New Digs

Neglect could be a word used to describe the state of both this blog and my gardening in general. To my credit I did move away from my beloved garden in August, but worry not as my new home has an even larger garden thanks to my landlord (read slumlord) Greg. Greg did an amazing job this summer planting a whole mess of potatoes that are still being harvested, a ton of tomatoes, a prize winning zucchini (if there were prizes to be awarded), beans, peas, carrots... A whole lot of Miettinen.

The existing garden consisted of 4 square plots roughly 4'x4' each but Greg and I had the intention of expanding this to give me some room to garden as well as rotate the existing crops. This past Sunday, armed with an empty stomach and a window of sunny weather we tackled the expansion. This involved removing many of the perimeter stones which I quickly found out were large, numerous and heavy. Meanwhile the area to be expanded into needed to have all the morning glory and blackberry vines removed along will all the weeds and other crap back there. We found a long strip of landscaping fabric in the back section of the garden which actually helped remove a lot of the vines despite being a pain to lift up.

All said and done the garden now consists of 6 plots with the stone perimeter back in action. The soil on the new plots itself will have to be dug up and prepared before the spring. I have heard that seaweed is good for your soil so Greg and I might have to collect some down at the beach to mulch into the garden. The very exciting photos of the completed work are below.

Sweet Paint Job		The New Digs

Brussel Sprouts & Green Onion Shuffle

I stopped by the Big Barn Garden Centre on Monday and picked up some brussel sprouts for the garden. They may not be everyones favourite vegetable but I happen to love them, and if the flavour of homegrown broccoli is any indication the sprouts should be excellent. I also picked up 2 dwarf dill plants 'cause my current plant is not producing fast enough for my consumption rate. I planted 2 brussel sprouts and 1 dill in each plot to once again compare how they are progressing.

I took the opportunity while planting to move around some of the green onions and ended up creating tight row of 6 onions between the herbs and lettuce on the west plot. Some of the others were being consumed by the zucchini, which I am now investigating how to properly stake. I also planted 2 spinach seedlings, 1 in the southern plot, and one in an old coffee tin.

My final task was transplanting the Basil out of its container into a larger home. Maria had some old buckets laying around so I poked some holes in the bottom with my soldering iron and filled it up with potting soil. I also removed the final 2 Bok Choy plants by cutting them at the base. I am not sure if they will regrow this season or just do nothing but I thought I would give it a try.

Head to Head Results

I has been a little over 2 weeks since I started the second plot and I thought I would compare growing results between them. For reference the Western plot receives sun from sun up until the late afternoon (currently 16:30), whereas the Southern plot gets sun from late morning (currently 11:00) until sundown.

Southern Plot		Western Plot

Despite my predictions I would say that the original plot is showing much better growth than its counterpart in the south. In particular the Spinach is doing much better on the western side. The Cilantro, Broccoli and Corn are also showing better growth in the west. It is possible that I have not been watering the Southern plot enough but I have been fairly diligent. The ground temperature over there is extremely hot on sunny days so possibly the roots are not staying cool enough. I am really just guessing as I am fairly uneducated in the optimal conditions for growing vegetables.

In other happenings some high winds last week knocked over my cherry tomato basket. A large branch broke off the plant but the rest of it seems fine. The strawberries are really coming in now as you can see above. I gotta get some ice cream.

The Fruits of Labour

Tonight I dug up some of the Bok Choy, as all of it has gone to flower in some stage or another, and made a vegetable stir fry. My sister would be proud of me as there is not a trace of meat in this dish. I marinated some tofu in chili sauce, garlic and soy and threw in a bunch of vegetables. Although the Bok Choy is tasty I can't say it jumps off the plate much more than its store bought equivalent.

In the past week I have not planted anything new but I have utilized the southern plot by putting both hanging baskets down there. They will receive a lot more sun which should equal more fruit from both those plants. I also have a bunch of green onion plants starting in plastic trays down there as well. I have also added some earth back to all my potato plants in an effort to create more tubers. I plan on having my little ditch filled with potatoes come the end of summer.

Vegetable Stir Fry		Southern Plot \w baskets
First two Bok Choy		Earthed up Potatoes

The Second Coming

In the past few days I have accumulated a lot of stuff to plant in the garden thanks to Tony and the Big Barn Garden Centre.

