Looking at the weather forecast for the next week shows that we should be having a good amount of rain coming, we'll see if it actually happens or not. We usually watch everything go around us and we don't get anything.
The next hope is that any precipitation doesn't involve the hard snowballs pelting down, which they are currently forecasting as a possibility for today.
We got just shy of half an inch of rain last Thursday/Friday with no frozen rain, which was a good thing. Apparently more rain coming this week.
The gardens are doing really well with the rain and somewhat cooler weather. Just wish there didn't have to be so much wind with it all.
We got ours a while back but it wasn't funny. I'm afraid its going to happen 1-3 a growing season. In addition to frost 30-40 times. Very warm in between. It seems constant adaptation is our future. I hope im wrong
As. No one I k ow has a crystal ball that works, I would if possible, focus on greenhouse type setup for legumes. I am no gardener but listening to everyone, I see a lot of pain and effort being destroyed by Varying weather.
Peppercorn mentions raised beds and I am sure they have an edge over ground but they too cost money and hail would still destroy a nice crop.
I have my very small experimental ground garden but boy am I really considering a greenhouse
Best of luck to all in their efforts
After a rather dry spring, it seems like it just been raining nonstop for the past 2 weeks. We’ve received a couple of inches of rain during that time. The garden is generally coming along well, but the dampness is taking a toll on my strawberries. During a short lull in the rain today, I picked as much as I could and ended up with a large basket. Unfortunately there was also a large basket equivalent that I removed from the plants, the berries were rotten. Tomatoes planted outside of the greenhouse remain tiny and the leaves are shrivelled up.
No corn came up this year. I was trying an heirloom breed apparently great in the local area’s climate. Must have been old seeds or the crummy spring.
Looking at the forecast, it’s all showers, showers and more showers...
This has been the second coldest, spring I can remember, all heat loving plants not in a green house are doing badly. This may also be one of, if not the worst for being overcast.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
We've been getting rain almost every day. The wells real happy
If we think we have it bad I cant imagine this.. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48795264 Was in Europe summer of 2001, records were being broke then, some places nearing 40 C, mid 30s anyway and I thought that was bad. I cant imagine 45C what the hell is this going to do to crops!
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Nothing has happened on my attached green house build this year. Everything has come to a stop as I have decieded That I want a 12x 42 foot cement pad poured to build the green house on. I don't have the wallet capacity do that this year, and without the foundation I cant do anything so Next year hopefully I get the pad put in. I have a cement mixer but my body is saying don't even think about it!
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Nothing has happened on my attached green house build this year. Everything has come to a stop as I have decieded That I want a 12x 42 foot cement pad poured to build the green house on. I don't have the wallet capacity do that this year, and without the foundation I cant do anything so Next year hopefully I get the pad put in. I have a cement mixer but my body is saying don't even think about it!
You can easily pour it later on. I have two garages built on concrete pads that I had up for years and then when money was available I poured it in. Put “ten-test” ( an asphalt type board) around the pads that will have concrete touching them. This helps keep pad a little independent of the slab. Every one floor manufacturing or single level office type structure I did while in construction and there were dozens upon dozens of them, had the slab poured after the structure was up. Just pop your drains and other conduit requirements in and you will have no problem. Don’t forget to cover them so debris doesn’t go in. Just plan for slab thickness and any other related coordination issues and all will be well.
One issue and that is “saw cutting” between columns. You do this to control shrinkage of concrete slab. If you have a bunch of tables up, this will be more difficult. If you don’t care about controlled shrinkage lines, then no issue. For any beds, you want to start using before you pour, you will either put a concrete pad under the legs at right height or simply pour around any table leg/s.
Levelling or grading of cement will be harder to do if you have stuff setup
alrighty, this you don't see often....
I have a couple raised beds of German butterball potatoes producing these, and even odder on each plant they are in clusters of three. I will save these seeds and maybe try them next year, I havnt grown potatoes from seeds before.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Here is a question, how long are the potato seeds good for? can they be saved for 3-5 years, longer? Wonder what the failure rate is? It seems we had just the right amount of steady wet weather, and cold overnight lows to trigger the production of these.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Here in eastern ontario, it’s been warm and dry for past month. Really leaning towards a greenhouse or cold frames to help buffer against swings in weather. Smaller but more ongoing yields throughout the year and also means less preserving. Or am I missing something????? Never did a garden for 100 food requirements. Help! 😳
So I have decieded no more gardens for me, only raised bed gardening and greenhouse gardening. I think its been since 2014/2015 or so that I started moving to raised beds and the verdict (for me) is in..its the only way I want to garden, even if I have to reduce the range and quantity I grow. I have had some problems and adjustments to make, more like a learning curve using raised beds but overall its just been more productive with way less work. This year I was hit with everything, Killing frosts in late June, hall storms x2. Killing frost didn't even touch my raised bed plants, and not that I planed for this but the hail storms that shredded my garden didn't do any damage to my raised beds as I had chicken wire frames over them to stop nibbling from deer, but it turned out the chicken wire took the punch out of the hail, it did no damage to my raised bed plants and the hail was so bad that I must have lost 3/4 of my Saskatoon berries. My "ground" garden is pathetic by comparison to the raised beds. I am going to get on Kijiji and find some more cheap pallet racking to build more raised beds with.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
So I checked with some nearby neighbours thinking they might have potato plants producing seed balls but no, it looks like it is just me, and just in my raised beds. I found a great article on potato seeds, storing and germinating them, fascinating stuff. As it says here.."True potato seeds are typically long lived, retaining good germination for at least fifteen years at 70° F (20 C), showing almost no reduction in germinability (Barker 1980). By reducing storage temperature to 40° F (5C) or less, they may retain acceptable germination for 50 years or more". That's just incredible.
Here is the full article. https://www.cultivariable.com/instructions/potatoes/how-to-grow-true-potato-seeds-tps/
If anyone else had potato's make seed balls this year, and your near me, Edmonton to Red Deer area, I would be happy to trade with you. My seeds are from German Butter ball potato's. I would like to get some other kinds to experiment with.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I’ll check and see if I got seed balls this year.
Garden is hit and miss. I’m getting ridiculous amounts of zucchinis, my root veggies seem to be doing well. No corn came out, my squashes didn’t do so good. Peas are fine, but beans were stunted with the lousy spring, the second batch planted isn’t looking great either. Cucumbers didn’t work out outdoor, but those in the greenhouse are thriving. Tomatoes are so far behind! Lots of flowers, but no fruits and only those in the greenhouse are producing, the ones outdoor are also stunted and blighted. Peppers are pathetic while onions are quite behind.
Berry crop has been on par with the past couple of years.