Van Oort Tiny Farm (2026)

13/08/2026

Mid August 2026 garden update

It has been a great year in the garden so far!

This year we focussed on growing multiple crops in the same bed by planting another crop directly after harvesting another. For example:
Early Spring - spinach, harvested until it warmed up and started to bolt.
Late Spring - green cabbage - grew quickly to over 5lb heads, then harvested
Mid Summer - planted golden beet seedlings, will harvest in Fall/Winter

In the potato bed:
We had several volunteers come up in the Spring. I planted this year's potatoes all around the volunteers. In early summer we harvested the volunteer plants and then planted more potatoes in the spots where the volunteers were. This will give us 3 separate harvests throughout the Summer and Fall.

We are using more hoops and netting this year and it has drastically reduced all types of pest damage as well as provides a small amount of shade protection. When Mr VO planted out the new Fall/Winter seedlings he added a thicker shade cloth during the high temperatures.

Some of our fruit trees are taking a break this year. The 2 pear, 2 nectarine, 1 apple and 1 peach are fruitless. We got about 1/3 of the normal amount of peaches from the other peach tree but they were the biggest that it's ever produced! Quality over quantity. The fig has only produced a few figs this year and it looks like the 2 apples, plum and grape harvests will also be smaller.

The citrus are putting on a lot of growth this year and it looks we will be getting 6-7 oranges from the orange tree this winter. The lemons, lime and kumquat are producing little fruits but at this stage it's too early to tell how many will fully mature.

The tomatoes have been insane this year! The Paul Robeson and Beefsteaks have been huge! The Yellow Taxi is producing some of biggest fruit ever in large clumps.

The winter sqaushes and gourds are producing well vertically next to the tomatoes.

Currently we are harvesting and freezing Triple Crown Blackberries. We were able to freeze about 6 bags of raspberries and a few bags of strawberries but we still have to purchase our Winter supply of blueberries.

The Spring brasiccas - broccoli, cauliflower, Sui choi cabbage and green cabbage have been harvested and enjoyed. We chopped and froze most of the cabbages and Mr VO tried making Sauerkraut for the first time. We also harvested the best golden beet crop that we have ever grown. The Spring collards, Swiss chard, and kales - Red Russian and Lacinato are still producing well.

The summer crops: zucchini, green beans, basil, borlotti drying beans, scarlet runner beans, onions, peppers, leeks, and NZ spinach are all producing well. The peppers are already ripening in the garden which is unusual but welcome. The carrots and sweet potatoes are very slow but we are happy to wait until Fall to start harvesting if need be. The long English cukes have been producing lots but the pickling cukes are few and far between.

This Spring the pea and broad bean harvests were good and the garlic are quite large. We were also able to freeze lots of rhubarb. I have started drying our perennial herbs: oregano, sage, rosemary, bay, chive and thyme which will be more than enough to get us through to next year. I have also dried lots of chamomile, mint and flower petals for teas.

All of the Fall/Winter seedlings are now planted out which will give us: more Red Russian and Lacinato kale, Siberian kale, golden beets, 2 types of rutabagas, 2 types of turnips, more Swiss chard, green, red and Sui choi cabbages, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, romaine lettuce and more collards.

While not all crops have been successful, we are always grateful for the crops that have done well during each growing season. We wish you much success in your gardens! 🐞

06/07/2026

Cabbage, broad bean, pea and volunteer potato harvests

We have about 8 green cabbages in the garden right now so we harvested one for dinner last night. The leaves around the head were huge and are also edible so one plant gives you multiple meals. Mr VO sautéed some chopped cabbage with his secret mix of herbs and spices which is nice served on rice or quinoa. I'll make some coleslaw with some of the large bag of chopped cabbage still in the fridge, and he'll probably steam the outer leaves like you would collards or chard.

It came time to harvest the broad beans which was a messy job and I wouldn't recommend for someone who is squeamish. There were a lot of black aphid 'remains' still on the bean pods after the ladybugs fasted on them, so my hands were very sticky afterwards but I was able to pick a bowl full We'll pull the plants tomorrow.

I also harvested the last of the peas. It's too hot for them now so the plants are going to seed. I picked what I could and we'll also pull those tomorrow.

