Friday, November 10, 2017

Freeze up

Hard frost last night.  More like a deep freeze actually.  -11 at 7am this morning, was below zero all night and all day/night tonight.

Milder weather coming up starting Sunday, but wondering how the chard and celery will fare after this. Also wonder if the carrots still in the ground will be ok.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Straw for the chard, celery, and garlic

Bought a bale of straw at Ritchie's for $11.

Spread a bunch of it around the chard and celery by the vertical bed, as well as some on the various garlic areas.

Some chard/celery is un-strawed; will compare how they survive with the strawed parts.

First frost

The tomato plants finally died within the last couple of days.  Until now they were still normal and healthy looking, but now the leaves have all withered and shrunk.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Planted more garlic

Planted more garlic.  ~4 in the overhang bed and a few in the carrot bed.  Left most of the ones that had already sprouted (used one of them in a recipe).

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

No first frost yet

For the record, no first frost yet, at least not in my backyard.  Has been a very warm fall, and forecast not looking like frost for at least another week.

Things that are still going strong

Wow, October 24th and so many things still to harvest in the garden.

Big tomatoes:  Several large tomatoes still on the plant, some ripening, some still green. No frost yet and probably not for another week at least, so will leave them on the plant for now.

Cherry tomatoes:  The plant I bought late-season and planted I think on July 22nd has done amazingly well.  Have harvested ~a dozen or so ripe ones so far, and there are tons of green ones as well as more ripening.  Will leave on plant until frost comes.  The Tiny Tim plant has been long dormant.

Chard:  Tons of huge leaves.  Haven't been doing much with them lately, all cooked out I guess, plus my basement freezer is already almost full.  Really should get back to eating all this healthy free food.

Celery:  Still quite a bit of celery left too.

Peas:  See other post.

Carrots:  Still a few sizable ones left, and quite a few immature ones that who knows, might get a chance to grow to good size yet.

Green onions:  The ones in the onion bed had a resurgence starting a few weeks ago, very handy.

Potatoes:  One little patch left that I haven't dug up yet, although with the pathetic harvest from what I've dug so far, not holding out hope that there's much in there.

Last beets

Harvested the last beets today.  Delicious steamed, with margarine and vinegar.  Will definitely grow them again next year.

Fall pea harvest

First fall peas harvested about a week ago, and a few more pods harvested every few days since then, which will probably continue for a another week at most.

Nowhere near as tasty or high yield as spring crop.  And, now many pods have a sickly look, something going on with their outside, but the peas inside are good.  Shame though to have to toss all those pod exteriors.

A year or two ago the fall peas were a great harvest.  Oh well!

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Uh oh, garlic has sprouted

Woops, must have planted too early, especially with this crazy warm fall we've had.

Might leave a few in anyway to see what they do, but this weekend will replant.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Freezing swiss chard

2 chard-freezing experiments on the go. 

1st experiment:  Cut into large pieces, blanched briefly, then soaked in ice water for a few minutes.  Then rolled into a few balls and froze in ziploc bag.

2nd experiment (did this one today):  No blanching.  Rinsed off the raw leaves, then let them dry off in the sun in the kitchen, flipping them half way through.  Cut out the stems, then chopped the leaves into quite small pieces, ~1/2" or so.  Froze.

Haven't yet tried unfreezing/cooking with them.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

One zucchini plant lost to the borer

The big zucchini plant near the air conditioner is gone.  Pulled it out today as it was clearly almost all dead.  Looked inside the rotted stems and sure enough, squash vine borer.

I guess the aluminum foil I had set down on the ground around the plant months ago didn't work!  Oh well, at least I tried it.

Next year, maybe I'll try garlic spray.

The other plant, although the stem also looks a bit rotty, has no sign yet of going downhill.  Well, zucchini growth/production has slowed somewhat, but one should be ready soon and the leaves still look normal and healthy.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Massive zucchini -- and, is the end near?

Woops -- a few zucchinis escaped my gaze until today, discovered 3 ginormous ones.  (2 on the a/c plant, 1 on the other.)

Also, the a/c plant in particular has suddenly started to look like its days are soon coming to an end.  It's become mostly floppy, some leaves dried up... So, I wonder if (a) letting those zukes grow to such huge proportions have shut down production, and/or (b) squash vine borer?

The plant near the compost doesn't look all flaily, with the exception of one "branch" which had rotted or something (borer?) near the joint, so I pulled that branch and so far the other part looks good, although production has slowed as well.

There are at least 2 more zukes well on the way; hopefully more too.

Lastly a note, I haven't hand-pollinated the zukes for quite a few weeks.  Apparently the bees and wasps are doing it for me now.

Poor sad little indoor sowlings

The kale, chard, and cabbage sowed indoors on June 18th have looked absolutely horrible inside.  Hard to believe they're 2 months old.  The chard looks healthy but extremely small / only a few leaves.  The cabbages look awful -- more than half dead, really.  The kale looks terrible as well, but maybe they have a chance.

So, transplanted them all out today, in room vacated by some more pulled up Brussels sprouts plants as well as some other little gaps here and there.  We'll see how they do.

Beet harvest

Harvested 3 beets today which had grown into a decent size, like small tennis balls.

Cooked them on the stove with some garlic and salt.  Not scrumptious, but certainly quite edible.

A few more beets remain.  Will let them keep growing as they're still small.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Transplanted fall peas (part 1)

Transplanted about half of the indoor-peat-pot-sown peas today.

