Sim's garden journal

Persimmon guild. Planted two, 2 year old seedling persimmons last year.

This year they’re really filling out.

Underplanted with a mix of annual herbs, greens and flowers, and supplemented with lupines, bloody dock, thyme, with two currants in between.

Persimmon guild. Planted two, 2 year old seedling persimmons last year. 

This year they’re really filling out. 

Underplanted with a mix of annual herbs, greens and flowers, and supplemented with lupines, bloody dock, thyme, with two currants in between.

Plants

Planted a super early row of cucumbers. There may yet be a frost, but there’s a chance they also get an early start. Will plant succession rows over the next weeks. Varieties: Blanc de Holland, Bushy, Spacesaver

Planted a super early row of cucumbers. There may yet be a frost, but there’s a chance they also get an early start. Will plant succession rows over the next weeks.
Varieties: Blanc de Holland, Bushy, Spacesaver

Plants

A few observations from an indecisive April. Red amaranth popping up, that was planted in spring 2023! Did realize it took so long to germinate, but that goes to show you the power of building up a seedbank. Especially for lazy gardeners such as myself.

Aside from the amaranth, the orpines were one of the first greens, pushing up through the snow. They’re naturalized around the property, likely planted by the previous owners. Their flowers are a pollinator favourite, they can handle full sun or full shade, have no issue with rich or poor soil, and are apparently edible - though on first taste they were unimpressive. It pays to observe and research what’s growing around you naturally.

A few observations from an indecisive April. Red amaranth popping up, that was planted in spring 2023! Did realize it took so long to germinate, but that goes to show you the power of building up a seedbank. Especially for lazy gardeners such as myself.

Aside from the amaranth, the orpines were one of the first greens, pushing up through the snow. They’re naturalized around the property, likely planted by the previous owners. Their flowers are a pollinator favourite, they can handle full sun or full shade, have no issue with rich or poor soil, and are apparently edible - though on first taste they were unimpressive. It pays to observe and research what’s growing around you naturally. 
A few observations from an indecisive April. Red amaranth popping up, that was planted in spring 2023! Did realize it took so long to germinate, but that goes to show you the power of building up a seedbank. Especially for lazy gardeners such as myself.

Aside from the amaranth, the orpines were one of the first greens, pushing up through the snow. They’re naturalized around the property, likely planted by the previous owners. Their flowers are a pollinator favourite, they can handle full sun or full shade, have no issue with rich or poor soil, and are apparently edible - though on first taste they were unimpressive. It pays to observe and research what’s growing around you naturally.

Plants

Asparagus making an appearance. Seems a bit early, since we’re still expecting plenty of frost, so I left them covered.

I planted these from seed 2 years ago, and they were pretty vigorous last summer. Heavily mulched with leaves and bunny bedding.

Variety is Mary Washington.

Asparagus making an appearance. Seems a bit early, since we're still expecting plenty of frost, so I left them covered. 

I planted these from seed 2 years ago, and they were pretty vigorous last summer. Heavily mulched with leaves and bunny bedding. 

Variety is Mary Washington.

Plants

Multiplier onions are a win! Bought these after learning about them from SkillCult. Did not disappoint. Started from sets 2 months ago. Harvested sustainably for gronions as they grew, and each single set tripled or quadrupled.

Anyone else growing multipliers / potato onions?

Multiplier onions are a win! Bought these after learning about them from SkillCult. Did not disappoint.
Started from sets 2 months ago. Harvested sustainably for gronions as they grew, and each single set tripled or quadrupled. 

Anyone else growing multipliers / potato onions?

Plants

Harvested garlic! About a week before garlic harvest, planted another round of multiplier onions in between so by the time garlic was harvested, the onions were ready to take over.

Harvested garlic! 
About a week before garlic harvest, planted another round of multiplier onions in between so by the time garlic was harvested, the onions were ready to take over.

Plants

Ground cherries — both volunteers from last year’s leftovers — and some seeds planted around my new persimmon trees are sprouting this week. Some with 4-5 leaves. They needed warmer soil and rain. None of my inside starts worked well enough to plant. Direct sowing next year.

In addition, squash that were direct sown are already larger than transplants that had a 3 week head start.

Cucumbers and melons that were direct seeded are coming up with the heat and rain, but we will see if they overtake the stunted transplants. Next year I should direct sow with little plastic domes to heat the soil.

Plants

Strawberry spinach is one or the most interesting and fun surprises we’re growing. It’s a perennial, has edible leaves (taste just like spinach) and edible fruity flower bud things… The “strawberries” even have a slight sweetness to them. Started last spring from seed, planted out last summer and it grew quite a lot. This spring it was the first of the greens to pop, and has been delivering for 2 months already. Will be eating the fruits in salad for the rest of the summer. Hopefully it comes back! Will save some seed just in case.