• Strawberries - 1 hanging basket
• Cherry Tomatoes - 1 hanging basket
• Early Girl Tomatoes - 1 plant
• Thyme - 1 plant
• Oregano - 1 plant
• Parsley - 1 plant
• Broccoli - 8 plants (4 in each plot)
• Cilantro - 2 plants (1 in each plot)
• Garlic Chives - 2 plants (1 in each plot)

I already have Cilantro, Chives and Parsley but none of my herbs in the far end of the first patch are growing all that well but I will let them stick around for now. In addition to planting all this new stuff I moved 3 of the corn and 2 spinach from the west plot to the new southern digs. The corn should like the extra sun/heat and I can compare it to the 1 stalk I left behind.

Two of the Bok Choy are flowering now so they will probably come out later this week. Out of all the vegetables so far the Bok Choy has proved to be hearty and quick growing. Time to make some stir fry.

Flowering Bok Choy		Southern Plot

New Digs

In anticipation of tomatoes to plant I have begun to question the placement and preparation of my initial plot. My current location in on the west side of the yard and given that I didn't have a proper shovel I don't think I loosened up the soil as well as I should have. So today I dug out a 4' x 5' plot in the south of the yard which will get a lot more of the hot afternoon sun while sacrificing some of the morning sun to a giant tree in the neighbors yard. I dug about 6-8 inches down and churned over all the dirt well so I am hoping it drains better than the other plot as well. For the sake of curiosity I am going to plant some of the same vegetables in both plots just to see how they react.

The one downfall of my new plot is the hose doesn't reach that far and I don't have a watering can. Necessity being the mother of invention I decide to get creative (and cheap). I saw a milk jug staring me in the eye on top of the recycling and began to get crafty. Poked a few holes in the lid, trimmed them up with a razor blade and behold my 4L watering can. It needs an air intake but it does the trick.

In other news the weather has been in the high teens with pretty much full sun these past few days, finally. The Red Leaf lettuce is showing a lot of improvement as you can see above or below.

 
(left) Red Leaf lettuce                    (right) Milk jug watering can

So Long Jalapeño

This weather sucks to put it lightly. Rainy, windy and generally cold. The cool, damp climate has taken its toll on the pepper plants making them sag and ultimately killing the jalapeño plant. I quickly replaced the jalapeño with something called "The Ring of Fire" which sounds a little discomforting. However, the rest of the garden is doing well with the bok choy, arugula, and buttercrunch lettuce showing lots of growth (pictured above).

On Sunday during a break in the weather I planted a few more things in addition to the replacement pepper plant:

• Ring of Fire peppers - 1 plant
• Spinach - 6 heads
• Zucchini - 2 plants
• Corn - 4 stalks

With any luck the end of summer corn will be great for BBQ's along with the Zucchini. The Spinach I planted was not from seed as I am still waiting on my seeds to sprout. Speaking of which some of my seedling containers got knocked over in the wind so I have no idea which is which due to not labeling them. Oh well, marigold and spinach should be easy enough to distinguish.

Midweek Update

I haven't done much of anything in the garden other than water and weed it over the past few days. I am yet to plant the Scarlet Runner Beans and am debating whether or not they are worth eating. The marigold and spinach seeds are yet to sprout but in a few more days maybe I will see something. Other than that my basil suffered a small tumble when the toddler upstairs was playing on the chair it was sitting on and knocked it over. A little worse for wear but it will be fine.

The rest of what is planted is starting to show some more growth, in particular the potatoes (pictured above) and bok choy are producing a lot of foliage. The peppers also seem to be holding up in what has been some cold and windy weather over the past week, with the exception of the jalapeño plant which is sagging a bit.

The forecast is calling for mainly cloudy with showers through the weekend which will mean less watering for me. There have been a few breaks of sun (like right now) but otherwise it has been fairly grey lately. It's June, bring on the summer!

Befriending a Butterfly

I was walking around the back yard when I noticed this butterfly just sitting on the lawn. It must have been blown out of a tree and by the looks of it just recently sprouted it wings. So I got my camera and took a few closeups and it certainly wasn't camera shy. Seemed a little freaked out I was so close to it but stayed professional despite gusting Victoria winds.

The rest of the garden is doing well with just about everything showing some new growth, especially my container potatoes. Today I am attempting to sew some marigold and spinach seeds in some trays, and yesterday I planted the ends of 2 green onions that Maria gave me. She says her parents plant them all the time so we shall see. And as I am typing this Tony just handed me a package of Scarlet Runner beans to throw in the garden. That should just about fill it up for now.

(left) Garbage can potatoes!       (right) Back shot of the butterfly.

More Potatoes and Little Progress

In the few days since my last post little has changed. I have utilized the sprinkler as you can see, and I have also planted another red potato plant in a white bucket seen on the far left of the picture above. Other than that there is little to report. The buttercrunch is still alive and everything else looks fine but I have not noticed much dramatic growth at this point. The soil may need some fertilizer to help jump start and nourish these plants.

