May 8, 2020 Haskaps are flowering

Today in our Edmonton backyard garden the haskaps are in full bloom. The pale flowers attract large bees, lots of them. Pollination is well underway. Haskaps provide a great crop of early berries. We will be harvesting the tart oblong purple berries by June 20.

Haskaps in full bloom

Although we expect more nights when temperatures dip below freezing, our kale seedlings can be transplanted into a raised bed in the garden. The soil in the raised bed has warmed enough, and the seedlings will be covered with a floating row cover (garden cloth). Kale is hardy in cool weather.

Kale seedlings ready for transplanting into the garden.





We started the kale plants from seed in late March. We grew them in little pots, under lights in the basement. When night temperatures rose to just a few degrees below freezing, they went into the greenhouse. We have a space heater in the greenhouse for the tomatos and peppers for chilly nights, so the kale was warm but probably didn't require the night-time heat.

Today, before the rain, we planted out some kale in a raised bed, along with parsley and romaine lettuce seedlings.  Plants grown indoors need to slowly adjust to wind and sun, so these plants were covered with a floating row cover.  Flea beetles attack kale, so these row covers will stay on for most of the season. The row cover also raises the temperature just a degree or so. Even so, we won't put out tender plants until temperatures are well above freezing and the earth has warmed.

Everything is covered up with a floating row cover.

After planting the row cover is secured with bricks around the outer base of the raised bed. This keeps out the bugs and protects the young plants from cutting winds. Rain and sun permeate the row cover.