May 30, tomatoes and puttering

Family backyard picnic! So to give an idea of how my garden is working, this yard is rented, so the obvious awesome sunny spots could not be dug up. My ground planting sneakily runs along the front of the garage and a bit of the fence, and the rest is in planters. If I could have, I would have had six big planters filled with goodness, but we didn't have the budget for it. Boo hoo.


Transplanted the tomatoes last night, and today in the hot sun they look a little droopy, but I'm not too worried. BUT, look at these two plants... they were both started from the same "rainbow" seeds, and the one on the left looks so different, almost pepper-ish. An imposter? If so, I'd still better be able to eat it's stuff. OR ELSE.


My "fun salad" planter. There's a Tiny Tim tomato plant, a basil plant, and a cucumber plant. So far they seem to have lots to talk about, hopefully they don't start freaking out about needing "space" and stuff. Veggie plant drama, sheesh!


Cantaloupe in the sunroom – seem to be happy, although I'm wondering if I should have separated the two plants... hrmm...


Watermelon in the sunroom – also seem content, happily they didn't mind the transplant too much. Fingers crossed!!! I want ma meluns!


Thinned out the strawberries and they are since looking much better. We've been pinching off the flower buds but get to leave them alone come June. Then we get berries! Eventually!


Kay, all these plants are growing, but they all look kind of sad (and my set-up is kind of chaotic). I might pull the beans right out and give the peas more room. I'll wait a week and decide... don't tell the beans.


Planted tomatoes in the herb planter last night, and the middle one is a jalepeno pepper plant that we bought. So far they all seem happy. This is my favorite planter. If a storm comes this is the one I'll save first.


Waaahhh! My squash are pissed. I think it's a drainage problem... the planter is on a slight tilt, so they might be a bit soggy. Honestly I don't know. I'll fiddle with leveling and drainage, then work on nutrients and stuff, but argh! I dooonnn't knooooowwww!!!


Pumpkins were looking great until yesterday when it got super hot. They're on the high end of the tilted planter, so I think they're getting gypped when it comes to water. Also I mounded them a bit much, so I'm positive it's a water thing. Maybe?


Zucchini are loving their partial shade. Found some aphids lounging on them today, and totally sicced a few ladybugs on the little jerks. They were like "oh NOOOOO!" and the ladybugs were all "YOM YOM YOM!!" It was an ugly scene.


Dill is looking perky and satisfied in it's weediness.


Corn and sunflowers are definitely the least respected plants of my gardening. The corn is doing okay, but the sunflowers look to be in plant agony. In my defense, I needed the sunny spots for the tomatoes, and I couldn't dig up the middle of the yard, AND what have sunflowers ever done for me!?! Besides make tasty seeds and look pretty? NOTHIN. Anyway the tomatoes took priority.


The cucumbers haven't decided how they feel yet. Some days they look okay, and some they look a bit sick. Vera stepped on one but it seems to be pulling through. I think these babies need some compost fertilizin' treatment. Hurry up compost! Geez!


Radishes having a show-down with the grass. Who will win? Radishes will. Because I won't rip them out of the ground. Behind them are some lettuce mix sprouts, but because it's a mix I can't tell what are weeds... right now I'm going by the rows, anything that strays from the row gets plucked.

Lessons learned: I don't know how to water plants and I'm blaming everything on not having compost.

May 23, plantin stuff

Note that captions are below the images:


Planted the watermelon and cantaloupe in the sunroom finally! I've got a fan at the bottom of the stairs for circulation, and once the plants start sprawling I'll add trellises for them to climb up.


Black ladybug with white spots!! I'm totally intrigued by these little lovelies, because I can't find out anything about them on the internet. I sent some pics to the University, just for fun.


Pretty pretty bug.



The sunflowers look pretty sad, and in hindsight I wouldn't have started them in peat pellets (could've just planted them from seed on the spot). Hopefully they straighten up. Also in here is some corn, and further from the camera to the right are some cucumber plants (I'll add little teepees for them once they start sprawling, so they grow up rather than out).


Zucchini, and at the very end (can't really see them) is dill.


Squash and Pumpkins in one of the planter boxes. On the other side of this box will be yellow wax beans. Once the pumpkins and squash vines get long I'll let them lead down to the ground, so the box won't be overcrowded.


