Wee ones paired with wise ones . . . What a lovely idea!!
I’ve always found it sad that our culture tends to separate our little ones and our elders. Watching the relationship my son is developing with his grandfather has only served to drive that home.
Anyway, a nice read about a great program close to home.
So last week I get an excited phone call from my hubby:
Amrik wants to know where his veggies are!
Huh????
Amrik supplies my hubby’s contracting company with kitchen cabinets. He owns five acres in Richmond. There has been idle chat between the two of them about us using part of his land to grow veggies for some time. We’d looked into the cost of renting land and decided we just couldn’t justify it on our so-tight-it-squeaks family budget.
But there was a new development this week – Amrik will be happy to let us use it in exchange for veggies. One whole acre.
So Saturday we drove out to take a look at this spot of land that could swallow our 30 x 108 lot whole.
Not exactly the lush pastures I’d imagined.
I couldn’t help but think of the Thomas Edison quote:
There is work, and then there is just a plain old bad idea. I’m not sure which one this is yet.
10. Keep Bees
Squash. Tomatoes. Berries. Apples. Cherries. Plums . . . So many food plants rely on bees for pollination. No bees = no food. It’s that simple.
You can become a full-blown urban bee keeper, join a bee co-op or set up a home for native mason bees. Stop using harmful pesticides and grow lots of bee-friendly plants and you will be well on your way to helping save this important population. Continue reading
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!) :
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
Think seasonally as you plan. Remember eventually that spectacular cabbage will become supper – be ready to have something to replace it.
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.
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:
Now go. Make a pot of coffee and get dreaming!
front yard raspberries
Remembrance Day today. A time to remember. The fiance and I took time out today to go to the ceremony on Commercial Drive. Strange to notice how few old boys were there. Like my Pa, many of them have long since passed on and soon there will be none left to tell what they’ve seen. Strangely though, today was different for me because suddenly, at 28 years old, many of my friends and former classmates are now veterans. That fact is discordant with even my own notion of what a veteran looks like – the shaky old fellow back in his old uniform wiping away tears at the service – but now the veterans are the guys I drank beer with in university. Odd and sad in a new way. It was, however, lovely to hear the squeals and laugher of children playing on the nearby playground during the moment of silence. A nice reminder of why all those men and women make the sacrifices that they do.
As I was waiting for my ride to the service I poked about the garden and was shocked to discover heaps and heaps of raspberries on my canes along the neighbour’s fence. They were absolutely heavy with fruit. November 11th!! I couldn’t believe it. And not only my “Fall Gold” were fruiting – three of my six plants had beautiful berries on them. At this time of year you can easily pay 5 dollars or more for a tiny handful at the market, so I felt like a complete glutton, but what a treat! Despite the miserable weather they were sweet and juicy and tender. What bliss.
Tonight we are having family over for dinner of roasted beet and goat cheese salad, roast chicken and potatoes and butter and brown sugar carrots. As I was cleaning the carrots I couldn’t help but think about the first harvest back in the spring. My family was over and I was pulling carrots over beers in the backyard. I pulled out a handful and exclaimed – Look at how straight they are!! Whoo! To which my sister rolled her eyes and made some cheeky remark about the obviousness of my statement. And I said – Spoken like someone who’s never tried to grow carrots!
That’s the great thing about the garden. Here I am, mid-November, pulling and washing carrots from the front yard marveling at the fact that they are actually straight. The garden makes you realize that many of the things we take for granted – like straight carrots or fresh raspberries in November – really are minor miracles.