The rest I'll give a few more days inside as they're a little shorter.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Sowed carrots

Sowed some fall carrots today.  Back in 2015 I sowed some on August 1st and they were a fantastic crop.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Cucumber harvest

Cucumber harvest has started, about 3 so far in the last few weeks.  The vines are fairly sparse at this point, but at least they are producing something.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Sowed the fall peas

Sowed the fall peas today.  No idea if it will work or not, but worth a try!  Sugar snap peas are one of the best, if not *the* best, garden crop IMHO!

Started them inside, in peat pots, same as the last round.  This time I tried some in a cheaper pot, just as deep but not segmented.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Cabbage woe

Alas!  I'd been thinking I should really harvest that one gorgeous cabbage head.  And then this morning after a day of solid rain, what did I find but it suddenly split right open!  A deep crevice, and with a bonus little green worm easily visibly within.  I decided Scooter would enjoy this one more than I would.

Cucumber harvest has begun... but measly so far

Finally harvested the first cucumber today.  There appears to be one more which should be ready within a week or so.  There have been lots of male and female flowers, but not many takers.  Tried handpollinating at first several weeks ago, but for some reason couldn't get any pollen from the males.  Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Brussels sprout -- first harvest!

Harvested 10 or so smallish Brussels sprouts.  Roasted them with oil, salt, and pepper.  Quite edible, actually.

However, the plant I harvested them from was so incredibly huge, that I decided to pull it after this harvest.  (Needed to make room for other stuff.)

Some of the other Brussels sprout plants are looking fairly promising, others not so much.

Changing of the guard -- a mid-season swap out

Today, I pulled:
- 2 cabbages (1 was horribly full of slug holes, the other was just not heading up at all, maybe due to being under the roof overhang although last year's cabbages loved it there)
- 2 Brussels sprouts (1 was just wayyyyyy too huge so I pulled it after harvesting what I could; the other just wasn't looking very promising)
- 2 or 3 celery (these ones didn't have any nice mature stalks)

And I planted these, bought from Canadian Tire, which although teeny, actually look nice and non-leggy:
- 3 or 4 itty bitty broccoli
- 3 or 4 itty bitty cauliflower
- 3 or 4 itty bitty cabbages

Peas almost all done

Pulled out 2/3 of the pea plants today, as their harvest had stopped and the vines were drying out.  The other 1/3 still have a few flowers/peas so I'll leave them a bit longer.

It was a pretty good pea harvest this year, after all that early season drama!  It's a mystery to me how I ended up with three types of peas when I thought they would all be sugar snaps.  Ended up with some snow peas, as well as some non-edible pod ones.

Soon will start a new batch indoors, in the hopes of a fall harvest!

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Carrot harvest -- disappointing flavour!

Have harvested a handful of carrots so far.  All of them have been... pretty blah.  In fact, almost even bleh, not suitable for eating raw.  Bitter, and a bit woody.  Probably ok for hiding in muffins or whatnot although I haven't tried that yet.  Scooter has enjoyed that as much as ever, and Lucy likes them too, but me, not so much.

Past years they've been delectable -- so sweet, juicy, crispy.

Oh well!

The carrot seeds I broadcasted a few weeks ago are coming along, looking good, though of course still very small.  They were MUCHHHHHHH easier to thin this way, compared to the thickly sown rows I had done with the spring plantings.  Maybe this batch will taste better!

Friday, July 14, 2017

Zucchini update

The crazy huge, multi-directional, world's biggest zucchini plant next to the air conditioner, has produced quite a few male and female flowers over the past few weeks.  Some of the fruit appears to have taken (hand pollinating new females as they come up), but geez are they ever slow to grow; none harvested yet.

The normal sized plant next to the compost bin is doing well, has produced 3 or 4 nice zucchinis so far.  Today however, I had to pull one whose end had softened -- hope it's not a sign of squash vine borer already -- noooooooooo!!!!

The one in the pot as an experiment -- well, good thing it was just an experiment.  It's puny, and has produced only a few males, no females other than maybe a few which self-aborted at the tiniest size.  The few males  have come in handy on occasion for some females on the other plants.

The good type of pea flop

A great pea harvest this year!  The plants had gotten so tall, 2-3 feet over the top of the support, and loaded with ripening pods, that they finally flopped over a few days ago.  Good thing, as I was wondering how I was going to reach those 8 foot high pods!

So yes, in the thick of the pea harvest now, although near the end as there aren't many flowers left except for on the snow pea vines.  (I have no idea how I ended up with snow peas though!)

Saturday, July 1, 2017

First zuke!

First zucchini harvested today!  Surprisingly it was from the smaller plant next to the compost bin.  That plant seems to have put everything into that one zucchini; all of the others are teency.

The other, huge plant by the air conditioner has some promising ones that I'm hoping have taken.  (I helped out along the way.) 

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Peas!!!!!

Yes, that's right!!!!  A pea harvest!!  After such a roller coaster ride, they're here, they're really here!

Lots on the way, but so far have harvested just a dozen or so, spread out over the past week, and shared with the dogs of course.  Most of the plants are well over the top of the frame now; I assume they will flop over at some point given the lack of support up there.

One pea plant died.  I noticed the leaves were dried up and it was wilted; checked the root, and I was able to pull it right out with hardly any effort.  Hope it's nothing contagious!

The peas I've had so far, while I won't dare complain, mostly weren't particularly sweet.  I wonder if I'm picking them a bit too soon.  The plumpest one was the sweetest one, so will try to be a bit more patient to see if that's the key.

Radishes, bleh!

