Category Archives: ORGANIC GARDENING

tomato time!

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Well it’s almost that time again . . . I’m still eating the canned tomatoes of last summer and already I need to start thinking about planting the seeds for this year. If you’ve read any of our earlier posts you’ll know I’m completely bananas for tomatoes. On our 33 x 108 foot urban lot, in amongst the gazillion other veggies, we planted 50 tomato plants last year, 12 varieties in all.

a baby potato-leaf variety we call "Ed's" after the neighbour who gave us the seeds

The neighbours thought we were crazy at first, but when the fruit started to ripen their comments stopped and suddenly they “conveniently” had plastic bags in their pockets on their evening walks, eager to inquire if I had a few tomatoes to spare!  The cheek!  I kept the old gal on the corner in steady supply of tomatoes for most of August, and introduced my newly-immigrated Chinese neighbours to the pleasures of tomatoes that come in colours other than red. They were at first perplexed when I told them I was growing purple tomatoes, but next thing I knew they were leaning over the fence politely inquiring if there were any more! Even my mail-lady bashfully admitted that she’d been sneaking cherry tomatoes off the arbour all summer.  Thankfully there was more than enough to go around. I finally stopped weighing the harvest when the total hit 300 pounds!!

one day's harvest

If you have never grown anything from seed before, heirloom tomatoes are just about the most wonderful veg I can think of to start on. Growing from seed is easy and can be done on the cheap. The tomatoes you see above would have cost me well over 200 dollars at the farmer’s market, but seeds are usually no more than 3 or 4 dollars a packet. If you’re really smart, you will do one better and find someone who already grows heirloom tomatoes from seed and pinch a few seeds off them.

Gardening from seed is like that song we used to sing as little kids – It’s just like a magic penny, hold it tight and you won’t have any. Lend it, spend it and you’ll have so many they’ll roll all over the floor! Sing it with me – Love is somethin’ if you give it away, you end up having more!

My singalong aside, this really is the magical thing about gardening. Unlike the Monsanto’s of the world who believe in the paradigm of scarcity, greedily hoarding the very seeds of life (literally) for fear that there won’t be enough for everyone so they’re going to keep it all for themselves . . . Any good gardener knows that in fact the opposite is true. Abundance shared is abundance multiplied. Life begets life.

camp-joy cherry tomatoes climbing my front gate

The largest, sturdiest and tastiest tomatoes in my garden came to me free from my Mum’s neighbour, Ed. Ed has been growing and saving tomato seeds for who knows how long, and the plants grown from his seeds are keenly attuned to our particular climate. Even saving seed for just one go around will produce stronger, healthier, more locally-adapted plants. If Ed had been like Monsanto – hoarding his seeds, patenting them, charging the earth for them, engineering them to embody death rather than life like the terrible terminator seeds, then my garden, my family, my neighbourhood would not have been blessed by the ridiculously abundant harvest we enjoyed last summer. Tomatoes from Ed’s seeds still fill my pantry, even now in April. They have been enjoyed by family and friends and neighbours who before last August had never known that particular earthly delight that is the organic, home-grown heirloom tomato. In the spirt of things, I of course have paid it forward, sharing our seeds with our organic master gardener classmates, and even the man who delivers our local paper.

So how to do it? Easy peasy. Lots of people, myself included, are apprehensive about starting from seed, thinking it’s going to be complicated or who knows what. It isn’t complicated and it isn’t expensive. An initial expense and some creativity will keep you going indefinitely.

First things first, seeds.

We grow strictly heirloom varieties for a number of reasons. Taste, biodiversity, the ability to save seeds, the sheer stunning beauty of them. There are a gazillion varieties to choose from, all with fantastic names, stories and different growing and eating qualities. A great place to start if you’re unfamiliar (or overwhelmed) is The Heirloom Tomato by Amy Goldman. A gorgeous coffee table book, bordering on tomato porn. Seriously, so beautiful. And lots of great information about a ton of different varieties. You can get seeds from friends, go to seed swaps, contact Seeds of Diversity in Canada or Seeds of Change in the USA, or any of the other seed providers listed in my links. Many will actually be labeled heirloom or heiritage. If not, look for OP or open pollinated on the package. If they aren’t OP, it means they are a hybrid and you won’t be able to save the seeds and have the plant come true to the parent. Another hint is indeterminate - this means they grow all over the place, rather in a contained little plant, which is what you want to get a nice tall vine. Don’t be scared – try a few varieties and see what you like. Some companies are now selling packets that have a variety like the one below.