Strawberry spinach is one or the most interesting and fun surprises we’re growing.
It’s a perennial, has edible leaves (taste just like spinach) and edible fruity flower bud things…
The “strawberries” even have a slight sweetness to them. 
Started last spring from seed, planted out last summer and it grew quite a lot. This spring it was the first of the greens to pop, and has been delivering for 2 months already. Will be eating the fruits in salad for the rest of the summer. Hopefully it comes back! Will save some seed just in case. Strawberry spinach is one or the most interesting and fun surprises we’re growing.
It’s a perennial, has edible leaves (taste just like spinach) and edible fruity flower bud things…
The “strawberries” even have a slight sweetness to them. 
Started last spring from seed, planted out last summer and it grew quite a lot. This spring it was the first of the greens to pop, and has been delivering for 2 months already. Will be eating the fruits in salad for the rest of the summer. Hopefully it comes back! Will save some seed just in case.

Plants

Herb garden taking off after some solid rain this past week. Mostly volunteers and returning perennials. There were a few things here when we lived in, but I expanded the garden to consume all the single plantings and filled every in between. The goal is to have this garden as low maintenance as possible.

Herb garden taking off after some solid rain this past week. Mostly volunteers and returning perennials. There were a few things here when we lived in, but I expanded the garden to consume all the single plantings and filled every in between. The goal is to have this garden as low maintenance as possible.

Plants

Persimmon buds are finally breaking! My patience was wearing thin, but these bad boys are going to leaf out after all!

In order to cover the soil and support these trees, I planted a number of seeds; green beans, dill, snapdragons, squash, mustard, and ground cherry. May the most vigorous win, and the rest feed the soil!

Will likely underplant with something more permanent in the future.

Persimmon buds are finally breaking! My patience was wearing thin, but these bad boys are going to leaf out after all! 

In order to cover the soil and support these trees, I planted a number of seeds; green beans, dill, snapdragons, squash, mustard, and ground cherry. May the most vigorous win, and the rest feed the soil!

Will likely underplant with something more permanent in the future. Persimmon buds are finally breaking! My patience was wearing thin, but these bad boys are going to leaf out after all! 

In order to cover the soil and support these trees, I planted a number of seeds; green beans, dill, snapdragons, squash, mustard, and ground cherry. May the most vigorous win, and the rest feed the soil!

Will likely underplant with something more permanent in the future.

Plants

Planted out melons and cucumbers. Melons: Blacktail watermelon, Minnesota midget, emerald gem, charentais, edisto 47, golden honeydew, noir des carmes.

Cucumbers: Marketmore 76, Bushy, Spacemaster, Blanc de Holland.

The goal for this year is to mass plant the melons into one bed, and hope for crosses (all but the blacktail are cucumis melo) to replant next year.

Cucumbers, not as set on crosses, but the blanc de holland was vigorous and productive last year, whereas the others were slow and many weren’t even fully pollinated. Hoping to save seeds for some improvements.

Planted out melons and cucumbers. 
Melons: 
Blacktail watermelon, Minnesota midget, emerald gem, charentais, edisto 47, golden honeydew, noir des carmes. 

Cucumbers:
Marketmore 76, Bushy, Spacemaster, Blanc de Holland. 

The goal for this year is to mass plant the melons into one bed, and hope for crosses (all but the blacktail are cucumis melo) to replant next year. 

Cucumbers, not as set on crosses, but the blanc de holland was vigorous and productive last year, whereas the others were slow and many weren’t even fully pollinated. Hoping to save seeds for some improvements.

Plants

Looks like most of these guys are gonna make it. You can see one that didn’t (left) but there are 10 in good shape with 3+ leaves. Will probably top up the soil a bit in the cells and get a bottom watering tray going.

Looks like most of these guys are gonna make it. 
You can see one that didn’t (left) but there are 10 in good shape with 3+ leaves. Will probably top up the soil a bit in the cells and get a bottom watering tray going.

Plants

Cold stratification success! I cracked a couple dozen plum pits and pulled out the seeds last fall, put them in a bread bag w/ moist potting soil, and left them in the cold room all winter. Just went to inspect the stash & noticed the bright white radicles! It’s planting time!

Got a dozen plum seeds planted. There were a few nectarine and peach seeds in there too, but I think only one or two germinated. Time will tell. Mixed a bucket of soil (sandy dirt, some mostly-composted yard waste, last year’s failed potted plant soil & some well aged urine.

Planted into deep nursery trays.

I opted to upgrade my tree trays w/ these deeper ones I got used from a local nursery. They’re maybe 6” deep & have a large hole in the bottom for air pruning the roots. Plums! Hopefully only one of a half dozen tree species I’ll grow this year.

Cold stratification success! I cracked a couple dozen plum pits and pulled out the seeds last fall, put them in a bread bag w/ moist potting soil, and left them in the cold room all winter. Just went to inspect the stash & noticed the bright white radicles! It’s planting time!

Got a dozen plum seeds planted. There were a few nectarine and peach seeds in there too, but I think only one or two germinated. Time will tell. 
Mixed a bucket of soil (sandy dirt, some mostly-composted yard waste, last year’s failed potted plant soil & some well aged urine.

Planted into deep nursery trays.