The radishes sown on May 21st are mostly all harvestable now.  I tried one the other day and was promptly reminded why I don't grow, buy, or eat radishes!  So, these will go to my dad. 

Lettuce out; carrots in

Harvested the leftover lettuce tonight, will it up for falafels.  There was lots of it, and even though it didn't seem to have gone to seed yet, I hadn't eaten any in a long time.  I'm just not a lettuce person, I guess!

So, in went another round of carrots.  This time I broadcasted the seeds instead of putting them in little rows that needed major thinning and still resulted in gaps here and there.  I think this way will work better, with less thinning.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

They've sprouted already!

Wow, that didn't take long.  Quite a few of the cabbage, chard, and kale seeds sowed on Sunday are up already.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Fall crop indoor sowing: Cabbage, kale, chard

Cabbage:  Looks like the spring cabbage is starting to head up already.  Last year my cabbages took the whole season to head up, I assume because of groundhog-related delays.  This year, new fence, no groundhogs (knock on wood), so the cabbages have been doing their thing.  So, figured I'd try starting some seeds indoors now, in the hopes of having a new round of transplants to replace the spring ones once they're finished.  Wouldn't that be neat!  Sow, I mean so, today I sowed 5 pots, 2 seeds each (will thin to 1).

Kale and chard:  I've been enjoying excellent harvests so far, but I imagine they will soon go to seed.  So, like the cabbage, sowed new seeds today, to take the place of the old kale, chard, and choy as well.  11 small pots of chard and 6 small pots of kale, with 2-3 seeds each (will thin to 1).  Ended up not sowing more bok choy, seeing how much the slugs loved them.  That makes me wonder though, with no bok choy, maybe they'll be happy to go to town on the kale/chard -- oh well, hopefully there will be enough for us all to enjoy.

Didn't put them under a plastic dome, figured it's plenty hot and humid without that.

Zucchini update (usual early flops as in past years)

Quick zuke update:

The one by the air conditioner is growing great, the biggest one by far.  About a week ago there was a finger-sized zucchini whose flower opened, but I think it didn't get pollinated and I was a day too late, pollinating it by paintbrush after the flower had closed -- so, the end went hollow and I plucked it.  Another one, smaller, looks like the flower was going to open, but it didn't, then it went hollow and I plucked it.  No more imminent right now, but lots of males.

The one by the compost bin is coming along, but nothing imminent.

The experimental late sowing in the pot is by far the smallest, has some males.  Will be interesting to see if anything happens.

Monday, June 12, 2017

Chard and kale vs. Choi vs. baby choi

Ding ding ding!  There is a clear winner to this match-up, this year anyway.

Baby bok choi went to seed a few weeks ago after hardly any harvesting.

The other choi (which I could swear the package said was also a baby version but is pretty normal-looking in size) has not yet gone to seed, but the vast majority of the leaves are full of holes (slugs I believe).

And then, there's the chard!  The glorious, bountiful chard!  And the kale, too!  Wow.  Both are going strong with no sign of bolting yet, and the slugs have hardly touched them at all!

Lesson learned:  Probably won't try baby bok choi again.  Will probably grow regular bok choi again just for some variety, but will definitely grow swiss chard and kale again.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Hello yellows! (beans, that is)

Hallelujah, the yellow beans are finally emerging in their peat pots!  I had been starting to wonder.  So, perhaps there will be yellow beans, after all!

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Bean saga continued

So, the only beans that came up in the peat pots indoors were the lima beans!  Gak!  I dug around in the pot soil, and all of the yellow beans failed -- smooshy and no sign of life at all, except one lonely seed that seemed to have sprouted (which I then tried to re-sow, so hopefully it will survive).

I wonder if it's because I pre-soaked them and then put them into moist soil and the peat pots were all one up against the other so the soil remained very wet, and they rotted.  And for some reason the lima beans were ok with those condition, but the yellow ones were just not.

So!  Yellow beans round three tonight.  Two seeds per pot.  This time I did NOT presoak the seeds, and the jiffy pots are spread out so there's ventilation around their sides.  Oh, and I forgot to put inoculant.

Fingers crossed!!

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Bok choy bolting

The mini baby bok choy started going to seed a few days ago -- flower buds have begun to emerge.  The other kind is still good.

How timely -- came across this interesting article about bolting and some tips for way to deal with it.

http://www.creativevegetablegardener.com/bolting/

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

To bean or not to bean... Sigh!

Well, the beans are pretty much a complete deja-vu of the outdoor pea seeding situation:  The beans I sowed on May 20th are kaput.

Two of them showed themselves a few days ago, poking just out of the soil.  But today when I noticed they hadn't grown at all since then and were a sickly pale colour, I checked them out and sure enough both had been chopped.  So, I dug around to look for the rest, and -- no sign at all of any, except one which had germinated.

Sigh!

So, tonight I sowed round 2, inside in peat pots, just like I did with the peas.  Put 3-4 lima beans per pot (will thin) and 2 yellow wax beans per pot. 

Hopefully the beans will do as well as those indoor-sown peas are doing (they look great!)

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Harvest: Kale, chard, bok choi

Just like the title says.

For the kale, tried a new recipe.  Kale salad (i.e. chopped kale) with a great chickpea dressing.  So easy, and pretty good!  I omitted the suggested "potato croutons" out of laziness, but will try them sometime.

Used the chard and choi for my tofu / yellow pepper rice dish.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Zinnias

Decided next year's home-sown flowers will be zinnias.  No more petunias because they don't do much if anything for bees.  But zinnias seem to be a hit with bees from what Google tells me, plus I love the look of their daisy-like flower and their bright, bold colours.

