Planning
When to plant…
I tend to over do it every year and plant at least 20 things all at once. Then I forget when to plant my summer crops, and things are late and nothing goes right.
One of the handiest tools I’ve ever come across to help keep the garden on track is the West Coast Seed catalogue. Their yearly seed catalogue is free at any store that sells their seeds, or you can go onto their website and order one for free. It has all of the tips you will ever need to grow your own food organically, and their yearly planting calendar is a life saver. It clearly shows what needs to be planted and when, all at a glance.
I’ve taken the liberty of scanning a copy here, but be sure to grab a copy of their catalogue or view the online version. This is all timed for our funny west coast weather.
A word about that. We are experiencing some very cold weather for this time of year in Vancouver- in fact, it snowed a bit today (no April fools joke, my friends). I would say we are about two weeks behind where we normally are and my spring bulbs are just barely starting to peek open right now. So if you’re a bit late according to this schedule, don’t sweat it. I just started my broccoli, cauliflower and leeks… oops.
Raised flower bed showdown: Part 2
After I hauled all of my oh-so-sustainable cedar lumber home from Gabriola to build my raised cedar flower beds, I decided I needed to build a fifth box in the front yard to make the most of the sunniest spot in my yard.
Time for a trip to Hell Depot.
Despite the fact that Angus (my partner) insisted I could use a jigsaw to cut through 4×4 cedar posts, I decided to buy a proper skill saw to do the task, and left him at home because he clearly has NO CLUE.
When I arrived, I encountered some good ol’ sexism on the loose: smirks and jeers as I ferried my new skill saw through the lumber section, and a weak-ass attempt at unloading the WORST pieces of lumber in the entire lot onto me. After the Home Depot guy insisted on helping me pull out the pieces, I picked up a board, held it level to my eye and said, “This board is more crooked than a mountain road! Is that the best one in the pile? Look! It’s full of knots!” Then he backed off and decided that, despite being female, perhaps I had some credibility after all.
I digress…
Triumphant, I got the shipment home, assembled my saw horses and started measuring and cutting the new boards with a little Led Zep on. I got the old man to help with this task of course, because I needed someone to catch the boards (you didn’t actually think I’d let him near the saw, did you?)
New seeds for 2009
Much like picking out the new paint colours for a bathroom re-do, I love leafing through seed catalogs and drooling over the new flowers and plants introduced each year. For the most part, these new varieties are hybrids of existing ones, but some outfits introduce “new” heirloom varieties. And by “new” I mean new to us, and these make me the most excited of all!
A few new lovely things that tickled my fancy this week:
Vessey’s Golden Japanese Forest Grass. This looks like it was dreamed up for the next Miyazaki animation about a little girl questing in a spirit forest in Japan. I hope forest spirits come included in each shipment (and they should at that price, ouch!). Still lovely and dreamy and probably worth if you have your own yard to landscape. Why not pair it with a lovely laceleaf maple?
Vessey’s Mouse Plant. This reminds me of so many childhood favourites: Mousetrap, Three Blind Mice, Beatrice Potter books… I love this so much, I just might buy one. I have the perfect spot in a slightly shady corner. I’m sure my cats will love it (oh, don’t play cat and mouse with me, you!).
Vessey’s Pam’s Choice Foxglove. Gorgeous! Like Blackberry compote and whipped cream, or merlot splattered white linens (for more likely in my home) these little two-tone bells are unqiue and would make a gorgeous addition to a collection of other foxgloves in the garden. Actually, these would go nicely with my creamy white ones come to think of it…
West Coast Seeds’ Blue Danube Sweetpeas. This is a very late variety with a gorgeous blue colour (June to September). This will be a perfect way to keep those lovely sweetpeas growing all year long. Snniiiiiifffff. I can smell them already.
West Cost Seeds’ Multicolour Blend Cauliflower. Grape Koolaid, Kraft Dinner and Shamrock milk shakes, together at last. I’m a total sucker for oddly coloured veg, and this cauliflower blend is no exception. Why grow something that you can just buy from the local farmer’s market? If you’re going to grow something at home, make it something unique that you can totally brag about when you show it off to others. Squeal!
West Coast Seeds’ Sweet Heart Grape Tomatoes. As anyone who knows me will attest, I’m a total cherry tomato cheerleader. They are so easy to grow, great for containers, produce lots of continuous fruit and taste oh-so-sweet. I love the shape of the clusters on this variety.
Salt Spring Seeds’ Novelty Tomato LIne-up. Their catalogue doesn’t contain any pretty pictures, but it doesn’t have to either. These guys serve up an amazing selection of locally grown and organic seeds, and their tomato collection is second to none. I drool over this one every year!
Sigh… is it Spring yet?
Raised Flower Beds (for the do it yourself-er) (Part one)
There are a number of different methods for building raised flower beds that range from cheap and easy to deluxe and difficult. All of them require a little elbow grease, but nothing that can’t be achieved in an afternoon.
