Yet another edition of VERSUS. This time it is June 2022 versus June 2023 and what we were able to harvest. For the most part, we are on par with what we were experiencing in 2022 with most of our plants. Some of the harvest measurement differences were based not so much on what was ready, but what we were processing during that month. We are now looking forward to July and seeing what we will get as the heat picks up and growing season really takes off. Though thanks once again to wildfires, we are contending with some smoky conditions. But I’ll get to all that in the July Versus post.

The weather in June seemed fairly standard with nothing really of note. The weather in June 2023 compared relatively the same as June 2022. No major anomalies with sun or rain. I believe any delay we have with our plants is a pre-planting issue that we noticed this year.

New to the garden this year is the garlic and along with it the garlic scapes. I have never had garlic scapes before so this was a pleasant bonus harvest for us that resulted in one of the best savory jellies I have ever made. It also made phenomenal garlic bread, adding more layers to the flavour when mixed with some fresh herbs. I ended up making some compound butter with the scapes and some herbs, which I divided up and froze. I can see frying chicken in it in the winter for a fresh herb & garlic flavour, making breads and buns to go with soup, and of course garlic bread.

Our garlic patch will hopefully expand for next year. This year is very much about learning and we are hopeful for a good harvest at the end of July so that we have enough to enjoy some of the fresh cloves as well as for planting next years crop.

Out herbs are growing great and seem quite happy in the bigger planter that I built. I really enjoy having them all right by the back door. I know it seems silly, but I am more inclined to grab them with where they are versus going downstairs, and then down the equivalent of another flight to wherever the herbs were growing in the back yard. More often than not, I am sitting on the back patio before starting dinner, so I can grab the herbs as I pass. I think for the most part, this is why my harvest numbers are higher this June. More the convenient location versus actual growth and availability.

I was most worried about Thyme this year as my first batch of seeds didn’t grow. When I got another batch of seeds, I felt like it might be too late to get a good size plant in time for when I would want it, but it looks like that won’t be a problem. It is certainly liking it’s new home and is growing quickly and abundantly. My hope is that it will re-seed and come back next year along with the tarragon and oregano. I think I will likely add some straw or something to the top of the bed this fall to help insulate the roots just a bit, so we will see.

I really enjoy having a rhubarb plant but find my interest in using it varies from year to year. This year, I have not baked as much, nor have I made any fruit leather in the dehydrator. We have an abundance of it, so much so that I have been giving it away to coworkers, but my use of it is low this year, which is why there is a difference in harvest weight this year. We did also transplant the rhubarb and as it is known to do, it had no issue rooting in and is happily growing in it’s new home.

I do hope to try a rhubarb chutney this year, I just need to get around to actually making it. I love chutneys, and I keep seeing all these wonderful recipes for the rhubarb ones. I also see a lot of rhubarb BBQ sauces, so I may also have to try one of those recipes as well. I predict that my harvesting of the rhubarb this year will be more evenly spaced over the year, rather than heavy in the first few months and then next to nothing.

Another that can be fully dependent on need versus actual harvest. Apparently during the month of June, we consume green onion. Exactly the same amounts for both years. As it gets hotter, we start eating more salads which are delicious with a bit of green onion. We also tend to enjoy egg salad sandwiches more when we notice that the scallions are looking crisp and delicious. As the summer wears on, they begin to look a little more haggard, though we do still enjoy them.

Right now half of our onions got buried under the green tops of our potato plants. The potato plants are huge! After years of growing them in towers where they are naturally more contained, I don’t think I was expecting what we have gotten. I mounded them about 3′ high, and the plants have continued to grow. To the point that they did lean over some of the onion rows, and are also trailing almost to the ground from their raised bed. I’m hoping for a really good harvest based on how happy those plants are. The onions beneath the greens of the potatoes still seem to be happily growing, so I have left them as is, and will harvest them likely in the fall with the potatoes.

Our new strawberry patch is extremely happy. We are consistently getting a bowl of strawberries every few days. I will have plenty for Jam and am also enjoying a lot of them fresh. We are regularly trimming the runners to keep the plants focussed on growing berries, but recently fell behind with some of the runners, leading to some very large new plants that had nowhere to go due to the landscaping fabric we put down.

Kurt and I trimmed them and I soaked the roots in some water for a few days to get them to grow a bit. Then I planted them in a pot by the herb planter. We will see if they produce anything for us. If not, the planter looks nice and adds a bit more greenery by our patio.

The wild driveway strawberries are lower overall this year than last, and especially so in June, but I believe that is because we had a much larger harvest in May this year. However, between the May & June, 2022 was definitely the better growing year. I just learned that we are officially in a level 4 drought where we are, so perhaps the lack of water resulted in a lower growth rate for the berries. We don’t water them since they found their own home at the end of our drainpipe. I think Kurt might spray some water on it during the heat of summer when we see almost no rainfall, mostly just to keep the plants alive. But, they aren’t like the rest of our garden. We enjoy them, but we don’t cultivate them intentionally. We just have let nature do it’s thing.

That is it for June. Early July we have been getting to enjoy some of the other veggies in the garden, which once again seems on par with 2022. I’ll do a little update of all our plants in the next post. I also realized that I should have taken pictures at the same date each month (ex. 15th) so that we could see how much the garden changes from month to month. I will have to look back and see if I did take some photos of the last few months, and if so, continue doing it for the summer. I think it will be a cool visual.