State of the Garden – July

I’m not going to lie, when I moved here I was absolutely petrified about how my garden would turn out. The past few years here in Edmonton, I’ve heard, have not proven to be good for tomatoes, and with my 40-or-so varieties that needed growing out for the seed bank this year, I really needed a banner year.

So far, my fears have proven completely unfounded, and even my husband, whose interest in my garden only extends to “what can I eat?”, has noticed how amazingly the plants are doing.

Sure, the season started a bit late this year, but the hard work I put into transforming that 300 sq ft patch of sod, has proven to really pay back in what is going to be an amazing harvest.

With sunny, high-twenties days, and then some rainfall at night, has proven to be a boon for the tomato gardens, and they’ve just been going crazy.

The clay/sand soil I was so upset with initially (on the coast it’s a curse), has proven to be a gift here in the very dry prairies, retaining moisture well without proving to get too heavy. Which the tomatoes are loving.

If crazy hail storms can stay away, and we don’t get an early frost, this is really going to be an amazing year. I think the harvests are going to be better than I ever had on the west coast, even accounting for the difference in season lengths.

All the tomatoes now have blossoms bagged, and many are setting fruit. I’m really excited for the amount of varieties I’ll be able to offer this year through the bank.

For now, here’s a few photos from the gardens.

Row 1 (L-R): Zapotec Pink Pleated, Stupice, Sibirskiy Velikan Rozovyi
Row 2 (L-R): Ireland Creek Annie, Tomato Jungle, Fargo Yellow Pear