Garden 2026 Update #3 - Weather Extremes, Pest Pressure & Shifting Gears

It's been a wild start to the gardening season of 2026. From the first day I transplanted all of my seedlings grown indoors until this week, it's been one thing after another. 

Extreme Weather

For about the last 2 months now, it's been quite literally one extreme or the other. Either unseasonably hot, or cold, or wet, or windy, etc. It's been all of them, and nearly all of my indoor grown seedlings have suffered. I had to replace about half of all my tomato seedlings after they were planted outside. Most of my peppers survived but the plants are just now starting to thrive and really put on fruit so they're weeks behind where they would have been in more seasonal and ideal weather conditions. 

New Urban Pest 

For the first time in the decade+ I've been growing in this space, I had a very hungry ground hog show up and help himself to my immature cucumber plants.

I wasn't sure he was the culprit until I saw him on the back yard cam the same day I discovered my cucumber plant's leaves had been utterly consumed.

Not a coincidence, they love cucumbers as much as people do! Thankfully he moved on that very same day, and most of my cucumbers recovered, and are putting on new growth. 

But as of the end of July they're pushed back nearly 3-4 weeks from producing any fruit. So my cucumber harvest this year isn't looking great, similar to the peppers.

Similar to the tomatoes, cukes and peppers, I had some sort of pest help itself to the garlic I planted last fall. I only ended up harvesting about 10% of what I'd hoped for.  All that to say, I'll be purchasing a lot more from the local farmer's markets this year to process and put up all my family favorite canned goods. Sometimes, it just works out this way. I like to grow what grows well here, and what my family consumes the most of. For us, that's tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic & cucumbers. The only thing not bothered by any pressure this year so far, are the green onions. They're doing fantastic. 😂 Everything else I'll be shopping local for. 

Shifting Gears & Downsizing the Garden

Speaking of family favorite canned goods... I haven't fully decided yet exactly how I'll do this, but as the kids all grow up and move out, there are less and less people here under my roof every year to provide for. So after this gardening season, I'll be changing things up a bit as I plan for next year's garden and the amount of space & seedlings I'll be needing. I have a few fun ideas in mind so I'm kind of looking forward to this upcoming new season and this new chapter in life too. 

Here's a few shots from around the garden in the last few days...

Harry the Thinker Duck (a gift from one of my kids) hanging out in the pepper patch. 

My faithful Garden Assistant - Mr. Noobies 

A lovely volunteer pansie in the Spearmint pot. 

This year's Cayenne peppers for the all the spicy, home canned treats💖

The view from the back deck. Many more pops of color this year! 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Unexpected Delightful Garden Blessings ♥

This time of year in the very early summer, I like to take a walk around the garden in the early evening with my notebook & phone to make notes & take pics of what sort of things need to be done. New places to plant things, plants that need some additional support, and things like that. Simple, evening garden chores. 

This evening while attending to my normal routine, I had a guest at the feeder just a few feet away.  I took an outrageous number of pics to get this one and the Mourning Dove never flinched once. I was about 4 feet away. 

After all that I very, very slowly walked backward toward the house and away from the feeder. The Dove remained the entire time. 

It's so cool to be in a wee bit of harmony with some of God's other creatures. Even if just for a few seconds. 💖

Garden 2026 Update #2 Fruit Trees, Spring Projects & Painting the Garden

My latest garden update for 2026 here in zone 6a in southwestern Ontario Canada.

Year #3 with blossoms but no fruit visible at all for Harry, my Italian Plum Tree. 

Maybe next year is the year everyone's hoping for!

The Honey Crisp apple blossoms look promising. 

I did a pretty hard prune last season with all fruit trees and berry bushes 

so we'll just have to wait & see how well they bounce back this year. 

 Potted Bleeding Hearts at the back garden pond. 

Beautiful pansies that self-seeded and survived the harsh Southern Ontario winter. 

Beautiful Forget Me Nots are all over my yard. In Pink, blue and white. 

Lovely spring strawberry blossoms throughout the strawberry beds. 

Felix & Oscar, the Odd Musical Tin Rooster Duo standing guard over Victoria, the rhubarb that over-wintered in the massive compost bin after I pulled her and tossed her out. Victoria has been re-homed back into the garden between grape vines, and next to the strawberries. 

I've finally repainted my DIY raised metal bed (it's 2 window wells I bought on FB marketplace years ago) with the same paint I re-painted the garden cottage. I think it's called Misty Green. Somehow, the camera at this angle picks up some sort of muted yellow? 😄 In any case, it's a fresh new upgrade from the battleship gray the metal bed used to be. 

This might be the worst "before/after" image ever 😂 but it's only because the camera really didn't capture the HUGE difference in color. On the left the metal bed is classic gray. On the right, it's a soft green.  In real life, it's a 10 million percent improvement in how the garden looks. Also, the bright green and purple pots seen here have been part of a project to "Paint the Garden", to beautify the space, and add a wonderful pop of color to every area of the growing spaces. 

We inherited my father in law's park bench after he passed away in 2020, and it's been in need of some real TLC for a long time. That happened recently, with a quick pressure wash.  

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Turkey Bacon Soup Recipe

As requested over many years, here's my favorite use for leftover Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family has! 

4 cups chicken broth
2 c. water
½ c. chopped green onions
½ c. uncooked rice
8 slices bacon
½ c. butter
¾ c. flour
½ t. salt
¼ t. poultry seasoning
¼ t. black pepper
2 c. half & half cream
1 ½ c. cooked & diced turkey meat

In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water, green onions and rice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer about 35 minutes. In a large skillet cook the bacon, allow to cool then crumble & set aside.

When the rice is tender melt the butter in a medium saucepan over med-low heat. Stir in flour salt, poultry seasoning and pepper. Cook and stir until smooth and bubbly. Stir in half & half cream until thickened – about 2 minutes. Stir cream mixture into rice mixture, add turkey and bacon, heath through and serve. Great with warmed, crusty bread.