New Raised Beds

Well I used natural, untreated wood for the beds, and they lasted about 10 years, but the oldest bed rotted away. I liked the wood for the somewhat more natural look and I wonder how much nutrients it actually contributed.

 This spring, I decided to replace them with concrete cubs. I bought this at home depot for about $9 for 39" long curbs.  This was a bit of work, and the body felt it. I also was reluctant to use to much limestone and un-natural products, so I hope it does not shift much over winter. My Garlic planted last fall in the background and a few other challenges, make it delicate work at times.

The best news of it all, is that I removed some of the paths, which were 2.5' wide, replacing them with 1' sq stepping stones. This added over 50 sq feet to the garden and I suddenly had a bit extra to plant in.  After planting my tomatoes, and peppers (about 2 weeks later this year than usual), then Kales, roots, onions, salad etc, I found I had half a bed over, which I planted with about 9 cabbages. My hope is to have more for sauerkraut this year.  This year I am also doing more borecole. With 1 hybrid, bulldog, and 2 heirloom version. I loved this in fall stew and want to see if there other uses I can find for it.

The old beds can be seen here 

Lastly , I had a bit of bad luck on the compost side. I usually buy Mushroom compost from Islington Nurseries, and although it does not come with an organic sign, it is usually just sterilised horse manure and straw. This year I got a load, only to find tar, stones, clay and even plastic in it. I dumped the load and swore never to go back to Islington Nurseries, but then needed alternatives. In the end I settled for alfalfa pellets used mainly as horse feed. at $20 a bag, it is not that badly priced, but does require a bit of a drive to find a feed store. You can see it on the top of the beds. This with my own compost and some peat moss, filled the extra space inm the beds. Lastly I sprinked a few bags of sheep manure compost bought in bags.

The garden is stil pretty messy at the back end, but I am planted by May 24 weekend and eatingt from the grenenhouse. With the rain, and a bit of help, this should be a late, but bumper season.

Springing

Well every year I plan on posting more. The blog started more as a diary of things I had learnt, but the"gap" between out there in the garden and the PC makes it not the ideal medium for recording notes.

One of the ideas I wanted to record was the seasons. Last year was very warm summer and the hot peppers loved it. After a long, consitently cool winter, we emerged to what is turning out to be a late spring. They still forcasting -1 temperatures this weekend at night!

I changed a number of things this season though, its about learning and trying new things and not all went well. Firstly I replaced my starting lights. I was using 3 standard fluorescent shop lights bolted together with cold white tubes. Under these I could fit 4 trays. This year with the greenhouse, I wanted to do less indoors and so bought 3 of these led growlights on sale and  fitted them to cheap Ikea HYLLIS shelf. Much less space and half the power of 3/5 the capacity.  Although the lights drew a bit more than 20watt I dont think they worked as well, but i could be the soil.

Second was the issue with the new starting mix I tried. Organic right?? but it crusted, had damp water retention issues and half my peppers did not start, when planted in it.

The greenhouse though has being a life saver. It has not  dropped below 0 since early March and currently hits the 30's in the day and upper teens at night. Wow. Now if I only had more space. The upper shelves are mostly peppers and Tomatoes, and the lower (shaded) shelves are mostly starting squash,  melon, corn, sunflowers and cucumbers. The bottom beds i planted with some mustard, kale, lettuce and herbs. I got my first salad for Easter dinner.

Lastly the garden has started really bring in the wild life. I am not sure if its the absence of the ducks, or just the attempts to create a permiculture concept of all elements, but the garden is full of critters his year. I cant now kill them, but these two, along with the chipmunks, squirrels, racoons, skunks and birds are going to cause some issues. This rabbit has no fear and let me walk up to 6 feet from it.