The 2 potato plants in the black rubbermaid garbage can are starting to grow some foliage which is a good sign. I was a little concerned that the soil might overheat given the dark colour of the planter but so far it seems just fine. The potatoes in the trench are still there but cats are digging them up and using the trench as a litter box. Hopefully they can take root and grow there without too much hassle from the kitties.

Container Planting

In an effort to be creative and reuse some of the items I have on hand I salvaged this Pamper's Baby Wipes container to plant some Basil. I just poked a few holes in the bottom and used a take away sushi lid as the drainage tray. I have also converted a rubbermaid garbage can into a planting container for potatoes. This is what I have recently planted:

• Fernleaf Dill - 1 plant
• Italian Parsley - 1 plant
• Basil - 1 plant
• Buttercrunch Lettuce - 2 heads
• Red Potatoes - 3 plants
• Kennebec Potatoes - 3 plants

The Buttercrunch was on its last legs down at the garden centre so I am doing my best to salvage them. The Basil is in a container as you can see but the Dill and Parsley are both in the garden. I dug a small trench about 8 inches deep to plant 4 potato plants (2 of each variety) and put the remaining 2 inside the rubbermaid container. I also reclaimed my rosemary container from Greg's porch and it is in rough shape from both the winter and getting rogered during the move to Victoria. New growth is sprouting on it so there is some hope of a resurrection.

Bok Choy Bugs

The Bok Choy is being attacked by critters. I first noticed the damage a few days back, finally got a visual on the suspect and now for the photographic evidence. Upon first looking at them I thought to myself, "It is a small beetle but it kinda looks like a flea." I did some quick research and sure enough the Flea Beetle are a common enemy of Chinese greens. Aside from spraying the plants, which I don't want to do, apparently if I can just wait until some larger leaves grow around the Bok Choy plants the problem should solve itself. So now I play the waiting game.

 
(left) Munched up leaves. (right) Poorly focused Flea Beetle in action!

Planting Peppers and Reorganizing

Its been more than a few days since my last entry and much has changed. For starters I cleared some more land to plant and I also moved around some of the existing vegetables I had planted last week. The sun is likely gone for the next few days as well but should be back mid week. This is what I planted over the weekend:

• Bell Peppers - 2 plants
• Cayenne Peppers - 1 plant
• Jalapeño Peppers - 1 plant
• Sweet Chilli's - 2 plants

All of these need a lot of sun and heat so I can only hope that the weather cooperates this summer. Peppers are said to grow fairly bushy so I took advantage of this by moving the Red Leaf and Romaine lettuce in and around the bases of these pepper plants in hopes that they will provide a little bit of shade. I also spaced out my Arugula plants a bit more and moved the Bok Choy around to accommodate all the empty spots I created moving the lettuce.

The other addition to the garden are some potatoes but I am not very happy with my current container setup. I will have to get some proper potting soil for the container and possibly poke some larger drainage holes in the bottom of the garbage can I am using. Aside from this container I am going to clear a proper trench and plant some traditionally.

 
(left) Reorganized and lengthened patch. (right) Chilli's and Lettuce.

First Herbs

The clouds are still here but it is supposed to be 3 days of sun and heat starting tomorrow. Not much to report other than planting the following:

• Chives
• Cilantro

I put them on the other end of the patch for easy access to each plant. I will have to put some parsley and some other herbs in there this weekend along with whatever else I find at the garden centre.

 
(left) Looks exactly the same. (right) Herbs and lengthwise view of the patch.

Preparing and Planting the Garden

Yesterday, I began clearing a small plot for a summer vegetable garden. The backyard used to have an entire perimeter garden which has since been neglected for at least 1 season. This has lead the perimeter to be riddled with nasty weeds and tufts of grass. With a trusty hand shovel I cleared a small plot about 4ft x 8ft which should be enough to get me started. For reference I tilled about a 4-6 inch layer of loose soil for the plants to take root in.

Today, Tony brought back a small cornucopia of vegetables to begin planting. I ran out of time before planting them all due to the Detroit v Dallas game 3 but here is what is planted so far.

• Red Leaf Lettuce - 4 heads
• Romain Lettuce - 4 heads
• Arugula - 6 bunches
• Bok Choy - 4 heads
• Swiss Chard - 4 heads

The Lettuce and Swiss Chard need sun!

Edit: Given I was rushing myself before the game I gave little thought to the spacing of the plants. I gave everything about 8" between going up each row with the exception of the arugula which has about 5". It might be a little cramped but this is all an experiment.