gardenbre 2

Another Year has begun ... see http://gardenbre3.blogspot.com

2010-03-14T08:27:00.001-07:00

For Wayne - Fix You by the Cantamus Choir

2009-09-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

My younger brother, Wayne died on Wednesday (9 Sept 09).

I began gardening soon after he was diagnosed with glioblastoma
multiforme (the same cancer Ted Kennedy had) because I knew it
would allow me to exprience and see a positive 'light' shining
on things that grow. Gardening serves me well for a number of
reasons and it made this journey a powerful one. I planted as much
as I could in my garden this year but there haven't been too many
posts this summer because I wanted to spend time I had with my
brother. We walked and talked for miles and miles & smiles and
smiles. For the garden it was a very wet summer with little scraps
of warmth torn from between clouds. For us it was always good
walking weather. Wayne had asked me to be a confident and told
me ways of how I could help him. I hope I did a good job - I
believe I did. He told me I had. It wasn't easy there were
complexities and challenges that lay in our path. We did laughing
yoga and crying yoga and pulled out plastic garbage bags from our
pockets when necessary to lay on patches of wet grass. We lay
under picnic tables with our legs up on benches doing restorative
yoga poses. We did talking yoga. Monday morning he thanked me
after doing breathing yoga. He shrugged his shoulder & smiled
when I said, 'we tried'.

Once our family makes it to the other side of this, I will do my
best to spend time putting my garden to rest and get it ready for
winter ... in preparation for another SPRING :)

A recent photo of both my brothers. Gary and Wayne.

Wayne used to attend mass said by Paulist priests and so I would have more
solitary time with him, I often attended too - it was our standing weekly face
time when he was feeling good. When he began not feeling as good we still
went. Once when he didn't think he could make it thorugh the entire service
and we'd begun to climb the stairs to leave, the choir began singing this song
and he told me it was his favourite - so I asked if he'd like to go back - and
he said he would like that. We went back and he sang his heart out! Later he
told me it was from a really funny Cohen Brothers movie.

A year later ...

Mom. I brought Mom to see the space dedicated to Wayne by his
school. They call it his outdoor classroom. You can see the
plaque they had made for the rock where he used to go to sit to
get away and think (from what we understand students would find
him - so I now imagine him looking up at them, laughing and then
starting in on a lesson - that'd teach 'em - it makes me smile).

Mid-Summer Veggies

2009-08-01T18:41:00.001-07:00

red radicchio from Rome, sage & basil ... not the shoe

basil by the sage

calendula

arugula (or is it)?

scapes

pumpkins & phlox

potatoes in box #1

potatoes in box #2

zuc

zuc too

poor purple peas

kale amidst pumpkin leaves

fennel

broccoli

20 Tomatoes (mid season)

2009-08-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have photographed 20 tomato plants ... not sure there are many more than this doing well though ... 20 out of 40 hmmm?

Toms by Potatoes

Salad Patch Tomatoes
(kind of just name guessing)

yellow pear

fruit mix

fruit mix

camp joy

A Pepper & The Pastes

some kind of pepper that survived (jalapeno or california wonder)

san marzano

san marzano

san marzano

opaka

opaka

The New Tomato Patch

fruit mix

eva purple ball

eva purple ball

eva purple ball

black brandy

black brandy

black brandy

Aunt Ruby

... what the heck (what's with the pointy end)?

... and a Tomatillo

green tomatoes

2009-07-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

... flowers

and green tomatoes ...

... and one tomatillo

at the allotment

2009-07-22T06:51:00.001-07:00

I managed to weed the new tomato patch & water the entire allotment.

kale

broccoli

basil

red lettuce & Roman radicchio

Roman radicchio

... baby zucs

more baby zucs

and more ...

Ants in my pants! ... AGAIN

2009-07-21T09:11:00.001-07:00

... this time I was partially prepared when I felt the burn
-ing of a zillion firey bites racing up my leg at speed of
light ... I do though now plan on sealing the cuffs of my
pants at the bottom by wearing socks that are long enough
to tuck my pant legs into - no more useless little anklets

peppery arugula planted

2009-07-14T03:38:00.000-07:00

Mom & Dad asked to see the garden so we took a drive
over from the hotel. On our way, we dropped by Barry's
and took a little tour of his gardens. We spent about 15
minutes in the allotment. Dad took a picture of Mom
standing in the middle of the paste patch & me looking
at where I was going to put the arugula that Barry had
just given me which I'll try to remember to get and post.

At first look, it appears quite frighteningly out of control

quick look at paste patch - needed weeding yesterday

and new tomato patch - needs weeding soon as well

... got some Wild Rocket planted (Barry's) YUM ... very
spicy hot & sweetFranchi Sementi Rucola Selvatica (early,
mid-sized, open bunches of green serated leaves with
delicate crunchy stalks & intensely aromatic spicy flavour

#1 potatoes

#2 potato

... vertical pumpkin growth needs a little more help (leaf has collapsed)!

Catching Up

2009-07-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

I was able to spend about 3 hours
today playing catch up. It was quite
humid which made it uncomfortable
to work for a longer period of time.
I hauled 3 bags full of duck poop
and filled up both potato drawers

... and put poop at the base of the
three tomatilloes (and I caged two).

I planted 4 forgotten canna lillies ... that were sitting in an LCBO bag in the garage since last Spring when Helen gave them to me (heheh) ... she knows (I told her & we laughed & she told me I could plant them now)

... and I planted two more radicchio from Rome and some rainbow chard
after tearing out 4x4' patch of 3 foot high flowering old bolting lettuces

... herb patch from the chair (I planted 2 baby sage
grown from seed today on either side of the largest
one in the middle) ... I have the sage from last year
on my roof (I pulled it up last fall thinking I'd use it
for cooking with and I didn't but it grew back) phew!

... here's a shot of left side of the allotment taken from the chair ...

... and a c/u of the basil and I planted three more types (blue spice,
boxwood and another kind from Gayla) in between tomatoes where
there were spaces (see above shot of left side of the allotment) ...

... here's what I might be most proud of accomplishing today without
really trying ... getting the main path cleared so I could walk down it!

2 Weeks & Lots of WEEDS!!!

2009-07-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

... the three foot center path I cut back to two
this year that's now 6" ... the width of a shoe!

On the Parkdale Hort day trip with Barry (Saturday
27 June) I got a new lavender plant that I just put
inbetween the hoses on the path (see far flowering
one) take THAT you damn dead one ... now there are
TWO (that's what YOU get when you die) just because
I didn't know I wasn't supposed to cut you back in
the fall - I'm sure Julie told me I was supposed to
... yeah blame it all on Julie surely it's all her fault!

For the past two weeks it's either been raining non-stop or I've
been working on projects demanding immediate attention. This
is to prepare you for what greeted me yesterday at the allotment.

Lots of Weeds but the garden is THRIVING. I really must eat something from it though very soon or I'm going to have to start to question my sanity at doing all this work planting an edible garden! Last year I ate everything ... maybe a little too much of everything (lambsleaves, dandylion leaves and dandylion flowers, thistle this and thistle that, etc) and this year I've just been working my butt off trying to get things in the allotment and on the roof and kept alive so the thought of eating it hasn't really entered into the picture yet - which is evident in the photos where we see lots of things that have bolted and gone to seed (I think) ... right now I couldn't even say what was what anymore - I've misplaced my garden map and I'm not yet knowledgeable enough to know what anything looks like once I've taken it out of the seed package. This I believe with all come with time and everything I know will sort itself into proper categories and make sense ... don't you just love those EUREKA moments where you just want to lie down and roll in all the green stuff ... I'm not sure if I'm making this up or not but I think that the weeds might actually be acting as mulch a little bit??? So what I did was to put on my gloves and sit on my little yellow kids chair and begin pulling weeds up like a crazed monkey on speed - it's how I had to do if I want to get out of there with enough done to feel satisfied. It's a little meditative once I get going. My cell phone rang at one point and I answered it and kept going ... and within two minutes I yanked up a basil bush and lost my glasses somewhere under a huge weed by the fence. After which I wrote a note to self to remember to put an extra pair of glasses in the car so that if it happens again I can at least look for them with glasses on so I can see ... I was almost resigned to the fact that I might have to wait to find them next fall or next year maybe after the snow melted.

This is how I left the paste patch two weeks ago ...

This is what it looked like yesterday when I arrived!

This is what it looked like when I left yesterday ...

Two mini pumpkin plants that'll produce fruit that look like Cinderella Coaches! Yeah yeah yeah - I might
still have some weeding to do - remember I think it's acting as a bit of a mulch ... & that's a good thing (for me)!

...pretty purple peas and a poor peony that doesn't flower so I don't know what I'm going to have to do with it

potatoes in drawers with big BAD weed
that looks a lot like lettuce between???

3 Green Kales

2 White Queens & a lonely old some kinda Fennel that I
will plant more of next year - like DUH what's with one!

3 zucs before & after that'll hopefully take over the garden VERY VERY
soon - thank you very much & now I'm off to water containers on the roof

Weeds!!!

2009-06-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

It was all about the hat yesterday - trying to keep it ON!

