Early garden growth. Plants on the Dark Side: Creeping Bell Flower.
Greetings fellow gardener,
It has been a busy week. I had a visit from some lovely ladies from the Ottawa Italian Week Festival who interviewed me about vegetables. I am so excited that there is so much interest in growing food! At the time it was cool and very windy while as I write this it is 30 something and the air is still and heavy. And so, between wind and heat, watering is the most important thing to be doing right now. I like to wander around the garden watering and checking bugs before 8am when it is cool. I am out there anyway to let my chickens out and they need water too.
Your beans and peas should be starting to grow. You will notice that they have curled stems or tendrils and are looking to climb. Be sure to steer them in the right direction. I have peas that are starting to climb old tomato cages and beans reaching for the fence. My favourite tomato is starting to show tiny yellow flowers. I can hardly wait to taste that first warm tomato. I am continuing to feed the tomatoes along with my other plants with a weak fish emulsion fertilizer once a week. The zucchini is just starting to form, and I am watching diligently for the striped cucumber beetles. So far, the chipmunks are ignoring the zucchini plants, but I am putting netting over them anyway. The wavy tops of carrots should be showing. Baby earwigs love these vegetables so if nothing is up by now you may want to reseed.
I have had several meals of lettuce and have started some more seeds. I like the pot I have hanging in a tree, tasty and very pretty and out of the full sun. This year I am finding that my cucumbers are slow to grow. They were not impressed with that cold spell we had earlier. I am continuing to check for pests and making sure to fertilize. The eggplants on the other hand are doing better than ever. Usually the eggplants are spindly and sad, but they really like the new location. It is a good example of how if something does not work one way, try it another way!
This is the week to start my chive vinegar. I love my chives. They come back each year and add a zip of onion flavour to salads and sandwiches. Right now, my chives are blooming. I will pick the round purple flowers and put them in a jar of good white wine vinegar. They will sit in there for about 2 weeks then I will strain the liquid and the lavender-coloured vinegar which has an oniony taste will be bottled and enjoyed.
Have a wonderful week and keep on watering!
Judith (email: lapisdragonarts@gmail.com)
P.S. One of our fellow gardeners is recommending a show on Netflix called ‘The Biggest Little Farm’. I am going to check it out this weekend.
Plants from the Dark Side
Creeping Bell Flower (Campanula rapunculoides)
When I first moved to my house, I discovered this weed and I am still dealing with it to this day. At first, I thought it was pretty and it seemed easy to pull out of areas where I didn’t want it but over time it is showing up everywhere. It crowds out perennials and it a master of disguise. I had thought initially that it was Harebells or Campanula rotundifolia, a lovely native that is a joy in your garden. Sadly, no.
General Description: Perennial, reproducing by seed and by the extremely persistent, widely spreading, fleshy, whitish underground rhizomes and thickened storage tubers. Non-flowering plants are distinguished by their many heart-shaped, irregularly toothed leaves arising from at or below the ground surface, the whitish, fleshy, underground rhizomes and tubers; flowering plants have characteristic bell-shaped blue flowers with a 5-pointed rim, and their seedpods develop between corolla and main stem. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/ontweeds/creeping_bellflower.htm
https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/pests/creeping-bellflower.aspx
Although it has a nice-looking flower it becomes almost impossible to remove over time. I continue to pull it as I weed my front garden.
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