Wild Manitoba Blueberries

Monday, we were all hanging off the sides of our chairs melting from the sweltering, humid 36 degree celcius weather. Ice tea by the pitcher and moving as little as possible got most of us through it nicely.

Actually, I don't really mind the heat. I just remember those days of minus 40 and the north wind that January and February brings to Manitoba and a little heat is welcome.

 This morning had the feel of mid-October and it seemed that it might be a good time to check if the wild blueberries were ready for picking.


I invited a couple of girls ages 8 and 5 along for the excursion and they were both very excited to participate. One got so excited she spilled her breakfast cereal on the floor.

We bundled up in hoodies, toting bug spray just in case, and headed for the hills...sand hills that is.

After about a 15 minute drive we arrived at out first spot and eagerly climbed out of the van.

The pickings initially were sparse but the kids were still

 excited to find berries as this was their first berry-picking adventure. We tried a few spots and after half an hour we managed to cover the bottom of 3 margarine containers. It was time to move on. We drove to another spot close by and there were even less. Undaunted, we agreed to drive a little farther and try one more spot.

Ah, sweet success! Although we were probably a week or 10 days early for picking, we got enough to make blueberry pancakes for 4 and put a margarine container in the freezer.

We'll return in a week or 2 to try again. Anyone who has ever picked wild bush blueberries will know why they sell for $40 for a 4 litre (about a quart) ice cream pail. It takes a long time to fill a basket. Sometimes I make a blueberry syrup from my pickings. I have also used them in muffins, cake and this year I may try a version of my brandied cherries with the blueberries. However you choose to have them, they are wonderful!

My Manitoba Container Garden

Zuccinni, the first time I have planted this in a pot. I think there will be enough zuccinni for the whole building. We had a week of warmer than usual weather around May 24th so I started planting then although I usually wait till early to mid June. It got cold again after I planted but everything seems fine, thriving in fact. Also shown in the next picture, potatoes and tomatoes and carrots.

Cucumbers and melons or squash. I didn't mark the pot and can't remember what I put in the one in front. These will need thinning as the season progresses.

A mix of lettuce (mesculin) that did not come up well. I have now reseeded it and will see what happens. Behind the lettuce is a pot of swiss chard that seems to be thriving. Really, you can grow things just about anywhere in anything.

Beans: a pot each of green, yellow and purple. I will add more seeds to the pots later to keep these producing later into the summer.

A few pots of herbs in front of the beans. One of the advantages of container gardening is the ability to move pots around if they don't like the place they are currently living.

A group shot. I am fortunate that my apartment building provides this nice pad area for container gardening. The hose is close by hung in a branch of a tree. I even have a few pots hanging from the branches when I ran out of room on the pad.

Pp

Another group shot. You can see how well the potatoes on the right are doing. I planted them a little differently this year. I started by planting the seed potatoes in the bottom half of the pot, then added more earth as the tops grew. I have heard it increases the yield. We'll see in the fall, I guess.

For those who have never grown your own fresh veggies before, it's actually quite easy. You simply cannot compare the taste of fresh vegetables to store-bought. Second best would be organically grown market veggies.

If you don't have a plot of ground, it is easy and fairly inexpensive to grow a few veggies in whatever containers you have lying around. The containers can be traditional flower pot types or basically anything that is clean and will hold soil while providing good drainage. You can use things like a piece of eavestroughing to grow lettuce, radishes, onions, swisschard, etc. Wooden or plastic boxes of various sizes can be used for tomatoes, potatoes, beans, zuccinnii, carrots and more. I have grown strawberries in small containers and hanging bags. Recycle shopping bags can be used. Poke a few holes for drainage, fill with soil and plant away.

There are many books and quite a lot of online articles available to give you ideas or planting information.
If you are on a tight budget, you can take seeds from produce you buy and start your own plants. If you are in most of Canada or the northern USA it might be getting a bit late for that depending on the end of your growing season.

Herbs can be started in pots and moved indoors before winter frosts arrive. But hey, let's not think of winter frosts just yet, ok?

I will be happy to share any growing tips I can think of, just contact me at this blog.
One important thing about container gardening is that it will probably require quite a lot of watering. My garden gets a lot of heat as it is right against a brick building with exposure from south and west and a bit from the north. It is hot! Beets don't really do well in that much heat or at least mine didn't last year.

This is a really great way to get a little bit of almost everything. I usually get enough for a few meals of each thing and sometimes enough to freeze or preserve.

I also watch the farmers markets and am happy to receive or trade for surplus veggies my neighbours may have.

Good luck and happy growing!

Too Hot To Cook Today

August in Manitoba usually has the feel of fall beginning to arrive. And yes, the geese have begun to gather for their annual flight south. But...it's hot, really hot. It's so hot that the tomato plants in my potted garden are hanging over the sides of the pots gasping for water even though it rained  last night and they were hand-watered this morning.

When you step out of the apartment building the heat smacks you in the face like a hot, wet dish-rag that somebody left sitting on the top of the stove. I'd like to complain about it but when you live in a place where the north winter wind often brings temperatures in the minus thirties and forties, you don't. I just think of what it is like when the vehicles won't start because it's so cold and the oil is so thick that the engines won't turn over.

Hopefully we won't have to deal with that for a while.

We really can't complain too much here in Manitoba, Canada. It seems the weather is strange all over the world.