Garden update: the survivors

Here we are, the first week of June, and no veggies ready for harvest yet. It's still early, but this weather isn't helping move things along! Saturday of May long weekend was gorgeous, so I buckled (despite my better judgement) and moved the seedlings outside. The next week, we had a torrential downpour, and not all the seedlings made it out alive. I knew I should wait another week, but patience is not one of my strong suits. As you can see from the pics, Calgary's summer continues to be delayed by these Vancouver-like overcast days.

The green beans are doing quite well...

As are the tomatoes and lettuce...

 

Unfortunately, the peppers seem to be experiencing some stunted growth. I know they're packed in quite tightly, I don't think they're big enough to feel crowded yet (??). 

 

Unfortunately, the cucumbers and zucchini seem to have suffered the most from the weather. I had to throw quite a few of them in the compost, these are the survivors, and they don't look too perky. :( Apparently they also need a lot of space, which they are obviously not getting in that container... may be time for a relocation...

In happier news - we got the compost all set up! I couldn't find a wealth of information about composting in an urban setting, so it's a bit of an experiment. One of the tricks to successful composting (so I've learnt) is to keep the ratio of "brown" (dried leaves, grass, etc) and "green" materials (vegetable scraps, peelings, etc) fairly even. The one concern is that, since we don't have a yard, we may have trouble finding enough "brown" materials for it to work properly (and keep it from smelling!). So far, we're doing ok and I'm happy to report - no smell! (I may have to hit up a neighbour for a donation of lawn clippings if we run into trouble down the road). Isn't she a beaut??

And since no one wants to take 10 trips to the composter each day, we purchased this lovely ceramic compost container for the counter. It had a charcoal filter to prevent any smell... and again, we've had no issues with this yet.

 And to pretty things up (and add some privacy from the neighbours), we've added some flowers to the built-in planters. (We thought about adding a raspberry bush, but were worried large plants may break the planter.) Hopefully these guys get large and bushy soon, to act like a pretty fence.

Finally, I had to include this shot of Sophie, our sweet little rescue kitty who can't go outside (her previous owners had her declawed), so she just sits patiently at the window and watches...

How is your garden fairing this summer? Any tips for the container gardener like me?

.

Share