Next thing – containers.

This is totally up to you. They don’t need to be huge – even 1″ square is fine. You can use little paper pots, scavenged pots from the plant shop, recycled plastic bottle bottoms, pre-bought seed trays, whatever suits your fancy. Make sure they have adequate drainage in the bottom and are about 1 1/2″ deep. One thing you SHOULD NOT use is those stupid little peat pellet things. Just don’t. No matter what they tell you, do not believe them when they tell you peat is a renewable resource. It’s about as environmentally friendly as a clear-cut. You will need a tray to set your pots into because the best way to water is from below. Again totally up to you.

our trays of tomato seedlings

Soil.

Planting time is a busy time for us, and being that we both have day jobs, we don’t fuss about here, we just buy organic seed starter mix. But again you can get creative as you like. Apparently soil cut with worm castings is one of the best home-made seed starter out there. Whatever you use, get it damp like a run-out sponge first, then fill your pots up. All you have to do then is tuck your seeds in, label them, give them a water from the bottom of the tray, cover them with a plastic dome, reused clear plastic bags, whatever, and put them in a warm place. I’m spoilt and have heated floors in my kitchen, so that’s my spot, but just on top of the fridge will do fine for most people.

Within a couple of days you should see sprouts. Make sure it doesn’t get too hot or humid or your seedlings will damp off and rot. As soon as your little darlings pot their heads our, put them under the lights.

Light table.

Jeff rigged me up a growing station in our den that reminds me of my grade 12 biology class room. Simple, cheap shop lights with full spectrum florescent bulbs, attached to coat hangers and hung on wires. Key is keeping the lights as close as possible to the seedlings as they grow; this will keep them from growing too leggy.

Once you have the first true leaves, give them a dose of organic fertilizer. As they grow occasionally brush your hand through them. This will keep them strong and sturdy. As they grow and the leaves begin to touch it’s time to pot them up. Make sure before you put them out into the ground that you give them a chance to harden off, exposing them to the elements a bit at a time. And that’s it, that’s all there is to starting tomatoes from seed!

fruitless fall: pollinators & the garden

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mason bee

This year for christmas Jeff got me something I’ve been pining for for a while . . . No, not a designer handbag or diamond jewelry – BEES!!!

Ever since I read Fruitless Fall I’ve been extremely aware of pollinators in my garden and do everything I can to provide them with food and safe habitat. I knew honeybees were having problems for a while, but it wasn’t until I read Fruitless Fall that I got the whole, terrifying picture.

Honeybee colonies all over are suffering from a mysterious malaise called “Colony Collapse Disorder” or CCD.  Basically, entire hive populations are simply disappearing. Poof. Just gone. No bodies, no sign of where they went and no clue as to what happened. You can imagine how alarming that would be for a bee keeper – but not just beekeepers should be concerned.

If you enjoy vanilla or coffee or almonds or squash or just about any kind of fruit and most veg – you should be worried too, because all these things depend on pollinators like honeybees to produce.  No bees and you’ll be like Jeff, out there every morning with cu-tip in hand, carefully moving pollen from one bloom to another.

female varroa mite

After reading the book I couldn’t understand why the scientists were so confused about why this was happening. They blamed the varroa mite, but when you read about how we handle our honeybees I think they’re suffering from the same malaise most of the western world is; they live a stressful, busy life being transported long distances from orchard to orchard to orchard to do way more work than they should outside of their normal seasonal cycles, are constantly battling exposure to chemicals and pesticides and are fed a crumby diet of cheap food. Sound familiar? Your immune system would be pooped out too.

The one positive thing about the entire situation is that this is a problem that people like you and me can do something about.

First things first: STOP USING PESTICIDES!!!

