Starting Seeds Indoors
So you’ve started your seeds indoors and are watching them grow. When the seedlings are 2 to 3 inches tall and have several sets of true leaves, its time to move them to deeper containers or individual pots so they have room to grow. Fill the new containers with pre-moistened mix. With the help of a fork thrust to the bottom, lift the seedlings gently from your germinating container. Try to get all the roots and disturb them as little as possible. Make a planting hole in the new container and nestle the seedling into its new home a little deeper than it was originally. If your tomato...
Read MoreSuccession Interplanting
Succession interplanting allows you to double the output of each of your garden beds by pairing up plants that will grow together in close quarters without interfering with each other and then following with a full second crop for fall and winter. It is possible to get as many as four crops per bed in a single growing season. You won’t end up with nice rows of identical plants like you see in magazines, but the esthetic loss is diversity’s gain and it’s not so hard on your soil. There are no tomatoes in this plan. Grow them in a separate bed with plenty of space around them. Some...
Read MoreWhy You Should Weed Your Garden In Winter
Creeping buttercup is my arch enemy… Wily, invasive and very tough to kill, Ranunculus repens is a perennial. It will outlive you unless you kill it. There are plenty of other weeds common in the vegetable gardens of southwestern BC, but you have a unique opportunity now to get the jump on this one. Creeping buttercup can pop up wherever land is cleared and it particularly enjoys soils that stay wet most of the year. In dry conditions, it will set seed from bright yellow flowers. If the earth is waterlogged it sends out above ground runners like a strawberry. When the soil is warm and...
Read MoreThe Best Seed Catalogues
From GardeningLife via Catherine Abbott’s Vegetable Gardening Hints enews Issue 043 Dominion Seed House (Georgetown, ON) Founded in 1928: Offers annuals, perennials and vegetables from seeds, cuttings, bulbs and plants. More than 350 new flowers and vegetables each year. dominion-seed-house.com Agrestal Organic Heritage Seeds (Gormley, ON) Offers more than 400 varieties of certified organic heirloom vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers. Valuable growing techniques and hints. agrestalseeds.com AgroHaitai Ltd. (Hamilton, ON) Oriental vegetable seeds, including leaf vegetables...
Read MoreHow to Store Potatoes for the Winter
How to Store Potatoes for the Winter (from Randy Shore, the Green Man, Vancouver Sun, Aug. 30) Potatoes are a terrific way to store food energy, which goes a long way toward explaining their popularity as a home and commercial crop for the past few centuries. Properly cured potatoes can last many months with no discernible decline in quality, nutrition or flavour. Improperly cured potatoes will turn into a gloppy mess of moulds and smelly rot. You can safely stop watering your potatoes a few weeks before harvest. Wait until the vines have completely withered away and then wait for three...
Read MoreGood-bye to Pesky Fruit Flies
Good-bye to Pesky Fruit Flies Lemongrass essential oil. (obtainable at the Health Food store on Wharf Street.) 10 drops in 2oz. of hot water. Cool, and then pour into a spray bottle and apply where ever you see them. They are so sneaky – you have to keep all fruit in the frig, or well covered as well as any compost items. Note – if you have pot plants, that is likely where the flies are breeding. Last year I had to send my African violets to the garage for several weeks. I sprayed the earth around them several times during the banishment time and then brought them in, one by...
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