Five days of sunshine in a row!  I’ve been watching the weather forecast with an eagle’s eye and I literally leaped for joy when I saw Environment Canada’s little sun icons lined up all in a row.  Finally, I might see the field dry up enough to be tilled, which will allow me to get these fully sprouted seed potatoes in the ground.

I have decided on a few other vegetable endeavours.  One that you are probably already aware of, the sweet potatoes, and the other is pickling cucumbers.  My sweet potatoes are doing well in our quaint little home with the exception of some aphids, which I have been diligently washing off with water and picking each one off every other day.  They spent the day outside basking in this lovely sunshine, but I wonder if we’re going to have a warm enough summer this year being La Nina and all.

La Nina, which I read about on Wikipedia, will cause the Pacific equatorial to decrease by about 2-5 degrees Celsius.  This is pretty drastic considering already, it doesn’t really get that hot here, at least not that hot- in terms of trying to grow sweet potatoes.  Therefore, I’ve decided that I am going to give them a little support in the form of a hoop house.  I’ve been looking up design and building ideas in my spare time, which dwindles with the increase in day light, and I think I’ll use the old pvc pipe and .150 MM plastic that I see all over my neighbourhood in Vancouver.  As a matter of fact, I have an Italian neighbour that I’m sure I can go to for advice.  I’ll also use black plastic on the ground, which should help keep weeds out, retain moisture and warm the ground up significantly.

The pickling cucumbers will be available for purchase at their harvest time.  I first assessed whether or not they would be worth growing from a demand-perspective and indeed, people are looking for pickling cukes!  So I will do my best to provide.

Just for kicks, I’ll be growing lots of flowers, so if any of you lovebirds are planning on getting hitched late summer, early autumn and you’d like some flowers- I’m your gal.

Here is a before pic of the farm.  The beautiful hoop house in the background belongs to my neighbours, Simple Roots.  Can’t wait to see the mid and late season after pics…

Sunny days are here!
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