybe two. The garden beds will be finished this week (🤞🤞🤞) and the bird space under the oak tree will be done by the end of the first week of June. The gravel, sand, and soil will be delivered mid-week (10 cubic yards of each), which means my kitchen garden beds will be filled and planted. There will be 4 additional raised beds put in with the existing 4, which should provide enough fruit, veggies, herbs, and flowers for me, kids/grandkids, and my sisters…plus a friend or 3. What are your garden plans (if any)?

Well, almost! The citronella (citrosa) plants that I started from cuttings are loving life for the most part. A few are a little leggy but that’s on me. (My best friend and my 2 sisters are enjoying the ones I gave them, as well as the other plants I sent home with them.) I am pleasantly surprised to see the morning glory blooming because it hasn’t been very happy since I moved it out to the greenhouse. Temperatures were a little colder than it prefers but the fact that it’s blooming has given me some hope. Yesterday I transplanted over 30 pepper plants and a couple of tomatoes. I’ll do more of the tomatoes this afternoon I think. The petunia was bought at a local greenhouse, as were a couple of other decorative plants. My flowers didn’t germinate; most likely due to the fact some of the seeds were decades old. I’m not in any hurry to get anything put outside yet because of the wind. My raised beds still need to be topped up with soil as well so nothing can go in them yet either. I also learned that ground cherries do not like the cold either. The 4 I started were doing great in the house but got a little chilly a few nights ago and are looking very sad. Tuesday was my birthday, and on Wednesday my daughter asked if I wanted to go greenhouse hopping. She sneakily paid for the Nanking Cherry I picked out so now I have to find a home for it; most likely in my growing orchard. What’s happening in your garden at this point? Still too cold or are the perennials in full bloom?

Outdoor gardening here in Zone 3 is limited to roughly 4 months so we need varieties that grow quickly. Some plants take all of that (and sometimes need more) to reach maturity. We can extend our season by using greenhouses, row covers, high tunnels, cold frames, and raised beds (or a combination of). Many of our flowers are started in February or March by greenhouses and sold as bedding plants in late May-June. It is because of dedicated horticulturalists that we can enjoy some instant colour as the sun shines longer and warms the air and soil. In this post I'm going to fill you in on my greenhouse and raised beds. Greenhouse: I purchased a 10' x 10' greenhouse two summers ago (2023) and was excited to fill it with vegetables. I built a bench along the east wall so I would have a work/growing space, and proceeded to plant seeds for rhubarb, Goji berries, asparagus, marigolds, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and more. Surprisingly most of what I planted germinated and grew; even the rhubarb and Goji berries. My first season I had a dozen tomato plants, several peppers, cucumbers, and a mix of flowers. I was able to plant the trees and rhubarb in my newly made orchard, as well as the asparagus. (I'm hopeful to get at least a couple spears this spring.) My biggest challenge with the greenhouse was keeping it from getting too hot. It only has a door and window for air circulation, and the wind was rarely from the north to provide the right amount of airflow. I did have a successful harvest even though it wasn't properly ventilated. I ate tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers for weeks. My 2024 season wasn't as bountiful because it was a hotter, drier summer. I added a fan for air circulation but it still didn't seem to do the trick. Plus I had an infestation of spider mites that I just couldn't get rid of. (I'm hoping the brutal cold we're experiencing this month takes care of any lurkers.) I ordered an automatic vent arm for the roof but didn't get it installed. I'll install it this year so the excess heat should escape from the top, providing a more comfortable environment for the plants. Having the extra air circulation will benefit the plants inside giving them stronger stems and encouraging growth.