We had a few volunteer potato plants come up this Spring so I just left them be and planted our saved seed potatoes around them. The leaves were yellowing and had flopped over so I decided to pull the plants today. I was surprised at the size of some of the spuds and how many we got from just 3 plants - 10 and a half pounds! I had a basket with the last of the potatoes that we grew last year in the kitchen and they were sprouting, so I popped 16 in that 3x3' space. The other plants will be ahead of them but I figure it will give us another crop a bit later in the Autumn after I have cured the first batch. Hopefully today's harvest will keep us going until the first crop is ready to harvest. I love it when we can produce enough of something to last us an entire year!

So far this has been a great year for all of the plants. We picked our first cucumber in the greenhouse the other day, also from a volunteer.

Do you have any volunteer crops that are feeding you this year? 🐞

02/07/2026

Canada Day update 🇨🇦

We harvested 6 Sui Choi cabbages a few days ago and was pleased with how much we were able to chop and freeze. I planted our Fall/Winter seeds today so we will have another crop later in the year. This cabbage is perfect for stir fries, soups or steamed and added to dishes so I package up a portion size in a medium Ziploc bag.

The gold beets have been SO successful this year. Our soil conditions have improved enough to be able to grow these now. In the past our beets have been small due to hard soil but the cover crops have worked magic at loosening up and feeding the soil! Beets are so versatile in that you get two different vegetables to cook with. We mostly steam the beetroot but I have also made burgers with them and added shredded beets to soup. The tops are also very good steamed with a bit of butter and salt but they are great for soups or smoothies too.

Another crop that has done very well is the lettuce. We grew 3 different varieties and they all have grown into very large heads. Mr VO picked this romaine head today and mentioned that he has been harvesting the outer leaves from it but it still grew to this size! In addition to eating lots of salads, he chops and freezes lettuce for his smoothies.

The raspberry patch was basically a construction zone for the entire winter as we started to install a 3rd support post but then the project came to a halt until Spring. I didn't have high hopes for the bed and the plants were much smaller this spring due to being disturbed for such a long time. After installing the new post and wires Mr VO topped the bed with compost and very slowly the plants started to recover but were producing small berries. Today I noticed that many of the berries were much bigger than when I last picked them and there are many more to come! I think the purple and golden varieties should now be strong enough produce twice a year.

One of the perennial beds was treated to a topping of compost, this will help hold in the moisture when the hotter days arrive.

In order to make room in the freezer I have been using up last year's veggies. I baked a double batch of zucchini spice muffins for breakfasts and snacks.

It may seem odd, but now is the time to start Fall/Winter seeds to be planted out during the summer so that they have time to get established before the temps drop. Today I started broccoli, sui choi cabbage, red choi cabbage, green cabbage, cauliflower, 3 varieties of kale, gold beets, romaine lettuce, spinach and chard.

I have already started the purple sprouting broccoli, more chard and beets so they will be ready a bit earlier than this next batch.

I have also started saving seeds, so today I collected some columbine and chive seeds. I let the perennial green onions flower so I will collect seed from them as well.

There is always something to do in the garden, from planting seeds, transplanting out seedlings, watering, weeding, harvesting, preserving, composting and seed saving. I love that it's like a big circle that all ties together throughout the seasons. 🐞

26/06/2026

Garlic harvest 2026

Last year we planted our garlic on Oct 8, 2025.

We don't eat a lot of garlic so we planted 24 cloves in the veggie bed and a few more cloves in a large pot.

Around June 4th I harvested all of the scapes that had formed. The scapes, if left on the plant, eventually turn into a flower. When removed, it sends a message to the plant to send that energy to plump up the bulb. Thankfully the scapes can be also eaten and are very tasty in stir fries, soups, or anywhere that you would add garlic.

At this stage we also turn off the automatic watering system. This ensures that the outer layers of the bulbs start to dry out rather than rot.

On June 24th I checked the garlic to see how close we were to harvest. It takes about 8-9 months for garlic to mature so I figured that we were getting close.

I gently dug down next to one of the plants and loosened the soil until I could see the bulb. The bulbs were a good size so I then examined the health of the plants. We had grown garlic in this area in the past and was plagued with allium rust. Unfortunately I spotted the start of the rust on this year's crop.

I decided then that I was going to harvest all of the garlic so that the rust fungus did not spread to our onions, leeks and allium flowers on the property.

I removed all of the infected leaves and bagged them up in the garbage as the fungus would remain in the compost bin, so they have to leave the property. The garlic is perfectly fine to eat and will cure normally. We have a total of 25 bulbs of various sizes which will last us a while.

While cleaning up the bulbs I noticed something that I had never experienced before, some of the plants had generated 2 scapes! I could see evidence of the one that I had removed earlier in June and found a second scape growing next to it. After a quick Google search I narrowed down the possible cause (in our situation) to being that I planted fused or double cloves that appeared to be one clove, but in fact contained two growth tips.