The hut & sitting area - none of which was used much yesterday!

The Virginia Creeper has exploded - I'll have to keep ON now ...

I weeded the Hens & Chicks - couldn't believe how many weeds
there were to pull AND then couldn't believe it was filled with ANTS!
I found out they are red ants ¬ fire ants - their bite feels like fire.

This little bit I didn't weed - it had the least growth & after 4 hrs I
decided to call it quits and not over do it - wish I'd taken BEFORE pics

The curly end bits on the garlic chives - a delicacy - can't recall name tho'
... ahhh - 3 days later I see their name posted on Twitter ... garlic scapes!

... two of the rhubarb stalks keeled over - hmpf - I'd've picked them if
I'd known they'd be doing that ... and there I was trying to let them grow
... the red lettuce is doing well - I have a tub at home so I left it for now

... the plastic mulched greens have taken off and hit their prime I think

I just can't remember what they all are so I need to refer to my garden
plan and then figure out what to do with them & incorporate them into
my meal plan for the week ... this gardening is a whole lot of work ...
I really need to find my book on preserving so things don't go to waste

... I've obviously spoken a little too soon ... all this
unthinned lettuce - it's just too too much ... AGH!

this is the tomato paste patch taken from the lettuce patch ... sorry
about the glove giving the finger in the lower right corner though!

Tomatoes on Roof + Irrigation System

2009-06-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the irrigation system I set up. You can see the deflated bag of
water in the background resting on chairs and some tupperware tubs along
with and a few 1 Litre wine bottles I filled with water and stuck upside
down in the self-watering containers ... I am now hoping my tomatoes don't
drown in the rain we're getting now! I only punched holes for two feeder
tubes which are feeding the rosemary and broccoli & chards in f/g pots.

Here's little Princess Dwarf - I didn't even take a photo of the smaller one - it's soooooOOoooo tiny & wet!

Mr. Koralik ... big bad ToOoMmmm!

Littlest Miss Elberta (in smaller pot)

Mrs. Elberta in the BIG pot!

I still have to mulch

2009-06-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ants in my PANTS! ... seriously

2009-06-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

Julie took one look at my ant-filled log and told me to get rid of it before it infested my entire garden ... so I ran over and picked up the three pieces of it and climbed on my chair and hoisted it over my fence making sure I didn't talk to her so I wouldn't get any in my mouth while I was doing it. (she always bosses me around and I told her to get to her garden before it rained because the forecast had just changed and it was already raining in parts of Toronto according to the radio report I'd just heard - which was very true in case you're wondering) ... I started putting stakes in around my zucchinis so I wouldn't step on them and began feeling a burning on my right leg ... it really started to sting & burn and it started to burn higher and higher ... to the point where I had to run like a complete maniac to my personal little hut I'd trimmed the vines off to pull my jeans down and see what was going on - two little ants (I'll bet they were 'fire ants') ... and I thought there were about 1,000 or more and I searched but there were only two ... so I smooshed them with both my fists until they were pulverized beyond recognition. I really didn't want to pull my pants back up but I thought I'd probably get arrested so I did ... but I yanked up the legs of my pants past my knees almost to check to see if the bottom of my leg wasn't covered with ants too - nothing! Man that freaked me out! I thought the thistles and stinging nettles were bad.

I told Julie after and she said I shouldn't have gone into the little hut because it would be filled with other bugs and that I should have rubbed mint on them ... yeah right ... run around in the middle of the garden half naked, looking for specific herbs to remedy myself with. I swear gardeners are nutier than artists.

Today I was so deranged by foul thoughts about the creatures in my garden that I even squirted my chipmunk without a second thought with the hose along the entire length of the fence when he came through it over by the peas cute as the dickens to see me (and take my sour white strawberries) ... now he'll probably only come when I'm not around and I really liked seeing him!

Don't ever believe a gardener when they tell you they garden to relax - they do it because they want to control the universe.

and then something this beautiful appears and you know you don't stand a chance (yes I killed it too & gave its carcass away - to another gardener - someone I thought might appreciate it everybit as much as I did - fire ants emit a poison that temporarily makes you insane

Watering Friday

2009-06-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

I broke down and bought some zucchini at a garden center across from where I
got my oil changed before driving to Ottawa. I also bought some seeds to plant.
In the foreground are two new tomatoes (green zebras) ... the 3 zucs are in b/g.
You can tell I just went in like a grizzly and ripped out weeds where I needed to
... if these zucs are anything like last year they will take over the weeds in no time
and if the seeds are anything like last years were - they will out grow the plants!

this little guy hung out with me for a large part of the day ... so did a
couple of little yellow birds that took a bird bath as did a small grey one
beforehand ... the robin was territorial but didn't actually chase them ...
Barry says I'm going to become a 'birder' if I don't watch it ... I'm geeky
enough! I just got one of those baseball caps with the hanky hanging down
the neck and thought nothing of going out in it to get my bags of soil smiling
at neighbours who actually pointed & laughed at me like I was in on their joke!

I might have watered for 3 full hours ... the new hosebits worked well ...
I turned off the full-force water after about 10 minutes and just let the
soaker hoses leak water slowly out over this time - not like 3 hours full on
... I need to know how long it takes before covering hoses with mulch ...

the other side of the allotment after watering for about three full hours

I did a little weeding in the old squash patch but in the end couldn't
locate any zucchini seeds to plant ... I tore the car apart (a little bit)
and found my green notebook with the seed packets but didn't find
the zucc seeds! Hmphf ... I wanted to get them in before I did last
year ... last year I planted tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis, watermelon,
rosemary, potatoes, tomatillos and the Hens & Chickens by 6 June ...
oh well - this year it is a lot colder and a lot dryer than it was last year

Tuesday's Tomatoes

2009-06-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Pics to post (they are in camera in car) ...

I got about five more tomatoes into the old tomato patch. It wasn't where I'd planned on putting them but spacing seemed crowded where I originally planned to put them and so being in the garden allowed me to get another sense of where I thought these particular ones would do well. I put in my two precious Principe Borgheses. If I had to chose a tomato this year that I am really interested in seeing grow, I would have to say it is this one. I had thought I'd put them on the roof and then I thought I'd try one on the roof and the other in the garden, but I changed my mind and decided to have them both in the garden so they could get the best root system developed and really produce. Next year I can experiment with some on the roof and some in the garden - if they are as good as I hope they will be. [Last year it was the San Marzanoes that I was really interested in - then I kind of lost all the tags and only thought I knew which ones they were - so this year I will keep an eye on how the SM's do again and compare them to the PB's.]

Determinate, 70-75 days. The Italian heirloom that is famous for sun drying. Small 1-2 oz. grape-shaped fruit are very dry and have few seeds. They have a rich tomato taste that is wonderful for sauces. Determinate vines yield clusters of fruit in abundance, perfect for selling in fresh markets and making specialty products. We offer pure Italian seed.

or
78 days. (Semi-determinate) Italian heirloom bred for sun drying, this low moisture variety maintains more flavor when dried than do other varieties. 2" fruits are round with small points on the end. Prized in Italian cooking when reconstituted in olive oil, they can also be crushed into small flakes to quickly thicken a thin sauce while adding a rich tomato flavor. Pkt.

or
75 days, determinate — Italian heirloom variety very popular in Italy and California for splitting in half and sun drying. They maintain color and flavor well. The plants produce heavy yields of small, red plum-shaped fruits. The plants will benefit from support such as caging.

Now I have a total of 39 tomatoes planted in ... come on - I know I can get that number into the 40's ... not so sure I'll be able to name them properly (I have a collection with lost tags)!.

Monday's 'Mato Mayhem

2009-06-01T19:30:00.001-07:00

I got to the garden around 2pm with about 16 or 17 tomatoes and forgot my garden plan ... so I created one on the spot on a piece of paper that kept threatening to fly away in the wind ... it was held down with my pen that I clipped onto it but each time I used it to write what I'd done, I'd have to remember to clip the pen back onto the paper as a weight to hold it down. Once I caught it flying off and landing in with some potted plants laying in the herb bed ... then when I got home I thought I'd left it in the car and I was just too tired to go out and get it so I tried to recreate what I thought I'd done ... in the morning I found it beside my desk and corrected my memory lapses (I didn't do too badly) ... the the next time out, I'll recheck in person to see if I got it right on paper ...(I believe I missed one and I know exactly-ish where to check)!

I got 16 in so that makes a total of 19 + 15 = 34 so far

http://www.plangarden.com/garden_pics/img/myGarden_12707.png

plangarden garden plan

2009-06-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

first 20 tomatoes IN & staked

2009-05-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

... half the allotment is almost planted and laid with soaker hoses

... Little Paste Patch and Large Tomatoes Patch

Large Tomatoes Patch with poles all lined up & ready to grow

... around 3pm the lettuce is getting dappled sunlight

... 4 pm the sun casts a 45 degree diagonal shadow towards the compost

... maybe I want to cut a hose to thread through the Large Tomato Patch?

