Garlic Snakes For Dinner?

It's time to give the garlic a hair cut! Every year around this time the garlic, which we planted in the fall, sends up a seed head called a scape. If you want nice big garlic bulbs then you need to cut the scapes off so the plant puts energy into the bulbs and not into producing seeds.

Looks like I have a handful of grass snakes!

And here's the garlic with its new hair style - no curls!

You can use the garlic scapes in cooking.  Just chop them up like you would a scallion and stir fry or use in soups for a fresh garlicky flavour.

They will be great sauteed with these shitake shrooms.  YUM!

Misha

June Veggie Garden

Our garden has really benefited from all the rain this spring and is really responding to the recent sunshine and higher temperatures. Overall, it looks like it will be a great veggie garden season.

Our kitchen garden is rockin' with radish, onions, lettuce, collards (seeded in early April) and kohlrabi, baby pak choi, scarlet runner beans (transplanted from indoors in early May).  The transplants we started indoors needed to go in after the last frost and I find that big healthy transplants resist or avoid pest attacks that seeds sown directly into the garden are susceptible to.  We planted some garlic, marigolds and lovage along the front of the garden to help deter pests.  We are already eating the lettuce, radish and onions and have started on the pak choi.  One row of lettuce we consumed has been replaced with some curly kale seeds that should be poking their heads up soon.

Kitchen Garden June 9, 2013

Our back garden is also doing well with garlic (bulbs planted in the fall), peas, onions, lettuce, kale, rapini, kohlrabi, radish, beets, leeks, carrots, parsnips (seeded early April), broccoli, beans (transplanted from indoors early May), squashes, zucchini, cucumbers (transplanted from indoors mid-May).  Marigolds, parsley, lovage and basil planted along the front of the garden to repel pests.

We tried square foot planting in a couple of rows in the center of the garden that seem to be working well. We used this method for crops we don't use a lot of.  Another benefit is that it reduces pest infestation by avoiding one crop in an area.

The only pest issue so far has been with something eating the leaves of the carrots down to the stem.  It required reseeding of most of the crop.

Back Garden June 9, 2013

Tip #1 Here's a trick to maximize production in a row.  I seeded the spinach in early April then planted bean seedlings beside them in early May.  By the time the beans are bushing out the spinach will be harvested and we will have had two crops from the one row by July (just in time to plant some more spinach or lettuce for a third crop).

Tip #1

Tip #2 You can avoid cut worms from felling your tomato seedlings by wrapping some newspaper around the stem when planting.

Tip #2

Tip #3 Hoeing the garden regularly helps disrupt the life cycle of a number of pests.

It's not too late to plant transplants or seeds if you have not started yet.  Happy gardening!

Misha

Start your EARLY veggie garden now!

This is the perfect time to get your early vegetable garden going. While the last frost day of May 9th (Toronto) is still more than a month away there are some vegetables that tolerate cold better and can be planted now.

We spent the whole day in the garden today. It was great to get my hands dirty again and smell the rich aroma of the freshly tilled earth. The weather was great. It was mild, overcast and rain was forecast for later in the day; exactly what newly planted veggies love.

Misha started out preparing the soil in our back garden....

...and I took charge of our kitchen garden which is conveniently located near our back door. It's great for a quick veggie run while cooking. Cinnamon, as usual, was keeping an eye on us. It was the kittens first day outside and they absolutely loved it.

Once the earth got tilled Misha put down some wood planks to walk on. He loves doing that. It's supposed to help avoid getting the earth compacted as you are seeding.

We planted onions in a row. They are fun to plant as they are large and easy to see where you plant.

We also planted them in a square foot planting style. Misha suggested trying this type of planting as well this year. It is more dense planting and great for small garden where every inch of growing space matters.

We continued planting lettuce, collard greens, beets (Misha's favourite), kale (my absolute favourite), peas and more; I have included the complete list at the end. It was so much fun to be out in the garden again.

I can't wait for some more veggie planting in the next couple of months. Drop us a line and let us know how your veggie garden planning is coming along. Are you thinking of growing your own vegetables this year?

Mia

For those interested in more planting details I am posting a 'how to' below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




How to start an EARLY VEGGIE GARDEN:

• Today we planted: dinosaur kale, red russian kale, lettuce, radish, beets, yellow, white and red onions, parsnips, collard greens, snow peas and snap peas. These vegetables tend to tolerate cold better and are suitable for planting as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring (and well before the last frost day).  We will plant more of these every two weeks to extend the harvest of each variety.

• Check the back of the seed packages for planting instructions. They are easy to follow.

• You can plant in a single row or with the square foot planting method. We are trying our version of the square foot planting this year for some of the crops and see how it works out. Basically, you divide your garden into one foot squares and plant densely. We will let you know how we like this method.