Bought some today to fill in some holes in the vegetable garden and hopefully attract some bees.

A few zinnia bookmarks:

- I like the "Zahara bonfire" mix seeds in this page.

- 9 honeybee-friendly plants

- A general zinnia page

- Quick guide to zinnias

- https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/05/alys-fowler-zinnias-viburnums-pruning




Sunday, May 21, 2017

Harvest: Kale, chard, green onions

Woo!  Used some kale, chard, and green onions for a vegetable soup recipe. 

And wow, WHAT a different the multiplier onion sets are compared to the normal onions.  You get soooooo many more green onions!  Multiple little green onions per bulb instead of just one.

Carrot bed backfilling

Filled in the gaps from the original carrot/beet sowing.  (Only 3 or 4 beets germinated!  Gah!)

Mostly filled in with new carrots. 

On the north end of the bed, filled in with some radishes.  Not sure why, as I never eat radishes and don't really like them!  But they were in my seed collection, so... figured I'd just give it a try.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Busy day transplanting and sowing

Almost everything is in the ground now.

Yellow beans:  After 2 hours of soaking, sowed about 12 seeds under each tripod pole.  Put the plastic crow in the middle in the hopes it will deter whatever made a meal of so many of my pea seeds!

Peppers, cucumbers, zucchini:  All have been planted now, except the one "reserve" zucchini planted late which is still inside under lights.  I'm sure I should have kept especially the peppers inside longer until the weather really warms up, but...  Oh well, too late now!

Ground cherry:  Saw ground cherry seedlings at the garden store, never grew one before, so bought one to give it a try.  Sounds really neat -- I hope it works!

Petunias:  The original, now very leggy, petunias are now in planters in the yard.  (The later round will get planted out front soonish.)

Basil (green as well as purple), parsley, coriander:  Sowed these in planters, just for fun.  The coriander is from 2012 so no idea if it will take.

Wildflowers seed packet:  Sowed a packet in another of the planters, again just for fun to see what happens.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Peppers are out! As are the cukes, zukes, tuberous begonias and the rest of the petunias.

Set them out today to start hardening off.  Amazing weather this week, so warm.  I've set them behind the chair and other stuff so that they're mostly in the shade to start, but I'm throwing caution to the wind and leaving them out full time.  Will transplant in a week or two.

Oh and I transplanted both zucchinis into larger pots before setting out. They sure do grow fast.

The shelving unit inside is down to one lonely little shelf... with just one spare zucchini, and the pathetic looking columbines.  Oh and the one last tuberous begonia which is finally getting its itty bitty leaves on!

Tomatoes are in!

Planted the big tomato yesterday; planted the little tomato today.

A spare of each is still kicking around for a little while, just in case... then will go to my dad's.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Indoor updates

Not much left inside now.  Down to only two shelves.  Soon I will be suffering from empty nest syndrome.

Peppers:  All 10 plants look great!  Have started to form flower buds.  Hoping that's a good sign.Leaving them there, not pinching them.

Tuberous begonias:  The 3 early takers look great!  Not flowering yet, but great looking plants.  Big news:  a fourth has taken!!  Expecting full on leaflets any day now.

Petunias:  Looking good, although part of them became pretty leggy I think because of a less than ideal lighting setup when I was short on space.

Columbines:  So pathetic compared to the petunias!

Cucumbers:  Looking good.

Zucchini:  The first 2 starts look great.  A week or so ago I started a few more seeds, just in case.  2 of them have sprouted.

Outdoor updates

Beets:  Of first two sowings, only 1 sprouted!!!  Sowed 2 more rows.

Carrots:  sowed more, all the way to the lettuce.  Carrot bed now full, other than some un-sprouted gaps to fill in.

Spinach:  FLOP!  Not one of the seeds sprouted.  Oh well.

Celery, bok choy, and rest of swiss chard:  Transplanted after about a week of living outside full time.

Bok choy seeds:  Just for fun, tossed some seeds in the defunct spinach bed.  Curious how outdoor-sown will compare to indoor-sown.

Lettuce:  Coming along.  Still way too tiny to harvest any yet.

Petunias from round one:  Living outside full time.  Will transplant soon.

Onions:  The ones I started from seed are coming along, some more quickly than others.  The multiplying onion bulbs though -- wow!  Love them!  Wayyyy more productive than "normal" onions that only send up one green thing.

Tomatoes -- big:  Living outside full time.  Will transplant 1 soon and keep the other as backup/give-away.

Tomatoes -- small:  Started hardening off today.

Peas:  Transplanted the rest of the indoor starts.  And, put plastic crow to guard the outdoor starts of which there are some new ones to the scene.  Crow seems to be working -- nothing nibbling on them since I put it out!  Knock on wood but it looks like I may get some actual peas this spring!

Cabbage / Brussels sprouts / kale / chard (which were transplanted several weeks ago):  Looking ok, haven't lost any, although not thriving, maybe due to the very cloudy and cool weather we've had.  The best one is the cabbage in the tiny "bed" near the patio door -- it looks great.



Grass:  Seeded half of the bare areas 1 or 2 weeks ago.  Seeded the more south spots today.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Please oh please, may I have som peas?

Man, these peas are sooooo troublesome!

Since my last pea update:

- The original outdoor planted seeds, the few that are still around, are so short and scrawny.  It's like they're the "tiny tim" of the pea world.  They just seem stunted and not growing well at all. 

- The second round of outdoor planted seeds:  Not much sign from them yet.

