End of May Potager Happenings

We are only a week away from June, but here I am, just now posting about May. What a lovely and busy month it has been!

Remember my little light string garden border inspiration photo? With the little shepherd's hooks? Here is my version of it... I used my trusty, rusty spirals instead of spending moolah on the hooks as I have already these and I love them. Plus, I am going to grow peas, beans, squash, and cucumbers up them. More food growing opportunities and it will fill in behind the patio set at the same time.

I strung the lights down low as I am using them to keep the dogs out of the bed. As the dahlias and garlic grows to fill up the space, I will raise the lights higher up the spirals. They look really cute at night, too... though I am usually headed to bed by the time they light up ;)

It has been a super busy month, more so with prep for the gardening season than anything else. This is what we've been working on this month, with a blurb about what I have yet to do at the end. Must get seeds and plants in the ground before summer solstice so that veggies have time to mature before summer is over, and flowers have time to bloom!!!

We filled the beds with loads and loads of compost with just a couple of inches of bagged topsoil on top. I have no idea how things will grow this year as the compost may just be too rich. However, we gardeners, we live on hope. So, I plant and I hope that all will thrive and be the best ever.

Our beds are built using the hügelkultur concept... the bottom half is full of straw, branches, twigs, garden clippings, and any other type of organic matter that we could put in it to help fill the really tall beds. As this matter breaks down, it uses nitrogen, so can deplete the bed in the first year while this breakdown happens. However, we have a foot of compost on top of the matter, so it should make zero difference to the nitrogen getting to the plants.

We built these two beds, filled them with the compost and black soil mix, planted both beds with potatoes, some alyssum for attracting beneficial insects, and a few brussels at the end of the bed, raked out some mulch around them to keep down the mud and tidy things up... BOOM, this corner was done in just one afternoon. And yes, those are indeed doggie foot prints in the bed. Sigh. Hurry up and grow spuds, fill up that bed!

One bed has Norland in it, that is my favourite potato of all. Is red skinned, so tasty, versatile. The other bed has a new to me variety called Jazzy, a thin white skinned, fingerling type... but is early, whereas fingerlings are usually lates. Things that make you say 'hmm'.

The next day, hubby built this long, skinny bed in the south facing side-yard. It is 2'x24' and will be a cutting flower garden, at least this year. Next year, it may be spuds or something else. The bed has been direct sown with zinnias and cosmos, a whole lotta lot of seeds! We then got a wicked storm a couple of days after, so who knows where the seeds were washed to. They may all come up in one corner ... or not at all. (more doggie footie prints)

I will pick up some 'fencing' from the dollar store to keep those doggie footie prints from reoccurring!

I am kind of hoping to make it look somewhat like my last cutting garden... maybe I should call the new one 'Cutting Garden 2.0'? Hah! This bed was 3 feet wide and 40 feet long.

Hubby also got the tomato arbour built. It has a roof on it for hail, as that is apparently an Alberta summer thing and I would hate for my tomatoes and cukes to get shredded!

Now, I know, I know, this is not a pretty picture. Sorry, there is much yet to do here. I will rake out that compost, hang strings for the tomatoes and cucumbers to grow up, plant the tomato seedlings, direct sow the cucumber seeds, and then mulch up the bed with either straw or woodchips.

I have been working on other things and waiting with this tomato bed because when you come to the prairies, every gardener will tell you to wait till June for planting out warm weather plants, regardless of what happens during the rest of the month. It could be baking hot, like this year, for the entire month of May but you still should wait, as apparently the May long weekend has a reputation for being the harbinger of rain, snow, hail, frost, or some other sort of inclement weather.

In this case, it was true yet again. Luckily I waited as we did, indeed, get hail and torrential rain, though only for about 20 minutes. This is why we built the roof on the pergola!

Planting has now begun in earnest and will continue for the next couple of weeks.

Planters are potted up and looking good.

The hanging baskets have been built, are just sitting and settling for a bit till they get hung up. I am using my beautiful Victorian wrought iron baskets with coco or burlap lining.

Greenhouse is planted up with tomatoes, marigolds, basil, cucumbers, and mini-love watermelons. They are doing superbly well, almost growing right before my very eyes!

Veggies in the ground - potatoes, onions, brussels, peas, beans.

Yet to be planted/sown are beets, carrots, pickling cukes, squash, zukes, pumpkins

Flowers in the ground - zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, sweet peas.

Yet to be planted in the veggie beds - nasturtiums, marigolds, alyssum, calendula and need to sow a few sunflowers somewhere in the garden....

Had I had these beds built a wee bit earlier, there would be broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage in here, too. I may try sowing some now, just a few as a trial, but will start some seedlings in late June, plant in August, and hope for a nice long fall for harvest.

I hope you all got your brassicas in nice and early, you might well be harvesting some very soon. I have nothing fresh to eat yet, besides a bit of lettuce, hahaha! But next year will be different. Next year the infrastructure will all be there, plus a greenhouse to start the seeds in. The main thing is food to eat and food in the pantry though so we are well on track.

I have picked up some part shade plants for my west facing planter in the front yard. They will only get about 5 hours of sunshine a day, really hot during that time, though, and the plants must be deer proof. Hah! This will be my first attempt, let's see how I do. I am using this drawing as my inspiration. Bright colour and lots of trailers though mine will be purple rather than red. I have the prettiest salvias for some height! Will let you know how I make out... and how long the flowers last. If I can get the recipe right (aka deer proof), I will make two boxes to flank the front doorway, as well.

Lots of fun things on the go. Loving every minute of it! Sowing, growing, planting, planning, this is what I wait for each long winter. Will fill you in on how things went in a few weeks time.

Happy Gardening, My Garden Friends ~ Tanja