Welcome To My Zone 3 Garden Diary

You know that saying that into each life a little rain must fall? Well, I think we have had more than our fair share. This wheelbarrow was filled up in just two rainfalls. 

Welcome to my new blog, a garden diary of sorts, where I will be posting the good, the bad, and the ugly from the gardening seasons. A place for me to keep track of what thrived and flourished, as well as what didn't.... and hopefully, the why. 

The 2026 gardening season has started off as a very frustrating garden year. It has been cold, snowy, rainy all the way to the end of June. Gardeners say that their weeds are taking over their gardens with all the rainfall. Luckily, I grow in raised beds so they are much less weedy and the perennial gardens are all mulched up for less weeding, but nevertheless... yuck. 

That said.... some seeds rotted in the ground, some plants struggled but came about nicely after all (sweet peas and lettuces), and some veggies, like garlic, actually thrived. 

It is going to be a great garlic year, however, as long as it stops raining for the last few weeks of this month so the bulbs are not bloated with water at harvest time. Water logged garlic bulbs do not cure well. Fingers crossed for a bit less rain.

Tomatoes growing in green tomato cages in a raised garden bed. Determinate tomatoes in raised garden beds. Even the marigolds are still small! 

Tomatoes were not planted out till late May, but still struggled. They were cold. We had some single digit lows (Celsius) and single digit highs, too. Luckily, even though it has been raining daily, the tomatoes finally got enough heat, turned the corner, started growing and flowering. They are smaller than usual at this time, growing slowly, but as long as I get tomatoes to sauce up, I am happy. 

Oh, I truly think that feeding them with this seaweed fertiliser is part of why they turned dark green and started thriving, as they were pretty limey and had purple veining just a week ago. I also gave a shot to my peppers and eggplants. They turned from puny and limey to dark green and growing. Huh. I swear it works! 

If you buy the seaweed through this link, I may receive a small commission. Thank you! 

Tomato plants growing inside a greenhouse, in pistachio green raised beds, Indeterminate tomatoes inside the greenhouse, growing up strings and spirals. The greenhouse tomatoes are all indeterminates, they are taller, bigger, and happier. 

This is where I grow the tomatoes for eating rather than processing into sauce or salsa. I have two cherries (Black Cherry & Gold something or another), several beefsteaks (Black Krim, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Ox Heart), and a Green Zebra slicer type. 

Cucumbers growing in a raised bed inside a greenhouse. 

Squash was direct sown outside, but not till late as it was so cold. Cucumbers were direct sown into the greenhouse and are coming along really nicely. I have more luck with cucumbers in raised beds or pots than in the ground level beds. 

Anyway... all this to say that although it is early July, everything is still small and set back by the weather, so this year is quite the anomaly... even for the prairies. 

A garden with a tall peony in bud form, a hardy sour cherry tree, and some flowering shrubs in a small corner garden bed with a white shed in the background. 

The Romeo tree form cherry tree is thriving, full of cherries, and the peony beside it is huge! They have not minded the rain one bit. 

Welcome to my new garden diary blog - Just a quick introduction today, so I remember what things looked like at the beginning of July. More actual gardening content to come. 

 Happy Gardening, whatever the weather, wherever you grow ~ Tanja