... maybe I want to cut a hose that will attach in the middle for Tomatilloes?

rain soaked getting soaker hoses in

2009-05-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

I took meticulous notes on clean up day last October and forgot
to put an addendum that at the last minute I decided to take the
hoses out of the hut and bring them to the garage ... good thing
my long-term memory's good (compared to my short-term and
middle-term memories) ... I located them today and put them in!

mines the one with a string around it's neck so I can tell it from the others

I've pinned the hose down all along the edges of the other allotments

where it disappears way off to the right is where I dug up the grass and
buried the it then put the grass back on top (I hope I can get it out again)

I got the soil leveled and hen poop scattered about and I hooked up
the hoses in the pouring rain then I watched where the water went ...
after testing it out - I put the part that really squirts in the middle !
Tomorrow I'll get 20 tomatoes planted and then mulch them with a
pad or two of newsprint and then toss sheep shit all over everything.
I hope Im doing it right! I didn't put hoses in last year - it rained daily.

the SNOUT of a PIG

2009-05-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

... after the egg - the Pig Dig - really
it's some kind of nut - but admit it -
it is funny - esp the dirty lower lip bit!

AND I have one of THESE?

... and two of these??

... and a few of these - Ooey Luis'

last Wednesday - the new patch (after)

today - the new patch (after) but before fertilizing

the whole right side taken from pea patch - where no peas are growing again this
year - I swear I'm getting there! ... and what's in the red bag you want to know ...

Sorrelinas Strawberries (all in & watered now)

next to the Hort Strawberries planted in a couple of weeks ago

... and I fixed my hut (vines) and mended my fences - neighbour
to the right has to have 'lean to' envy right - I am right - aren't I?

Catch of the Day

Weeding Wednesday (20 May '09)

2009-05-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

What's left ...

... so next I'll finish weeding the new tomato patches. Then I amend
the soil with fertilizers, compost, manure - then I plant 40 tomatoes
in two days - then I'll do my newsprint bad ol' figure drawing mulch!

old tomato patch (before)
this year's veggie patch

new veggie patch (after)

so far - here's what I've got done

40 gallon drip irrigation

2009-05-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

I WANT THIS! It's a drip irrigation system from Lee Valley and it's $20
and will keep 4 large pots watered for 2 weeks ... seems the way to go.

self-watering container video

2009-05-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

container video - tomatoes

2009-05-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

Growing tomatoes in pots

from http://www.davesgarden.com

The EGG

2009-05-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

... and so what IS this? It was found in the garden across from mine.
We're now speculating it might be a snake egg??? I had a snake in my
garden last year. The egg is about 4-5" ... could it be a goose egg?
... swans egg? DINOSAUR ??? OH .. AND - it was buried in the soil.

18 May 09

2009-05-19T08:41:00.001-07:00

before

after

These two shots pretty well say it all for yesterday! What
a nice accomplishment (and I lost a few pounds to boot)!

... I think I have my new tomato patch(es)! Wahooo!

I found spearmint over by the wild aster so I've dug it up to
bring home and I planted some by my chair (aromatherapy)!

I planted half of what I procured from the shop in Little Italy one cool evening after pizza with my friend ... we got into their stash just before they closed and I got ten hardened off plants for $10 ...

24 more hours To Do

2009-05-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

... eight more 3-hour days of digging before seedlings even go in!

... right side (before)

... a closer look at the right side (after)

... close up of 40 square feet of sifted soil

Hens & Chicks ... against violet background ... and
so how does this garden grow ... billions of violets
took up residence allover the entire garden ... so I
hoisted them up by the shovelsful and heaved them
over the the heads of the hens & chicks making quite
a little game of it having them all land dirty bums down!

... me & mine ...

Today's Catches (nettles and violets)

1/2 Day in the Garden

2009-05-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Old Farmer's Almanac
Ch-Ch-Chilly S-S-Saints Days

Spring may be in full swing, but May 11, 12, and 13 often revert to the colder days of winter, according to weather lore.

The Three Chilly Saints—Mamertus, Pancras, and Gervais (also called Mammertius, Pancratius, and Gervatius or Servatius)—often celebrated their feast days during a cold snap. Some called them the Ice Saints or Frost Saints, and many farmers held off planting until after the Three Chilly Saints’ days had passed.

Germans knew these days as the Iceman Days, and both the English and French watched for a late frost around this time. St. Boniface (May 14) and the chilly “blackthorn winds” were associated with them, too.

St. Pancras Day (May 12) never passes without frost.
-------
and off Twitter
frankferragine@torontogardens even though it's too early to plant many jump the gun each and every year and some just try to risk it!!
about 4 hours ago from web in reply to torontogardens

frankferragineFrost free across the GTA so far, frosty in Barrie and possibly London. Highs 17 under sunshine today....enjoy!!

A Home for All My Children

2009-05-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

I spent a little chunk of today putting together this $25
mini-greenhouse. It's done. Tomorrow they all go out
... for good! I hope there's enough room for them all.

Day 4 Wednesday (6 May 09)

2009-05-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

My Peony - I am really hoping this year that it blossoms.
Last year it did nothing but it's really getting big now!!!
Not a very aesthetically-pleasing corner of the garden - yet ...

So pretty! I'm told you can eat violets - I might
just get some and do up a 'high tea' this week!

Pretty Tulips - I'm trying to get all
the flowers into the south bed now!

Overview - before the 2 ton gopher attacked it ...

Overview - after the 2 ton gopher ...

c/u Shelf at Trinity Bellwoods Greenhouse (Tuesday) 5 May 09

Shelf at Trinity Bellwoods Greenhouse (Tuesday) 5 May 09

I went to the Greenhouse on Monday, Tuesday and again today
(Saturday after the Parkdale Horticulatural Plant Sale). The plants
were damp - so they seem to be doing very well in here. I'll have
to begin hardening them off as well. I am hoping that the three
shelf mini-greenhouse unit I got at the sale today will accommodate
enough of my plants so that I don't have to bring too many in and
out over the next 10 days of hardening off - like last year. Heck that
wasn't a really fun part of the job but it sure was a really dirty one!

Aerogarden Seedlings in Soil in large south-facing window (Saturday) 9 May 09

Aerogarden after seedlings were taken out and put into soil (Saturday) 9 May 09

Seedlings planted on 20 April 09 in small south-facing
window - all got newly staked today (Saturday) 9 May 09

I didn't post because I've been trying to catch up on other things
I fell behind on after the Conference and getting the flu! UGH

I spent a half day after work digging up weeds last Wednesday
and recorded it. It looks like a 2 ton gopher got loose! I really
liked the look of all the purple violets at the back behind the
hens & chickens. There were so many more violets springing
up all throughout the allotment so I got them all into this area
... pretty well just dug them up with lots of soil and flung them
there rightside up and into spaces where they could 'get a grip'!
I am hoping they all just take like they seem to have throughout
the garden. Then I set to digging out huge clumps of dandylions
and clover and clumps of grass! I brought home some stinging
nettles for tea and dandylion flowers are now in the freezer waiting
for me to use them to make muffins or scones, or something yellow.
http://teaandcookies.blogspot.com/2009/04/dandelion-muffins-with-niecelets.html

You should hear it out there this evening (Saturday) 9 May 09 ...
thunderstorms all day long! I hope it gets it out of it's system by
tomorrow - I am hoping to spend time in the garden getting another
patch weeded and I want to plant in the rhubarb and strawberry plants!
I also have lettuces up on the roof that could go in as well (I think)!

dandylion bread

2009-04-28T17:31:00.001-07:00

I'm going to put a couple whole flowers on top
so everyone know what it is right away heheh!
I think it'll be almost like eating real sunshine.

Day 3 - Allotment (Digging & Digging) + A Toad

2009-04-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

OH NO I DidN'T (kiss it) ... been there ... done THAT!

catch of the day!

I dug up some more along the left border
(am hoping to put some peas in soon)

... before the BIG dig

I dug up a corner at the right (am hoping to put
lettuces, spinach and arugala in here soon)

There is very little rhyme or reason to where I'm digging ... and it feels a little maniacal but I'm just going where my pitch fork takes me ... for now ...

Day 2 - Allotment - The Work Begins

2009-04-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Garden from Left to Right ...

I dug up a few plants that weren't in places where they should
be ... forget me nots in the pathway, a daffodil in the onion patch
... and I dug up garlic chives that had gotten overgrown last year
... I managed to plant about 20 and take a bag home to put in
vinegar, freeze and dry ...

I also dug up a little patch by the peony and put in some British
Wonder Peas which are only supposed to grow to be about 2-3
feet tall. I put them into pea innocullant and made a netting tent
around them. I didn't get a lot done. It was quite hot and I was
tired before I began. I plan to return tomorrow and get some more
digging done!

Oh ... and don't wear black to the garden on a sunny day!
You'll just want to sit and drink water and not get up and
do anything!

Day 2 - Catch of the Day

2009-04-25T17:25:00.001-07:00

... this is what they look like now
I cleaned the garlic chives and put
them into a jar which I filled with
white vinegar and some apple cider
vinegar with about 2T of sea salt
and 1 T sugar. It is supposed to keep
forever. I really really like that! And
I just added a srprise ingredient to
the jar ... an organic ginger candy.

this is what they looked like then ...
I think they're garlic chives? I planted
about 20 of them in the old cucumber
patch about 5" from each other. I also
have a little patch planted where those
really hot chinese radishes were last year.

aerogarden + the review (it got published)!