I can’t get over how many people still feel it’s necessary to spray the hell out of their gardens, eradicating every living creature in the air and soil. I’ve even seen blogs detailing how to get rid of helpful decomposers like the completely benign (and cute) pillbug!? What gives?

pill bug

My garden is absolutely swarming with bugs and flying creatures and creepy crawlies. I have no idea what the majority of them are. The great thing about gardening beyond-organically is I don’t actually have to know. I practice plant-positive gardening, not pest-negative gardening.

Ok what the heck does that mean? It means I give my garden credit that it can look after itself. I make sure my plants have what they need to be healthy and they are just fine, thank you very much. If a particular bug does get out of hand, rather than break out the Raid, I take it as a helpful indicator that that particular plant is weak and not getting what it needs. By eliminating pesticides, we allow a diverse community of bugs and birds and critters to thrive, and the best defense against an outbreak of any one particular bug is a host of healthy, hungry predators waiting in the wings.

Once again it goes back to being a lazy gardener. Why on earth would I bother spending my day killing things when I could be enjoying a beer and letting the garden look after itself?

So please, put away the carcinogens. If you don’t care about pollinators, at least care about yourself. That toxic soup ends up in our ground water, our air, and ultimately in us and our children.

Make your garden a happy home

Declare amnesty for all pollinators, bugs and creepy crawlies. Make your yard a refuge and safe place to land by providing plenty of food and habitat. This is easy peasy.

bees love catmint

All you have to do is what you’re probably doing already. You need lots of pollen and nectar sources (aka flowers), a water source and places to hide and hibernate. The bonus is – lots of things that you like to eat, the bees like to eat too. Some of the bee favorites in our garden include the catmint you see above, regular mint, thyme, bee balm, cilantro, chives, dill, lavender, borage . . . the list goes on. The big fuzzy bumblebee hibernates in the ground in winter so provide him with lots of nice mulch and crevices to tuck into.

a bee in the garlic chives

We have also built a bee bath – a low ceramic pot full of pea gravel and water plants. The gravel allows the bees safe access to the water without fear of drowning. Also, it looks nice.

bee bath

Last but not least, become a beekeeper!

Ok I’m not breaking out my smoke and white suit just yet, but I am practicing beekeeping. Mason Bees are native to North America and you can actually buy them, and their home, at your local garden store. (Definitely one of the best christmas presents ever.)

my mason bee house

Here is my little mason bee house, hiding it’s treasure trove of mason bee cacoons just waiting for spring.  Mason bees and their care deserve a post all their own, but for now know that they are probably the most proactive step you can take to help the pollinator population in your community.

signs of spring

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Well it’s February 18 and much to the dismay of a lot of Olympians, there is no snow . . . but my garden is not complaining! The cherry blossoms are already out in full force, a full month early and my garden is suddenly exploding into action.

Jeff and I took advantage of the sun on Sunday and bolted into the garden first thing. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we were taking a sigh of relief at the end of the growing season, and already we’re chomping at the bit to get back at it again. You really have to love Vancouver – mid-February and I was gardening in a t-shirt.

Thankfully most of the heavy work is behind us now; there will not be multiple truckloads of compost, or turf to remove, or beds to build. Coming into our second year in the garden we are now able to focus on smaller details, tweaking pathways, refining bed placement and adding structure to the garden.

That means we can spend more time on the really important things, like planting lots of peas!!

Jeff and I have been on the lookout for a more practical support for our peas this year. Last year we grew maybe a 6 foot row and I ate them all, toot-suite. This year we are going to line our entire back fence with them and with any luck a few might actually make it into the freezer for winter eating. (Don’t bet on it.) Peas are a cool-season crop and can be grown pretty much as soon as the soil can be worked and then succession sown all the way into May for a continuous harvest through early summer. Jeff found some wire fencing that he stapled to the fence = five times as many peas! Whoo!

We’re growing three varieties; Tall Telephone (Alderman), Little Marvel and Progress #9. Be prepared – the Tall Telephones are TALL. The first year we grew them the quickly outgrew the 6′ tall supports we had and ended up climbing into the branches of the plum tree. Tall. The Little Marvel were sweet and we’ll let you know about Progress #9.

