Posts Tagged ‘gardening’

Growing your own food is good for your body and soul

I was not proud to be a Torontonian on Friday after reading in The Toronto Star that the city of Toronto is forcing an urban family to tear up the vegetable garden they've lovingly grown in their front yard because it encroaches - slightly - on city property. The real kicker is that the city would allow the family to grow sod and some flowers, but for some reason vegetables are a no-no.

Isn't it bizarre, even with all the buzz around urban framing, that Toronto is discouraging people from growing their own food? It's pretty sad that grass is the only thing that constitutes a garden around here. Has the Food Not Lawns movement taught us nothing?

What do you think about this decision? Have you made a garden out of your yard space?

It's totally worth it. Especially if they're ready just in time for a Thanksgiving feast.

Num num. Nothing tastes as good as homegrown spuds.

Yeah, that's right, I grew those myself. (Not pictured: More lettuce, more kale, more cucumbers.)

Can you believe all those vegetables? I still can't and I harvested all of those myself last night. We're now up to our noses in cucumber, lettuce and kale, but you're not going to hear me complain. It's safe to say I'm getting my five to 10 a day right now.

I'm still a little nervous about my peppers. Though a lot are growing, I'm not sure how long I leave them on the plant before they turn their proper colour (I really need to see what a chocolate pepper looks like!), any ideas?

And you should see my tomato plants - they've exploded. I think they're all up to my chest now and totally overtaking everything else. I can't even find my basil. I now realize why you're supposed to pinch off the suckers. This weekend's major project will be cutting back tomato branches. It's tough love, but someone's gotta do it!

What part of your garden are you most proud of?

Check out See to Supper for in-season gardening and cooking tips from Canadian Gardening and Canadian Living.

This past Sunday Kipp and I experienced a great deal of excitement because we pulled our first harvest from our garden. We were so giddy walking home with about two dozen radishes and a bunch of baby lettuce and kale. And, as you'd expect, we had a tasty salad for dinner. How rewarding! Now I truly cannot wait until all our other veggies start coming up. So far, I'm truly digging this whole gardening thing.

Next time I might try this Yogurt Dill Dip with Carrots and Radishes.

Have you pulled anything from your garden yet?

Homegrown radishes sure make a salad extra tasty !

Is it just me, or does everyone feel super protective of their baby seedlings? I'm forever huddling over them like an over-bearing mother, begging them to get strong and grow. I'm continuously asking them if they need more water, more light, more room ... And you know what the problem is? They don't answer me. Ever! What if they don't flourish and I have nothing to plant in my plot come May?

My little cucumbers worry me the most. They're so lengthy and viny already! I hope they aren't begging me for more room.

My little Brookpact tomatoes are doing fairly well, too.

My partner and I are going away for two weeks and I'm leaving them with his mom. Though she's an old hand at gardening, I'm still worried about them in my absence.  I bet I'll come back to the healthiest looking seedlings ever.

Now, I have a few questions for you:

1.) Do you worry about your seedlings?

2.) When should I start introducing my little babies to the great outdoors?

3.) Are peppers hard to grow? I've planted about a dozen seeds and only have two wee plants growing. Are they just slow pokes?

We got some new pets! Well, they're not exactly your run-of-the-mill furry, four-legged friends. They're squirmy, slimy and wiggly, but these somewhat unappealing little guys produce something called black gold that gardeners rave about.

I first read about vermicomposting in Gayla Trail's wonderful book You Grow Girl. Vermicompost is a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer, and to get loads of your very own all you have to do is care for a type of worm called red wiggler, by creating a hospitable environment for them. Caring for and feeding your little wiggly friends properly will have you with plenty of nutrient-filled worm castings (manure) that you're plants will love in a few months.

What you need:
• 1 newspaper

• 1 medium bin

• Drill and 1/4" drill bit (to drill air holes in the top and bottom of your bin)

• Spray bottle for water

• 1lb. worms (red wigglers)

• Bravery (if you don't really like worms)

In this photo you see:
• Fred
• Liz
• Norm
• Jimmy
• Wellington
• Ellie
• Tim

• May

• Kipp (he's not a pet, though)

Making our worms at home

For the worms to get used to their new home, you must add shredded newspaper and moisten this bed with a good spray of water. Once the worms finish reading their daily, they will eat it up and turn out castings.