Some notes on gear I love

Well it is a beautiful spring day and I want to get outside ASAP, but wanted to share a few things I have learnt on starting seeds

1) Labelling
Far too often I have lost labels and had no idea what type of pepper or tomato plant I have in a pot. I started by cutting up old aluminum blinds. Then realized for as many labels as I needed, why not just buy them.  I just wish I could find more biodegradable options. For trays, I use these now. They fit well in smaller cells and can be firmly inserted. The marker (sharpie) comes off after some time.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-Garden-Plant-Pot-Markers-Plastic-Stake-Tags-Yard-Court-Nursery-Seed-Label-/223211796367?var=&hash=item33f875b78f
Far better for pots etc are the paper and string ties, as they do not come off.  They last the season at least although again the marker does come off. They are also more biodegradable. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/100Pcs-White-Paper-Jewelry-Clothes-Label-Price-Tags-With-Elastic-String-5-3F1BB/192899915102?hash=item2ce9bb1d5e:g:mMYAAOSwxipbNaFQ


2) Ties
I first tried string, then dollar store green plastic plant ties. It became somewhat messy though. I then came across some cheap grafting tape on eBay that is also biodegradable. Its stretchy does not harm the plants and yes, biodegradable
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-Eco-friendly-PE-Biodegradable-Grafting-Tape-Graft-Membrane-Gardening-Bind-Belt-/192595809924?var=&hash=item2cd79ad684
 This is now my standard in the garden for tying op plants to stakes for support etc.

3) Trays
I buy the 10x20  trays now at a hydroponic store. They considerably thicker and last far longer than the big box stores. I always seem short of these. an old hacksaw blade works well in taking plants out of these cells

4) Pots
Tray inserts, I buy also from a hydroponics store.  I like the 6x24 size per tray and start most of my seeds in them. For potting up tomatoes, peppers etc I use dollar store square plastic pots. The larger size usually. These I melt a small hole in the corner and tie the string labels onto them. They generally only last a season, maybe two and I use over a hundred of these each season. I like to add a bit of bone meal to my potting soil when I up-pot.  It seems to keep the plants happy, without needing to then add fertilizers when watering.
Peat pots are used for squash and some other plants that I prefer not to re-pot. These I just plant pot an all into the soil.

5) Soil
I made the mistake this year of trying a new soil. I thought the finer nicer looking organic soil, would work better, but compacted far too much and I had very bad results with my pepper seeds not sprouting.  My standard soil and rely and trust is Pro-Mix BX https://www.pthorticulture.com/en/products/pro-mix-bx-mycorrhizae/
Its can be a bit coarse looking, but seems to stay looser and lighter. It crusts a bit if you not careful though. Its also not really organic etc. Mostly, it does not seem to get as water logged.

6) Planting
My favourite tool for garden work is a Hori Hori knife, hands down. it digs, plants, cuts, weeds and generally does most bent kneeling work. http://www.leevalley.com/en/Garden/page.aspx?p=10504&cat=2,44663,71827&ap=1

I am sure every gardener pics up some habits and has their own preferences. I am also sure I will try a dozen new things in the next year or two and maybe keep one or two. That is why gardening is not something you get right in a season. Do you have some favourites you would like to share?

Started

Well, I always start the season planning on keeping the Blog up to date, then spend more time in the garden and not on the PC. But its the 3rd March and I got to start my planting. Onions, peppers and celeriac all in soil, and then I ran out of space already before I got to tomatoes. With the snow on the ground still, the greenhouse is some time away from being available. Oh well. space is always a challenge.

Whats with this weather

We in the 7th April and had snow on Friday and a high of 2 degrees Celsius expected today.  Frost last night froze the ground and everything is way slower than normal.

Th greenhouse is crammed full and by now I expected the plants to be bigger in the beds, but at lest the temps in there have not dropped below zero in a few weeks. The shelves are lined with seeings waiting for last frost, or for the cold hardy, till bed soil temperature gets to around 10 degrees Celsius. The two large pots in the middle of the floor are my ginger and turmeric pots and as you can see its a little crowded with the extra Ikea shelf and the pots. The kale and mustard in the beds is about 4 weeks old, but growing slowly with the soil temperature at arround 8 degrees. It generally hits the high teens to mid twenties still every afternoon, but nights it can drop down low single digits.

Although for things like tomatoes and peppers, I started them indoors and moved them out.  This year I have some interesting tree and shrub seeds that I am trying, and along with some squash etc, I planted them and left them to sprout when the temperature in the greenhouse naturally attains the right temperature for sprouting. This I hope will allow for any more weird unseasonal delays better than my own planning.

The second half of next week though, looks a little warmer in the forecast and the miracle of spring temps will hopefully allow me to move some of this out, and accelerate the growth inside it.

Its a wild life!

