Talk about eco-friendly!

I spoke the other day about needing to find someone with a tiller to work up our garden. Well, I could not find one, so my dear husband decided to turn the soil by hand with a shovel. It took him about 3 hours, taking numerous breaks (it was very hot and humid out). I must say, he felt very proud of himself, the sence of accomplishment he felt when he was done.

I suggested to him that since he does not want to use straw this year to help keep the weeds down, he will have to do this on a regular basis, probably as often as every other day. Especially if it rains!

We are hoping that there will be garden centers open today, even though it is the long weekend here in Ontario and most places will be closed. It would be wonderful to plant the garden this year!

May Long Weekend!

Woo hoo! It is the long weekend! All winter long I have been dreaming of this weekend, making plans for our garden and what new things I will be doing with my vast flowerbeds.

Now, it has been a bit of a slow start. I found out about 2 weeks ago thata the gentleman I normally get to till my garden sold his equipment so no longer is available. I have been searching for someone else, but no luck so far. I did find a wonderful little tracter tiller, from the 70's I believe, but the asking price is $3,500. That is a bit steep for my budget. I do believe my husband will be talking to the owner and see if he would rent it to us for a couple hours though.

For the last couple months we have been weeding the flower gardens and they are looking stunning! The tulips are almost over as well as the daffodils, but there are a few hardy ones still hanging in. The irises are huge and putting out hundreds of flowers, and they smell so sweet. The blue (and some pink!) forget-me-nots are all over the place. Filling in some big empty spaces as I had hoped. Little pansies, wood lilies, coral bells etc are popping up here and there, and the lupins have migrated to a few other locations. The lilies-of-the-valley have acclimatized very well to their new spots as well as the bleeding hearts.

My lilies are growing up straight and stong and it looks like there will be an abundance of flowers for me this year.

Off to talk to the person who owns that little tractor tiller now, wish me luck! (Dear hubby decided it is up to me *le sigh*) As I have a lot of compost all ready to put in, I need to get things rolling.

Have a great weekend!

First zuchinni and raspberries

On Friday evening my husband had gone out to the garden to do some weeding and noticed that the first zuchinni were ready! We had been watching them very closely over the last week, hoping to catch them at the perfect size. Well, we missed it by a day I guess since there were some big ones (over 8 inches long, 3 inches wide), too long for just slicing and eating but perfect for shredding for winter. He did manage to get 3 that were the perfect size (under 5 inches long and about an inch wide).

I have been eating small handfulls of raspberries for the last week and that night he was able to find about 2 cups full! What a wonderful treat it was. I ate some for a treat that evening and the rest for my Saturday morning breakfast.

Adventures in Organic Gardening Part 4

My sister-in-law had given me a wonderful Christmas present, a subscription of Harrowsmith Country Life! I find that it is a wonderful source of information and inspiration in my gardening adventures. It is my favorite magazine, and I love reading it during the winter months as I plan out what I am going to do the next summer. One day, maybe, I might write in to them and let them know how much of an inspiration they have been to me and include some pictures of my gardens (when they are finally the way I want them).

That particular year, in January (2006), I began using a set of shelves with lights in the basement as my little greenhouse to start my plants. I decided to grow pansies, asters, marigolds, tomatoes, peppers, and a few other plants. We also had the cold frame outside set up against the garage so that allowed me to start a larger number of plants, not having to carry them in and out of the house for 5 days when the time came.

I still used the little plastic containers and mini greenhouses for my pansies and marigolds, as it allowed me to regulate the temperature easier. For the others I used the large tray bottoms you can get when you buy a flat of flowers from garden centers.

I fill the tray with a seedling starter soil, and spread out some plant seeds, then cover it with a thin plastic. After a week or so, I started seeing the little seedlings popping their heads up. I let them grow in their trays for about 4 weeks, or at least until the second set of true leaves appear before I do much thinning or repotting. Once those have appeared I choose the strongest of the seedlings for repotting. The starter soil and leftover weaker seedlings go into my compost bin.

Once the tomato plants are about 6 inches high, I transplant them again into recycled milk bags rolled down. I remove the first 3 sets of leaves, and cover the stems with the soil. As the weeks go by, I remove more leaves and add a bit more soil. By the time I can transplant them in my garden, I have a strong stem (about an inch diameter) and large root ball. I have only lost one plant using this method during the transition from house to garden, and that was due to our dog laying on it!

I use the same method for pepper plants, and it seems to help a bit. When I put those in my garden though, I try to remember to put something in front of them to help protect them from direct sunlight for the first month. They do not seem to do well otherwise for me. I am still trying to find a good way of keeping pests from those, though.

I usually end up with about 20 to 30 tomato plants ready for my garden by the time I am ready to plant my garden. I also get at least 12 or so pepper plants.

I always plant marigolds around my tomato and pepper plants. This seems to help deter pests and it just looks pretty! I also find that I have fewer mosquito bites while gardening. Marigolds do help keep those away too!

Here is a picture of my basement greenhouse.










Large Spanish Onions to the left, and my cold frame to the right.





















Zucchini plants to the front, and tomato plants to the back. 3 different varieties of tomatoes, Romano, beefsteak and plum. All are wonderful frozen or canned for using in the winter months.

This spring, the new two front flower beds were dug up, sod removed and put into of of the big wire compost bins, and a heavy black plastic put on top to "cook" any remaining weed roots during the summer. In the fall I removed the plastic, forked in a good amount of compost and planted a few more bulbs (tulips mainly) and transplanted a couple peonies, a yucca plant, and a bunch of sea thrift that I had started in my basement greenhouse in them. I also transplanted my two tea roses into them and a larger rose bush. At the base of each rosebush I put in a nice over ripe banana (read Black!) for a quick fertilizer boost. I spread out more natural wood chips for the mulch and let it sit until the next year.