Mustards

I remember when I was about 20 years old, someone I knew discovered mustard and turned half their garden into a mustard farm. I discovered it about 8 years ago and now grow about 6 types.

different mustards going to flower this year

This year's non-typical spring it has flourished but gone to flower already. I usually leave a few plants to go to seed vs buying seed and eat the leaves still as it turns to seed. Like lettuce, its best to just keep planting some fresh seeds. The warmer the weather, the hotter the mustard and I have had some leaves that have had a wasabi overdose effect when eating them. No salad for myself does not have some mustard in it and little is better on a hamburger. In early spring, before peppers and tomatoes, it is my main flavouring garnish. Garnish is a key phrase here, with only 10% to 20% of a salad being mustard or it can become overbearing. I have not cooked it much, preferring to eat it raw, but many cultures consider it like spinach as something usually cooked. I also eat them as greens, and dont use the seed, which seems smaller than typical mustard seed you buy for making mustard.

The two favourites are Japanese Giant Red Mustard Greens and Indian Mustard Amsoi Greens. The frilly ones are great for less impact and the wasabi mustard is a bit more unique flavoured. Although not as cold hardy as kale, they grow here till temperatures drop below -10, extending their season considerably.

Lovage

My Lovage plant after about 5 years

I read that during the middle ages, most gardens had a lovage plant. Yet somehow this plant fell out of favour. It may not be quiet as refined as celery.

It's a stunning easy personal here in Toronto though. It dies down to the ground each year and springs back like rhubarb early in the spring. A massive plant after a few years, I hardly seem to be able to use enough to be noticed. Mine is currently over 7 feet tall and just starting to get a flower. The flowers are yellow and are great attractors. The seeds are apparently used in it Europe as a condiment as well, although I have not as of yet tried them. There are a number of medical uses for the plant and it is even used in making perfumes.
and perhaps the availability of pepper had something to do with its decline. The flavour though is a strong mix of celery and pepper. I usually don't add it to salad,  preferring celery, but have added it to stews and casseroles, where it adds great flavour. I have not yet tried eating the roots.

Sage

This years sage in the garden

Sage is a relatively new plant for me to grow, and it has rapidly become a favourite. As usual, I grew it from seed, but showed my lack of experience. Sage is a perennial in Zone 6 here in Toronto and I found I have a ton of unused seed.

My sage patch you can see last years plant in full flower and tiny this year plants getting established.

Sage has a unique strong flavour. In a spicy salad (one of my favourites) with lots of mustard, arugula (rocket), onion and radishes etc, I like to add a couple of young leaves along with oregano, dill, rosemary and thyme. Small amounts are great giving herby yet strong taste to the salad. In stuffing, stews, and casseroles, it adds a great distinctive flavour, I have really come to enjoy. Last year I dried 2 500ml mason jars of sage to use over winter.
The matt colour off leaves and the stunning blue flowers make it an extremely attractive plant, and a great attractor.

All this and it's a perennial!!!!

Late start

This year is particularly late. With a flower moon this weekend, the cherry and plum and pear trees are in full flower - some 3 weeks after they normally are. With the forcast looking up, I hope to see a significant change over the next 2 weeks as eating from the greenhouse still is not the abundance I am use to.

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.