Raised flower beds have a number of benefits for gardeners:
- Warmer soil temperatures
- Better drainage and aeration (no more stepping on your seedlings!)
- Better access with less bending over- easier maintenance, planting and harvesting
- Better weed control- you can fill it in with fresh dirt and keep it clear
- Less carrot rust flies- the poor little wimps can only jump one foot off the ground
- Tidier appearance with discrete beds and pathways to enjoy the space from all sides
No matter which option you choose, it’s important to pick the right lumber for your project. Cedar is the best type of wood as it is a naturally rot-resistant and will weather nicely over the years. Never use treated or creosote lumber in your garden as it with leech all kinds of nastiness into your soil.
Cheap tip: Before you buy anything, check out any free-cycle or building material recycling centres in your area for left-over cedar lumber cuts. You just might get lucky.
In the Vancouver area, you can check out the Habitat for Humanity re-store, Craigslist.org, Jack’s New and Used, UsedVancouver.com, Kijiji,etc. And be sure to hit up anyone you know that has recently done outside renovations at home such as build a deck, fence or patio and scoop up their leftovers!
Rather than re-iterate the process for building a raised bed and duplicate what has already been well documented online, I thought I’d collect together some resources, tips and how-to’s for creating your own raised garden space.
While it was VERY tempting for me to build a Hail Satan box this year, I decided to create some DIY cedar frames as I was able to source all of the materials for free. And you just can’t compete with free…
My Raised Flower Beds
I have a particular landscaping challenge that I want to fix in my garden this year. The last tenant in my house pulled up the entire front lawn and turned it into a garden space. Love it! Except that it’s a huge space without any sort of pathways or bed shaping.
This makes for easy tilling, convenient crop rotations and flexible planning each year, but it also means way more space for weeds to grow, stepping on crops and a sloppy looking front yard.
I want to keep as much of that space open for planting in the front yard as possible this year, but I also want to create some easy to maintain pathways and confine the amount of exposed space so I can actually keep it weeded for a change.
Solution: raised garden beds
There are several options out there for the do-it-yourselfer, and I managed to luck my way into the cheapest option of all: Free.
The throes of winter
Spring is just around the corner, but don’t get too excited yet! We’re still deep in the throes of winter, even on the west coast.
I used my meat thermometer today to test the ground temperature, aaaand, we’re still frozen solid. A chilly 31 degrees Fahrenheit, or -1 degree Celsius .
Still, if you’re like me, now is the time when you really begin to crave the outdoors and start planning your garden for Spring.
If you’re so inclined, now is the time to get your onions and garlic in order. You can start your seeds indoor now, or purchase sets (little teeny tiny onion and garlic cloves that are ready to sprout and grow) and pry them into the ground. If you find yourself balking at the price of garlic sets at the gardening store, don’t worry you’re not alone. It can be crazy expensive for how much you get!
Tip of the week: go to a grocery store that carries fresh organic garlic (and yes, the organic part is important!) and stick a few heads in the bottom of your fridge for a week in a paper bag (this is called “forcing”).
Then plant as you normally would- separate into cloves and space apart in the ground. It’s way cheaper than buying sets from a garden store. Tried, tested and true.
Ready for Winter?
This could be a smart-ass remark about the weather in Vancouver, but it’s actually a real question.
Unlike the rest of Canada, stuff actually grows here in the winter and right now is the perfect time to start your winter garden.
For some reason, most gardening stores don’t sell much in the way of seedlings right now, so I guess that means only hardcore psycho-freaks plant winter gardens. That’s cool. I’m down with that. So to make it happen, you just gotta start your own seeds.
Now when I say “stuff grows here in the winter,” unfortunately, I’m not talking about rock n roll tomatoes so don’t get your hopes up too high. But you can have some nice veggies like lettuce, carrots, radishes, broccoli and onions in the patch no prob
Tip of the week: if you have just 20 minutes this week, start some lettuce.
Lettuce is one of the easiest and nicest looking winter crops. I recommend getting a pack of Super Gourmet Lettuce Blend from West Coast seeds (one package easily lasts me 2-3 years) and sprinkle liberally into a tray of seeding soil. You can even put them directly in the ground if you have space right now.
These little guys grow really well in a flower box or an outdoor pot so it’s an ideal solution if you’re in an apartment.
Update: I just saw this article in the Tuesday, August 26 edition of the Province newspaper. It`s all about about planning your fall garden. This article mentions growing spinach in the winter with a reminder to start your garlic bulbs now.
Martha’s Tomato Tart
Bitter, gritty and horrible when fresh, green tomatoes are very sweet when slowly cooked in the oven. This recipe is like a pizza, but without the surly delivery guy or greasy box to hide your shame.
Admittedly, this is a fussy Martha frou-frou recipe and I love-to-hate that bitch. But it’s worth making once a year if you have some time and want to get fancy.
This was featured in the July 2005 edition of Martha Stewart Living- great way to use green tomatoes without frying them.
Cracked Pot Pix