Other planter box. Eventually the tomatoes will be transplanted in here too. On each end of this is thyme, and along the sides I've planted basil.

A lot of our tomatoes will be in smaller planters (we can only fit about four in the big planter), and I'm doing another cucumber in a separate planter (I want a good pickle batch!!), as well as some more herbs.

Hopefully everything likes where it is... I'm still really new at knowing what soil is good soil, and how much to feed them... I was really disappointed that our compost was screwed up by the previous tenants; I've been correcting it almost daily, just adding green, stirring it, making sure it's got a bit of moisture. Because we didn't have compost and we don't have a car for big emergency garden loads, we're using an organic plant food that mixes into the soil, and *eep* miracle grow. Kind of contradictory to have organic and chemical fertilizers, I know... but I was soooo anxious to get stuff in and I reeeaaally want everything to come up and produce well. We'll see how it goes. Live 'n' learn!!!

May long weekend

Lovely lovely long weekend! Giving the plants some fresh air. Wish I could just plant them already!


Even got the watermelon out of the house. These will be transplanted into a big container in the sunroom. I'm hoping that we get some fun out of them. We'll see! They're pretty finicky about transplanting, and if they DO put up with it, I have to make sure they get tons of nutrients, well-drained soil, air circulation, and manual pollination. It should be quite a little adventure.


One of my teeny patches in the yard. It's partially shaded but still gets a good 4-5 hours of solid sunshine. Today I planted lettuce and radishes in the end closest to the camera (they both do well in shade and cooler temps). At the end of the month I'll transplant the zucchini into the far end. Ideally I wanted full sun for the zucchini, but I've read that they don't mind a bit of shade. Hopefully that's true.


My other teeny patch. As you can see the lawn in this area was already pretty sparse, but both patches are on either side of the composter and have really rich soil. As a lucky bonus, I had left a bunch of raked leaves from the fall in these spots over the winter, so there's muchos organic goodness in there! Now I'm using the leaves as mulch for the edges, mainly to prevent grass from sneaking into the gardens. This patch gets almost full sun all day (aside from a bit of dappled shade from the tree). I'll be transplanting the corn and sunflowers along the fence, and then cucumbers will go along the ground.

I'm a little nervous about the ground planting... hopefully the landlord doesn't mind too much. My plan if she does mind is to say that it was basically dirt anyway, and that we'll happily put down grass seed in the fall (maybe some perennials even?). It would be an improvement to the yard in any case.

Also, as much as I'm anxious to get our OWN home with our OWN yard, I also really want to see this season through at this place. I guess the advantage to container gardening is that we could move most of the plants with us, but I'd still like to be here until the fall.

getting started 09

So we've already learned a few lessons with our garden ambitions this year. Some of them I knew in theory, but a few were learned through default:

1. Start tomatoes, herbs, and melons (in peat pellets or similar) in March. We're lucky to have a sunroom (non-insulated, though) that heats up quite a bit on sunny days, and it's been great for our seedlings. Still though, I wish I would've started the tomatoes under a lamp in March. As it is we have very healthy, hardy seedlings that have their first four leaves (we started them late-April), but it would've been nicer to have decent-sized little plants by now. Same with the herbs, especially since they grow alright indoors (or in the sunroom) and can be grown well in containers.

2. Plants like squash, zucchini, pumpkin, corn, sunflowers, peas and beans could've definitely waited until early May for peat pellet starting. They're so big now and we can't plant them for another week at least. Also they aren't quite tough enough to stay in the non-insulated sunroom over night (peas likely could except that we've planted them with beans), so we've been hauling them in and out for weeks. Hopefully at the very least we'll be happy to have bigger plants earlier, but in retrospect I would've just started them later.

3. Peat pellets are better off with the lid slightly popped from the get-go. We followed the initial watering instructions, but ended up having to do serious battle with mold. Happily, with lots of airing out and chamomile tea treatments we saved all but one or two of the plants.

4. Babying plants makes for babyish plants. I was very protective of our seedling as they were coming up, trying not to disturb or shock them in any way. On the first few really warm sunny days, I was anxious about leaving them out all on their lonesomes to "harden off", but they've become so much healthier because of it. Our sunflowers were leggy and weak until we put them outside, now they've perked back up and have stronger stems.

