First of Many (May 31)

I have already had the pleasure of eating my first strawberry from the garden (might have picked it a bit early, it looked good but not so the taste), and a sugar snap pea from the container planting in the greenhouse (oh, so fresh and tasty!).  And a number of firsts have also occurred over the past week.
 
The first potato flowers!

The first hot pepper!  I did a poor job keeping track of my plants after the first transplant. 

I am pretty sure these are not jalapenos, yet all of my other Hungarian Hot Wax have yellow flowers, and this plant clearly has white flowers. 

I'll have to keep an eye on this one.








  


The first sugar pumpkin - this little guy has been growing for a week or so now.  I have not had the opportunity to pollinate as the male and female flowers never seem to be open at the same time!  I'm still hoping for lots of bees coming into the greenhouse, but haven't seen many anywhere recently. 

I am also wondering if the flower is too dried up, and maybe this will affect the pumpkin from ever growing?  I'm still learning about pollination ... luckily, most of my pumpkins are outside and I should not have to worry so much about it.








 And as I reported my first tomato a few days ago, this isn't a true first, but it is the first black krim.

Potatoes in the Garden (and plant update May 1)

I was reorganizing the greenhouse and found this guy under a rainbarrel.  If anyone knows what kind of frog/toad he is, let me know.  I tried to find a way to identify frogs in Eastern Ontario but couldn't find a good website.

Meanwhile ... it is pretty safe to put potatoes out in the garden at this time, as it will take a few weeks for the plants to really develop.  If there is any chance of frost, it is easy enough to just pile extra soil on top to increase the warmth around the plant.  I had the opportunity yesterday evening to turn over the garden, so it was basically ready for planting.

I've grown potatoes for about 5 or 6 years now and have generally had good luck.  I say "good luck" because I've really never made much effort to prepare the soil properly or do anything other than hill up a bit as the potatoes grew.  So I did some research this year, and it seems fairly common to add bone meal into the soil where the seed potato will be planted to encourage root growth (due to higher levels of phosphorus).  Now, without doing a soil test, I don't really know if I need more phosphorus!!  But I couldn't be bothered to do a soil test, so I just added a little bit of bone meal into each hole.  What the heck!

I dug holes about 8-10" deep (and about a foot apart where the seed potato is dropped), added 2 Tbsp of bone meal, dropped in the seed potato with the sprouts facing upwards, then topped with a few inches of soil. I will continue to pile on soil (or mulch) as the plants grow bigger until such time that they flower.  At that point, I pretty much leave them alone.  As there was only a few inches of soil, I did not want to create an opportunity for rot to set in, so just moistened the soil for now.  Potatoes need water, but don't like to be too wet, so I prefer regular short waterings.

Blue Russian Potatoes - Container in Greenhouse

I planted two rows of blue russians and 1 row of red chieftain (at least I'm pretty sure that's what I bought, I can't seem to recall right now). I was one short of the red variety in its row, so there is a single Kennebec potato as well.  I still have Yukon Gold and more Kennebec to plant, which will join the other potatoes already in containers in the greenhouse.








Many other plants are getting a chance to stretch out their toes as I spent an hour or so transplanting various types.  I still have dozens and dozens of seedlings in and around the house in addition to those already waiting patiently for their turn in the greenhouse.  The weather is showing approximately 10 degrees Celsius as the night temperature for the next week or so and I'll be going full steam each night moving plants into bigger, and in many cases their final, containers.  I realize a frost could still hit this month, so I'll just have to keep an eye on the weather and cover up if that occurs.

Jalapenos

Sweet Peppers (Red and other mixed)

And some of the more challenging transplants have been put aside for another day ...
 

Onion seedlings wrapped around a mystery pepper plant

 

I ran out of pots at one point ... will have to cut them out?

And lots more to go ...
 

Peas and Potatoes in Containers

Peas are a cold weather plant - meaning to say that they germinate well in cold or cool soil and grow well in cool temperatures.  I've never grown peas before, and will be trying them in a container this year.  I've researched various plastic containers for use in vegetable growing and there is much debate.  The most common references I have seen are to avoid plastics 3, 6, and 7.  All of the rubbermaid-type containers I have on hand are a 4.  It's the same type of plastic used in bread bags, for frozen food, and for bags used in compost bins (at least according to this Good Housekeeping web page: The Daily Green).  I certainly don't believe everything I read, but I am willing to take a chance.  Besides, unless you've grown your own vegetables your whole life, it is likely that we have all been slowly absorbing cancer-causing agents through plastic wrap and plastic packaging (either during transportation or for display) at our local grocery stores (as well as microwave ovens, mobile phones and who knows what else)!  So what the heck ...