I can’t say I pay too much bother to my peas. Plant em and they’ll grow. Slugs seem to find the seedlings quite tasty, but plant plenty and there’ll be enough for your and your slimy friends. The only thing I’ve ever noticed being a real annoyances is a light powdery mildew if they don’t get enough sun. Keep them in the sunshine with good air circulation and it shouldn’t be a problem.

Peas like any legume are nitrogen fixers so they’re a fun candidate for intercropping. The front of these beds will be seeded with our root veg and chard.

Many of my neighbours scolded me for being in the garden so early in the season, reminding me of late snows and frosts to come. But that’s the great thing about knowing spring is on the horizon – you can’t help but be an optimist when you’re surrounded by daffodils!

so what the heck is permaculture?

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If you’ve read some of my earlier posts or checked out pictures of my garden, you’ll notice that it’s a far cry from the orderly row upon row that most people associate with vegetable gardens. You also might have heard me use the word permaculture. And if you’re like me, probably asked yourself – What the heck is that? Funny enough, even before our crash course in permaculture, Jeff and I were already practicing it in our garden.
Like many new and revolutionary ideas, permaculture is an old idea in a shiny new suit. When Jeff and I first decided to rip out our lawn, we thought it would be neat to use edible plants like blueberries instead of standard shrubs for our landscaping to make use of the sun. Yes, that simple, seemingly innocent decision is what’s lead us down this crazy garden path! From blueberry bushes, it wasn’t a far stretch to full-blow edible landscaping. All of a sudden, we were practicing permaculture and we hadn’t even heard of it yet!
Permaculture is basically a common-sense, holistic approach to gardening. From what I read, it can get pretty technical, but I think anyone can garden in the permaculture spirit without spending thousands of dollars on workshops. (Apparently people actually do that – anyone who wants a worthwhile workshop is welcome to come pull weeds with me anytime. No charge.) Basically what you’re going for is to get as close as you can to a fully functioning ecosystem in your garden, including wildlife (like you!) in a comprehensive, practical way.
Most of us learn as kids about the good old food chain, but in the garden and in permaculture you always want to be thinking in terms of webs; connect yourself and the plants in your garden in as many different ways you can. Redundancy is the insurance policy of life and is your assurance that you will have a vibrant, ridiculously productive garden.
Permaculture can be a pretty detailed approach to gardening, and I found the book above an awesome, if dense, introduction. So here are a few points to get you started:

Focus on the Forest

The forest is the most diverse / mature ecosystem and permaculture design strives to move the garden towards that. You will hear the expression “food forest” which is the ideal permaculture garden; a garden anchored by mature trees (preferably food-bearing ones) that are supported by other plants in communities called “guilds”. We’ll talk more about this later – I’m working on guilding my plum tree in the back yard and will go through it in detail as I install the bed.

Function Stacking

I talked about this a bit when I discussed planning the garden. Each element of the permaculture garden is chosen to serve multiple functions; this is how we achieve that redundancy that is so essential. Plants can provide not only food, but can pull nutrients from the soil and bring them to the surface, fix nitrogen in the soil, provide surface area to collect water by condensation, create micro-climates, mulch the soil, build the soil with organic matter, attract insects, attract birds, buffer wind . . . You get the picture. The more the merrier.

Living, Thriving Soil is the Foundation of the Garden

Focus on the soil and the garden will look after itself. And by focusing on the soil I don’t mean fiddling around with fertilizers out of the box or anything expensive, harmful or requiring a degree in bio-chem. At the end of the day it comes down to this: mulch, mulch, mulch. The life in my soil has increased immeasurably by the simple act of piling a thick mulch of fallen leaves on everything this past fall. It has only been a few months and the soil, and the soil life, has been completely transformed.

Multiple Stories

Here’s where the forest comes in. Not only do you want that upper canopy of trees, you want to make sure you have lots going on in between. This allows water and nutrients to cycle through the system multiple times and provides a lot more habitat for all the hard working critters in the garden. Both equal less work for you. Bonus.
Of course this is about as Coles Notes as you can get. I find the hard-core permaculture a bit too, well, hard-core, but there are some great guiding principles and I’ll talk about each of them in more detail as we get going in the garden over the season. Stay tuned.

planning the garden: part 2

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Here’s a few things to ask yourself as you’re planning your garden (which will be lovely and creative and not even a shadow of it’s former square self!) :

First things first – Do you have sun?