There's a fine balance between too little and too much water, though. When you see your little guys slowly making their way toward the air holes at the top of your bin, you know you need to either moisten their home or leave the lid off to dry it out a bit.

Time for a feeding

In a couple of days your worms will be nice a settled in their new home and ready for a feeding. Worms eat vegetable and fruit scraps (there are some restrictions to what they eat, so it's important to do some research before feeding them) and enjoy a small amount of coffee grinds every once in a while. They're apparently quite picky with the size of their food, so I chopped up everything quite finely. When feeding worms, you're supposed to bury their food under the newspaper in one corner of the bin (worms don't like light) and then a few days later, bury another cup of food in the next corner of the bin. Just keep repeating ... eventually (we hope soon!) we'll see lots of that black gold and we'll be able to add it to our seedlings and transplants.

Hey! Get back here you.

When we opened up the bin to feed our little wormy worms we saw that trouble-maker Fred was trying to escape. By giving the paper a feel, we (oh, who am I kidding? I made Kipp do this. I'm still a little, um, shy around our new pets ... but I'm getting better) determined their home was too damp. To fix this problem we just propped open the lid for a few hours to dry out the bin, which seemed to do the trick.

I'm very excited about this whole project!

Before you start your own vermicomposter, visit Gayla Trail's website You Grow Girl - she'll tell you exactly what you need to do to set up and maintain your very own wormy home. It's a fairly cheap investment for (hopefully) many years worth of black gold!

For great info on gardening, check out www.canadiangardening.com.

Do you vermicompost? Plan on it? Any tips and tricks you'd like to share?

I'd like to congratulate ... (more...)

I'm sure you've all been thinking about gearing your garden up for spring. You're all ordering your seeds, stockpiling used yogurt containers for starting your seedlings and dreaming of fresh produce. I have a great giveaway for the gardeners of the bunch - A Garant Enviro planter (an environmentally friendly planter made of renewable resources like bamboo and rice, and will apparently biodegrade when buried or put in a landfill), a Garant Botanica compact utility shovel and a Garant Total Control cultivator!

Calling all gardeners - Who wouldn't want this nifty prize to get their garden going?

To win this prize, just subscribe to this blog and leave a message below telling us what you look forward to the most about gardening season? Is it the dirt in your nails? The exercise? The ripe produce? Share you answers here. I'll announce the winner next Friday, March 5.

Is it because it's barely gone below zero in the past few days that I can't get gardening off my mind? Is the same thing happening to you? Well, it's sort of a blessing because, as a gardening novice, it's time to start thinking about planning out my garden plot. I'm very nervous as it's the biggest space I've ever worked ... what if I fail miserably?!?!

Good thing I got a copy of Grow Great Grub in the mail. It's a great book by Gayla Trail advising on how to garden successfully (and organically) in small spaces. Trail discusses growing an edible garden in any area where there is space - no matter how small. Though there is a heavy focus on container gardening, Trail's gardening tips and tricks are useful for everyone. Her book gives advice on planting specific edibles (a run down on sowing and planting, harvesting, predicted size, space and depth), plus, she includes tasty-looking recipes. She also recommends useful gardening tools, pickling necessities, freezing tips, composting tricks, container sizes, mulching info, soil info and sooooo much more. I can't wait to give this baby a thorough read!

Are you thinking about gardening?

Grow Great Grub has great advice for both the novice and seasoned gardener.

We've been on the hunt for a community garden so that next year we can take our container gardening up a notch. Though gardening on the back porch has been fun (and rather convenient), I'm ready to move on to something bigger and better. Recently, we found a community garden that we like the sound of, and have volunteered with them a few times. As of now we're on the wait list for one of their plots, but I heard through the grapevine that we'll for sure get a plot. YAY! I can't wait to help care for the main garden, and tend to my very own plot.

It's so nice to know that I'll have something to plan for over the winter, making the long, dark and cold months go by faster. I'm already thinking about what seeds I'll order!

Do any of you garden in a community garden? What's it like?