I took a photo of one harvested bulb that still had 2 scapes intact. I must have missed the first one or they both developed after I picked off the scapes earlier in June?

I find, even after all of the years of gardening and the amount of research that I have done, that every year the garden teaches me new, interesting things about nature.

Enjoy the journey! 🐞

25/06/2026

Broad bean woes

Mr VO likes his broad beans so this spring we planted twice as many as we normally do.

We had good germination, they grew to a good height, and flowered beautifully. The weather even cooperated and we had high hopes for a large harvest.

Soon we noticed that we weren't the only ones that were excited about our bean plants! The black aphids came in droves!

I thought for sure all was lost until another insect came to the party....our friends the ladybugs 🐞!

The ladybugs have been feasting on aphids for the last week or two and I'm starting to see that there are still beans pods that we'll be able to harvest. It will not be as big as we anticipated earlier in the season, but we should still get quite a few!

It's almost as though Mother Nature knew our plans and whispered to the ladybugs in our garden last year to lay more eggs here. Earlier in the spring I spotted more ladybug larvae than I normally see, but didn't think anything of it. And then those crazy looking larvae turned into just what we needed to help with this year's aphid problem.

Thank you garden friends! 🐞

23/06/2026

Growing peas - up a trellis or in a row?

I mentioned before that we were experimenting with growing peas up a trellis and also in a row. Here are my findings...

Both areas are within one large raised bed with the same soil conditions.

Each contained a mix of peas - snap and snow on the trellis and snap, snow and shelling in the row.

I would estimate that the overall number of seeds planted were fairly similar. The trellis seeds were planted close together in a 3 foot circle. The row seeds were planted further apart stretching down an 18' row.

Germination was good for both and they both produced lots of flowers.

Watering was definitely easier with the trellis set up and perhaps more efficient due to the peas being planted in a smaller area and requiring less water overall.

They both grew to about the same height (a little less than 3 feet) and were supported with string to prevent them from falling over.

Both are producing a good amount of peas, but the row has outproduced the trellis.

The row is much easier to pick and I feel fewer pods are getting lost in the greenery likely due to the spacing. The trellis made training the vines a little more difficult causing them to tangle together.

So, I have concluded that growing in a row has been easier and more successful in yield size and is how we will grow peas in the future.

I have included a short video of the shelling pea portion of the row. Most pods contain 6-8 peas that are large and very sweet. My favourite type of pea is still the snap pea but I will grow these shelling peas again.

Happy beginning of Summer and we hope that you are enjoying the early crops from your gardens! 🐞

06/06/2026

Early June garden update

The mild spring has allowed many of the plants to do well. We planted out a few veggies a little earlier than normal so we are in the odd position of harvesting/preserving and planting out at the same time.

This year Mr VO decided to plant 2 rows of the Fortex green beans (instead of a row of Hilda Romano beans) and added a third row of 1/3 Borlotti and 2/3 Scarlett Runner beans.

We decided to grow a mix of snap, sugar and shelling peas in two ways - up a teepee support and in a long row to see which is more successful.

There are 2 rows of brasiccas protected under green netting (to stop the cabbage moth) that are coming along nicely. We grew collards, broccoli, green cabbage, sui choi, and I think cauliflower. We are perhaps most pleased that these rows are doing so well, as they were two of the rows affected by the contaminated straw.

Last year's potato patch started without us so we have had to plant this year's potatoes in between the volunteers. We are adding a few different varieties this year, some red fingerling, red cheiftains and violet queen potatoes. We have grown from our own Milva and Russett potatoes for the past 5 years so we hope to be able to save seed from the other varieties as well.

Under the hoops with the white netting we have been enjoying lots of lettuce, kale and chard. The spinach patch gave a good harvest but it started to bolt so we pulled it and put in 3 more cabbages. I am really excited that our soil has improved enough to grow some larger beet root! In the past they have been very small, still delicious, but we were mostly just getting the greens to eat.

I am also excited that the dill has transplanted well and looks like it is enjoying it's spot next to the row of tomatoes.

Our strawberry tote experiment is coming along nicely. The strawberry baskets hung in the greenhouse have been producing a handful a day lately. The tote is outside so it is a little behind the others. I think a raised bed of some kind is the long term plan but I am grateful that the plants are still producing in temporary containers.

We had a volunteer cucumber come up in a random pot so we transplanted it into the greenhouse. The rest of the long English and pickling cukes will go in this weekend.