- The first round of indoor planted seeds (planted in toilet paper tubes):  Only those first ~8 peas took and were all transplanted a few weeks ago.  ~6 of them are still going, much taller than the out-door sowed ones.

- I then sowed a second round in indoor seeds a week or two ago, this time in 3"x3" peat pots, two seeds in each pot, one of which then had a toilet paper tube poked around it (for protection against nibblers once they go outside).  Didn't put these under any plastic greenhouse or bag, in the hopes of avoiding the moldy white stuff that overtook most of the first indoor seeds.  Better germination rate from these for sure.  However, the moldy white stuff still eventually became a factor which I think prevented the late bloomers from blooming, so only about 2/3 success with this round.  I'm hoping the moldy stuff can be avoided next year by not using paper tubes at all.   Lesson learned:  Next time (such as for the fall crop!), start peas indoors again, but this time try just peat pots, no paper tubes and no plastic covering. 

- Today I transplanted most of the second round of indoor peas outside (by just setting the peat pot into the soil to avoid disturbing the roots)-- no hardening off as there's no time, they're getting too tall now for the lights and I'm hoping being frost-hardy and with minimal root disturbance they'll be ok with just being put out suddenly like this. 

- There are a few more of the second round of indoor peas, inside -- will give them another day or two to grow so that they hopefully won't succumb to whatever is tending to eat my outdoor-sown peas.

So, at this point, I am hopeful that I will get some peas yet!

Fingers crossed!

Indoor plants -- various updates

Woops -- haven't posted in a while!

Here are some updates.

- Petunias:  The original petunias sowed on February 18th finally went tall and leggy... started them about 3 weeks too early, I'd say.  The petunias that I started on April 8th are looking good, nowhere near flowering yet but I think the timing will be good for setting out late May.  Lesson learned:  Don't start petunias as early as February 18th!  I think mid-March would be the best time to start petunias.

- Tomatoes:  I've started hardening off the two big ones, if for no other reason than they're just too tall to put under lights anymore!  Lesson learned:  March 18th is a little too early to start big tomatoes!  The little tomatoes are looking good and fit in well under the lights, being the same size as the pepper plants; pinched off a few more flowers to encourage more busy growth.

- Peppers:  Looking great!  They continue to be safe and warm inside, with the only "hardening off" being the oscillating fan a few hours every day

- Bok choy, celery, and the rest of the chard:  Started hardening these off as well about a week ago, just because I needed more room under the lights for my peas.  See separate post about the peas.

- Tuberous begonias:  Wow!  The three that "took" have really taken off!  The foliage  look great.  The other three, one of them looks like it's trying to start having leaves -- I see those little pink nubbins, but they've been there a while with no more action yet.

- Cucumber:  Wow, I think 100% germination rate.  They're looking good. 

- Zucchini:  Hmmm, only 1 of the 3 pots germinated, although both seeds took.  So, I transplanted the smaller one into its own pot.  Started another set of seeds earlier this week but no sign of anything yet.


Monday, April 24, 2017

Transplants in.

Transplanted the other kale, chard, and two Brussels sprouts that had been sitting outside in their pots the last week and a half. 

Déjà peas

Feels like last year all over again, sigh! Dug around gently in the pea bed around the emerging seedlings... sure enough it appears there are large gaps of nothing where I had once planted pea seeds.

So, today I filled in the gaps with whatever pea seeds I had left, no pre-soaking, no inoculant.

Also transplanted three more of the indoor peas which had germinated and were a few inches tall. Not sure if any of the others will appear later... I sure hope so or else it looks like, once again, a bummer of a pea crop!

One problem with the indoor peas is there seems to be some mold from those decomposing toilet paper tubes.  But I must say, they have held their integrity very well for the purpose of transplanting the pealings -- not falling apart or anything.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Potatoes planted

Planted the potatoes today.  8 potato pieces, all "Chieftain" which the store calls a mid-season variety.

This year I did something different:  After cutting them into chunks, I let them sit on the counter for a day.  I read something on some gardening page that recommends doing this, because it allows the cut surface to scar up and be resistant to rot or something.

Transplanted some of the indoor peas

Well, decision made, I transplanted the indoor peas that have sprouted into the second pea bed.  Fingers crossed!

Oh and wow are their roots every long!  Never seen anything like that in my other transplants!

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Tomatoes: repotted, and, flowers already

The big tomatoes looked desperate to be repotted, so I did that today, and figured may as well repot the tinies too.  Oh, and yes, no doubt now about which is which!  Also noticed that the tinies were both starting to flower, which Google tells me is way too early and that I should cut off the flower stems to encourage more leaf growth, so I did that.

Before repotting:

Tomatoes before repotting

After repotting:

Tomatoes repotted

To pea, or not to pea

Removed the plastic from the outdoor peas. Germination is not looking great so far... some are sprouting, but most haven't yet. But, it will be hot and sunny this week so don't want to risk cooking them under the plastic.

And then there are the indoor peas, my "plan B". Again, some have sprouted, but most haven't yet. There is a funky smell from those paper tubes.

I'm not 100% sure what the pea plan will be. If the outdoor peas all/mostly come through for me, awesome! I wouldn't really need the indoor ones. But, then, the indoor ones that have sprouted will need to go out very soon, given how fast they're growing. So, there's no luxury of waiting a few more weeks to see what the outdoor ones will do before I decide what to do.

So, I think I've decided I'll just go with it and plant the indoor ones on their own vertical structure. I set it all up today, prepped the beds, put the posts in. All that's needed will be to drill a couple of holes in a pvc bar, attach it, and add some netting. The indoor peas will go in the mocked up space between the two structures in the photo. Outdoor peas are under the one on the left, and cukes will go in the one on the right.