5. A bit of cold actually does some plants really good. Obviously not tomatoes or melons, but I'm finding that, with most of our plants, if we water with warm water, give them plenty of sun, and then let them sit out as the day gets colder, they become stronger and healthier. I know that this is essentially "hardening off", but I always thought that cold was bad for them.

6. Veggie plants need LOTS of light to be happy. Especially tomatoes and squash. If we didn't have a sunroom, we would've definitely had to get a lamp. 8 hours of good light seems essential, and indoor windows just don't seem to provide enough light.

7. Thinning out is essential! I find pinching off the weaker plants very sad, but watching the bigger ones thrive afterwards makes a clear case for thinning. Still, I sooo wish that every little seedling could have a chance! Poor li'l guys...

So those are my little lessons thus far. Again, we're pretty limited this year since we're still renting and can't dig up the yard much (I've dug a couple patches along sunny edges anyway, the grass was thin and the patches are hardly noticeable. In the fall I'll just pull the ground plants and put down grass seed. It will actually improve the yard quite a bit). We'll be planting our tomatoes, herbs, squash, pumpkin, strawberries, peas and beans in containers this year, with corn, sunflowers, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce and radishes in the small plots.

my intro to gardens

My first introduction to gardening was after my family had settled into the rural northern Alberta hamlet of Cherry Grove. I was a teenager, and for the most part gardens simply meant more tedious chores. My mother had a small patch, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I was too busy demanding the world revolve around me and worrying about looking pretty.

The first major impression a garden made on me (and one that still does to this day), was my aunt and uncle's garden. Again, this was in northern Alberta, right in a 1b hardiness zone (2a if you were lucky), so growing things wasn't something that came easily to zealous gardeners. As a teen, every so often I'd get sent over to this large plot to help my cousins pick peas or raspberries. There was always tons of everything, and my aunt had a root cellar as well as a cold storage room that were consistently full of potatoes, carrots, and preserves. My aunt (and several ladies in the area) was a canning machine, and there was always pickled everything: cucumbers, carrots, beets, beans, as well as jams, jellies, butters and mmmmm... peaches. It wasn't just that the garden was amazingly productive, but also that their home was stocked year-round with deliciousness created right there. Sure they bought groceries too, but between the home baking, the fresh produce, and the canned goods, I'd venture to guess that their grocery bill was never very high (especially for a family of seven). In addition to all this, they occasionally kept sheep, chickens, and rabbits that were seasonally butchered. At that time, the craze for self-sustainability and organic produce was more or less unknown. Everyone in the community had wells, everyone grew food, traded or sold what they had with other families, yet I don't think of it as being any sort of commune or archaic lifestyle, it was just what people did. There was still TV, public schools, a town close by... it was just a busy little hamlet of acreages. Mind you, those on the outside certainly must have seen it as an odd little place, but mainly due to the abundance of related neighbors and the strong thread of mormonism in the community. That's a different story though.

Anyway, my first garden was later, after I had moved away and was coming back during the summers to live with my grandmother. She was getting a bit stiff to garden, so one year I decided I'd give it a try. How hard could it be? It wasn't hard at all, but in retrospect I know why. Our neighbor came to rototill the plot, my uncle dumped a load of manure from his ranch, and on the May long-weekend I planted it. Then while I was at work, my cousin came and planted it again, so when it came down to what was where, we had no idea. My grandma advised me which sprouts were veggies and which were weeds, and in a couple of weeks we had a jungle of produce coming up. I watered and weeded diligently in the evenings after work, and began to love the meditative tranquility of caring for this piece of ground. Once, a scruffy old robin came by, waiting for the bugs to pop out of the dirt as I watered. It must have been partially blind, because it stood right next to me, not much more than a foot away, just watching and occasionally snapping up a bug or worm. It was lovely. We also had the sort of summer where the days were long and hot and it rained almost every night.

That summer I got peas, corn, squash, zucchini, carrots, beans, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, turnips, swiss chard, sunflowers (planted by birds) and a few others that presently escape me. Everything was lush, robust, and delicious. I don't remember having pest problems or any kind of rot or soil issues.