Also in the greenhouse we have sweet potato starts that I managed to sprout in a bucket of soil! We have never tried this before or grown them but we have rooted plants to plant out and we'll see how they do!

Mr VO planted some of the tomatoes in the greenhouse and some outside and they all look very happy.

There are still several trays of seedlings that need to be planted out. New Zealand spinach, peppers, basil, cantaloupe, cukes, butternut squash, gourds, pumpkins, as well as zinnias and 3 types of marigolds.

The perennial beds are looking their best at the moment. The bees are also loving the baptisia, foxgloves and lupines.

We have another weekend of planting out seedlings and then we can settle into maintaining the beds, watering, weeding and setting up the irrigation system for the summer months ahead. I love this time in the garden before the days get really hot.

I hope you will share what's growing in your garden this year in the comments! 🐞

10/05/2026

Wishing all Mom's a wonderful weekend! 💐
I spent a few minutes in the comfrey patch today and wanted to share the peaceful sounds of the bees. I love how their buzzing sound changes when they enter the flowers. Turn up the volume, it's a very relaxing sound. Their legs were so full of pollen so it appears that they've been enjoying the flowers. 🐞

02/05/2026

Thinking outside of the garden bed

I saw this metal basket stand on Marketplace and I immediately knew how to give it a new life.

Last year I found that the lettuce plants that we grew out in the garden beds didn't get picked regularly. The garden beds are out in full sun and eventually the lettuce would bolt.

I also plant a few lettuce seedlings into pots that I keep in a shadier spot just outside the back door.

When I came across this metal basket stand on Marketplace I thought it would make a fun container to grow lettuce in this year. I like that it's easy to move around to keep it in the partial shade.

I contacted a neighbour who owns a coffee business and asked if he had any burlap sacks available. Many thanks to Sustainable Stace! I cut large circles from the sacks to line each basket and then filled them with a blend of seed starter mix, our sifted compost and sifted sea soil.

Each basket had enough room for 5 or 6 lettuce seedlings and I tucked in some nasturtiums to trail down the stand as well. We'll be able to add the flowers to our salad as well! I feel that the burlap should allow good drainage and moisture retention. The stand even has hooks on the sides that I can hang a pair of scissors for easy harvesting.

It's fun to think beyond regular pots and garden beds and get creative with containers. What is the craziest thing that you have planted in? 🐞

21/04/2026

The garden has been a busy place!

The nice weather has allowed us to get a lot of work done in the garden preparing for the Spring/Summer growing seasons!

Inside under the grow lights, I planted a variety of Spring veg and flower seeds starting in early March.

Over the past couple of weeks Mr vO has started planting out some of the hardier cool crops under hoops with fine netting. These include kales, spinach, chard, beets, broccoli, green cabbage, turnips and collards.

Also in the garden we have direct sowed broad beans, snap and shelling peas. The garlic continues to grow next to some Red Russian kale that is now trying to bolt. I keep nipping off the flowers attempting to extend production until the newly planted kale seedlings start to produce.

The tea pots and herb garden have woken up and the plants are starting to grow again. We grow chocolate mint, spearmint, licorice mint and chamomile tea. In the herb garden I have chives, green sage, purple sage, oregano, perennial green onions, thyme and rosemary. I dry them all in Spring to cook with year round.

In the greenhouse the strawberries planted in hanging baskets are flowering and starting to produce fruit. The lemons, limes and kumquats continue to produce a steady amount of fruit and are now starting to produce flower buds for next year's fruit. I tried to overwinter a lemon verbena and a fuschia plant in the greenhouse and both are now producing new leaves!

One of the pear trees (we have 2 varieties so they flower at different times) and the plum tree are covered with flowers at the moment. The peach and apple trees have already flowered and the nectarines are starting to leaf.

The thornless blackberries and the raspberries are now starting to leaf. The blueberry bushes have struggled from the start but some are trying to produce flowers.

And the mason bee houses are buzzing with activity! 🐝 I think I have finally found the best spot to hang the houses. Many of the holes are already full! The spiral house is interesting to watch because they refuse to enter the front layer. I thought we would get to see them laying and packing the eggs but apparently they don't like to be on display!

We'd love to hear what's happening in your garden right now! It's an exciting time of year! 🐞

Van Oort Tiny Farm

13/08/2026

06/07/2026

02/07/2026

26/06/2026

25/06/2026

23/06/2026

06/06/2026

10/05/2026

02/05/2026

21/04/2026

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