I would love for ALL the peas to succeed. One thing you will never hear me complain about will be too many sugar snap peas!

Vertical area is all set

The outdoor peas -- not much to look at yet! A few itty bitty sproutlings are hiding in the photo.

To pea or not to pea...

Outdoor sowings and transplantings

Transplanted most of the cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, and chard today. They should be well hardened off by now, having been living outside full time since last weekend. Trying some cutworm defence, in the form of paper cups and/or a fort of pencil crayons. For the paper cups, I found it worked a lot better to use two for each plant rather than try to squish one cup around the plant.  Still have a few to decide where they're going to, then get them in the ground.  There are also a few wimpy cabbages inside that haven't thrived.  I tossed two and sure enough, itty bitty root systems.  The bigger I'm giving a chance.

Cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, and chard transplanted

Another view of the cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, and chard

A few more cabbages and brussels sprouts

Cabbage


Not transplanted yet:
Haven't transplanted these yet

Sowed more carrots, up to the midway point of the hydro meter, and removed the plastic cage from the already-planted carrots.  No more plastic cages in the garden now.

Finally, sowed all three kinds of lettuce that came in my awesome seed collection.  I wasn't going to grow lettuce this year, because I couldn't think of what to use lettuce for other than salads, and I'm not big on salads without ample mega high fat dressing.  But!  Then I remembered my falafel sandwiches. So, in went the lettuce today, just to be used at the young stage for my falafels... and maybe some tofu tacos too. The lettuce went in the last part of the carrot bed, so once the lettuce is done I'll probably replace them with more carrots.

Sowed cukes and zukes

Sowed these today -- the last of the indoor sowings.

Cukes:  5 pots, each with 2 seeds

Zukes:  3 pots, each with 2 seeds

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Monday, April 17, 2017

A special apPEArance

The outdoor peas are starting to appear.  There is hope!  For now I'll keep them under the plastic dome.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Hardening off update

Well it's official, my group of hardies is now living outside full time.  Still in their pots though, except for the one kale and the onions that I planted yesterday.

Last night was their first overnight outside.  Today I had to head out while it was raining and the forecast called for possible heavy rain, so now they're under plastic to protect them. 

Will transplant the rest of them soon.

Peas inside

Alright, so, I've seen some of my outdoor pea seeds stealthily stolen already. So, in the hopes of avoiding another year of major pea disappointment, I decided to start a round of peas inside, using the toilet paper roll method which is new to me.

Put 2 seeds in each toilet paper roll, will thin to one.  The seeds were presoaked overnight, then I added some inoculant.  A few of the rolls I cut and folded to make a floor, but the rest I said to heck with it and will just handle them carefully when it's time to set them out. I'm curious to see how the paper rolls hold up until set-out time...

Of course I forgot to take the photo before sealing them up in plastic -- oh well!

Peas

Petunias

I'm truly flabbergasted at how easy these have been to grow!  So simple and undemanding.  They look as good as, if not better than, the petunias I've seen at the stores!

Petunias!!

Friday, April 14, 2017

Potato harvest!

First potatoes of the year! ;)   Found two big and two small potatoes in the ground while prepping this year's bed.  Forgot to take a photo before turning them into baked potatoes and gobbling them up!

First transplants in! (onions, and one kale) And, more carrot, beet, and spinach seeds.

I've had the same group of hardy seedlings out in the yard a fair bit this week (cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, onions, and chard).  Thinking it will be time to get them all in the ground soon, very soon!  Today got a start by putting in the medium kale, as well as all of the onions.

Kale transplanted

Onions transplanted
Tomorrow I'll buy some paper cups to use as cutworm collars and hopefully get the rest of the hardy plants in the ground this weekend.

Today I also planted one more row of beets and 2 or 3 more rows of carrots.  This time I used the sifter to sift a fine layer of soil on top, just because!  Also planted more spinach.

Petunias round 2 have sprouted!

So tiny and cute, those itty bitty sprouts.

However, no sign of the columbines yet.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Well, hello there

Having a lousy day, but seeing this brought a brief smile to my face.

Hello, petunia!

Sunday, April 9, 2017

It's alive! Busy day in the backyard.

(Oh and the "it" in the title of this blog post clearly doesn't refer to my grass! Tee hee!)

Couldn't resist the fantastic weather to spend most of the day in the yard, my first gardening day of the year. Here's the yard after today's activities -- small yard, even smaller gardening area, but amazing how much can grow here!

Today's sowings


- Sowed 1 row of beets and 2 or 3 rows of carrots, under plastic dome

Beets and carrots

Beets and carrots under dome



- Sowed peas!  Yes that's right, I decided to sow them outside again and take my chances.  Last year's pea seeds were a big failure.  They either rotted, met their end via cutworms, or were plucked out by birds or whatnot.  I suspect all three of those were a factor, no idea why as I had no problems with peas when I last grew them a few years ago.  So, all year I've been saving my toilet paper rolls with the thought of starting them inside this year.  Well, today I decided to get them a shot outside.  Differences over last year:  (1) in a different bed, (2) under plastic cover.  Here's hoping they succeed.  I sure do love sugar snap peas, such a delectable garden treat!

Peas

Peas



- Sowed spinach, under plastic dome made with garden fence supports

Spinach under plastic


- Planted some multiplier onion bulbs (the ones I planted on February 23rd don't seem to have done much)

Onion bed



- Set out the kale, onions, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and chard (the older plants, not the younger ones) to harden off for a few hours, their first time outside -- although, it was such a nice day I'm not sure how "hard" that was for them!