2009-04-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

CHECK OUT THE DIFFERENCE 5 DAYS MAKES

6 eggplants, 3 jalapeno, 3 california wonder peppers, 6 black brandywine tomatoes, 2 radicchio, 1 scotland leek, 1 bleu de solais leek, 4 tomatilloes, 3 savignac tomatoes, 2 black krim tomatoes, 2 large leaf Italian basil, 2 genovese basil, 5 san marzano tomatoes, 3 bloody butcher tomatoes, 3 sophies choice tomatoes, 3 beefsteak tomatoes, 3 princes borghese tomatoes, 3 green zebra tomatoes, 3 blanch de Quebec tomatoes, 6 White Queen tomatoes, 2 Eva purple ball tomatoes, 2 black cherry tomatoes, 2 broccoli roman nats

all within a square foot and a half of space on a corner of my buffet!

here they are - all 60 seedlings - not quite 2 weeks after 2nd planting on 6 April!

... with deep cell seedlings in soil using aerogarden light

side view

IT GOT PUBLISHED & IT WROTE ITSELF ...

Gayla Trail, Community Gardener/Small Urban Potager
Pencils are poised. We’re off to a bit of a late start. Finally Gayla gets down in the ‘hood with her peeps at the Parkdale Horticultural Society on the last Monday of March 09. She has lived here for fourteen years … she’s a little nervous but she’s with BoF’s … it is hard not to notice the wild volunteer tomato plant tat(too) on her bicep as she pushes the key down on her laptop … the show’s begins … and we’re off on a virtual tour down back alleys in this end of the City viewing various untraditional treasured ‘finds’ … raised green beds made from old red milk cases, a container roof garden precariously perched atop a rickety old garage, a mini window gardens’ whispered presence across from City TV, a fecund shopping cart filled with fertilized foliage chained to a fence stuck with a handwritten skiddly old sign, ‘Please Do Not Urinate’ - that gets a giggle … a restaurant container garden fighting for space with an SUV between two buildings and what looks like a fire hydrant skirted with flora cemented into concrete somewhere behind Woolfits.

Early on you get the sense Gayla’s a going concern … if just by the pace at which we’re going through her numerous slides … [I know she is … having followed her for almost a year now on that “wildly popular urban-gardening website”, www.yougrowgirl.com. … heck I gardened my whole first year last summer clutching her book, You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening … last week I dropped everything to attend her seed-planting workshop at our local community greenhouse … and I now attempt to keep up with her & other YGG tweets on Twitter … she’s sent out a call for help to declutter the Queen & Noble curbside garden and as I’m writing this up and a friend calls – our Parkdalian’s in the Globe … bloody hell - where isn’t she this week? … and oh how I’ve got to get this done before it verges on something overly more novel …

Back to the slides … we’re up 3 floors and onto her roof peering into dresser drawers prettily planted with purple pansies down under a hand-crafted chalk board we’re told holds her ever-changing ditties of the day … next we’re sousing out containers with visually stunning red shiso, an Asian herb rich in vitamens & minerals … notwithstanding its anti-inflammatory properties … and Gayla grows it and dries it for tea … sprinkles in rice dishes … uses it in salads, as a garnish & sushi wraps … and know, too, it’s also used to dye umeboshi (pickled ume) called a plum but it’s more an apricot … as well, we’re told it’s the ‘pink’ in pickled ginger. We learn her Chocolate Cherry Sunflower steamed buds taste a little like artichokes. There’s a particularly tall 7 or 8 foot tomato plant guarding a corner called Pink Zapotec. Tomatoes, with basil and other companions, surrounded by chicken wire (to keep cats out) are grown right-side up in garbage cans and upside down in fancy-pants hanging bags from Lee Valley … all are planted singly so as to give each a fighting chance of growing as abundant and huge as any seen in an in ground garden. In trash cans held up off their upturned lids with bricks, there are potatoes that like coffee grounds aka acidic soil. And then – an admission - there is one plant she hasn’t grown up here. There have been no pumpkins! As well she makes an impression with the group when she lets it slip she has mothered this garden for 13 years without a proper watering system – no hose – just buckets of water she carries to & fro … from the bathroom and back again – oftentimes twice a day .. and it gets hot up here … and windy … she’s found a way to create wind blocks by repositioning plants mostly in 12” pots, Strawberries, Jerusalem Artichokes, Anise Hyssop, Calendula, Nasturtiums, Purple Bush & Ruffle Basils, Golden Sweet Peas (these are in bigger pots), Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas (not so big), etc. … all moved hither and about to protect others like lemon cucumbers, her favourites and they don’t like the wind nor the brick wall which absorbs heat … the peppers in 12” pots - they do like the heat … and the cut-and-come-again Lolla Rossa’s are pretty heat tolerant too. Gayla really likes it when her lettuce bolts - there are seeds to harvest and bold aesthetically-pleasing arcs thrusting skyward.

Of course, three stories below, she has made it her plight in life to create a street garden on the corner that is her downstairs neighbours personal ashtray and the neighbourhood urinal and dog potty (and there is a call out to the community for Saturday afternoon helpers to join in) … quickly we trip past this eyesore over to the community garden behind the local beer store where she brings garden & kitchen scraps to the compost and where we finally see her Egyptian Walking Onion … say no more I’m lost in it’s calligraphic beauty and dizzied further by its story and names rolling off her tongue … like full names of best friends & family … Purple Beauty Albino Bullnose Sweet Peppers Royal Burgandy Bush Beans Red Sails Lettuce … some come from Urban Harvest seeds procured years ago or seeds & plants recently traded with friends and/or gotten through seedsavers.org … or from Seeds of Diversity or at Seedy Saturday … her lists go on … someone has asked “Where do you get your seeds?” … and someone else wants to know why she’s not calling heirlooms hybrids since they surely are and she responds with something about open pollination and someone else further explains another technicality that’s thoroughly lost on me … and as we’re also being shown a photo of a 3 or 4 year-old raspberry bush in a planter box, Gayla starts a little tease mentioning yet another book in the works lurking towards publication the likes of which might possibly cover an unmentionably exciting DIY self-watering recyclable bin good for all kinds of things like melon growing –… I’ll end here saying I think she’s as well as done it all – as if there’s not a pumpkin-in waiting in her very near future!

1,066 words
BoFs (Birds of a Feather) *
REF: Gayla Trail: The Sage of Emerald City, The urban plot thickens
by Lisan Jutras, 4 April 2009, globeandmail.com

my car is full of cow poop & dirt + how to sheet mulch

2009-04-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

I made my first trip ever out to Humber Nurseries ... I now have 10 bags of dirt (the best kind with 3 different things in it ... compost, etc) and I got 2 bags of cow manure for $1.50 each because the bags were broken ... they put it into a big see-through plastic dry cleaners bag and tied it up for me so it wouldn't get all over the car. Normally a bag of cow manure is $4.50 ... so I saved six bucks on cow poop today ... I'll bet not many in Toronto can say this today! It's one weird hobby when you really think about it ...

Now I really must get to the allotment asap and dump the poop ... while I'm there, I'll dig up some soil and plant some peas after I roll them in innoculant (last year someone told me to save my money and just pee on them) ... I didn't (and they didn't grow) ... so this year I sprang for the innoculant heheh ... and it's time to plant out the arugula and salad mix while the weather's still a little cool ...

I need to fill some of my containers with potting mix and soil and carry them up to the roof from the garage and get my leeks planted out too I think (maybe) ?

Today's Friday ... here's what's up from deep cell soil planting on Monday

6 Red Russian Kale (1 " tall)
1 West Indian Gerkin Cucumber
4 Rapini (3 " tall)
4 Early Palla Rosa Radicchio (1" tall)
3 Early Palla Rosa Radicchio (1" tall)
1 Broccoli Romaesca Natalino (1 " tall)
2 Broccoli Romaesca Natalino (1 " tall)

so far that's it!

I'm going to have to clear a shelf for them in the livingroom window and move the aerogarden over so the light is intensified. What a busy weekend!!!

My next job is tilling the garden and adding manure & maybe some newspaper and straw ... I've also got ground cloth and that red tomato cloth! Hmmm...

Wild Leeks

2009-04-23T21:30:00.001-07:00

Vanessa gave me some wild leeks today and I've potted them up to
bring to the allotment on the weekend. I hope they do well. I
gave Barry a handful so he can put them into his garden as well.
I am looking forward to seeing how they do next year. It is time
to eat them now. The leaves are good in sandwiches supposedly!
I'm sure they'd be great in a quiche. I couldn't eat them though
because I want them to grow!

aerogarden 20 April 2009

2009-04-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

There are a gazillion seedlings growing like wildfire in the aerogarden. Well there are 60 ... tomatoes, peppers, radicchio, broccoli, basil, eggplants, leeks and tomatilloes ... in front, in soil in deep=cells, there's basil and leeks

scissored seedlings have rooted - it's a MIRACLE!

