Cucumber Blues

My garden is doing great ... well, at least most of it ... My poor cucumbers are not doing well, they started great, but have been going yellow and many are round shaped. I thought they had cross pollinated with the squash, but after some advice from friends and much googling I found that that was not true. Squash and cucumbers are related, but not enough for them to cross pollinate. So, it must be an issue with the soil - not enough of a certain nutrient (or perhaps too much of a certain nutrient?)

This cucumber is very large for a cucumber, it was looking great, but about two days ago started to turn yellow. Its still nice and firm, just yellow

The cucumbers in these two pic are round and yellow.

I'm very disappointed, I was really hoping to make piles of pickles this year. I'm going to get some more seeds today and try planting them elsewhere, there should be just enough time for them to grow before the first frost. 

Basil Ice Cubes

I harvested some basil today and I had a friend recommend cutting it up and freezing it in ice cubes. Once the ice cubes are frozen, transfer to a freezer bag and then you can just add an ice cube to soups and stews. Super easy!

Freshly harvested basil

Cut it up

Add to ice cubes trays

Add water and then put in freezer. Once they are frozen, pop them out and put in labelled freezer bag :)

Obviously, herb ice cubes wouldn't work for everything. They could be used in soups, stews and sauces, but not so good for putting on garlic bread or anything like that.

Here's the frozen ice cubes. They don't look too pretty, but they work great :) A friend also suggested making them in olive oil instead of water :)

The Garden at the end of July

As July starts to come to an end, the daily garden harvest is increasing substantially. I am now harvesting beans, peas, lettuce, Swiss chard, cucumbers and green onions. Many of the other plants are starting to bear fruit - the tomatoes have piles of babies tomatoes on them, there are baby watermelons, corn and tons of squash!

The pole beans are doing great. they've made their way up the trellis and have a pile of beans on them

Lettuce, lettuce and oh ya more lettuce.

This is Cauliflower - not ure why it looks so horrible. Too much sun? Insects? 

This is three mounds of squash! Oh my! Its a monster!

A baby squah from the mounds shown above

A Butternut squash

Bee Swarm

Yesterday, I posted my bee photos on Facebook (cause that what we do with all awesome pics!) and tagged my friend Braja in them and asked if there was anything we should do. He said that the bees would leave on their own in a day or two, but to ensure they made it through the winter it would be best for us to call a bee keeper to come get them. I contacted the Chatham section of the Ontario Bee Associations and from there ended up talking to a bee keeper from Sombra. 

The bee keeper came out this afternoon and set up a bee hive box - shown in the pics below. He said there was honey in the box that would draw the bees over. The process can be as quick as 30 minutes to as long as a day.

The fella set up the hive-box with no protective gear on; he said as the bees are in a traveling state and are not in a defensive mode, they pose no real danger- unless of course you really pissed them off!

The bee keeper said that there was several thousand bees in the swarm and the queen would be situated in the center of the swarm.

On the note of bees and honey. If you are looking for awesome honey and herbs, my friend Braja has some of the best in Canada 

Herb Guy's Honey House

As the bees were taking their sweet time moving to the hive-box, the bee dude decided to leave the box here for the day and come back tomorrow to get it.

I'm happy that the bees will soon be safely in their new home. Bees are a vital part of our ecosystem and we have been losing them at an alarming rate. Without bees many of the fruits and vegetables in North America will not bear fruit as they will not be pollinated. 

Two hours later the bees are all in the box! No fuss, no one got stung and the bees are not and safe! Yay!

Nests and bees

I had an interesting day around the homestead. I went out hang laundry on the line and noticed my son had left a pair of shorts on the line (they had been there a couple of days). I went to take them down and they had a bird nest in the leg!

I've never seen a bird nest in a pair of shorts before! How weird!

Later in the day, I went to take the dogs for their supper time walk and noticed something on the back post of the dog pen

Yep, that's a swarm of bees! Very cool! i think they are honey bees. From what I understand they are on the move and just taking a short break on my fence post (for a day or two) and then they'll continue on their way. They are looking for a place to set up a new hive. I will obviously avoid the dog pen until the move in and keep an eye on them as I don't want them setting up in the garage or anywhere too close to the house. To deter them from setting up in the garage, I simply burn strong smelling incense in there all day. The bees don't like the smell or the smoke and they'll decide it is not a habitable place (My beekeeper friend Braja taught me that!) there are woods around my place where they can set up a hive or they can set in the barn. Bees are a very important part of the ecosystem, I am happy to have them set up their home near me (as long as they are not right up at the house!).  Bees are pollinators and without them we would not have a lot of fruits and vegetables. I try to promote the growth of wild flowers in my yard to help the bees and butterflies, as both are in decline in North America.

July 10th

Some photos from around the garden and yard today :)

The squash is growing awesome!

Royal red and iceburg lettuce

More squash

Cabbage

peas

The ladies

my son Travis feeding the hens and the cat Rollie

Honey Bees

We have already lost a huge population of bees in Canada and the beekeepers say this year is worse. I say "we" because this loss of bee population is important to all of us. Conservative, Liberal, NDP or Green, SIGN the petition to ban this pesticide that is killing our pollinators.Without pollinating insects, many of or crops will not bear fruit ...

"Pollinators, including honeybees, are a central element of our food system and a critical pillar of our ecology. While the impact of honeybees extends far beyond the pollination of commercial agricultural crops, the monetary value of just this service is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars globally each year.
In the past decade, extreme declines in bee populations have been measured across North America and throughout Europe, prompting widespread concern from citizens, scientists, and many governments.
While many theories have been put forward for this collapse of the bee population, one of the most likely is a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, which attack insects’ central nervous systems causing paralysis and death, and have proven very harmful in sub-lethal quantities."

Sign petition