Step 1: Drill some holes in the bottom for drainage (the first container I prepared was drilled with 1/4" holes; but I switched to a 1/2" drill bit which made it much faster and they are a reasonable size).

Step 2: Add a layer of hay or other mulch (I do this mostly for filler and to help retain water - from what I've read, hay is more dense than straw so should work like other mulches in this aspect).






Step 3: Then I add my pre-moistened soil mix.  I haven't been gardening long enough to develop a particular mix of soil, but I do add in some peat moss to lighten the black earth that I have on hand.  According to articles I've read, peat moss can be acidic, and since peas prefer a more alkaline soil, I've added less than I usually would.  Then the peas are just popped into the soil near the surface, but covered with a sprinkling of soil. 


I've put the container with peas near a trellis so the vines can climb.  The variety is Sugar Ann Snap Peas.








Potatoes prefer a more acidic soil, as do most garden plants.  So for the soil mix here, I used about 40% peat moss to 60% black earth.   I followed the same steps for the potato containers as with the peas - drainage holes, hay, soil mix.  But where I had filled the container near to the top for the peas, I have left the potato containers at a low level. 



The potatoes are planted into the soil, and lightly covered (in fact, the seed potatoes I was using were sprouting well already, so I actually left a bit of the sprouts sticking out from the soil).  As the plants start to grow, I will continue to pile soil up and around the plants (called "hilling").  I might also use hay for hilling as potatoes will grow in many mediums, not just soil.  The potatoes must be covered with something when they begin to grow.  You know how potatoes from the store will turn green after prolonged exposure to light?  Well that happens while they are growing as well and it can be somewhat toxic. So keep hilling up around the plants to ensure the potatoes are covered!


I've only planted a small amount of potatoes for now, and have dozens more to go.  Today I planted a few Russian Blue and a couple of Kennebec.  I also have Yukon Gold and Red Chieftain still chitting in the house. 






I've placed the potato containers with the peas, just to keep them off the ground as the temperature is supposed to be at freezing again tonight.  But at some point well before they are filled with soil, I will need to find a more permanent location as the weight will make the containers difficult to move.

Beets and Carrots in Containers

I've grown beets in pots before, which were great for the greens. But the root bulbs did not get very big.  I didn't mind too much as baby beets are very tender, so I still had plenty of good eats.  But this year, I want to try growing sizable beets in containers in the greenhouse, along with carrots.













 The hungarian hot wax and San Marzano tomato plants that I left out in the greenhouse the past few days have survived (with just below freezing temperatures).  Although there is always a chance of a frost (the temperature will likely dip below freezing several times, even into May), I have decided to start some seeds right in the greenhouse.  I will also start to slowly move some of the sturdier plants to the greenhouse over the next week.




I  haven't been able to order any soil to be delivered, so I can't start using my new raised garden.  In order to get some veggies started, I'm using some of the styrofoam seed flats I picked up last month (see Bargain Gardening Supplies post).  Some lettuce and sunflower seeds were planted in single containers.  I planted Bon Vivant lettuce mix, and Mammoth Russian sunflowers.  For this type of mixed lettuce seed, it is best to plant in containers where you can control the soil. If you grow it in regular garden soil, it can be difficult to tell a lettuce leaf from a weed when there is a variety.


For the root vegetables, I wanted a bit more depth.  I cut out the bottom in order to stack two styrofoam flats on top of each other.  A bit of duct tape should keep them from shifting.  The flats are 4" high each, so considering the bottom of the flat and the soil not quite to the top, there should still be a good 7" for growth.  The straw mat over the carrot seeds is there because the seed packet suggested to cover the seeds for the first few days to assist with germination.

Containers should be OK for these two root veggies: I chose a carrot variety that is stubby (left) - Paris Market Atlas Carrots, and one of the round beet types (right) - Touchstone Gold Beets.