• Add black top soil if needed. We added quite a lot last year and feel the earth in our garden is still rich enough, so we are not going to add anymore for now.

• Make sure to water well after you plant the seeds. Planting right before rain is a bonus.

• Keep an eye out for your growing veggies and thin as needed. We will provide a veggie progress update and let you know how and when they are to be thinned.

Garden pests of 2012

Our spring garden started out well ...

Spring back garden

Spring kitchen garden

... but little did we know there was trouble brewing for our young vegetables. A variety of pests and critters would descend on our garden and we were hard pressed at times to manage them with our limited knowledge and commitment to organic practices. 

Here are the list of invaders we encountered in this past year:

1. Leaf Miner
The Problem - Leaf Miner causing spinach leaves to yellow and die.

Leaf Miner damage

The Solution -  Pick infested leaves and throw in garbage.  Do not compost.  Continue daily picking until no evidence of infestation.  Problem can be solved within a week.  We had a similar problem with the beets and I solved it the same way.

 Healthy spinach growing after pruning off infested leaves.

2. Cabbage Loopers
The Problem - Cabbage Looper caterpillar eating cabbage and broccoli leaves.

This is the caterpillar that grows from the larvae of the white cabbage moth.

The Solution - Hand pick caterpillars, encourage bird predators, catch white butterflies before they lay their eggs.

3. Flea Beetles
The Problem - Flea Beetles eating tomato plant leaves and stunting their growth.  The Flea Beetles are the small silvery black specks on the leaves.

Tomato plant ravaged by Flea Beetles

The Solution - I received a variety of advice from my online gardening friends and I tried them all.  I disturbed the soil by howing then mulched around the tomatoes to disrupt the flea beetle life cycle.  I then planted lovage, parsley, marigold and basil to act as trap or repellent crops.  Other suggestions were vacuuming them off the plant,  applying diatomaceous earth around the plant and spraying horticultural oils. I am not sure which intervention worked but the tomato plants recovered.  

Healthy plants after a variety of treatments.

4. Slugs
The Problem - Slugs are probably our greatest challenge. They can consume a whole cabbage and strip the leaves from bean plants.  Here are the small ones that we hand picked at night with head lamps and a drowning jar.

After a night of slug hunting!

Imagine our shock to find this monster in our garden.

This guy is scary!

I did not realize slugs this size existed.  Not sure if it was the size but I could not bring myself to drown these mammoths so I practiced catch and release and let them go in the local ravine as I walked to the subway.

The Solution - We have tried numerous strategies including hand picking with headlamps at night, orange peel traps, watermelon peel traps and beer traps.  The orange peels seemed to work the best as a passive trap.  

Giant slug in orange peel trap at night

Other organic suggestions to try are diatomaceous earth, coffee grounds, egg shells and attracting frogs and toads by digging a pond (I’m still working on Timea for the pond option).  Still debating whether to use what is reputed to be organic slug bait but not sure about the ingredients.

5.  Ground Hog
The Problem - There are ground hog holes under our neighbours' sheds and garages adjacent to our property.  We were the most vulnerable from the west side where the fence does not go right to the ground. Here is some of the damage to the broccoli; they ate it right down to the stem!

Broccoli plants chewed down to the stem

The Solution -  We bought some chicken wire and dug a 1 foot deep trench under our west side fence.  We attached the chicken wire to the bottom of the existing fence then buried the chicken wire.  

It felt like we were digging in for an enemy assault, but it worked.

6. Squirrels

The Problem - Squirrels love to dig holes in the garden in spring often digging up recently planted seeds and seedlings.  

The Solution - I found that sprinkling bloodmeal over the garden stops this activity really well.  Yes, it is dried pig’s blood.  Cayenne pepper sprinkled or sprayed can also work for the vegetarian purists.

The Problem - Squirrels were eating all the seeds from our sunflowers.  

The Solution - Cover the sunflower heads with chicken wire.  Ensure that the chicken wire is attached securely as the squirrels managed to remove the wire from some of the sunflower heads.  Next year I will attach  the chicken wire more securely and pick the sunflower heads sooner.

Make sure to secure the chicken wire well as the squirrels are adept at removing them

The Problem - The squirrels are also prime suspects, along with slugs and earwigs, in chewing off the first leaves of the bean plants leaving only a stem.

The Solution - The only solution I found for this was to plant mature seedlings rather than seeds.

Our mudroom grow-op

Conclusion

Despite the plethora of pests, we had a great harvest this year with minimal interventions.  Overall, pests had only a minor effect on our crops; the drought, over-intensive planting and lack of time were bigger factors. I have determined that the approach with pests is not extermination, but keeping them and the garden in balance.  Pests can devastate a crop but they can be managed effectively with eco-friendly methods.  It has been a fun challenge, kinda like Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf at times, but in the end we had a great crop.

