Sarah Frumento (she/her) 🇨🇦 (@sarahfrumento.ca)

Garden update Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) Baldhip Rose (Rosa gymnocarpa) Hollyhock Radish sprouts Beet sprouts My wild garden Keisha and my office pansies Amazingly, I have been remembering to weed and water my garden and I haven’t killed anything (yet). My little native strawberry plants are doing exactly what I’d hoped they do: spread out to create a strawberry patch. I don’t think I’ll see any fruit from them this year, although one plant had a couple of flowers, but I hope they keep spreading out. The Baldhip Rose is planted in the same area as the native strawberries. My understanding is it is similar to the Nootka Rose but won’t get as big. Again, I’m not sure when I’ll see any flowers, but I hope it does well in this spot. I love roses. Both the Woodland Strawberry plants and the Baldhip Rose are from a native plant nursery, Satinflower Nurseries. I was stoked when I realized it is very close to where I live (I bike by it everyday on my way to/from work). The hollyhock seems to take care of itself. The first year we were here we cut it way back because we didn’t know what it was and it has been thriving ever since. I love how many flowers are on each stalk and the pale pink is so pretty. My first planting of radishes has been growing like wild, but is starting to taper off so I finally remembered to plant some more. It is very validating how quickly they sprout up. I think I only planted these seeds a week ago. These little sprouts are Daikon radish (I believe). I also planted some beets in between my original radish rows. They have also started to sprout (little Y-shaped sprouts). I’ve never grown beets before, so it will be interesting to see how long they take before we can pick them. I planted the (original) radish and carrot seeds at the same time. The radishes have been ready to eat for a while now but the carrots take a lot longer. I planted some more carrot seeds today, to spread out the harvest. While doing so, I looked at the packet and realized I should have thinned out my original carrot seedlings when they were smaller, so I thinned them out today. Hopefully, it wasn’t too late. My kale also started slow but it has been growing very fast this last week. I picked quite a bit yesterday and then a bunch today. I’m going to have to be mindful to keep up with it. I put a bunch in a fried egg sandwich for lunch this morning, with radishes on the side. :-) My tomato plants all look pretty strong although I’ve noticed some leaf curl. From what I’ve read this is usually due to moisture. The ground is plenty moist, so I’m wondering if it is too hot where they are. I put some crop cover over top of them today, hopefully that helps to protect them from the sun a bit. I also recently transplanted a cucumber plant (I put it in with my carrots, as I’ve read they go well together) and an heirloom eggplant. Both were from a farm stand not far from my home. After I picked them up, I noticed the eggplant had quite a few aphids on it. I made some natural bug spray that I read about in Homesweet Homegrown. It took me a few days to get it done, so hopefully they weren’t in their little pots for too long. I didn’t want to plant them in my garden until I knew they were aphid free. I think this is the longest I’ve ever kept a garden going without forgetting about it for a few days (or more). It helps that Keisha gets me outside first thing every morning to do ball. After her ball session, we make the rounds watering the gardens and doing some weeding. Then we do another ball session before I go in for my breakfast. On my days off, I’ll try to get out for more time in the garden (some combination of more weeding, harvesting, and/or planting more seeds/plants). Keisha usually keeps me company whenever I’m outside (or wherever I am, really). I’m really enjoying this new hobby and grateful to Keisha for keeping me on track! :-D https://sarahfrumento.ca/posts/garden-update