With that easy of a start, I assumed that gardening was a cinch! My next few gardens were successful as well, but a few lessons were learned: don't plant tomatoes too early, veggie plants need lots of sun, thinning out plants is vital (and hard to do when there are so many enthusiastic plants!) and good seeds are important. All things considered, however, I left that experience believing that growing veggies was no biggie.

Since then I've lived in various cities, and have occasionally given growing stuff a try. My growth successes always seem to be a bit flukey, mainly just getting into it wondering what I could get to grow. I'd sprout apricot, apple, and cherry seeds from grocery store produce and then have nowhere to put them. At the first home that I owned, I tried a small garden in a shaded area, and very naively planted tomatoes in it. The poor things sprawled and gasped towards sunshine. The previous owners had left an amazing herb garden though, and it was when I first learned to appreciate the value of fresh herbs. Mainly, my mother-in-law (now ex-mother-in-law) handled most of that garden's maintenance. I didn't spent too much time with it, as my marriage was disintegrating at the same time, and I was soon living elsewhere. I missed that yard a lot though. I had been particularly excited about planting raspberry bushes.

From that time to just recently, I didn't do much by way of growing plants. I was moving around a lot, busy with art school and embarking on a career in art and writing. I once planted some basil seeds that grew amazingly well on my window sill, but then pruned them terribly and lost them. When my first daughter came along, we lived in a fourplex that had a shared yard, and our neighbor was an avid gardener. She had the backyard bursting with flowers and tomatoes every year. I've always been more keen on veggie plants, and put in a feeble attempt at planting some in a semi-shaded area in the front yard. Again, it wasn't a great success. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that, aside from the squirrels claiming the area as their official nut-hiding haven, the soil was very acidic, it was too shady, and I didn't add any sort of fertilizer or compost to it. I don't think anything even sprouted that year.

Nevertheless, that Mother's Day my darling husband got me the Canadian Encyclopedia of Gardening, along with a few basic garden tools, some seeds, and a plant (that died). Despite my bad luck or just plain naivety, my enthusiasm for gardening endured. I've spent hours poring over that book (and would also HIGHLY recommend it to Canadian gardeners), learning how to prune, what grows where, what needs what, how much care and patience a garden requires, as well as becoming totally inspired by garden designs. We now live in a house with a fertile, level, and sunny yard, a composter, a sunroom and a double garage for puttering. The sad, sad catch? We're still only renting. I spend so much time imagining what I'd do to this yard if I could. While on the one hand it's a bummer that I can't do anything, it's also good to learn from it just by watching which spots gain and lose sun over the seasons. If it had been my yard I likely would have dove into it without having the patience to watch it first.

So this year we're immersing ourselves in container gardening (although I dug up some very small, barely noticeable patches in the yard too). We may not even be here for a whole season, but after reading and daydreaming so much, I just had to grow stuff. Especially when spring comes and the air smells so heavily of rich fertility. There was no way I could just not plant.

Currently, we're anticipating a move to a more permanent home within the next six months to a year. Right now we're in Calgary, but we may soon be in Edmonton (same 3a zone! Plus an earlier last frost!). I am so so SO excited at the prospect of having our own yard that I can manipulate and manicure. Most of my time is now spent researching hardy 3a zone fruit trees, as well as producing hedges, vines, and shrubs. As much as I love veggies, I also long for home-grown fruit (as a kid my family lived in Surrey BC, and the 2.5 acre property had the most gorgeous pear, apple, and plum trees, as well as blackberries, hazelnuts and chestnuts. So amazing!). As far as non-edible planting, I'm currently fascinated by roses, and all the varieties that can grow here. I'm imagining a lush, productive yard with a lean-to greenhouse, a small sitting/entertaining area, with roses and other fragrant flowers beautifying the edges. Essentially, I want my yard to look like BC, except using 3a zone plants. I'm sure it can be done, and I want to do it so bad!

This blog will document how our first container gardens go – the successes as well as the mistakes and failures. Over time I hope it will evolve to a more sophisticated garden journal, hopefully transforming a plain-jane yard to something absolutely stunning. We'll see! Naturally it'll take a while, but for now I'm a newbie, and it's really fun.