This is the first picking of beans for this year. There are now plenty of yellow (wax) and green beans that are almost ready to eat, so it’s time to find some good recipes so we don’t get tired of beans every day…
It’s been very hot and dry until last night when it finally rained and cooled off some. Even though it’s been hot, I think the garden is off to a slower start than last year.
Here are some late-July shots to show how everything looks today:
Tomatoes are forming, but are still green so far:
The cotton didn’t go outside as early as last year, and hasn’t even formed squares yet. There is some new growth, so I’m still hopeful that some bolls will have time to develop.
The second year Madder withstood the dry conditions extremely well and is very glossy and prickly.
And the new Black Walnut seedling has been planted at a good distance from the garden. It’s looking very well!
Cotton, madder and black walnut! Fantastic! I’ve been watching the black walnut tree on the Manitoba legislative grounds where I live, hoping to gather walnuts in the fall. I am told by my arborist friend however, that it would be a tough competition with the squirrels.
They are pretty quick off the mark – our pumphouse is usually full courtesy of the local red squirrel. Still, it’s worth checking in the Fall – such a great dye source!
love your blog – I look forward to reading more, especially about dye gardens!
Thankyou! I’m working on new pictures of my dyeplants.
I had a black walnut that I lost to a hurricane recently. I ran out and collected as many of the walnuts as I could. I planted them and got nothing at all. Did you plant yours from seed or do you have any idea how to?
I’m sorry to hear about your tree. The trees I collected nuts from are fairly old – planted by my Grandfather (from seed). The summer before last I planted two dozen nuts in the garden near the existing trees and covered them with metal netting to protect them from the squirrels. Last Spring four had germinated, but two of those died during a dry spell in the summer and I think the other two are okay. I put bricks around them so that they don’t get chewed up, and hopefully they’ll make it through another winter. I think it might take at least one cold winter to break the dormancy of the seeds.
The Society of Ontario Nutgrowers is a good source of cultivation info http://www.songonline.ca/ and on their links page they list other associations and suppliers that might cover your area. Good luck with your tree growing – they are a lovely tree.
Thanks for your help. They are sitting in pots protected still so maybe after this winter they will germinate. The website was very helpful!