I have a few guests, that I never invited. The first is a cutiest little chipmunk. Well I have only seen one, but my neighbours saw a pair. Last summer I was surprised a how little fruit I got from berry bushes. As it turns out, chippy probably enjoyed it. Now I have holes in the raised beds and compost heap (must have wanted warmth). I love the little guy and its being years since I have seen one in the city, but this digging everywhere has to stop, never mind my berries and whatever.

Second guest is a Bunny. No not the Easter bunny.  Now I am not sure how much is chippy vs Bugs but I scared him a few times while working in the garden. He is beauty, all sleek and shinny and quite large. He is also dug in a burrow under the bath pond.

I love the fact that the local wild life is moving back. This is true permiculture and nothing shows it more than them moving in. The birds and squirrels first, but now bunnies and chippies. Its a small yard and I expected to share, but I think I am going to have relocate these guys/girls.

Xiaomi Aqara Intelligent Smart Home Temperature Humidity Sensor

So now that I have a greenhouse, how can I get warning if temperatures in there drop near freezing?  What if I wanted to have supplementary heat kick in if it nis getting close?

Enter the Xiaomi Aqara Intelligent Smart Home Temperature Humidity Sensor at Can$10 these little guys tell temperature, humidity and barometric pressure Paired with smarthome gateway, I can set alerts when temperature, humidity or barometric pressure hits certs levels (not got alerts for barometric working).

Whats more with a bit more effort, I could use a smart plug to turn on the heat or fan!

I bought 2 sensors and a gateway and after a week, I love it. One sensor is outside and the other inside the greenhouse. The afternoon spike were the heat in the greenhouse kicks in aside, I can now look at the past week temps for both. Generally its 8 degrees warmer in the greenhouse.

With this week being the first with positive nighttime temperatures, I moved some of my pepper and tomato plants to the greenhouse to make some space for new plantings.

Update: the sensor in the greenhouse stopped working, on investigation it was water / humidity issues and a period on the heater vent, had it back working in a day. I am hoping some careful positioning can address this.

Grow light test

Ok not a very fair test... But then its more about my obsession to grow different varieties than anything. This year, I planted 3 cells of each type of pepper and each type of Tomato seed I had (well maybe I skipped a few). I then pot these up once most show first set of true leaves into pots I hope to grow in till I plant them out.

192 watts of Shop lights

When I first started growing from seed in the basement, I started with 1 x 4' shop light and 2 x 20" x 10" trays under the cold white tubes. The next year I found shop lights on sale for $16 and bought 2 more. These I then attached to each other with a metal strip. 4 trays fit comfortably and I had 6 x 32watt a few inches above the plants on and Ikea stainless steal table. 192watts of growing power and my tomatoes and peppers loved them.
Here are 4 trays each with 18 dollar store  (larger ones fit 18 perfectly in a standard tray) square pots for 72 tomato and pepper plants. Whats unique this year is every one of those 72 plants is different variety of tomato or pepper. I hope I have the garden space. Because of the greenhouse, I started things a bit earlier this year in hopes of extending the season and usually these will just be started.

60 Watts LED Grow lights

So what happened to the other 2 plants if I planted 3 cells of each before potting up? Well another 4 trays is on a second table. This table has some new LED lights I bought on ebay from china for $20 a piece (sure he priced them wrong as they $40 on amazon.ca. I cant remember the claim, but they draw 30 watts each for a mega 60 watts or a third of the power the shop light. These "pink" lights don't distribute the light as well, and I have to move the plants around a bit to give them time in the "sweat spot". I only finished potting up this weekend and its still a bit early to tell, but there does not seem to be much of a notable difference.  A few more weeks should tell. Can one third of the power grow them just as well? Are LED's really that much better than 6500k cold white shop lights for seedlings?

The 3rd cell had  a few duds, and I have less than a 4 full trays, but these I have scattered about in windowsills and in the greenhouse. Its a bit cold for them to flourish, but the seem to be happy, although noticeably leggier.

7 weeks till I usually can consider planting out here in the city.

Update: 

After 3 weeks, the plants under the LED's are a little more stretched than those under the fluorescents. Both are lush and green, but the stems are thinner and the space between nodes a bit longer. Noticeably though, their are small unopened flowers on the LED plants - more than the fluorescents. Probably 1 addition 30 watt LED light would make them equal, but use less power (half) and more flowers (possibly earlier fruit?). At $20 the LEDs are clearly the way to go. At Amazon prices (twice if not on sale) perhaps not.