End of summer wrap-up
Hey everyone! Hope the rest of your summer has been going well! As you may or may not recall, things got off to an incredibly slow start this year due to all the rain that we got out west. But, as it’s better late than never, we eventually got out and weeded some of the plot and planted a few veggies. 3 out of 6 have made it, which I actually think isn’t too bad considering.
Say hi to a friend (or foe?) crawling around in our plot:
The losers:
The zucchini seeds I used were old, and didn’t germinate. The radishes grew quickly, only to be eaten up by either bugs or beasts, and be left to turn into mush. The carrots are terribly stunted, either from the weather, late planting, weed overgrowth (it’s embarassing, trust me), or a combination of all this, and I don’t think that we’re going to get to eat them anytime soon.
The winners:
Peas
I planted two varieties or seeds I had leftover, Novella (no-staking), and Little Marvel (extra sweet), and both did pretty well. The shells are tough, but I shucked some for our salads last night, and they were sweet and delicious!
Beans
For beans, I planted leftovers as well, two kinds of Bush Bean–Greencrop, and Improved Golden Wax. Both did quite well, though the golden seem to have attracted the same little black aphids that did so much damage to my patio herb garden earlier this summer. The tops of some of the beans were just covered in the little buggers.
Parsnips
A handout from one of the other gardeners who has just thinned his. I pulled one out, and although the stalks are big and lush, the parsnip was only a couple inches long. We’re going to leave them in as long as we possibly can.
The community gardens are gorgeous right now, so I took some extra shots around some of the other plots:
September 11th, 2005 at 9:25 pm
very impressive!
September 14th, 2005 at 8:23 pm
your little friend/foe ate everything in our garden except the potatoes and the beans. and i don’t even like potatoes!
i’m glad that your garden turned out so well! i think next year we’re going to try and find a plot closer to home at the community garden here rather than having to drive all the way out to sooke.
go community gardens! i used to love the one that i worked with in s’toon, for CHEP. dirt for everyone!
September 15th, 2005 at 2:11 am
Hmmm, I guess a foe then! Ha, it didn’t turn out *that* well, I just didn’t show any shots of the whole plot, the weeds are out of hand! I didn’t really get out there that much, to be honest, just enough to keep it watered. But yes, Sooke is more than a bit far from you!
It would be nice if our garden was organized a little better, but at least it is here!
I can’t wait to live in a house again…
September 15th, 2005 at 7:38 am
My grandma in Ladner had the same black aphids on her beans. When I was visiting there were a few ladybugs that we were encouraging to breed… don’t know if they listened!
September 16th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
Midge, I am fascinated by this caterpiggle, and am going through a key trying to ID it. It looks to be huge, like a couple inches long… is that accurate? And those yellow spots - are they smooth, or bumps, or tufts of hair? Can you see the head or is it concealed? What do the legs look like?
September 16th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
kat- i’ve never seen them before this year, they are hungry little monsters! i’m surprised i didn’t see more ladybugs around…
emily- how exciting, i should get you to help id this other bug from the start of the summer that nobody could figure out… anyway, this one was about 2 inches long (good guess!), and chubby…very smooth actually, i don’t think there was any hair. you can’t really tell in the photo, but there was actually quite a distinctive red spike on his bum. can’t recall about the legs…
September 19th, 2005 at 12:44 am
I am really happy that your garden turned out so well. The plants in my garden are also in full bloom. I am looking forwrd to a beautiful new garden of mine. Your article was a real inspiration to me. Thank you.
September 23rd, 2005 at 7:07 am
Dang. I went through a whole key of caterpillars of the Pacific NW, and didn’t see a single one that even came close. I wonder if it’s an invasive from somewhere else. Is kjerstiye also from BC?
September 23rd, 2005 at 7:09 am
Oh, the other thing I wanted to say was, if they’re widespread in your area, and you have a cooperative extension deal with an ag college, they are probably familiar with these bugs, and could id them for you.
September 23rd, 2005 at 1:26 pm
thanks brandon!
emily–it’s so funny, i just assumed you were this girl emily who is a friend of kjerstiye’s! but i guess not, so a new “hello” to you!
yes, she also is in BC, but she is in a different area of the province. i was actually surprised to hear she’d had problems with them though, because that was the first one i’d seen.
unfortunately, the ag college here is quite far from where i live, but maybe i should send my dad the photo, he used to work with crop-eating insects in the prairies.
i’ll post a new comment if i figure out what it is!
September 26th, 2005 at 2:25 pm
Your shot of the dragonfly was great. I’m planning a winter garden [I live in Cent. FL] and was wondering what would be some good vegetables to plant?
Actually, depending on how quickly our new home is built, I may just wait until late spring or early summer to start a raised planting bed at the new place.
September 28th, 2005 at 8:22 am
3 out of 6 thats avery impressive number. Keep going….
October 11th, 2005 at 10:34 pm
Parsnips should hold in the ground over winter. Try leaving some and pulling them as a late spring /early summer crop and see what you get. They obviously aren’t quite ready to harvest yet, if they are as thin as you describe.