2009-04-23T21:15:00.001-07:00

I know you can't the see the roots but they are there! I am going to put them into soil tomorrow and see what happens ... I have no idea what is what because of course I didn't label any of them. I don't even know why I put them into water ... well actually that's a big lie ... I do ... I could barely cut them and couldn't bare to put them into the garbage! I was sure I'd be watching them slowly wither & rot ... although I did imagine a best case scenario of having them root though ...

aerogarden + 6 seedlings in soil

2009-04-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Six Single Deep Cells - waiting for seeds to germinate in plastic bag (6 April 09)

(13 April 09) Aerogarden's progress.

(16 April 09) Front View of Aerogarden.

(16 April 09) Back View of Aerogarden with Peppers.

Seedling Alert ... tomatoes are UP!!!

2009-03-29T11:23:00.001-07:00

It's not even a week &
my tomatoes are up!!!
San Marzanoes win!

The San Marzanoes (center) were up yesterday - the Black Cherry's all
popped up overnight (left of center) and the White Queens are trying
to all make it up (at the far right) ... the eggplants (far far left) and
peppers (just left of the BC's) are still struggling their way to the top.

Aerogarden Seedlings (23 Mar 09 planting)

2009-03-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Four days later and there are hairy
little roots and some evidence that
seed caps are being pushed up on
their bent over fragile little stems!

Some tomatoes + more peppers & eggplant seeds in Aerogarden Starter Tray

2009-03-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

I planted seeds in the aerogarden starter tray because I have to go away
for a week at the beginning of April to a conference and usually I begin
planting seeds in mid-March. The aerogarden has a timer on the lights
and because it's a hydroponic system that doesn't need water added for at
least a week or two, and it's fed with organic nutrients, I've decided to
use it. I did plant peppers in February and hopefully they will be okay
for the week water-wise (I'll keep them under the lights as well for a week).

Three holes where plugs were pulled from ...

Three soggy brown sponge-like plugs before poking holes for 2 seeds

AEROGARDEN SEED PLANTING TRAY

Black Beauty 3 plugs
Eggplant 2 seeds each
23-Mar-09 = 6 Total

Rosa Bianca 3 plugs
Eggplant 2 seeds each Julianna's were planted last month!
23-Mar-09 + 6 Total

Early 3 plugs
Jalapeno 2 seeds each
23-Mar-09 = 6 Total

California 3 plugs
Wonder 2 seeds each I already have 8 of each of these!
23-Mar-09 = 6 Total

Black 6 plugs
Brandywine 2 seeds each All of these are to be planted 8 weeks before Last Frost.
23-Mar-09 = 12 Total

San 5 plugs
Marzano 2 seeds each
23-Mar-09 =10 Total

White 6 plugs
Queen 2 seeds each
23-Mar-09 = 12 Total

All of these seeds are about a week behind when they should have
been planted IF they were being done in potting medium. But
because the Aerogarden hydroponic system grows seedlings a
little quicker, I'm hoping I've not been too premature in
starting these ones? Time will tell. I'm going to add more
next Monday and attempt to keep my planting to Mondays so that
I can guage seedling growth more scientifically!

Here they are all planted!

The Greenhouse

2009-03-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Gayla has joined the greenhouse where I volunteer - I am hoping to go to her seed planting workshop Saturday at 1:30 because she is going to lead their group through the seed planting process! It will be useful to see it done. I never seem to be able to easily remember to put the labels on properly. Does this happen to others too - I wonder!

I've typed out my Seed Planting List!!!

2009-03-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

I brought all my seed packets to the photocopier and did double-sided copies so I can put the sheets into sleeves and use them as reference pages alongside my Seed Planting List.

Things have just gotten a whole lot more complicated - I kind of understand now what some of the writing on the backs of the seed packages means. Who knew when it said 55 days it meant that's how long it takes after it's in the ground? Did I know this last year and just forgot it? And who knew that two weeks is taken into account after the last frost to harden off - meaning that the May long weekend makes sense now? And who knew that some who knows what they're doing makes a Seed Planting List that they methodically cross-referenced with their Planting Plans & their Garden Plans. And now I aspire to be that person - a gardener who knows (what they are doing)! I can't wait until Monday. This is when I will use my new Seed Planting List, et al!

Seeds + Laminator

2009-03-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

I JUST GOT A little LAMINATOR!!!!!

now I can make waterproof plant tags for seedlings and the garden! WaHOOoooOOooooo...

... and I'm still waiting for my 2nd order to arrive from Cottage Gardener (see list below)!

Record High today

2009-03-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

I just pulled up my dashboard and saw that it's 64F out 18C out right now ( and it was High 73F Low 45F and High 23C & Low 7C) ... does this make sense! Ft. Myers, Florida is about the same right now? 17C (28/15C) ... 63F (albeit 83/59F)...

Yellow Leaves on my Peppers - GASP

2009-03-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

What the heck! My peppers are turning YELLOW. I think maybe I should have turned the lights out last night & the night before & the night before that! I don't THINK they are getting too much water ... see surface is dry AGAIN (and I really diluted the kelp tea so they barely even got any ... well maybe a little bit more than 'hardly any' ??? They are really quite spindly - I think I better repot them.

peppers progress

2009-03-04T21:18:00.001-08:00

Cottage Gardener (new order)

2009-03-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber(Melothria scabra) Pkt - 25 seeds 1 2.50
Black Beauty Eggplant (Certified Organic) PKt - 50 seeds 1 2.50
Rosa Bianca eggplant (Certified Organic) PKt - 50 seeds 1 2.50
Bleu de Solaise Leek (Organic) Pkt - 200seeds 1 2.50
Scotland Leek (Rare. Certified Organic) Pkt - 200 seeds 1 2.50
British Wonder Pea (Rare. Certified Organic) Pkt - 80 seeds 1 2.50
Radicchio - Palla Rossa (Certified Organic) Pkt - 150 seeds 1 2.50
Fennel - Florence (Foeniculum vulgare dulce; Certified Organic)
Pkt - 100 seeds 1 2.50
West Indian Gherkin Cucumber (Organic) Pkt - 35 seeds 1 2.50

SubTotal:
$22.50
PST:
$2.04
GST:
$1.27
Shipping:
$3.00
Total:
$28.82

Seedy Saturday was 28 Februrary

2009-03-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

I attended a workshop by Kyla Dixon-Muir on Growing to Eat through all four seasons.
http://www.riverdalemeadow.ca
/wiki/wiki.php

10 April 2008
Foreground: Four kinds of peas planted, each with different maturity dates,
and cages covering each varietal's row.

first fertilizer in bottom watering of peppers

2009-03-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday 2 March (Monday) 3 weeks after planting pepper seeds and almost 2 weeks after they came up, I put a tsp of Urban Harvest Kelp Meal into half a litre of warm water and bottom watered then used this concoction ... I thought I'd go easy on the first fertilization. I'll use fertilizer for the next 'watering'.

Kelp Meal
$5.99
Provides the essential micro-nutrients needed for healthy plant growth. A seaweed powder, kelp is a natural source of vitamins, amino acids and hormones that promote strong cell structure, and improve plant immunity. Use in your garden and treat your houseplants too. Directions: Mix 5ml. in 1 litre of hot water for use as a foliar spray; or apply 15g / m 2 directly onto the soil and rake into the surface. Sprinkle lightly over the lawn in early spring. 1/2 kg. or 1 kg. PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL US FOR POSTAGE COST.

19 peppers

2009-02-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

There are now 19 peppers up (three are in the pot @ left)
I have to admit the peppers are looking a little spindley
but I think they are doing well. I am hoping their stems
will grow strong and they will be ok. I am watering them
from the bottom and keeping the light on for at least 16
hours a day. It is as close as I can get it to them without
burning them. I am planning to get some fertilizer for
them at Seedy Saturday (hopefully I'll find what I need).

ALL 16 peppers plantlets are UP

2009-02-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

I yesterday morning before I headed out to school, I noticed that all 4 pepper plants were up in each of the 4 pots (8 jalapenos & 8 california wonders). I am hoping the desk light with the Duro-Lite Plant Lite for indoor light gardening I got will be enough for them for now. I'll be setting up the aerogarden seedling starter soon - and hoping that it will be able to sustain itself while I'm gone to Portland for 6 days (along with the self-watering system I am going to have to get now as a result of the this trip)!

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=61622&cat=2,2280,54307

this might be worth looking at - according to Gayla the larger one is the one to use since it will sustain the plants in it for longer
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=10645&cat=2,44713,40757

Here are some reminders of what to do I pulled off the web (and as I do these things, I will enter them into my 10-year journal to make this easier next year): Pepper seeds like a warm temperature to grow in and especially a warm base for them, maybe a heated plate or surface would be sufficient. Pepper seeds will not need much water and it’s a good idea to water the plant from a tray at the bottom of the plant, leaving the soil lighter and the plant with a enough water supply before removing the tray or excess water after a short while.

