Hot and dry out here in eastern Ontario but finally getting some rain 😀 😀 😀

I went with soaker hoses in my new adventure in gardening. Plot is roughly 125 feet By around an average of 45 and I also have about 75 feet of 3.5 foot high raised boxes That are two plus feet deep/ wide. Awesome for weeding 😀 😀 😀 Wish I had the funds to do everything like that!

Took a few reseeding to get some peas and pole beans to grab but otherwise, beets, carrots,peas, beans ( pole and bush), cucumber, a few types of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, onions, tomatoes, broccoli, rutabaga, squash and 800 corn stalks in another patch in the valley are all doing really well with what i think I owe to the soaker hoses! ( none on the corn patch)

I fear I screwed up half my first years try of potatoes of 17 eyes planted. I was told to cover up the tops After the second recovering but I think I did so to early because the didn’t pop back up through, so am ticked at that because they looked like they were all doing great ( my inexperienced eyes anyways)
Any tips on potatoes for eastern Ontario environment are appreciated. Soil is well drained and I had them all hilled and when I covered them up for the third time, the plants were about six inches high. Did I wait to long or was I to early in covering them back up?

So if we can avoid hail or some other surprise but not, we may be in good shape for first real attempt.

Had seeds for next year but just got in some more for 21 and 2022. Body willing And learning from what I get in a harvest from this year, I plan on maybe doubling or even tripling the garden. No shortage of space, just body and time. Lots of other bush And landscaping or maintenance work to do so need to split my time up.

Hail damaged the few handfuls of apples that came out this year.

Crop garden is doing alright and my weeds are growing amazingly well, despite mulching and weekly removal.

Strawberry crop has been on par with previous years.

Things are really wet here in AB. Try to mow the lawn as soon as the sun is out, but today I couldn’t even do that despite 2 days of sun owing to rain dumps we’ve had earlier this week.

I have 3000L of rainwater in 3 IBC totes and probably another 1000L between 3 other rain collection barrels. Now if only I could collect some sunshine and store it...

I thought the same way this year...maybe I should use up my older seed, but new seed, add soil to more boxes...
Glad I did! Everything’s coming up well. Need a little less rain and a little more sun but I’m sure July will provide.
Garden look good! Hope everyone’s saying healthy and getting their preps in fine tune!!!

Wild apple trees seem to have smaller apples and some have none. Screwy cold and wet spring, then bam, the heat and dry weather hit in eastern Ontario. I was hoping to harvest a pile and freeze this fall, will see what we get.

Some things are doing really well, others were complete failures.
We already have cauliflour heads forming, the peas and green & yellow beans will be getting their first pick this week.
36 strawberry plants planted, 35 survived and are now putting out babies and starting to flower.
Potatoes are about ready for their first hilling, and the zucchini are doing well with little tiny baby zucchinis on them.
Winter squash (spaghetti and butternut) didn't even sprout. All lettuces and swiss chard failed along with cucumber and radishes.
Thankfully, most of the storage items are ok, with the exception of the winter squash, and most failed crops are salad types.
The herbs are doing great and we've already started to harvest first round and drying as we go.

So happy with my first harvest, just pressure canned my first batch of one quart jars and I am guessing I have two years worth out there of one serving for two per week for two full years!

Wish to thank everyone who has ever contributed to this board for input on gardening. First real effort on larger garden and other veggies are looking decent and hoping I get as good results. Calling for possible hail so need to maybe look at putting some tarps up?
Best of luck to all who are fighting the elements and critters. Deer have been visiting my corn patch 👿

Ah Gardening and Gardens.. Year two of the big yard rebuild.. and gardening in a pandemic .. so much fun!

So lets see we were in a level 1 drought for 5 weeks and my county has now moved us to a level 2 drought.. We have everything ready to collect rain but when it does not rain.. so CASH to the rescue..

Yup.. we have already bought not one but two tankers of 4600 gallons of water so far this summer.. consider each one is almost 400.. that is a ouch! but compared to losing thousands in new fruit trees and bushes and not getting my garden or food forest yeilds..

WE fill our well and our many rain barrels (but not the big water totes as they are built into the water system and then we will fill out pond and then we take out 20 to 30 five gallon buckets from the pond and "deep water" in the food forest and the fruit trees and so forth.. I do the garden from the bigger barrels and so forth..

and the result.. Garden yeilds.. wow our gardens are popping! The food is flowing.. we are battling bugs(daily pickings) we had a bunny issue but our local red tail hawk took it out and my farm cats hunted and killed all the babies.. I am drying, canning and freezing.. There is huge amounts of food growing in many gardens and I have every finger that nothing stops me from getting it out and into our tummies and our shelves and pantry..

I have been successful, in regards to my seed selections, those with very short growing season's, those that can with stand dry and hot summers without bolting.. I have had good success in my shade garden and will continue to expand it.

And we got rain last week and this week.. a total of 2 an half inches spread over 10 days.. not enough to truly deep water anything but enough that it really helps! I will take it and pray for more in regards to the hay fields.. The lack of hay and the ruin of crops locally and for hours around me is something else and will effect what we can head into winter for and with..