Summer back garden

Summer kitchen garden

... and we are still eating kale from the garden!

Still picking and eating the wonder kale on January 1, 2013

We look forward to planning our garden for 2013 and exploring new organic pest management practices.

Lessons Learned:

• Plant seedlings instead of seeds when possible to give plants a head start. 
• Plant companion plants and decoy plants to keep pest from your crops.  
• Plant a variety of vegetables in your garden to avoid over population of one pest.  
• Keep plants healthy with good soil and adequate watering.  
• Rotate crops each year.  
• Visit your garden regularly to catch problems early.

 Misha

Vegelicious Garden Update

I love gardening.  It's recreation,  therapy and a workout all rolled into one with the added benefit of producing delicious, nutritious food just steps away from our back door.  It also evokes fond memories of my childhood and the kitchen gardens of my grandparents.  I can still taste the sweet peas freshly picked and eaten right out of the garden.  We plant vegetables we love to eat that produce for an extended period or have a large harvest that can be easily stored for a long time. To get a head start on the garden, I made a veggie planting plan in January on an excel spreadsheet roughly to scale.  There are online planning tools that are really great if you like something ready made.  I still plant in rows but I plant close together and band sow my seeds.  There is a movement in vegetable gardening to block plant.  That is when you divide your garden in 1 foot squares and plant a number of squares of each vegetable by broadcast seeding the area or evenly spacing seedlings.  Both systems have their advantages.  Below is my Back Garden Plan.


The first things to be planted in early April were peas, onions, kale, lettuce radishes and early carrots.  End of April our broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi seedlings went out along with carrot, parsnip and beet seeds.   By the second week of May the tomato, bean, sunflower, celery and squash seedlings were in and bean seeds planted.  The basil and cucumber went in late but should be fine.  

May Back Garden

In the kitchen garden we planted crops we most often use as it is just steps from the front door: scarlet runner beans, lettuce, kale, kohlrabi, onions, collards, spinach, arugula, radish, celery, coriander and sunflower (for aesthetics).

May Kitchen Garden

In our herb garden the sage, oregano, thyme, mint and curley parsley survived the winter so we just had to plant some cilantro, rosemary, dill, garlic chives, Italian parsley, lovage and chamomile.

Herb Garden

My strategy was to get the cool crops in early so we could start harvesting in May and early June.  I planned to do a second later planting of another crop alongside the lettuce and spinach since these do not do well in warm weather and will be done by mid-June.  By then the second crop would be ready to take over the row.  I also like high density planting to get more plants in and keep down the weeds.  If your soil is rich most plants can handle it. Here are the veggie gardens in mid-July.

July Back Garden

July Kitchen Garden

So far the plan is working.  By mid-may we were eating early salad greens, radishes, onions and herbs.  In early June we added beet greens, kale, collard greens and zucchini .  We even had beans from the bean seedlings that were ready before the snow peas. 

Now in mid-July we are heavily harvesting beans, kale, onions, garlic  and the last of the peas. Broccoli, sunflowers, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers are on the way.  Misha

Seedlings

This year we decided to start our seeds indoors and grow our own seedlings.   It saved us money and allowed us to choose the heritage varieties we wanted.  Misha worked hard on saving a lot of seeds from our garden plants from last year which we supplemented with heritage/organic varieties from local gardening stores this year. In mid-March we started planting our seeds indoors and soon had bean, onion, chive, tomato, squash, cucumber and herb seedlings growing. These were moved out to the glassed-in mudroom in April and will be ready to be planted outside in mid-May.  We just need to find the time to do it.

The process was fairly easy and didn’t require any major skills. The one thing to watch out for is placing the seedlings in a well lit space. Some of ours seedlings were placed too low below a window which resulted in the seedlings being stretched out to the point where they couldn’t hold up any longer. Next year we will definitely pay more attention to this. Live and learn! By Mia

Sprouting beans

Our first vegetable garden

We both love gardening and want to be as self-sufficient as possible.  Mia is a vegan and I eat mostly vegetables with occasional seafood.  We both really wanted to grow as much of our food as possible.  When we moved in, the renovation delayed the start of our vegetable garden but we were able to prep a small existing plot by the house and dig a new garden behind the garage. At first, I was concerned about the amount of sunlight in that location and lobbied for a location on the south side of the backyard.  Mia thought that there would be enough sunlight behind the garage and that it would be nicer to have a flower garden along the fence to view from the house. I must admit, Mia was right.  We had just over 6 hours of sunlight on the vegetable garden and our veggies loved the location.  From June to November we supplied all our own vegetable needs without the need to buy any from the grocery store. Since then the back neighbour cut down an old Manitoba maple that will give us another 1 – 2 hours of sunlight per day. Yay, more heat units for the veggies! By Misha

Before - front garden

Veggies growing

Ready to harvest