Plant Update - March 24th

I was running out of space, again, so while at Lowe's yesterday purchasing a few tools and gardening supplies, I saw this 4-tiered "mini greenhouse" unit.  It fits perfectly in the solarium area, and the 4 shelves provide far more space than I had previously available.  After only an hour in the window this afternoon the temperature was very high inside, so best to keep it unzipped during the daytime!

This allowed me to move a few more seedlings upstairs that were ready for direct sunlight.  I kind of plopped the little pot of parsley as is into a bigger pot, so it's kind of bunched up in the middle.  But it will spread out a bit as it becomes accustomed to the larger space.

The sage is still tiny, but looking sturdy.  So much better than the miniscule rosemary and thyme that were started at the same time!
 

Tomatoes are awesome - some as tall as 6 inches!  These are the San Marzano plums.

I had more space in the basement "seedling germination area" now to start more plants.

Bargain Gardening Supplies

When I bought the house here, the purchase included a lot of shelves, benches, pots and tools in the greenhouse.  And though there seem to be hundreds of pots (from memory, I'm still not in the greenhouse yet!), most of them are only 3-4" as the greenhouse was used for commercial flowers - flowers tend not to be very big by the time they get sold (actually, I know next to nothing about flowers as this is my first year growing any, so feel free to disregard that statement).

If I want to grow vegetables in containers inside the greenhouse, I need pots that are MUCH bigger.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I have purchased about 50 Sunleaves grow bags - 5 gallon size.  These will mainly be used for the tomatoes, or maybe some of the bigger pepper plants.  But at a buck a piece (on eBay so that includes shipping cost), I don't want to buy more of those, and that is nowhere near enough for the number of plants I am hoping to grow.  So I've been scrounging around thrift stores and searching for free or cheap items on Kijiji.  Here are some of my recent scores just in the past week.

These styrofoam trays were free from someone on Kijiji - she is no longer planning to use her greenhouse so was cleaning out equipment.  By the time I got there this weekend, there were no more free pots left, but no need to be greedy - I still managed to get 30 of these 12" x 12" styrofoam seed starting trays.

I go to thrift stores a lot so have been keeping my eye out for pots, or anything that can be used as pots.  I've found a selection of kitchen bowls that can be converted to pots with some holes drilled in the bottom for drainage.  And the colanders have plenty of drainage already, but I think I can line them with burlap or moss to hold the dirt and some moisture in.  Bowls and colanders were around 50 cents each.  And that nice big pot was discovered just this morning at the Sally Ann for only 50 cents as well!  The baskets will be perfect for harvesting herbs or a few tomatoes or zucchini for lunch.  Oh, and those bales of hay they are sitting on were from last weekend - $2 a bale on Kijiji from a nearby farmer - I wanted some hay for mulching, as its much cheaper than cedar mulch.  I also plan to use pine straw from the 4 acres of pine trees on my property.  The pine needles on the ground look plenty old enough that I'm not worried about the acidity leaching into the soil.

And finally, a few days ago I stopped by Cohen and Cohen in Ottawa and picked up two olive barrels for $17 each.

These can be easily converted into rain barrels, and much cheaper than the usual $100+ that you might pay at a store.  But if I can find someone to help me cut them up as described in this video link below, I might also try potatoes.  Since they formerly contained olives, they are obviously made of food grade materials.

http://heritage-academy.com/potato-project/

The Greenhouse!

My new place has a GINORMOUS greenhouse, or at least I consider it huge as far as personal use goes.  Previous owners at one time had a commercial flower business on the property.  But not the most recent previous owners, whom I suspect were not using it at all.  The electricity doesn't seem to work, so I'll need to get that looked at soon.

There is a lot of work to clean it up, and that certainly won't happen right away.  I plan to take advantage of having the greenhouse, so will grow most of my vegetables in containers, which is not something I've done much of (aside from the odd pepper/tomato plant that I kept on my apartment balconies).  Since containers are so pricy, I am investigating various options.  I have already purchased some sunleaves grow bags, but even those at a buck apiece are adding up.  I expect to have hundreds of plants, so I am definitely considering the plastic/vinyl tote containers.  There is much debate over the use of plastics, so I'm researching as much as I can at this point.  And I also plan to plant directly in the ground of the greenhouse, but much work to be done there - it currently has a gravel floor.