Chore Log for 1st Week of August
This summer is going by much too quickly! Due to the cool start we had, it seems like summer has just begun and yet here we are, almost in August, the last month of summer! Yikes!
In my usual hopeful way, I kinda thought that with her help so much more would be tackled ...
This never happens, of course, but I do this wishful thinking every time she comes home ...
Instead we shopped and then we shopped some more, ran all around town picking up stuff in preparation for her upcoming humanitarian volunteer trip to Bogota, Columbia :)
Hey, so it goes... life is surely too short to not take time to smell the roses... or to hang out with your baby ;)
Therefore, as she leaves on Monday, I will need to put a push on the garden clean up when I'm on my own again...
In The Potager
Many crops beds are slowly being harvested and beds emptied.
- Plant winter veggies, onions and carrots, from seed
- Plant some empty beds with flowers and ornamentals... the others, just weed and leave alone till top-dressed in fall.
- Prune back bottom foliage on tomato plants
- Keep harvesting Sweet Peas, so that they continue to bloom
- Water with compost tea
- Transplant Hydrangea into wash tub
- pot up strawberry runners?
Small Fruits Berm
- continue picking raspberries and blueberries as they ripen
- make raspberry jam
- weed/vinegar spray the mulched berm
- Prune out some of the older canes on the black currant once all fruit has been picked
- Prune back fruited raspberry canes
- Cut back Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) before it sets seed everywhere
- Dahlias, Gladioli, and Sweet Peas are all blooming away, cut lots of bouquets for the house... Hah, such a dreadful chore, eh? ;)
- Deadhead roses and lilies
- Water raised beds this week. I am not one to water perennials much, only water every 2nd or 3rd week.
- Move herb seedlings outdoors once they have sprouted.
In General
- Water all hanging baskets and planters thoroughly, till water drips from the bottom, daily
- Feed all baskets and planters once or twice a week or they will quickly burn out and stop flowering!
- Continue to spray weeds in driveway and sides of beds, with vinegar spray, in the hopes that between the heat, the dryness, and the vinegar, they will die off!
- Feed roses, shrubs, trees (do not do this anymore in Alberta! or your plants will not shut down in time for your harsh winter)
- Remove suckers! Do not keep the suckers, they are from the rootstock and are not the flowering/fruiting rose or tree that you love and admire!
- Keep weeding all beds and borders
- Weed out dandelions from the front lawn.
- Deadhead and pinch everywhere to promote more blooms and tidy plants.
Hmm, time to order more bulbs?... Is always so nice to have blooming daffs, hyacinths. muscari, scilla, crocus, and tulips each spring after what seems like an endless winter!
... and I do so love to plant up pots and pots and more pots with all kinds of bulbs for fabulous, colourful spring blooms!
Canada Long Roma-style paste tomatoes...
Quirky looking, huh?
This past week, my short week, my baby girl has been here... therefor, very little was accomplished besides the constant watering :( In my usual hopeful way, I kinda thought that with her help so much more would be tackled ...
This never happens, of course, but I do this wishful thinking every time she comes home ...
Instead we shopped and then we shopped some more, ran all around town picking up stuff in preparation for her upcoming humanitarian volunteer trip to Bogota, Columbia :)
Hey, so it goes... life is surely too short to not take time to smell the roses... or to hang out with your baby ;)
Therefore, as she leaves on Monday, I will need to put a push on the garden clean up when I'm on my own again...
Hot Cocoa florbunda roses
In The Potager
Many crops beds are slowly being harvested and beds emptied.
- Plant winter veggies, onions and carrots, from seed
- Plant some empty beds with flowers and ornamentals... the others, just weed and leave alone till top-dressed in fall.
- Prune back bottom foliage on tomato plants
- Keep harvesting Sweet Peas, so that they continue to bloom
- Water with compost tea
- Transplant Hydrangea into wash tub
- pot up strawberry runners?
Garlic curing in the shade of the carport
Small Fruits Berm
- continue picking raspberries and blueberries as they ripen
- make raspberry jam
- weed/vinegar spray the mulched berm
- Prune out some of the older canes on the black currant once all fruit has been picked
- Prune back fruited raspberry canes
The raspberry patch... two years old
Greenhouse and Nursery - Cut back Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) before it sets seed everywhere
- Dahlias, Gladioli, and Sweet Peas are all blooming away, cut lots of bouquets for the house... Hah, such a dreadful chore, eh? ;)
- Deadhead roses and lilies
- Water raised beds this week. I am not one to water perennials much, only water every 2nd or 3rd week.
- Move herb seedlings outdoors once they have sprouted.
I see the first little Morden Midget heirloom Eggplant beginning to grow ... yay!
