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Despite or maybe because of the extreme weather we've had here, my garden is exploding this year. Literally!! The squash is out of control. The tomatoes are early and thriving. The beans plants have doubled in size from previous years and are heading skyward at an alarming rate. I've gotten over 20 lbs off my little strawberry bed and the blueberries are ripening as fast as I can pick them. So, I've done up some videos to share with you to show you how the garden is doing. Here's the first one. https://youtu.be/MDUG0MFb_hY One of the things you'll see mentioned is root knot. Root knot first appeared in my garden about 6 years ago when I had bought some seedlings from a nursery. They must have had it in their soil and it passed into mine. Now it's in all my beds as it can be transferred by gloves or tools and it's probably in my compost. As of now, I've been growing all my own seedlings but they are still affected by the nasty knot in the soil. Snap Peas I'm always experimenting with the snap peas as I just haven't been that impressed with past years and seeds. This year I tried some seeds from Salt Spring Seeds and was so impressed. They are sweet and crunchy with an amazing flavour. Definitely a keeper. The next video is the other half of the garden. https://youtu.be/yohe-2oYmKw If you noticed on the strawberry bed there is black netting right over the bed and now there is some orange netting along the bottom. This was because the raccoons were eating more strawberries than we were and I couldn't figure out how they got in as the black netting was pulled down and attached to nails along the side of the bed. Having to come up with another plan we tried putting plywood around the bed, but the raccoons just pulled it down, so I came up with this clever invention if I may say so myself. I cut some fence netting into strips and then stretch it out attaching it to the nails. This made a tight seal and the raccoons haven't been able to make it in. Although, I saw this morning that they were trying to tunnel under the bed. :) You'll notice on the pole beans that one side is doing great up the ladder and the far side not so good. This was because the slugs and quail ate the one side and I had to replant a couple of times. Type of Potatoes Over the last 6 or 7 years, I've been keeping my own seed potatoes which are Yukon Gold. But I've noticed that they having been getting some dark spots inside them when we've had hot weather so I thought I would try some other organic ones. Looking through all the options I picked the following... Kennebec - good keeper, large potato and are wonderful baked. Chieftain (red potato) delicious when little Sieglinde - these originated from Germany and are oblong in shape. Supposedly look like a Yukon Gold inside but with a buttery taste. Yukon Gold - I can't stop them. They are still coming up in my garden from previous years. Types of Squash This year I'm trying all sorts of new squash most of which are good keepers except for the zucchini. Spaghetti (old favourite) Yellow Zucchini Gill' Golden Pippin - acorn squash that is sweet and nutty Baby Blue Hubbard Burgess Buttercup - I got it because it was supposed to be compact. Someone forgot to tell it that. Tromboncino Zucchini Nutterbutter Butternut - butternut squash is my favourite but this is a new variety. Luffa - you can eat the squash young but if you let it grow you'll end up with a product that you can use to exfoliate in the shower or even scrub your dishes with it. Looked like a fun thing to grow and is currently trying to take over the greenhouse. The next video is a walk through the tomato patch. I must warn you beforehand that it may cause dizziness as I appear to switch the camera from side to side fairly quickly. Sorry about that. I'm not even going to try and name all the tomatoes as a lot I've kept seeds for over the years and they have new names now. We just keep the ones Rob likes and try a couple of new varieties each year. https://youtu.be/aWu0v_jp4sw The last video is on the drying beans I keep for the winter's baked beans. For some reason, I missed including it in the other videos. https://youtu.be/unsZca4HZlk Type of Beans Nez Perce - these are a small brown bean that has the nicest flavour. Definitely a favourite. I grew them last year and the plants were at the tallest only 3 feet high. Mayan Red Bean - a new variety that I couldn't resist. They are supposed to have vibrant pink pods and only grow 2 feet high. Mikos Mixed Bush Bean - I got these as they are a mixed bag of different beans and I thought it would be a good sample pack to save seeds from for the following year. All the beans have exceeded their high restriction so I can hardly wait to see what they will produce. Looks like a bumper crop for just about everything. Let me know if you have any questions about the garden and I'll be happy to answer. Here's to another great gardening year.

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