Dana’s Big Gardening Adventure: an obituary

I am sad. I’ve been sad for two weeks since I went outside to check my garden and discovered that vermin (likely raccoons) had knocked down my corn and ate unsightly gouges into every cob.

The picture above was taken just days before the massacre and, as you can see, the ears were forming nicely. Visions of melted butter were dancing in my head. Times were good.

Sigh. The corn part of my big gardening adventure was a partnership between my son Oliver and I; so the loss is doubly felt at our house. That said, we’ve picked ourselves up and visited a farm stand to purchase corn. It was very good and our bellies, none the wiser, think they’ve had our homegrown kernels. It’s a subterfuge, I know. But I’m just not strong enough to break the news to my digestive system yet. Perhaps, in time, I’ll heal.

What we learned: it isn’t thumbs that separate us from other members of the animal kingdom, it’s the ability to eat corn in an orderly, sequential linear fashion that makes the difference. I’m sure of it!

Dana’s Big Gardening Adventure: garden gone wild

If you’ve ever wondered how backyard gardeners deal when summertime travel and harvest season coincide, then this post is for you!

As it turns out, being away for over two weeks in August and leaving your garden to cope for itself is not the end of the world when you’re in the midst of the wettest summer on record. Not only was there no need to worry about my plants dehydrating, I came back to find that the garden was almost too moist in the low spots.

The side effect of this kind of moisture is that the weeds bolted as did water dense veggies like my cucumbers. As you can see from the picture above, my pickling cucumbers range from Chernobyl Betty-sized to the normal lovely pickle size I was hoping to grow. Although quite a few of my cukes are past the point of use, there are still blossoms and I found a number of smaller-sized specimens to cut up, sprinkle with cider vinegar and salt and serve to Oliver (one of his favorite TV time snacks!).

Besides putting them in the compost heap, does anyone have any ideas for things one can do with an overgrown cucumber? And, yes, since your mind went ‘there’ I will ask you to limit your suggestions to culinary uses only!

Dana’s Big Gardening Adventure gets boxed

I thought my pizza garden story offered a fresh idea about vegetable garden design but Josh Freidland of The Food Section (a generally excellent food blog by the way) outlines yet another simple, fun way to make planting and caring for a small garden manageable.

Growing Veggies by the Square Foot

Dana’s Gardening Adventure: Growing veg is also great in a crate

So, the plants and seeds are doing their thing in the garden. Weeds seem to be growing faster than anything, which is a bit of a worry but I guess also a fact of the organic gardening experience. While mine is a classic backyard garden plot, I’ve noticed that people are finding any way they can to be better earthlings by growing a few of their favorite veggies and herbs.

Urban community gardens are popping up in all kinds of Canadian cities. In fact, the picture above is of a 2007 summer Toronto garden sponsored by Hellmann’s mayo. This year their project will continue with 94 contest winners who will get urban garden plots in cities such as Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Hellmann’s also has some useful online garden planning tools I found fun to play with.

If you don’t have access to one of these plots or have a yard that’s suitable for planting, you can still grow food in window boxes, pots and other containers. I’ve done it and it’s surprising how much produce a few pots can yield.

Even if you’re a champ at growing decorative plants in containers, the shift to growing edible plants can be a challenge since soil, sun and fertilizing can greatly affect the taste and nutrient content of herbs and vegetables. So, check out my container gardening tips before you get started:

• Sun: To mature successfully, the balcony or terrace where you grow edible plants should receive about 5 hours of sun a day, preferably morning or late afternoon exposure, which is less scorching than the intense, mid-day rays.

• Drainage: Choose containers that have an adequate number of holes in the bottom to ensure proper drainage; that way your edible plants will neither drown nor parch.

• Soil: The soil for growing edible plants in containers needs to have a combination of characteristics: container plants do well in soil that allows rapid drainage but also require sufficient water retention to keep the plant roots uniformly moist. “Soiless” potting mixes and peat moss drain quickly, are lightweight and free from soil-borne diseases and weed seeds.

• Planting: Since there is seldom 100% germination and emergence when growing plants from seed, always plant more seed than is needed in each container. After the seeds sprout and the seedlings start to touch, thin plants to the desired number.

• Feeding: Since you’ll be cooking and eating the herbs and vegetables you grow, choosing a safe fertilizer is very important. Avoid chemical fertilizers that can make plants inedible. Unlike a yard garden, the soil in containers is unlikely to get organic enrichment naturally so work compost into the containers often. Compost is sold by the bagful at most garden centres.

• Watering: The best way to water container plants is with a watering can or gentle sprayer attachment on a garden hose. Be sure the water is cool before applying it to the vegetables, particularly if the hose or watering can sits in the sun for part or all of the day. Watering with hot water cannot only damage foliage, but retard root development.

Dana’s big gardening adventure – week four: preparing the site

According to my reading, preparing the site for your garden is one of the most crucial steps to ensuring your veggies have a chance to succeed.

My garden is well established but has been fallow for at least three years. During that time my habit has been to dump all the leaves, cuttings and weeds from the rest of the yard into this space. When weeds have sprung up my landscaper has tilled them under with the Rototiller. I have a feeling that my soil is going to be very rich in organic matter but also thickly populated by weeds. So, as soon as the mud will allow, I’m going to put on my gloves, grab my hoe and pull out any little shoots that are popping up.

I’ve been told that the best technique is to till the soil in the fall so that you’re all set up in the spring and can plant earlier. However, I didn’t know I was going to use this vegetable patch last fall so
I’m going to use a Rototiller this spring to break up the soil and make it easier to weed and plant (actually my mom’s boyfriend John has offered to till the garden for me if I make sure there aren’t any big stones in it first – thanks John!). I was told by a knowledgeable farmer friend that tilling too often – especially in spring – should be avoided since it forces organic matter that needs surface bugs to be broken down too far below the surface. Regrettably, I’ll have to take that chance since my soil is pretty compacted.

In the meantime, while I wait for the mud to be less squishy, I’m busy inside nurturing and transplanting my seedlings to larger pots so that I can have nice robust plants ready when planting day arrives.

I planted my seedlings in peat moss not just because it’s recommended as a good starter, but also because it was the only soil I could find at the garden centre this early in the spring that didn’t contain any chemicals. Shocking, no?

I bought way too much peat moss, though. To plant all my corn, cantaloupes and pumpkins (that’s one seed starter kit worth of cells) I thought I’d need three 9 L bags of peat moss. I didn’t even use one full bag! No matter. I’ll soon have tomato plants to transfer and it will come in handy then.