Pumpkin update!

Just got an updated photo of Pete's pumpkin and wanted to share.. it's now near 350 pounds!

Pete - what is the largest pumpkin you've ever grown and is this on track to beat that?

Enjoy! Happy Gardening!

Mid-August in the Garden

What a lovely time in the garden.. No matter how many of the small fruited tomatoes I pick, the next day, there are dozens more that are ripe and ready to pick! We're now enjoying sungold, yellow grape, yellow cherry, ladybug and red pear.. The costoluto are starting to ripen up too! In about a week, they should be ready to harvest. I have about a dozen roma tomato plants too and although they are heavily laden with fruit, not one seems to be turning colour! (Brenda - are yours finally starting to colour?) Once they start, the sauce making can begin.. some romas, garden garlic, handfuls of basil, just-picked onions.. can't you just smell it?

The zucchini are going crazy.. I picked about 20 4-inch wide patty pan and 6 kousa just before we left for PEI.. thought I'd share them with the Ontario cousins, who seemed thrilled by the garden bounty. (I also brought along some sungold tomatoes and a HUGE bowl of multi-coloured beans). Yet, by the time we returned only 5 days later, there was another dozen zucchini ready to pick.. no wonder gardeners leave excess zucchini on their neighbours doorsteps!

The peppers are always a bit slow to start in late spring when the earth is still a bit cool and the rain is more frequent than they like.. But by early August, the plants are 2 to 3-feet tall and covered with a variety of fruits. We grow jalapeno (my favourite!), sweet banana, cayenne, sweet chocolate, gypsy and Holy Moly, a smoky pepper that grows up to 8-inches long! The long, thin peppers start off deep green, but mature to a deep brown. This award winning pepper is very delicious and easy to grow. Not the greatest photo, but this pepper is now 7-inches long!

The white 'baby boo' pumpkins are looking gorgeous.. they're about 4-inches across and growing up one of our A-frame trellises. I'm so glad I planted the cukes and gourds on the newest A-frame trellis, as they're really weighing it down! Somehow, in early April, when I start the seeds indoors, I always forget how vigorous the vines are and how I should be a bit more conservative in the amount of gourds I grow! They're just so much fun, it's hard to use any restraint! We also have apple, spinning top, snake and speckled swan gourds!

The snake gourds are out of control! The vines are sprawling in every direction and 'snaking' under the fence and up a nearby spruce tree.. in fact, that vine is now about 12 feet in the air and has reached the top of the tree.. I have NO idea how I'm going to harvest those gourds! If you look closely, you'll see the huge, light green leaves of the gourd at the top of the tree.. anyone have a tall ladder?

Happy Gardening!

I'm Back!!!!!

Hello everyone - thanks so much for all the kind comments while I've been 'offline'. We just got back from PEI, and enjoyed good food, good family and good times (the weather was iffy!). What was the first thing I did after getting out of the car? Unload the luggage? Toss out the Tim Horton tea cups that were littering the car? Feed the children? Nope! I ran up to the garden to see if the deer had penetrated my fence while I was away.. they did. But I'm not too worried.. they didn't get too many beans (just had a HUGE feed tonight) and the summer photo shoot is over with almost 2 months until the autumn one..

Anyway, on a more garden-related note, I've been getting some gorgeous photos from some of the blog readers and wanted to share them with you! I'll get my butt up to the garden in the morning and snap some updated photos from my garden, but until then, I hope you enjoy these!

I've been following the progress of Peter from NB's giant cabbages for months now, and these are the most recent photos. As you can see, this cabbage is getting huge! I can't wait to see what they'll look like in another month! The bottle used for scale is a local ginger beer.. sounds good to me! Peter also grows giant pumpkins and when he e-mailed me a few days ago, the pumpkins were weighing about 80 pounds at 16 days after pollination. They're putting on 4 inches around a day, which translates into 15 pounds!! Every day!

Stephen and Shelia also e-mailed me some photos of their gorgeous veggie patch! His deer fence is apparently working better than mine.. They also grow rainbow chard, basil and garlic - check out this photo.. it looks good enough to eat..

Quick Tip - If you haven't put your fall carrots in yet, do so ASAP! There is still time for quick growing types like Napoli, especially if you're going to seed in a cold frame.. Also, you can still order seed for late Aug/Sept seedings of mache, claytonia, swiss chard, arugula, winter lettuces, spinach and more!

Happy Gardening!

Chicken Wire Joe

Ok, as promised, here are the photos of my photographer, who now forever be known as 'Chicken Wire Joe' - since he tripped on chicken wire and dislocated his shoulder.. If you can think of a better name, let me know! Who says garden photography isn't a dangerous business!

