Early August Garden, Mildew, Lilies and Saskatoons

Red/ Orange lilies and maltese cross

  

Here it is early August already! July went by in a whizz of sunshine, thunderstorms, big blossoms and wicked weeds.   The lilies and maltese cross are blooming and attracting the hummingbirds! I love those tiny birds!

The tomatoes are ripening on the vines now to our delight. The Tumbler tomatoes on the deck are producing nice little red juicy orbs every day. My deck pot of mixed lettuce and dill has provided many tasty salads already which Im pleased about. (Thanks for that idea, Judy, K!)  Some lettuce plants are going to seed now but I've been cutting off the flowering portions and still eating the rest.

vegetable garden

The rainbow swiss chard plants in the vegetable garden are growing really well and have provided numerous tasty meals already. The regular green swiss chard that I started from seed is still very tiny. I guess I haven't been fertilizing them enough. The squashes that I started from seed are GIGANTIC and trying to take over the garden! We have cut 2 squashes off already (ate one) and there are at least 3 medium sized ones still growing there as well as a few tiny ones. Some of the leaves have mildew on them now, though. We have had so much rain this summer compared to the normal July amount (which is usually next to none!)

I found a mildew fixing "recipe" online:
Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda with a 1/4 cup of milk and 2 quarts of water.  Put in a spray bottle and spray the leaves.

It works like a charm! It got rid of all the mildew off the cucumber leaves in the greenhouse. (Sprayed them twice.) I also sprayed the garden squashes (and zucchinis) once with it, but the rain washed most of it off, I guess, and the mildew is back now. I cut off about 2 dozen of the worst leaves yesterday. Time to spray the rest of the leaves, but today it is raining again so it'll have to wait for a sunny day.

Squashes blooming on fence and raised bed

The beets are growing nice big leaves (especially the ones in the raised bed), but the beet roots are not big enough to eat yet. The carrots (raised bed) are struggling, but likely because the beets leaves are shading them from the sun.  
Green Beans- I started 2 batches of green bean seeds in the house about 2 weeks apart. I planted some seedling straight into the ground and planted some in pots in the greenhouse. The ones in the ground took forever to sprout and show them selves. The ones in the greenhouse pots grew much faster.

The bean plants in the ground are still pretty small,  but they do have some nice green beans on them (finally). The bean plants in the raised bed are twice as big with twice as many long green beans growing on them even though these I started most those plants 2 weeks later. I guess that couple of weeks of greenhouse time made all the difference.

Marmot varmit :)

Marmots- We have a family of marmots living in the vicinity and one of their tunnels is right under the deck. Strangely enough they have not been a nuisance  in my flower beds. I did spray Bobbex at the start of the growing season and several other times since (but not recently). The rodents have not been destructive at all to the self seeded sunflowers this year. The small finches and chickadees are happy. They have been eating the seeds right off the sunflower heads now, so most of the stems are horizontal. The sunflowers are small this year, but I'm happy that the birds are enjoying them.


The rabbits are still around, but they too have been leaving most of my plants alone. My lilies are spectacular this year!  The white lilies have finished blooming now and the 4 foot tall two tone pink ones at either side of the round bed are in full bloom now. Too bad lilies don't bloom longer, but the nice thing is that each of my different types of lily seem to bloom at different times, one after the other, so I've had lilies blooming for over a month now!

Two tone lilies - bulbs from the Lily Farm Hwy 11

Prolific day lilies

Saskatoons

The saskatoon berries are huge and plump this year. Have never seen them this juicy or abundant in the 9 years that we have been here, It's great! We have picked saskatoons three of four times now. I have made 2 pies and 3 batches of muffins at different times. Have also been eating them in my cereal every morning for weeks now. Thank you Mother Nature!

Big, juicy saskatoon berries