In General
- Water all hanging baskets and planters thoroughly, till water drips from the bottom, daily
- Feed all baskets and planters once or twice a week or they will quickly burn out and stop flowering!
- Continue to spray weeds in driveway and sides of beds, with vinegar spray, in the hopes that between the heat, the dryness, and the vinegar, they will die off!
- Feed roses, shrubs, trees (do not do this anymore in Alberta! or your plants will not shut down in time for your harsh winter)
- Remove suckers! Do not keep the suckers, they are from the rootstock and are not the flowering/fruiting rose or tree that you love and admire!
- Keep weeding all beds and borders
- Weed out dandelions from the front lawn.
- Deadhead and pinch everywhere to promote more blooms and tidy plants.
Feed your planters to keep them blooming!
Hmm, time to order more bulbs?... Is always so nice to have blooming daffs, hyacinths. muscari, scilla, crocus, and tulips each spring after what seems like an endless winter!
... and I do so love to plant up pots and pots and more pots with all kinds of bulbs for fabulous, colourful spring blooms!
Hola muy hermoso todo lo que muestras me encanta cuanta naturaleza y las flores son divinas, ni hablar de preparar un dulce eso si que es maravilloso, te dejo un besito.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the support and love :)
DeleteGlad u had a great time doing fun things with your daughter. I'm wishing I squeezed in an eggplant cuz they look so neat! What kind of onions did u plant? I'm planning to get onions this week to put in... I was thinking walla walla...I've never planted a winter garden b4 though so open to suggestions
ReplyDeleteAlso wanted to tell u my tomatoes are growing like made finally but none as madly as the cosulato (sp?). It is crazy. 5 feet tall and loaded with gorgeous fruit. I'm looking so forward To trying one :0)
Hey C! For my winter onions I usually go with the Walla Walla's.. they are so sweet and hardy! The red torpedos would be also be delish! I also do quite a bit of fall spinach, lettuces, and beets. I used to plant different brassicas (broccoli, etc...) and all kinds of things for winter gardens, but now tend to stick mostly to the things we eat lots and lots of... carrots and onions :) Though I enjoy trialing new things to see how they grow, I only do them in small bits, sticking mainly with the things my family really enjoys. Check out West Coast Seeds for their winter gardening info.. is superb! So helpful!
ReplyDeleteYay! So glad to hear that your tomatoes are doing well! I was out pruning off the bottom leaves and cleaning in the potager yesterday and it got me wondering how everyone else's tomatoes are faring this year! Thanks for the update1 Love, love, love to hear how others are doing ... especially when it is good news ;)
Where did u find your onion sets. I went to a couple places today looking for walla wallas and came up empty handed....
ReplyDeleteOh! My dear friend C, I forgot to tell you, I never grow my onions from sets! I have not grown from sets for 5 years now... had to try seed when I broke my wrist and as I drove a standard vehicle, I could not get to the shops! So I planted from seed (you know how we gardeners have tons of extra seed on hand) and they grew so much better for me than sets ever did... plus one has more varieties to chose from :) I never went back to sets again. If you pick up a pack of seeds and plant them asap you will still have lovely onions in spring! Promise!
ReplyDeleteAh!!....good to know.....now where would I find seeds for walla wallas :0). And do I plant them right out or in pots and transplant...thanks for all your gardening knowledge that u share :0)
ReplyDeleteHey C, fall seeds can be picked up at any garden centre. I don't think that many hardware stores/ grocery stores carry them at this time of year, but I know that Art Knapp and Dinters both have a great selection of fall seeds.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I will have two types of garlic for fall planting, if you are interested later on...
You can either sow the seeds right into your bed now, or if your garden is still full of goodies, sow the seeds into flats or pots first and then transplant them in September/October when you have cleared room in your beds.
Thank you so much for reading my blog and my facebook page, I apprectiate it very much! If you are not yet a follower of this blog, please, please, click on the blue 'Join this site' box on the right hand side of the blog... just under the pics of my garden helper pets ;)
Thanks C!
Thanks so much Tanja! It's hard to find local info about fall planting...I went to long lake nursery yesterday and they looked at me really funny and told me it was too late to plant onions when I asked about them....geesh....I have to go out to nanaimo again today so I will try Art knapp. I may plant them indoors as you are right I have no space yet!
ReplyDeleteI would love some garlic to plant in the fall, keep me posted when they are ready for purchase and I clicked follow....I think your blog is fabulous! I used to have a blog about my rare spinal cord condition so I understand a bit about trying to drive blog traffic here.....thats why I try to visit often :o)
Found onion seeds at Art Knapp....woohoo! Will plant tomorrow...thanks again for all the advice and tips :o)
ReplyDelete