Hardening off


Charlie the cat enjoyed some good sun time.

Charlie


It occurred to me that I'm in the process of hardening off not only my veggie plants, but also my little dog who's coming off 8 weeks of cage rest due to a disc issue with his back.  Both the plants and Scooter need to ease themselves into life in the real world!


Scooter


Charlie had no qualms with Scooter being confined while he was free to roam :D

Charlie and Scooter

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Soil warmers

Picked up a roll of wire, a plastic paint drop-sheet, and some clothespins to get some soil warming underway.  Tent pegs secure the wire to the ground, and hopefully the wind won't wreak too much havoc with the plastic covers.

 I figure these domes can later serve a second purpose, offering some protection for some of my transplants once that time comes.

Spot 1:  Half of the carrot bed.
Soil warmer 1

Spot 2:  Here's where I'll put the first of the Brussels, cabbage, kale, and chard transplants.

Soil warmer 2

Let the hardening off games begin

Today set up the oscillating fan.  I never did this in past years, but figure why not give these plants the best chance at making it out there in the real world.

The fan seems to affect only one shelf, so I aimed it at the middle shelf which houses most of the more mature plants which are also the cold weather ones that will be going out within a few weeks per my schedule info -- yikes!  I've plugged the fan into a timer, will start with a few hours on, a few hours off.

Today I also rearranged everything into how it is in the photo, with the tallest plants on the same shelf so that the lights can be set up optimally.  Amazingly, I didn't snap any stems in the process!  (that I know of, anyway!)

Insert witty plant fan quote here

Sowed more petunias, and, some columbines

With how good those February-sowed petunias are looking, I was thinking, wouldn't it be cool to not buy any flowers this year because I'm using my own flower seedlings?  (Ok, perennials are the obvious answer here, but oh well.)


So, today I sowed another tray of the same petunias, as well as a tray of a veined variety that I couldn't resist buying at the store yesterday.


I also sowed a tray of several-year-old columbines that I found in my seed jar.  I didn't have any success growing those outside when I tried a few years ago, but why not give them a try inside to use up the rest of the seeds.


And yes, I'm starting to freak out just a little that I may end up running out of room under the lights!  Hence getting the fan going today, and some outside soil-warmers to get things ready for the first outside transplantings soon.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Petunia!

Can it be? Can it really, really be! A flower on one of my petunias!

Petunia!

And more on the way. Wow. Petunias have got to be the easiest thing to grow from seed. I love how there seems to be zero potential for legginess compared to the oodles of veggies where that can be an issue. Nice and stout!

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Seedling update

I think the accidentally unlabelled tomatoes have made it clear which two are the Tiny Tims and which two are the beefsteak!

Tomatoes

Very happy with some of the older Brussels, kale, chard, and onions -- they look great.

Happy brussels

Generally, the other things are coming along too:

Coming along

However, the cabbages aren't looking too great in general.  Seems some are just failing to thrive... but maybe they will rally.  Worse comes to worse, off to the garden store I will go for some good healthy transplants.  Loved harvesting the cabbage last year, hope to do it again this year one way or the other!

April 2nd sowing: Round two of bok choy, and, a couple more swiss chard

Round 2 of baby bok choy sowed.  3 joined-pots plus 1 singleton pot, 2 seeds each.  This time, I added in some left over vermiculite as I find the Go Pro mix dries up fast and hard.  Will see if the vermiculite makes a difference.

Also filled in a couple of gaps in the swiss chard.

Oh!  And, transplanted some of the older bok choys into their own pots.  Will see if they survive or not...

Begonia leaf!

Check it out!  Looks like a real honest to goodness actual begonia leaf is starting to form from one of the little nubbins!  Bummer it's one of the white plants -- give me some colour darn it!

Tuberous begonia leaf!

Another view!  (Maybe I'll get a proper macro lens for my SLR sometime!  Flower mode on cheapie point and shoot not great!)

Tuberous begonia leaf!


One of the colour plants also has a little nubbin (though not a leaf yet) -- so there is still hope for some begonia bonanza in the garden this year.

Fun to have little experiments like this that really don't matter whether they succeed or fail. (Woops, spoken like a true human... of course it matters to the plant!)

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Peppers!

All is not lost! Overnight, 4 of the 5 round 1 peppers appeared!  That's 13 days from sowing to sprout.


Woo!



Peppers! [Edited on 2 April to add that the 5th pepper has also since appeared!]

Sunday, March 26, 2017

March 26th sowing: Baby bok choy; round 2 of peppers and celery; round 3 of swiss chard

Baby bok choy sowed.  4 joined-pots, 2 or 3 seeds each.

And, round 2 for these:Peppers:  5 pots, 2 seeds each.
  • Celery:  3 pots, many sprinkled seeds.

And, round 3 for this:
  • Swiss chard:  4 joined-pots, one unsoaked seed each.

Photo update on some the older seedlings

Petunias -- looking amazing!  So healthy!
Petunias



Brussels sprouts
Brussels sprout



Kale
Kale



Cabbage -- sadly looking yellow whereas a few days ago it looked very healthy
Cabbage


Swiss chard
Swiss chard



Onion
Onions


Tuberous begonia
No photo because nothing to show!  I think my tuberous begonias will be a big tuberous flop!

