Next Order of Business

My indoor radish experiment was a flop. The radish leaves did great but the actual radish was nonexistent. The lettuce on the other hand has done rather well. I am harvesting baby greens right now using the "cut and come again" method. This is a method of snapping off leaves but leaving the main plant intact so it can continue to grow and flourish throughout the season.

Today the kids and I planted some more seeds. Each of them chose some seeds a few weeks ago to plant in their own square foot garden. I think it's interesting that my daughter has chosen flowers (morning glories and corn flowers) to grow while my son went for the vegetables. He wants peas, carrots and cucumber, with sunflowers mixed in.



Because my daughter wants morning glories we have to soak them for 24 hours before planting. We dampened some paper towel and placed the seeds inside. We planted the cucumber and sunflowers. I also started my broccoli and tomato plants.

I know I am a bit behind. I should have planted them a few weeks ago but I don't even have my raised beds constructed yet. The lumber has been purchased and is sitting in garage waiting for a sunny weekend to piece them together. I decided to paint the outsides of my boxes, not the insides that touch the soil that touches our food, just the outside to keep the wood from rotting and looking dingy over time. The paint is also waiting patiently in the garage.

Fruit trees are on sale this week at my favourite garden store. I went yesterday to see what varieties they had and came home to hit the books. One of my favourite resources is The Farmer's Wife's Guide to Fabulous Fruits and Berries. I picked it up last summer at a second hand store for three bucks! It's an excellent reference book with how-to's and recipes. Covers everything from choosing varieties, planting, maintaining, harvesting and preparing and/or freezing.



I used this book and a few others to determine the best varieties of apples for my needs. Not all apples are created equal. Tonight I head back to purchase the varieties I chose but I will post about that another time, once I have some pictures.

So far so good on my little homestead in the suburbs.

Seed-sational!

I have been eying seed packages for a while now and just today put in my first order. I am trying something new this year and deciding to use only local, certified organic, heirloom seeds.

Heirloom varieties are plants and seeds that are original, traditional and unmodified. They have not been genetically engineered or altered like hydrid seeds, the standard seed found in garden stores. Those commonly found hybrid seeds are the result of years of engineering by seed companies to produce a mono-cultured plant. These plants do not produce viable seeds. You simply eat the resulting fruit/veg and buy more seeds next year. This keeps gardeners coming back year after year.

Heirloom seeds are varieties that were used by our ancestors centuries ago. There is far greater variety in colours and flavours of the resulting fruit. They tend to be hardier, better suited for natural gardens. By planting heirloom seeds we are encouraging genetic diversity and protecting our seed resources for generations to come. If we only ever planted one variety of corn and then a disease developed targeting that variety we as a nation would be in a hard place to produce enough food for the hungry. By planting a genetic variety we are diversifying our success.

The genetic diversity of the world's food crops is eroding at an unprecedented and accelerating rate. The vegetables and fruits currently being lost are the result of thousands of years of adaptation and selection in diverse ecological niches around the world. Each variety is genetically unique and has developed resistance to the diseases and pests with which it evolved.

-Seed Savers Exhange

I found an Ontario-based heirloom seed company called The Cottage Gardener. They have such an array of choices it was truly hard to choose. For my first foray into heirloom seeds I decided to keep to the basics.

Broccoli
Carrots
Melon
Peas
Pumpkin
Paste Tomato
Tomato
Parsnip

I also will be getting lettuces, corn, cucumber, radish, spinach, beans, onions and peppers from another local source.

How Does My Garden Grow?

Actually, it's growing rather well at the moment. I have to say I am very pleased with how much I have learned since I began my vegetable gardens two summers ago. This year is my biggest garden yet and everything is thriving at present.

Last weekend marked the end of frost in these parts. I finally planted all remaining plants and I have to say it's looking pretty good.



I made a nice path through my larger garden, something which I had neglected to do last year. I also overcrowded my plants last year. I am not convinced I didn't overcrowd again this year but I am on limited space and... well it's hard to be a gardener and limit yourself!