If your pepper seed is too dry your seed will not grow so a good suggestion is to put plastic film over the top of the plant pot / tray until growing has properly begun. After this stage your pepper plant will need plenty in the way of nourishments. A good choice fertilizer is 15-15-15 (as marked on the container). This fertilizer will give plenty of nitrogen for foliage growth and healthy green colour, potassium for helping to fight off disease, and phosphorous to help cell division, flower and seed production and strong roots.

To finish off, before placing your new pepper plant out into the open, try introducing your plant to the cold gradually by putting it outside during the day and back inside at night for a couple of weeks so it has time to change and adapt to the cooler climates.

4 pepper pots - under light!

2009-02-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

These kicked around upstairs near
the heater for awhile ... then I put
them on the heat mat and some
jalapeno seeds started sprouting.
I put them all in pots ... no action
yet but I'll take pics when and if ...

I've named this a jalapeno even
tho' I have no idea if it is or isn't ...

There's a plant in each pepper pot.
This means I have both jalapeno &
california wonder peppers growing.
...which is which still isn't apparent!

I pulled out the sun light I bought
years ago and put it into a desk light
over the peppers. They are now being
kept warm by the mat and the lamp -
they should do well. I watered them
with warm water (a little on the top but
more from the bottom. Ill have to read
more about what they need at this stage.

Pepper Sprout

2009-02-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

My tester jalapeno seeds are sprouting in the zip lock baggies. AND there's a sprout coming out of the dirt from last Monday's planting. I'm not sure if its the jalapeno or the california wonder but judging from the tester seeds I'm going to go with it being a jalapeno!!! Look closely - it's curled over in the SW quadrant of the shot (which I fixed a little for the shot by moving some of the vermiculite out of the way so the sprout showed better)!

I will need to get it under light very soon!

roof top gardening info & sites

2009-02-14T23:04:00.000-08:00

Found a great new blog that has information on how to set up DIY self-watering containers called sub irrigated planters (SIP)'s based on the earthbox (EB).
http://greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com/

And another one done by a farmer just north of Toronto which is interesting to read & see how he's working a tiny farm.
http://tinyfarmblog.com/

ALSO: I think I'll try doing my potatoes in a garbage can on the roof this year as well. When potatoes start growing eyes, cut 1" pieces, and let them sit over night. Drill drainage holes into garbage can and put in about a foot of dirt and bury the potato eyes just under the soil. Keep adding dirt as they grow. When plants turn brown and wilt, dig them up ... thanks lw@YGG

peppers are planted 10 weeks before last frost (20 Apr 09)

2009-02-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

My peppers are planted. They were to have been done 8-10 weeks before the final frost (20 April) ... that's today & I gott'er done!

I put the dusty potting soil into a glass container and added boiling water to it ... Then I put the potting soil in the long removable planting cells knowing I wanted to save them for my tomatoes. But I moved quickly past that and realized that since I wasn't using all the long removeables began eying the long glasses & yes they fit perfectly over them but the bottoms were a little uncovered - still they stood on their own; but then I couldn't remember if I needed to keep a perfectly humid environment ... so I googled 'how to plant pepper seeds' and found out I didn't know what I was doing at all - the tops don't need to be covered to germinate peppers, etc.; and I should have washed the pots with a 50% bleach solution of I'd used them last year (well I didn't but someone else did & I'm sure they wouldn't have bothered to wash them either ... but what the heck ... I wanted them for my tomatoes so I started again). I found some similar looking pots and brought them downstairs to the kitchen sink and washed them thoroughly. I removed the soil in the removeable cells and placed it in the clean pots and found a chop stick to push my 1/2" holes into the surface and located a tiny spoon to scoop seeds out of my palm to plant 4 per pot into the heated soil. First the Jalapenos, then the California Wonder Peppers ... then I tamped down the soil and took the pots out to drain the water out of the bottom of the tray ... and yup - you guessed it - which pots were which!

You know what - I don't care. They are peppers!

What a production. And it's all coming back to me again ... how last year I muffed up from day 1 on and I was never sure really sure which pots contained what on well over half of what I had. Some labels never made it into the pots. Some fell out after the first watering, some during subsequent ones ... others enroute to the garden, many were lost as they were planted in and some lost it sometime during the growing season (you know rain, animals, snakes, people, me ...) and come to think of it where are all the stray tags now - don't tell me I have to make more ...

Here's what I know for sure ... until I plant anything else, there will be no more mix ups.

... in my dream I'm walking on snow in my garden

2009-02-06T10:20:00.005-08:00

... I'm strutting along the uneven frozen runway confident like a state trooper across the allotment surveying the land in my very high spikey heels that are only partially able to pierce the surface of the snow & ice and you know I'm thinking 'you go girl' but I am all the while trying to gauge when and where to sprint through an opening in the fence to the gate away from the camels & other wild animals that have taken over the park for the winter when I see a moose carcass disintegrating in the corner kitty corner to my old compost pile and all I can think about then is that I hope it has time to amend itself into the soil before spring arrives so I don't have to do it for him - and I forget about the camels that might eat me if they see me here.

OK - so - maybe it's time I begin turning my mind towards gardening again ... it's that time for me now (and yes I know I'm a little late if I want to plant hot peppers) ... note to self to do this in January - next year!!!

WELCOME TO the START of MY 2nd YEAR of GARDENING

2009-02-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

I think today's the day! I am going to begin to scrounge around in some garden boxes I threw together at the end of the season last October/November. I am hoping to find some dirt & jalapeno pepper seeds so I can plant them up today and REALLY begin my 10 Year Gardening Journal. [Yes - I got it & yes I've been transferring a little bit of info, here & there, into it already BUT a seed planting entry would mean the roller coaster has left the uppermost peak of the track!] AND I actually think there might be my first order of seeds in the mailbox.

Drum roll - I am going down to check.

Planning a Flower Cutting Garden - TO DO

2009-02-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

TO DO: Pick Up ... Hosta, Peony & Rose plants
and Cosmos seeds

I have all the other perennial flowers in my garden already! Lucky Me!!! AND I just remembered I've ordered morning glory, sweet pea, and 4 kinds of poppy ... heheh

Cosmos are easy to grow from seeds or from transplants. Their feathery foliage is as pretty as their flowers

Hybrid teas (Hybrid Tea Rose), like 'Brigadoon', shown here, are beloved for their wonderful range of colors and classic high-centered, tapered buds. The flowers are large and bloom on long stems that make them unmatched for cutting. They are often repeat bloomers, producing flowers all summer and fall. Fragrance ranges from none at all to intensely fragrant, depending on the cultivar. Other types of roses, notably shrub roses, are excellent for cutting, as well.

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) - Reliable, and easy to grow and maintain, purple coneflower bears daisylike flowers in abundance from midsummer to the first fall frost on strong stems from 2 to 4 feet tall. The pink, white, or lavender blooms consist of drooping petals surrounding a raised golden brown cone; they're excellent for cutting and attract birds and butterflies to the garden.

Bearded iris (also called German iris) provides a striking vertical accent with its stiff sword-shaped leaves. Flower colors run the rainbow from deep burgundy red to pastel pinks and yellows, to every shade of blue and violet. Other types of iris, such as Siberian iris, are also good cut flowers.

An elegant flower, glads have tall spikes crowded with ruffled flowers that face the same direction and open from the bottom of the stem up. Because they are not hardy in the North, glads must be dug in the fall for replanting the following spring.

Often sweetly fragrant, the peony is a very long-lived plant that forms 2- to 4-foot-tall clumps in shrublike bunches. Its numerous varieties offer a wide range of colors, and blooming periods from late spring to early summer. They also come in several different shapes: single, double, Japanese (single with large yellow centers), and anemone (like the Japanese, with a powder-puff center).

Garden phlox grows 3 to 4 feet tall and bears large trusses of fragrant flowers from summer to early fall. It's an old-fashioned favorite that has few rivals for its color display and light, sweet fragrance. It's well suited to the back of the garden and cottage gardens.

Hostas are no-fail plants for adding bright color to shady gardens. Hanky Panky is a showy selection with green leaves that have narrow white borders outlined widely in bold chartreuse.

Three Sisters

2009-02-04T05:16:00.000-08:00

Plant Scarlet Runner Beans in the corn patch, one seed about every 4 corn plants, when the soil is warm. They climb the corn decorating the tops with bright red flowers. They only grow as tall as the corn in Wisconson, but I think they'll go a lot taller farther south.

They also fix nitrogen in the soil for the heavy corn and squash feeders, IF you inoculate your bean seed.

