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Showing posts with the label organic gardening

Growing Yellow Doll Watermelons

  Yellow Doll Melon in its Hammock When I was a child in the 1950s in the Canadian Prairies, I dreamed of growing exotic things in our mundane garden: maybe giant pumpkins or watermelons! We did manage to grow a pretty decent crop of sugar pumpkins one year (we kids hawked them on the highway for 10 cents a pumpkin-- a bargain even in that day).  But the watermelons never flourished. Perhaps for others, but not on our little grain farm.  Fast forward to the 1970s when our kids were of that magical Jack-in-the-Beanstock gardening stage. We grew magnificent zucchinis-- they were so thrilled to have a monster zucchini almost as big and as heavy as they were (not knowing that those monsters are close to inedible, that you have to hack through the rock-hard skin with a pneumatic drill and the seeds would be the size of tums). But no watermelons grew. Fast forward to the current age-- old retired folks living on Vancouver Island with cedar planters high enough that we don't have to be

Granny Gardens: Straw Bed Potatoes!

  Such a surprise today to gently reach under the 6-inch layer of straw in our garden planter box and pull out a perfectly-shaped, flawless little potato! How did that happen? In the Spring when we were getting ready to plant our veggie garden, I brought out a plastic bag with 4 eye-laden spuds in it. Could we plant these? I asked my dear husband.   The punky potatoes in the bag were organic Yukon Golds that we would have eaten, had they not so quickly sprung eyes.  Besides being full of little white googlies, they were also a bit wizened up, not at all attractive as a possible dinner item. We thought about the idea for a couple of minutes and asked ourselves: What if the potatoes whack out and go really deep and have to be dug-- somehow-- out of the planter boxes? That could be an awkward and disabling experience for two old folks like us. So, back to the drawing board (in this case, the Internet), went I. I soon came across a youtube, about someone who had planted potatoes on the top

The Thistle I Eat

  My hunch was that thistles are probably full of nutrients-- chlorophyl for sure-- and that they would be a nutritious, albeit somewhat bitter, addition to a smoothie.  I didn't think that they would be easy eating in a salad or a sandwich (similar to stinging nettles in that respect). And then I ran across this very interesting video by Victoria Boutenko's son Sergei, who was traveling the world and presenting workshops on wild edibles.  I'm pretty impressed with what he has to say.   He mentioned some fruits that he would choose to blend with the thistle.  He also stated that peeling the stem back exposes a tasty stalk that can be chopped and used in salads like celery or cucumber (has the potential to taste like either of these).   Since I also have a fair representation of thistle in my backyard I believe that I will do a little exploring.  If I come up with any really amazing recipes, I will post them here. Some notes on the healing and values of the  Silybum Marianum

Nettles and the Locavar Ideal

  Gathering Stinging Nettles: Tools include scissors, bag, and GLOVES!  (or buy at your local whole foods store) I am at the height of my locavore yearnings right now.  I want to eat only from the abundance of the nearby (within a 100-mile radius). I was originally inspired by the  Dervaes family  in Pasadena who grow 6000 pounds of food on their 1/5 acre property. If, right now, I were to eat only what edibles I could glean from our 1/3 of an acre  and what I have left over in the fridge from last season, we could eat the following: frozen blackberries, rosemary, thyme, chives, kale, grape leaves, oregano, some lettuce, blueberries (soon), parsley, aloe vera (leaves for green smoothies), nettles (yes, my son seeded some), mushrooms, sprouts, and dandelions. I guess there would be other leaves as well. Moving slightly afield, if I were ovo-vegetarian, I’m sure my dear neighbor would sell me some eggs from his free range chickens  (escorted everywhere by their possessive rooster master)

The Power of Flowers

Fragrant Flowers on our Morning Walk (**identified in bottom of post) In my more youthful days of gardening I was all about organic food plants.  As I get older I have begun to enjoy planting and caring for flowers and herbs more. That is not to say that I do not have organic food gardening as a priority!  This year my husband has stepped into the gap in a big way (the 'gap' being my spending less time in the garden).  He has a 5-gallon pail of compost tea burbling away at all times, another pail of comfrey tea brewing under the grape arbor, and is experimenting with strewing agricultural lime in any patch of ground my eyes have fallen upon.   We have just put in  Saskatoon berry bushes, a few Sea Buckthorns, and 3 Sour Cherry trees (or bushes or whatever they will be) as well as the usual assortment of greens (kale, chard, collards, cilantro, parsley, romaine, etc.) and beans and a vast forest of little tomato plants, many donated by kind friends and neighbors. 

Organic Gardening in my Yard and Garden- Early June 2012

The following pictures are of aspects of our front, side and backyard that I have been working in/on.  Today was a splendid point-and-shoot picture-taking day. Ancient Apple Tree with Comfrey and Digitalis at its base attempting to nurse it back to wellness. This almost looks like it could be some cutesy flower box on Pinterest, doesn't it? It's really our deck step with weeds poking through-- shame, shame! Lupins in the sideyard where no one gets to see them-- therefore, do they exist? (next 2 pics also) Our expanded "Kidney garden" in the front... the multi-colored orange bark mulch was recentlly laid down and will, I hope, have more interesting features as time goes on.  Daylilies, catnip, irises, fragrant Asian lilies, lavender, and other stuff grows here.  In the mulched area is a fig  tree (bearing this year we hope) and an infant Azalea I bought last year at Canadian Tire.  It had a nice show of magenta blossoms in the earlier S

The Vermiculture Starts in my Compost Bin

So, this is something I learned last week at the Vermi- culture workshop at the Comox Valley Regional Compost Education Centre : If you have a regular composting bin you don't have to buy your red wigglers!  They live in your backyard! Years ago I bought a pound of red wigglers, a squiggling ball of them in an ice cream pail, from the local Oxfam group in Saskatoon, just around the corner from my then-workplace.  I think it cost $5.  The profits went into programming for youth in the community, one program of which was actually learning to operate a worm farm and to do other forms of composting. I thought that the worms I bought were different from the worms in my garden, a more exotic variety perhaps. Turns out they are the same critter.  And if you want to start your worm colony you only need three things: *the worms *the plastic bin with holes drilled in it and a lid on top *a bed of newspaper and food Use newspaper with vegetable ink print and not the chemical ink

Is Biodynamic Gardening something religious?

I have a son who is well-versed in biodynamic growing... I wanted to pass this blog entry along from www.theorganicgarden.org.uk because they give a pretty good explanation of some of what biodyamic is and isn't: "It is important to understand that biodynamics is a way of gardening or farming. It is not a religion, or a faith, but a proven way of getting higher yields of high quality crops. There is evidence that it works and I suggest the curious look at “The Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar 2009 by Maria Thun and Matthias K. Thun where they will find evidence of ongoing trials. This is the best moon planting calendar and includes details of planting trials. Please note: moon planting is based on ASTRONOMY and NOT astrology as some critics suggest. I have used the above moon planting calendar for many years. I can’t prove whether it works or not in the ’scientific’ sense because I have never done any double blind trials. What I can say is that people have remark

Organic Garden Dream Board

This feed on organic gardening should keep me in sweet dreams all winter until it's time to put in the seedlings here on Vancouver Island in the Spring... What to plant in November 2009 by Aussie Organic Gardening Spring weather has been quite erratic across Australia, and planting will have to be adjusted to suit local microclimates rather than a general climate zone. As the best phase to sow corn in November is from the 26th this year, ... Aussie Organic Gardening - http://aussieorganicgardening.com/