On the smaller patch is my radishes and onions. On the opposite side of the path is my "pickle bed" or cucumber patch. I have tomato plants lining the entire outside of the garden. I am using the tomato cages as a deer and neighbourhood dog deterrent. There is one bubbly puppy that lives a few houses down who bounds toward me or the kids every time he is out the same time we are. All the produce that the deer like to munch on are quite close to the house so I am hoping they will not risk getting so close and eating my broccoli and peas again this year.

The farthest raised bed has corn, cantaloupe and my left over onion starters. I read that corn pollinates through the wind so they should be planted in a bunch, not in a straight row. I am really hoping they go well, but I would not be heart broken if they don't grow since corn is so cheap just down the road. I am hoping I can train the cantaloupe down the hill. I used sheep manure (compost) in the beds, and I added peat moss to the bed by the house and the main garden, especially around the tomatoes.

I still have pumpkins to plant in the compost pile and too be honest I am more excited about that experiment then any other I have tried this year.

Cantaloupe vs. Cucumber

I have a confession to make... I cheated! I bought some plants for my garden rather than starting them all from seed. Let me explain, before you start to feel like I have been leading you on. I started seeds, lots of seeds but none of my tomatoes seemed to take and they maxed out at about 3 inches, and haven't grown a millimeter for three or four weeks now.

I also made a mistake when planting my cantaloupe (musk melon) and cucumber seeds. If you are familiar with these seeds then you know they are quite similar in size, shape and colour. I planted them indoors weeks ago. I had cucumber on one side and cantaloupe on the other. Since starting my seeds my cats have made it their life mission to maim, kill and otherwise dismember my seedlings. The fight for the best sun beam continues. In all the kafuffle, the cats have over turned and rearranged my pots and now the cucumber and cantaloupe seedlings have been misplaced. They are growing quite well, but I have no idea which is which.

Yes, there is a cat inside my seedling tray!

Yesterday, while purchasing some tomato plants, I grabbed two cantaloupe plants knowing I planted many more cucumber plants than cantaloupe since I pickle them come August. I figured a direct comparison between plants would help me figure out what is cucumber and what is cantaloupe. No such luck! The plants, like their seeds, are too similar and I am at a lost.

The cantaloupes were destined for my modified Three Sisters raised bed, and the cucumbers were to go in the main garden. In the end, I know I will have cucumbers here and there, and cantaloupe growing intermittently as well.

Lesson learned: Always label your planted seeds!

Starting Seeds

The weather has been a boon this year and I am grateful for it. The garden beds are ready now, I finished preparing the large 12 by 14 foot garden yesterday with my hubby's help and now we are "a go". All we need to do is wait for the last frost of the season which should arrive sometime around June 1 for our area (a borderline Zone 5 and 4).

I started some seeds a few weeks ago, some lettuce and broccoli. I did not sow all the seeds. I am going to stagger a bit this year so it is not all ready at once.



I also decided to use these neat newspaper pots instead of the plastic ones I normally used. Since we thought we were moving, I recycled all my old ones last September. Now of course, you all know, I am not moving just yet. Rather than buy a whole bunch more I decided to make my own. The newspapers can be planted directly in the ground with the seedling. So cool!

I found the tutorial at Natural Kids. I make them while in front of the television or when I have few moments. I need a lot so it is far better for me to do a few here and there then do them all up at once.

I am on the look out for biodegradable tape that I can use too, which presents a challenge but I figure a bit of plastic tape in a whole lot better than a bunch of large pots that can crack and become useless. A bit of "sweat equity" on my part helps keep emissions down when making and transporting those pots to a store. And newspapers get dropped off at my house without me even asking for it, so I am using what I have.

Garden Planning...not this year.

It seems odd to be into February and I am not planning out my garden as I have in winters past. Planning my garden, day dreaming and plotting out everything has been a great comfort to me during our sometimes relentless winters here. This winter's weather has been fairly mild, so I wonder if perhaps Mother Nature knows an extended winter stay would not be the best thing for me this year.



I am not planning a garden because we are not going to be living here long enough to harvest anything I grow. I have to seed over my little plot so the grass is nice and thick when we move.

Yes, we are moving and it's about time. Where we are moving has yet to be determined. We have a few possibilities on the table but nothing concrete. It partly depends on my son's diagnosis and follow up care requirements, but also partly based on how we feel. It's been a long time coming and I must say, I am a bit anxious to be moving on.