We have been lucky enough to gain the use of two unclaimed 4×10′ allotment plots in a local community garden. My husband and I haven’t planted veggies on any scale since we foolishly gave up our Leslie Street Allotment plot when we bought our first house 25 years ago. I don’t count an occasional cherry tomato and few pots of herbs.

This late in the season, it’s a real experiment in “second sowing” vegetable planting. What did we plant?

First, a couple of ‘Sun Gold’ tomatoes (Lycopersicon lycopersicum ‘Sun Gold’) that volunteered in my garden, as well as four heirloom tomato varieties from our friend Karyn Wright of Terra Edibles. (To say that Sarah and I went to high school with Karyn doesn’t go far enough.)

Above, you see the t’maters with a pop-bottle drip irrigation system idea inspired by Chicago Garden by Mr. Brown Thumb. The garbage strike is a perfect time to be finding new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.

There are five kinds of peppers and some tender and perennial herbs – whatever looked alive at the picked-over veg and herb section of the Loblaws garden centre.

And seeds from East End Garden Centre. Do you know how difficult it is to find seeds at this time of year? But East End had them aplenty. We chose three types of beans, peas, carrots, beets, radishes (interplanted with the two root veggies), two kinds of leaf lettuce and dill. At this stage, anything with a growing season of 60-70 days seemed safe.

So watch this space for success or less. (BTW, Sarah’s plots, planted in May and June, look very lush and lovely.)