Woopsie -- Farewell to a cabbage and a brussels sprout

Two flops this week:

(1) In separating out a cabbage pot that had two plants, taking one out into its own -- the removed one is doing great, but the other one died.  I guess I disturbed the roots too much.  I've done similar dividings in recent weeks and that's the only one I've lost so far.

(2) In moving plants from one shelf to another, I broke the stem of a Brussels sprout.  D'oh! 

March 18th sowing update: Slow peppers and celery

All of the tomatoes and swiss chard germinated several days ago, no problem.

However, the peppers and celery are nowhere to be seen.  Might be too cool for the peppers?  A factor may be that for this sowing, I had placed the dome on a higher shelf which doesn't get much sun to assist in heating up the mini greenhouse.

Will sow some more peppers and celery today, with the dome on a lower, sunnier shelf.  If they don't work, I'll buy plants this year, and next year consider picking up a seed heating mat.

Oh!  And somewhere along the lines I took the tag out of my tomatoes, so now I don't know which is the Tiny Tim and which is the Beefsteak!  D'oh!  I'm hoping it's as easy as the shorter ones being the Tiny Tim, but don't know for sure.

Tomatoes -- which is which?

Saturday, March 18, 2017

March 18th sowing: Celery, tomatoes big and small, peppers, and round 2 of swiss chard

Things are hopping in the garden room these days!

Today, sowed the following:

  • Peppers (sweet):  5 pots, 2 seeds each
  • Celery:  3 pots, sprinkling of seeds since they're so tiny, hard to handle -- will thin later
  • Tomato - Tiny Tim:  1 small pot, 3 seeds (will transplant to bigger pot later so can plant it deeper at same time)
  • Tomato - big:  ditto
And, planted round 2 of swiss chard (3 joined-pots, 1 or 2 seeds each (can't remember)).

Before putting the new sowings under a dome:
March 18th 2017

Friday, March 17, 2017

The flops so far

Almost everything from all plantings so far have sprouted.  I am impressed!

The few exceptions: 

  • 1 cabbage from round 1:  nothing seems to be happening, but will give it a little while longer.
  • tuberous begonias:  So woeful.  2 of them have little pink sprouts so I removed them from the dome and put them under lights.  Will try to keep them well watered in the hopes of keeping the sprouts from shriveling up like their predecessor.  One has a faintly hairy root showing which I hope means signs of some kind of activity.  The others -- no signs of anything yet.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Gentle watering thingie

How cute is this.  A bag of four at Lee Valley for just under $8.  Works perfectly with an old pop bottle, providing a nice gentle watering for tender newly sprouted plants.

Seedling waterer

Saturday, March 11, 2017

March 11th sowing: Swiss chard, and, round 2 of Brussels, cabbage, kale, & onions

Swiss chard sowed today.  8 joined-pots, 2 seeds each which were pre-soaked for a few hours.


And, round 2 for these:
  • Brussels sprouts:  3 pots, 2 seeds each
  • Cabbage:  3 pots, 3 seeds each in case the March 4th sowing has germination issues
  • Kale:  1 pot, 3 seeds each in case the March 4th sowing has germination issues
  • Onions:  1 pot, 4 seeds

More sproutlings have appeared: Update on March 4th sowing and petunias

Spring is springing inside, despite the -20 degrees outside!  Here they are, under my brand new T5 full spectrum lights from Lee Valley.  Raised the lights up for photo-taking purposes -- will keep them nice and low.

March 11th status of March 4th sowing


Update on March 4th sowing:
  • Brussels sprouts:  3 of 3 pots have sprouted, both seeds in each as noted a few days ago.  (wow, 100% germination rate!  A+ for Brussels sprouts!)
Brussels sprouts

  • Cabbage:  2 of 4 pots have sprouted, but only 1 seed in each (planted 2 each).  (seen in upper left of above photo)


  • Onion:  1 of 1 pot has sprouted, 4 seeds (planted 4 or 6, can't remember).

Onions

  • Kale:  1 of 1 pot hasn't sprouted yet.


  • Petunias, sown on February 18th, are looking good. Thinned them to 1 per pot.
Petunias

Friday, March 10, 2017

Begonia woe

Oh no!  The pink little nubbin on that one begonia seems to have dried up and shriveled.  Maybe I shouldn't have put it under the light?  Watered it more?  Watered it less? 

No sign of life from the other tubers yet, either. 

Ah well.  We'll see what happens next.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Begonia has be-gotten some growth!

Ooooh, I was beginning to wonder if my tuberous begonias, planted inside almost three weeks ago, were going to wake up.  Lo and behold, one of them shot up a teensy little pink growth nub thing.  So, there is hope yet!

The Brussels sprouts have sprouted!

Well what do you know, overnight all six of my Brussels sprouts seeds suddenly appeared!  They caught me off guard with their pale green/yellowish colour. Hopefully this is normal for this type of plant – never grew these from seed before and don’t remember other seedlings looking like that.  Regardless, very exciting – and, that’s only 6 days from sow to sprout.  Impressive little things!

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Seeds started: cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, & onions

Started the first batch of cabbage (Golden Acre), kale (Premier Forage), Brussels sprout (Catskill), and onion (Evergreen Bunching) seeds today, all of which are from the Open Seed Vault set -- here's hoping they'll germinate!   Put 2 seeds in each pot, with the hopes that at least one will do well (the other will be removed). Will start a second batch of them all in a week or two, to try to spread out the harvest a little.  (Well, that's assuming they make it to harvest!)

Cabbage, kale, Brussells sprouts, and onions

Cabbage, kale, Brussells sprouts, and onions

Cabbage, kale, Brussells sprouts, and onions