I read that you can eat the beans, but few people do, not the pods, just shell them. They're quite pretty.
emoticon

The Old Farmers Almanac - Gardening Zones

2009-02-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

... a hot dry summer

... and click on the map below - it looks like Toronto is in a 6 zone (now I know what Gayla is talking about) ... are we a 5, 5a, 6

my seed order from Cottage Gardner

2009-01-23T20:47:00.002-08:00

Ipomoea purpurea (Morning Glory - 'Grandpa Ott') Pkt - 100 seeds 1 2.50
Lathyrus odoratus (Sweet Pea - 'Black Knight'; Organic) Pkt - 20 seeds 1 2.50
Papaver rhoeas (Poppy - Field Poppy) Pkt - 250 seeds 1 2.50
Papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum (Poppy - Black Peony) Pkt - 250 seeds 1 2.50
Papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum (Poppy - Scarlet Peony) Pkt - 250 seeds 1 2.50
Papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum (Poppy - White Cloud) Pkt - 250 seeds 1 2.50
Basil, Genovese (Ocimum basilicum; Certified Organic) Pkt - 100 seeds 1 2.50
Golden Beet (Certified Organic) Pkt - 70 seeds 1 2.50
Charantais Melon (Organic) Pkt - 25 seeds 1 2.50
Charantais Melon (Organic) Pkt - 25 seeds 1 2.50
Collective Farm Woman Melon (Rare. Organic) Pkt - 25 seeds 1 2.50
Queen Anne's Pocket Melon (Rare. Organic) Pkt - 25 seeds 1 2.50
Sugar Snap Pea (Organic) Pkt - 80 seeds 1 2.50
Small Sugar Pumpkin (Certified Organic) Pkt - 15 seeds 1 2.50
Five-Colour Silverbeet Swiss Chard (Certified Organic) Pkt - 70 seeds 1 2.50
Principe Borghese (Cherry-type; Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds 1 2.50
Black Krim (Black/Purple: Endangered, Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds 1 2.50
Beefsteak (Red: Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds 1 2.50
Bloody Butcher (Red: Very Rare, Organic.) Pkt - 40 seeds 1 2.50
Sophie's Choice (Red: Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds 1 2.50
Green Zebra (Striped/Other Colours: Rare, Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds 1 2.50
Basil, Italian Large Leaf (Ocimum basilicum; Certified Organic) Pkt - 100 seeds 1 2.50
The Cottage Gardener's Specialty Beet Mix (Certified Organic) Pkt - 100 seeds 1 2.50
Savignac tomato (Red; Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds 1 2.50
Blanche du Quebec (White; Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds 1 2.50

SubTotal: $62.50PST: $5.40GST: $3.38Shipping: $5.00Total: $76.28

I got my 10-year gardening journal!!!

2009-01-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

WaWHOOOOoooOOoo..O.

I also have a Greenhouse Meeting tomorrow evening! It's all starting to happen again ... I also think I'm about to become a member of the Toronto Botanical Gardens - that's TBG for short!

Tomato Plant - to do

2009-01-08T12:00:00.001-08:00

I just saw a 'to do' on Martha Stewart (she was interviewing Jeff Gillman) who said you should put 4 egg shells in as you're planting tomatoes into the garden so they get calcium.

TO DO: Start saving eggshells (I want a zillion tomato plants this year - so that's 4 zillion eggshells). This reminds me I paid for a carton of eggs at The Big Carrot and somehow they didn't make it home ... maybe my brother grabbed one of my bags ... I think they'll have also gotten my gruyere then too because it's missing as well (stinky cheese - now that ought to freak everyone out) ... or it's fallen down somewhere under my car seats! Good thing its winter!

catalogue

2008-12-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

lindenbergR@lindenbergseeds.ca

packaging herbs (ala YGGayla's post today)

2008-12-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

I really like the unbleached tissue Gayla's used with twine to tie up gift packs of herbs ... in today's post, she mentioned creating fresh herb packages. I'm thinking the tissue is great for allowing the herbs to dry upside down ... then if there's enough paper to pull up & over them and insert into a plain baggie or even better - forget the plastic baggie AND forget pulling the tissue up & over ... if the whole bundle can just be set inside a tall mason jar with a 'perfectly-placed' sticker that's been hand-designed to act as a label and be seen through the jar - then surely it's a thing of beauty & a done deal!

For Mariah - HOW TO MAKE a Terrarium - by Gayla Trail (from YGG's site)

2008-12-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

If you want to make something like this easily and without gift-store/fancy-pants floral shop prices here’s what you do:

1. Get yourself a pretty glass bowl, fish bowl, candy bowl or terrarium. Department stores sell them in the pet section and so do thrift stores.

2. Line the bowl with approximately 2-3 inches of gravel. This can also be purchased cheaply in a pet store. Gravel is inexpensive when purchased from the pet department. Repackaged as floral gravel and the price is jacked sky high. Go figure.

3. Add about 2 inches of long fiber sphagnum moss to the bowl. Remove the small Nepenthes plant from it’s pot and plant into the sphagnum. Personally I am not a fan of pure sphagnum as the “soil” for this plant. The Nepenthes will certainly survive since the sphagnum provides a light and airy bed that doesn’t stay too damp just as Nepenthes’ roots require, however the sphagnum can dry out too easily if you don’t watch it like a hawk. Try the following instead:

Nepenthes Soil Mix

Mix together:
1 part long fiber sphagnum moss
1 part orchid bark mix
1 part regular peat or coir

Quick Nepenthes Growing Tips:

Two Tribes: Nepenthes are divided into two kinds: highland and lowland species. The plant in my terrarium is probably the most common variety, a highland species called Nepenthes ventricosa. Their name says a lot about where and how they grow with highlanders growing up in the mountains at a high elevations and lowlanders growing in hot, lowland tropical locations. As a result highlanders can withstand much lower temperatures as well as some fluctuations making them better suited to your average home or apartment. Lowlanders are better suited to greenhouses where conditions are very humid and stable.
Drainage: Unlike many other popular carnivorous plants Nepenthes are not bog growers. Instead, many types thrive in the tropics, growing epiphytically perched in trees much like many orchids. All of this means that they require lots of good drainage. A container with drainage holes is preferred so if you’re planning to go the terrarium bowl route than be sure to add lots of gravel and water carefully.
Water: Like all carnivorous plants you MUST use water low in dissolved mineral salts — your plant will die otherwise. Carnivores may seem tough as nails but they are a sensitive sort really — they’re sort of like the Jane Seymores of the plant world. Try collecting a little rain water now and again into a clean bowl and then funnel it into a bottle or jar for storage. If you’ve got a reverse osmosis filter at home you can use water from that otherwise you’re gonna be reduced to shelling out a few bucks now and again for special low-sodium or distilled bottled water.
Nepenthes do not like wet feet — let the water in the gravel dry out just a little before adding more.

Temperatures: Nepenthes are tropical plants. While the highlanders can tolerate some temperature dips they should be kept in the high 70s F with night time temperatures that drop slightly into the mid 50s F to low 60s F.
Light: Nepenthes generally prefer bright but diffused light.
Humidity: Your plant will require humidity in order to produce more pitchers. A glass bowl like mine will go a long way in keeping humidity levels up around the leaves. You can also spritz your plants once or twice daily with the same de-mineralized water used to water.

Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park

2008-12-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

I just joined The Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park.

The Cottage Gardener

2008-12-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

Marty gave me a copy of The Cottage Gardener when we bumped into each other in the grocery store ... I found a seed I think I'll try to get ... Queen Anne's Pocket Melon - Aka Plum Granny; Dudaim Melon ... (75-80 days). Victorian women carried them in their pockets for their perfume-like quality of the fragrance ... to cover the smell of stinky streets! They are 2.5 x 3-5" and have orange stripes and a bland taste. Rare Organic ~ $2.50 (25 seeds). I kind of like the idea of having people smell you and notice weird bumpy bits bouncing when you walk ...

Seeds of Diversity's website (www.seeds.ca) has the following info RE this year's Seedy Saturday in Toronto at the end of February:-

Seedy Saturday
(Barn #2)Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.
Saturday February 28, 2009 2-6

For more information please visit: www.tcgn.ca

http://seedswaps.com/

2008-12-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

from YGG
This & That Forum

aerogarden supplies have been sent

2008-12-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

I just got an e-mail saying my aerogarden bulbs & seeds have been shipped (guess I didn't have to pick the gourmet herb seeds at Canadian Tire afterall since I didn't actually get around to planting them before I left ... I did read the package after I picked it up and it suggested not letting the leaves grown under the caps to the point that they were crunched and the notes I had taken about last years planting said it took about 2 weeks for the last cap to come off - so all in all - some would have needed to be taken off during my 9 day stay in Florida.

sky full of bacon (chicago blog)

2008-12-11T23:39:00.000-08:00

click on title for video about eating things that grow in city sidewalk cracks, etc

Good blog on food and gardening too

Montreal Urban Gardening Site

2008-12-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

"Look inside our garden and see all of our innovative soil-less grower designs. The Rooftop Garden Project has developed many beautiful growers that are simple to use and build, and can be constructed entirely from recycled materials!"

LOOKS INTERESTING - Canadian and it's 'cold-climate' friendly!!!

public farm in Queens N.Y.