I need a break in the heat in order to get some butchering done.. but that is different post..

I have a whole green house full of trays of things pre-started and growing well ready for the fall garden harvest.. very few things are going in seed wise right now (but a few things because of the rains) most things I prestarted and am transplanting out as I pull finished or harvestable and replacing it with new plants.. (I am not trusting the frost dates and so am pushing things timing wise)

Ah Gardening and Gardens.. Year two of the big yard rebuild.. and gardening in a pandemic .. so much fun!

So lets see we were in a level 1 drought for 5 weeks and my county has now moved us to a level 2 drought.. We have everything ready to collect rain but when it does not rain.. so CASH to the rescue..

Yup.. we have already bought not one but two tankers of 4600 gallons of water so far this summer.. consider each one is almost 400.. that is a ouch!

That is a ouch, 4500 gallons delivered her to my home here would be 220.00

Yikes... 3700 Gals costs $156 delivered here. But then again, firewood is 4 to 5 times the cost I would pay east of Thunder Bay.

I want you gentlemans water truck delivery costs! .. like everythig else around here.. the price is up.. the cost of wood is up as well

Anyone have experience with winter boxes in eastern Ontario or western Quebec climes?
Like to know when to plant lettuce, spinach, kale, Swiss chard or ant other vegetable that can withstand -40 in unseated environment ? I have hay that I plan on putting in the base of the box as well as around the exterior.
With the hay on outside, do I still need styrofoam on inside? Prefer not to have to spend the money on it.
Grazie

Hi please get this book. it will answer all your questions!

https://www.amazon.ca/Year-Round-Vegetable-Gardener-Matter-Where/dp/1603425683

She is canadian and from the east coast.. you must get certain types of veggies only some will do certain things and all of them must be started in the fall so you are on a limited timing to build, plant and get it ready if you want late fall and then early winter harvests and be aware that with our sun angles there is a time frame where everything WILL go dormant.. but its a quite short window all things considered..

Have fun!

Hi please get this book. it will answer all your questions!

https://www.amazon.ca/Year-Round-Vegetable-Gardener-Matter-Where/dp/1603425683

She is canadian and from the east coast.. you must get certain types of veggies only some will do certain things and all of them must be started in the fall so you are on a limited timing to build, plant and get it ready if you want late fall and then early winter harvests and be aware that with our sun angles there is a time frame where everything WILL go dormant.. but its a quite short window all things considered..

Have fun!

Thanks, ordered it in👍🏻

I think it was Heli who once mentioned people not understanding how much work or trial and effort is involved in gardening... ( paraphrasing) but they were certainly bang on!
First real attempt at gardening this year and I find myself in the blasted garden almost daily. Getting the soil worked, stakes, planting, WEEDING!, weeding and more weeding, harvesting, canning..... had and having a very good crop but so far pole beans are growing but no beans yet?, Will want to plant more pole peas next year, only half my rutabaga took, cucumbers didn’t grab, peppers are growing but no fruit yet.

So wise words were expressed here by Heli or someone. It is a great amount of work and if there is no hail, water shortage like FG is experiencing.... then you are good, but buying one package of seeds for each plant will not get you through a year. So for those who planted a small 20/20 fun garden and did well or maybe only a few pre started plants and think they will be fine next year, I highly recommend they get their earth in now, work it, get any fencing, poles, hay..... in and ready this fall.

Then there is the issue of canning or combo of freezing of harvests! As noted under “shortages” freezers, canners... are in very short supply so while one may not Have anything to put in them this year, place your orders today! Same for seeds, wood for boxes, plastic for any coverings, any hay, fertilizers, hose’s, ( regular and drip types), sprinklers, garden tools... buy used if need be but get them in now because if we are hit bad this fall, winter and spring, I can’t see much of anything being available come spring!

I learnt a great deal this summer and know that I need to learn a lot more and have more then what I planted to keep me and my wife going with vegetables.

Another thing I learnt was the amount of sun needed. I have a pasture but wanted the garden closer to the house and had to cut down a good twenty big maples to get sun on my garden. So if that’s an issue, you will want to work that into your plans for next spring as well. I wanted the garden close to the house for critter control and for watering, something I needed to do a lot of this hot and dry June and July. I think we now have four hundred feet plus of soaker hoses along with three hundred feet of regular garden hose, some sprinklers as well. So think long and hard on watering 😯

I don’t think I can take credit for anything... but yes, I’ve certainly read of preppers and their “seed vaults” Ready to take on gardening at the first sign of TEOTWAWKI. Their in for a surprise. I’m 5 years into serious gardening and it’s truly humbling. This year I don’t have fancy stuff. It’s lettuce, carrots, beets, beans, peas, onions, potatoes and squashes. In the greenhouse are tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. It’s all about having stuff to store this year. Even my normal flower planters have corn, beans and squashes planted in them.

Some crops are doing good, some were too wet and now all are too hot. No “goldilocks” weather this year.