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?)
Fundraising with flower bulbs
Vessey’s in PEI has a fundraising program available this Spring- sell Vessey’s spring bulbs and earn 50% of the funds for your fundraiser. Soooo… sell $100 worth of bulbs and get $50. Plus for every $150 you bring in, Vessey’s dontates 10 Asiatic Lilies on the house.
While bulbs aren’t a particularly sustainable crop, they are lovely and very popular and I’m certainly not one to judge any kind of growing operation. Ahem.
Thought this could be a great opportunity for a community garden (or other green group) to raise money by spreading the Spring love.
This also gave me a great idea for a kids gardening fundraiser- help kids start their own seedlings and sell them to raise money for a gardening project. Awwww. Warm fuzzies.
Vessey’s is a Canadian company.For more deets, check out Vesseys.com.
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…
Wintry west coast weather
It snowed last night, and the weather forecast calls for more snow! Way cold weather for Vancouver. Looks like Spring is going to be a little late this year. Note to self: don’t start any seeds early this year.
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.
The Cracked Pot’s been quiet
It’s official: we’ve finally entered full-fledged winter weather here in Vancouver. It’s pitch black by 5 pm and the rain is coming down in sheets. It’s the end of gardening for ‘08.
I still have a few things to clean up in the patch yet, but it’s damn sloppy, and I can’t even get out there without my mascara and eyeliner running. Tsk tsk.
So what’s a gardening blogger supposed to write about at this time of year? Well, the next few months will be all about eating the food we’ve grown this year. So there will be some recipes and a few ideas here and there to share. But fear not- January is a new year and time to start thinking about rockin’ the garden for 2009.
I’m also taking off on a trip to southeast asia for the month of december so I will be absent for a while. My mind has been somewhat consumed with reading books about the history, art, culture and language as a result.
I’m a dreamy sort of person, deep down inside, and I have this romanticized vision of myself witnessing and helping a Thai family with the rice harvest. Traditional Thai life revolves around the grain, and the harvest season should be starting just as we arrive. No lush photos of watery green rice paddies to share once I’m back, but maybe a few war stories of how it’s done.
Also, there’s a town just north of Bangkok called Saraburi that’s surrounded by fields of sunflowers, which ought to be in bloom at the time we’ll be there. Should make for some lovely photos. Chiang Mai is also known for its flower industry.
I hope to bring back some rock n’ roll gardening tales from across the pacific so stay tuned.
Thanksgiving recipes: Pumpkin Pie with Cinnamon Whipped Cream
Let’s be honest now, there’s no getting away from the Thanksgiving table without a piece of pumpkin pie, no matter how tight your pants are.
If you’ve got a garden and have the space, I recommend growing one little sugar pumpkin vine each year. Even if you’re tight on space, you can train the pumpkin vine to crawl around on a sidewalk out outside the boundaries of your patch so you still have some space.
Of course, most people just reach for a tin can of pumpkin puree this time of year, but if you can either grow or purchase a sugar pumpkin it is that much better.
Sugar pumpkins are small and almost entirely flesh, unlike your typical hollow jack-o-lantern type. The flesh is a pale yellowy-peach colour and very light and sweet tasting.
You can reduce the sugar content in your pumpkin pie recipe by about half if you’re working with a sugar pumpkin, which is exactly what I’ve done here:
Keep reading for the full recipe and pumpkin roasting instructions. This makes TWO pies.
Thanksgiving Recipes: Pear and Onion Stuffing
Here’s a classic you just can’t fuck up, no matter what you do.
I stole this recipe from the old school version of the Joy of Cooking and adapted it to match the other flavours in my Thanksgiving recipes. If you’re broke-ass and think ahead, you can save all of your bread bums in a plastic bag in the freezer for a couple of months for this recipe.
Stove Top stuffing… kiss my ass.
Keep reading for the full recipe.
Cracked Pot Pix