2008-12-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

http://www.greenhouses.com/julianaleanto.html

2008-12-11T23:16:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting for an activation e-mail at gardenbre@myway.com to become a member of a food forum in Chicago ... there's a link to gardening and I've just found this site that has a couple of tiny greenhouses (I think this one is about $298) ... there's a larger one that's taller but less deep for a little more

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/explore/mexico00/mex9.php

2008-12-11T22:08:00.001-08:00

I didn't know Gayla had a Oaxaca blurb on the YGG blog (here's a photo of a lime tree they saw on their trip)! I found it reading today's blog about the buddhas hand lemon - now there was something I never knew ... besides being an oddly complex-shaped beautiful lemon in existence - it has no fruit and is just rind - and is good for making candied rind, lemon cake and for use as a room deodorizer!

http://www.gardeners.com/Bubble-Rooting-Vase/21416,36-162,default,cp.html?SC=

2008-12-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

found some very beautiful little clear glass hanging water vases which let the plants get lots of light

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/grow/seedharvest_envelopes.php

2008-12-11T21:29:00.001-08:00

I found a new link on YGG today (click on website in title for more info)!!!

found-a froggie

2008-12-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

... now I have to figure out what to do with my new king froggie pants ... what part will it play in my garden (it looks like a garlic keeper but I don't think it is) ... is it a place to plant some herbs? ... something with a bunch of skinny stems that travel over the ground (hmm)

Believe it or not he was sitting on his side in a wooden crate with a pile of used terra cotta pots which I noticed on the sidewalk beside my car as I made my my way to the bank last Saturday ... lucky me ... he was the only thing left of the 'pile' when I returned to my car and I felt a little sorry so decided to bring him to a better home ... and don't think I have let that 'sourpuss expression' fool me - I know he's secretly very glad for his new kingdom.

Barrys seed catalogues

2008-12-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

www.veseys.co

aerogarden - seed starter kit

2008-11-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

I just ordered a few things for my aerogarden. I'm ready to start another set of gourmet herbs, a set of lights to have on hand when these burn out and the 70 seed starter kit.

I made a note a few months ago in my calendar to order their new seed starter kit at the end of November so I can try it out this Spring to see if it cuts down on space.

Here's what it says about it ...

"A fast, easy, clean and foolproof seed starter that allows gardeners to get a jump on the outdoor growing season. Start up to 70 seedlings indoors in an AeroGarden® with no dirt and no mess, then easily transplant them into the outdoor garden when weather allows. The specially designed tray uses biodegradable, nutrient-rich BioCell growing media and fits into any 7-pod AeroGarden to provide just the right amount of light, water and nutrients for fast germination and healthy root development. Seedlings are ready to transplant to outdoor gardens or containers in only 2 to 6 weeks. Includes nutrients for a full set of seedlings. Refill BioCells and nutrient tabs are available. "

greenhouse videos

2008-11-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd try to learn more about small plastic greenhouses. I have a hollow metal pole with plastic sheeting greenhouse stored in my garage that I am thinking of finally using this Spring to get a good start on the growing season. I am hoping to learn how to use the hothouse in Trinity Bellwoods - Marty said I could when I saw him last.

Here's some comments about the greenhouse for $250 at Walmart

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2216329

"I took the bedding plants out, and the next day discovered that some of them had died. The thin plastic does not retain heat at night, so while the greenhouse was beautifully warm during the day, it cooled off greatly at night. In coming days I would see seeds sprouting in the day's heat, and then dying at night. So I knew that I would not be able to use it for warm weather bedding plants, but could at least start the cool weather plants in it.

etc ...

Bottom line, if you live in an area that gets strong winds, I wouldn't recommend this. If you live in an area that gets down to 40 degrees or below at night, and you want to raise bedding plants through the winter, I would not recommend this. If you only want it to grow some plants in a calm area in moderate temperatures, it will probably be fine, but if you live with moderate temperatures you're probably able to plant right in the ground anyway, so you won't even need a greenhouse. I wish I could have had one of the glowing experiences in these reviews, but it was not to be. I just wanted to make sure prospective buyers were fully aware of the possible downfalls of this greenhouse. The blister on my finger lasted longer than the actual greenhouse did. "

another reviewer stated

"This greenhouse is HUGE! My porch plants will love it this winter. I was able to get a potting table/sink & supplies in it with plenty of room to spare for all my hot house plants and seedlings. I only wish I had this last winter!! It was very simple to put together and to move to where I wanted it. Thank you Wal-Mart for such an affordable greenhouse."

and

"This "canopy" is more than a greenhouse - and I think perhaps it is mistakenly marketed as a shelter for plants. I lost a number of tomato plants and other seedlings the other night when the temperature here in western New York dipped on May 27 into the mid-20s. I was disappointed that the "greenhouse" did not protect them from freezing. There is also no evidence (or claim) that this unit, unlike many others so advertised, blocks UV rays. However, it was surprisingly easy to set up, quite sturdy and very spacious for a $200 canopy/garden workshop. If my poor plants had not become frostbitten, I would give it 5 stars! "

and someone from Arkansas comments on double walling it ...

"I've purchased a King Canopy Greenhouse seven years and it has held up surprisingly. In all these years we have had strong winds and alot of rain, snow and hail. People have been admiring it and I told them exactly where to purchase.
I did buy a roll of clear thick plastic to cover over the roof because of condinsation forming inside. once I did that - wonderful results and a great retreat during the winter when there's snow everywhere else"

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=2216329

botanical drawing pressed flowers - herbiers

2008-11-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believemy lucky stars to have come across this on the french gardening site ... I've been trying to figure out how to combine drawing, calligraphy and gardening ...

french gardening website

2008-11-22T11:06:00.002-08:00

http://www.frenchgardening.com/item.html?pid=TASU13

I just found an amazing french gardening
website ... with gardening tools & ceramics!

See 'French Gardening Blog' doc

There are a gazillion more objects for sale!

Medieval rain jar
This ingenious watering jar is a handmade re-edition of a model dating from the Middle Ages. Made by a potter couple in southern Burgundy, this lovely object releases a gentle, rain-like stream over your potted plants. Plunge the jar into a bucket or basin of water and place your thumb over the opening in its handle on top ... remove your thumb and a gentle rain flows onto your plant. Simply delightful and a sure way to interest your children in watering the plants! A lovely garden ornament and always a conversation piece! Color is green.

green thoughts

2008-11-22T08:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest book I'm
reading - borrowed from the
Parkdale Hort Society library

... see gardenbre booklist

Green Thoughts, A Writer in the Garden (Eleanor Perenyi)

Urban Gardener (Elspeth Thompson)

Second Nature (Michael Pollan)

The 3000 Mile Garden (R.Phillips & L. Land)

victory gardens - saturday am tv

2008-11-22T08:37:00.002-08:00

Visit Victory Gardens site
(see below) then click on
'watch' and view a video!

www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/

Richters

2008-11-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

I just saw a piece on channel 4 on Richters about extending the life of basil by getting types that don't flower (ie, cuban basil) and using inexpensive under counter lighting ... http://www.richters.com/

www.etsy.com

2008-11-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

This image is from the living jewelry
line of rings Gayla wrote about awhile
back. It appears the website allows you
to buy and sell one-of-a-kind artwork!
What could be better than a necklace
that looks like there's a tuft of green hair
growing out of your chest ... love it! And
it's not like it's a nose ring or anything!
Tho' maybe I could sell the mug I made in
ceramics on this website - the one that
looks like a boar snout and almost oinks
when it's lifted up for a drink. Darn it ...
I think some of the whiskers are broken!
And it's more like something a sister gives a
brother as a gift ... so strike that off the Xmas
list (now just add 'crazy glue' and find whiskers)

Gayla's Garlic

2008-11-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

I just created a step-by-step document with photos and text from
Gayla's YGG posting today on 'how to' on planting garlic in early Fall
(www.yougrowgirl.com/thedirt/2008/11/20/no-garlic/#more-2030)

a garden again

2008-11-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

The allotment is shorn and put to rest - fast asleep under a shivery thin duvet of snow and I'm dreaming of a (no - not a white Xmas) but ... 'a garden again' ...

Tho' I will be gifting myself with a 10-year gardening journal from Lee Valley's to document useful information throughout the seasons that I've recorded on gardenbre, moleskin notebooks and scraps of paper. I joined the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale & Toronto last month to learn more and I've already attended two meetings. I am also beginning to wade through a pile of accumulated gardening catalogues, cookbooks and novels ... a journal will be useful!

Mark Cullen's All Seasons Gardener, Getting More from your Canadian Garden which I keep taking out from the Parkdale Library (and paying fines on) is the one I am trying to get through again at the moment. It has sections on each month. November from my POV seems to be 'cold turkey' month (puns intended) ... he refers to Autumn as the first season in the gardening calendar ... "I'll lay claim to that saying - but, please - just between you and me and these precious pages" <-- what does THAT mean ... am I this much of a newbie? I'm not sure he even knows what this means ... however, I've done as he's advised in the vegetable garden ... removed all plant material that has finished producing, as well as all weeds (well maybe I haven't removed ALL my weeds). I've had difficulty figuring out which weeds I want and which ones I don't ... I've discovered that one person's weed is anothers salad ... and so I've kind of gone a little 'Scarlett O'Hara' on this --- ie, ... "afterall 'tomorrow is another day! (sigh)" ...

I'll sign off with info on 'this garden is illegal's' blog list ... http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/other-gardening-blogs
and
YGG's blog list ... http://www.yougrowgirl.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7398