I opted to upgrade my tree trays w/ these deeper ones I got used from a local nursery. They’re maybe 6” deep & have a large hole in the bottom for air pruning the roots. Plums!
Hopefully only one of a half dozen tree species I’ll grow this year. Cold stratification success! I cracked a couple dozen plum pits and pulled out the seeds last fall, put them in a bread bag w/ moist potting soil, and left them in the cold room all winter. Just went to inspect the stash & noticed the bright white radicles! It’s planting time!

Got a dozen plum seeds planted. There were a few nectarine and peach seeds in there too, but I think only one or two germinated. Time will tell. 
Mixed a bucket of soil (sandy dirt, some mostly-composted yard waste, last year’s failed potted plant soil & some well aged urine.

Planted into deep nursery trays.

I opted to upgrade my tree trays w/ these deeper ones I got used from a local nursery. They’re maybe 6” deep & have a large hole in the bottom for air pruning the roots. Plums!
Hopefully only one of a half dozen tree species I’ll grow this year.

Plants

Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! So far from 6 cucumber plants we’ve been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn’t hit! Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping. Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant.

Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant. Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant. Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant. Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant. Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant. Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant. Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant. Raised bed garden updates. There will be a harvest! 
So far from 6 cucumber plants we've been harvesting 1-2 cucumbers per day over the past 2 weeks with more coming so long as blight doesn't hit!
Tomatoes and ground cherries have another few weeks and beans are pumping.
Squash has another month at least, with at least (I hope) one squash on each plant.

Plants

Everything is growing well! Looking forward to identifying the cucumbers to see which are the most prolific. Really hoping some of the white cucumbers show up.

Everything is growing well! Looking forward to identifying the cucumbers to see which are the most prolific. Really hoping some of the white cucumbers show up. Everything is growing well! Looking forward to identifying the cucumbers to see which are the most prolific. Really hoping some of the white cucumbers show up. Everything is growing well! Looking forward to identifying the cucumbers to see which are the most prolific. Really hoping some of the white cucumbers show up.

Melons are slow to start, but I’ve been feeding them quite a bit. Rotting grass clippings, and fermented plant juice made from dandelion leaves.

Melons are slow to start, but I've been feeding them quite a bit. Rotting grass clippings, and fermented plant juice made from dandelion leaves.

Kousa dogwood is slow to grow, not sure what’s going on. Ground cherry doing well. Underplanted with some beans just for fun and they’re popping up nicely. Strawberry plant is massive, and pumping out a few strawberries per day.

Kousa dogwood is slow to grow, not sure what's going on. Ground cherry doing well. Underplanted with some beans just for fun and they're popping up nicely. Strawberry plant is massive, and pumping out a few strawberries per day.

Ground cherries are growing! Slow start from seed, but once they hit their stride, they’re unstoppable! First fruits already visible, 4-5 flowers on each with new leaves and flowers appearing daily.

Ground cherries are growing! Slow start from seed, but once they hit their stride, they're unstoppable! First fruits already visible, 4-5 flowers on each with new leaves and flowers appearing daily.

Build mini-hugelkultur rings to expand newly planted tree zones. Pulled grasses/weeds, laid down layer of sticks and twigs, 4-6” layer of grass clippings then topped with 4-6” of soil.

Planted a row of echinacea and a butternut squash in the mulberry ring.

Planted a row of chives around hazelnut.

Planted a few ground cherries around the kousa dogwood.

Planted a butternut squash alongside another hazelnut.

Plants

Transplant

Transplanted my two pawpaw plants out into the yard. They’re starting to look stressed in their pots (1.89 litre milk cartons) so I dug a couple deep holes in a shady spot under the hop hornbeam. Soil is sandy there so they should like it. The taproot was easily a few inches longer than the carton. Probably 12” long.

Transplanted my two pawpaw plants out into the yard. They're starting to look stressed in their pots (1.89 litre milk cartons) so I dug a couple deep holes in a shady spot under the hop hornbeam. Soil is sandy there so they should like it. The taproot was easily a few inches longer than the carton. Probably 12" long.

Plants

Transplant

Kale, bok choy, turkish rocket, chiogga beets were transplanted into herb garden. Covered nightly for a week until nights reached around 10°C.

Bok choy took off — would transplant earlier next year and cover overnight.

Rocket is slow, but still alive.

Beets are stunted, not doing much but still alive.

Kale is OK, but is being outgrown by direct-sown kale planted a week later.

Plants

Seeds are from wild pawpaw sourced from Ontario. Seeds stored in moist medium in a plastic bag in fridge for 2 years, unsure of viability. Sown in moist coconut coir, with bottom heat.

Plants

Yellow plum cuttings taken from burned out estate in Kelowna, British Columbia. Cuttings taken in December. Planted into moist coconut coir after keeping in cold storage wrapped in moist newspaper. Lightly shaved off bark near base, and dipped in rooting hormone. Using bottom heat in a clear plastic tote to hold moisture and temperature.

Yellow plum cuttings taken from burned out estate in Kelowna, British Columbia. Cuttings taken in December.
Planted into moist coconut coir after keeping in cold storage wrapped in moist newspaper. 
Lightly shaved off bark near base, and dipped in rooting hormone.
Using bottom heat in a clear plastic tote to hold moisture and temperature.

Plants