If you don’t have at least a few sunny spots you’re going to be limited as to what you can grow. If you have mostly shade, don’t despair, but don’t hold your breath waiting for your peppers to ripen, either. Instead turn your mind to veg that prefer a break from the heat – leafy greens, some herbs, cabbage and anything that might bolt if they got too hot. Now start sweet talking your neighbour with the south-facing lawn to let you plant peppers and tomatoes there.

What do you like to eat?

No point in planting a ton of veg that you can’t stand the taste of. In our house, we plant insane numbers of tomatoes because we adore them and will take the time to can them. That said, somethings are worth planting even if you don’t absolutely love them yourself. Even at 28 years old I still don’t like brussels sprouts, but I know they will look striking in the garden come winter. (my mum’ll eat ‘em.) Also keep a mind to what kind of veg are expensive in the store or at the farmer’s market, or where store bought can never compare to homegrown. Especially if you’re short on space, pick veg like peppers, heirloom tomatoes, fancy herbs and garlic – store bought will cost you the earth and won’t be nearly as tasty. I’d never spend 250 bucks on tomatoes – but if I bought them at the market – that’s what only one weekend’s harvest would have cost me. (Suddenly a little dirt under the finger nails seems like a small price to pay, doesn’t it?!)

fresh peas my favorite garden treat

How do you want to use your yard?

Do you entertain? Have kids? A dog? Make sure you make space for these things in your plan. We’ve put some features near the spaces where we spend the most time; table grapes climbing over the arbour where I can munch and read, the fish pond by the shady spot where we sit with guests in the summer time. Think about how your planting can not only accommodate what you want to do in your yard, but also how it can contribute to it. For example, we’ll have chickens this year, so I’m making sure the plants I select to camouflage the run will also serve as chicken feed.

How do you actually use your yard?

Is there a path worn in your lawn where you are constantly walking to get the hose? Or do you dread taking out the compost because its stuck behind the cobwebby shed? Don’t fight the natural flow of things, you’ll only get frustrated. Put in a path where you actually walk, not where you think you SHOULD walk, and put the things and veggies you use most often in accessible, easy-to-notice-as-you’re-laying-in-the-hammock-drinking-a-beer, spots. If you do this you’ll be less likely to get a face full of spider webs and you might actually notice the slug assault in the lettuce in time to do something about it.

Look up.

Especially in a small yard, vertical gardening is key. Once you start thinking up and down rather than just in boring rows in a raised bed  - you’ll see the sky really is the limit and you’ll increase your space’s productivity exponentially.

lots of beans in a little space

Think in layers.

Free yourself of the tyranny of the monoculture and mix your plantings. We are constantly intercropping – one bed alone held beets, peas, beans, carrots, chard and garlic. Think about how you can grow one veg up and over another, or around the base of a tall plant to mulch it and hide it’s ugly stem. Use your imagination. If it doesn’t work – just eat your mistakes!

an intercropped bed

How will this look once it’s harvested?

Think seasonally as you plan. Remember eventually that spectacular cabbage will become supper – be ready to have something to replace it.

Is there anything else you want your garden to do other than feed you?

Your garden can provide privacy, security, buffer noise and pollution from the street, stop the neighbourhood kids from using your yard as a cut-through, offer shade, scent, beauty, medicine and attract wildlife. Figure out what you need and then try to ensure that every plant meets multiple needs. Redundancy is nature’s insurance policy and will ensure you have a vibrant, dynamic ecosystem in your garden.

What do I love?

At the end of the day, there are no rules in the garden. Don’t be afraid to take risks and to make choices that might lead your neighbours to think you’re off your rocker.  Sometimes its the most out-there ideas that have the most impact. The tomatoes climbing my front gate got plenty of ooohss and ahhhs and kept me (and my mail carrier) in healthy snacks-on-the go all summer.

When I plan my garden I often think back to my days in art school and one of my favorite quotes by Picasso:

“I put the things I like in my paintings. The things, so much the worse for them – they just have to put up with it.”

Now go. Make a pot of coffee and get dreaming!