As you can see, the day after the accident, he managed to soldier through the pain and get all the shots we needed.. the sun even came out.. the location is one of our Maritime treasures.. a gorgeous spot that will be featured in my book and also an upcoming issue of Gardens East..

Happy Gardening!

Dislocated Shoulders and Crazy Weather

What a few days it has been! I've been busy with my book photographer Joe, taking photos of many of the veggie in my garden, as well as nearby gardens.. This is Joe's second trip up from Alabama, but I don't know if he's ever seen the sun in Nova Scotia. After record temperatures and hot, humid weather, it turned damp and cool as soon as Joe set foot on our soil.. Then, it started to rain. and rain. and torrential rain! When the rain slowed to a drizzle, we darted outside to get some shots at my neighbour Faye's amazing garden (and her dill pickles! I hope to include that recipe in the book!). Then, we headed to Chester, where Joe tripped over some chicken wire, while holding his two cameras.. down, down, down he went and landed on his shoulder, dislocating it!! Unbelievable!

Then, Joe was introduced to Canadian health care.. off we went to the Lunenburg hospital, where he was seen immediately and within 3 hours was drugged up, his shoulder reset and then finally released.. what an ordeal for him! Not being one to sit around and whine, he was ready to shoot yesterday and we managed to still get most of the photographs from our shot list..

Here's the funny thing about photographers - when we were at the hospital, he was in intense pain, hooked up to oxygen, and IV and various other contraptions.. he looks at me and says in a pain-filled voice, "Get the camera and take some pictures." I thought he was kidding, but nope, he really wanted photos.. only a photographer! I promised that I'd put them on the blog, so as soon as I figure out how to get my blackberry photos on the blog, I'll post them..

One more shoot today at the fabulous gardens of http://gardeningbren.blogspot.com and we're done and then he's back to Alabama.. at least until late September when he returns (if he dares!) for shoot #3..

Happy Gardening!

Photo shoot #2 starts with much needed rain..

The photographer for my upcoming book, Joesph De Sciose has just arrived back in the province from the hot and humid Alabama! Welcome back Joe! Of course, from the moment his plane touched down last night, the nice weather ended and the rain began.. murphy's law, I guess. Anyway, hopefully we'll still be able to get a bunch of good shots.. From what I've seen so far, Joe can work magic, no matter the weather..

Here's a 'goofy' shot from the first shoot. My editor, Carleen and I are working out our differences! Just kidding, we were laying out the materials for a photo shoot of constructing an A-frame trellis when we decided to have a little fun.. I'm in the ugly black boots, while stylish Carleen has the bright red boots that all the garden book editors are wearing this year..

By the way, in case you're wondering what the outcome of the sword fight was - I won! :)

Happy Gardening!

Beans and Nasturtiums

The darn deer have been back.. and just as I was about to whack the Scarecrow sprinkler with a baseball bat, I discovered that the battery had died.. so, I assume that the deer invasion wasn't the fault of the sprinkler and instead of turning it into a pile of expensive rubble, I inserted another 9 volt. Fingers crossed that it continues to do its job.. so far, so good - at least when the battery is good.. plus, Marjorie Willison was on the radio show today and she offered an interesting solution to deer - one that has worked for the Urban Farm in Spryfield.. They put up a fence - 4 to 5 feet tall - but of course, that wasn't tall enough to keep out the deer. So, they set up a centre pole, cut a bunch of strips of surveyor's tape, tied one end of each length of tape to the pole and the other end to the fence - like a maypole. The deer have been too timid to jump over the fence with all that tape moving in the breeze.. and the farm is almost 10 years old.. hmmmm.. maybe once Joe has finished this round of photos for the book, I'll tie some tape to the pole bean teepee and stretch it out to the deer netting in all directions.. something to think about!

On a happier note, the beans still continue to produce copious amounts of super long, extremely thin and meltingly tender pods! Every day, I pick several thick handfuls of yellow and green filet types. I've been growing 'Emerite' for years, but I have to say that 'Fortex' is fast becoming a favourite.. check out this photo with the ruler.. The yellow one is 'French Gold' (7 inches), the center one is 'Fortex' (9 inches when stretched out!) and the smaller green one is also 'Fortex' (5 inches). The younger sample of 'Fortex' is ideally how you would pick your filet beans - so thin and very tender.. but, with 'Fortex' if you forget to pick for a day or two, the pods may be longer, but they'll still be tender and extremely thin - even at 9 inches in length!

The nasturtiums are also looking good - finally! They've been a bit slow this year.. I've learned that heat and humidity isn't really all that good for a garden! But, there is such a variety of bloom colours, that I wanted to share.. the first photo of the deep burgundy nasturtium is the 'black nasturtium' from www.kitchengardenseeds.com.. gorgeous! Much deeper in colour in real life, rather than in photos.. nice when paired with a light coloured variety..

Happy Gardening!