chatter; gardens

Chatter .... 

Well - for some reason I cannot edit the posts from Nov 2 through to mid-January. I'm not sure why, but this platform here changed the font and font size on those posts. I did take the time consuming task of going back to edit each post... and made it worse somehow. lol 

I wanted to let you all know that I have tried and I do apologize for the weird problem. I have connected to Google to ask them about this but, well you know how that goes. Wait. Wait some more. Try to connect again. Wait. lol

Have you started to order seeds for your gardening areas yet? Now is the time to do so. In fact, those of you who want to try their hands at flower baskets - you'll want to have started those seeds now. Most other seeds are not planted in pots under lights until 2-8 weeks prior to the last expected frost in your area. For us, that is just before or around the last weekend in May. Just a few hours to the west of us though we saw frosts as late as June 1st. Technically part of the same zone, but elevation and proximity to warming fixtures like buildings, black top roads, bodies of water, wind direction... these all play a role in your garden's first and last frost dates. Your garden, too, will have its own micro-climate zone going on... you may have noticed areas that have more moisture than others, places that get more sun than others, spots that are near fences or under trees or surrounded by rock... these all have their own little micro-climate that you get to play with. 

This year I have 7 raised 3.5 X 14 ' garden beds to work with, but 2 of those have raspberries and strawberries in them. The strawberries are heading into their 3rd year so last year we let the runners root (rather than trimming them out). So this spring I'll have to transplant those out into a new strawberry bed (where they will remain for 3 years of fruiting). Those transplants won't likely produce fruit, so the "mother" plants will remain in place in order to continue getting those nummy berries. The bed that  has the transplants is not totally unproductive however, there is a lot of space between those little plants and so we'll put in tall narrow things like leaks and bulb onions in there. With 3 of our 7 beds occupied, I'll really only be planting in 4 of them this year so I plan on  planting intensively, using succession crops. Not sure yet if we'll choose to grow potatoes. ...I'll also, of course, have select spots in the landscaping to work with growing a few annual edibles. Speaking of landscaping, we are going to put in the landscape bed along the front of the house up to the front steps. There are a few plants there I want to keep so I'll be placing them temporarily elsewhere until the work is done. How Exciting!!! But wait... slow down girl... there's still snow out there! lol 

Do let me know if you have gardening questions... and in the meantime here are some resources for you:

Essentials of Seed Growing on Market Gardens: Crop Planning and On-Farm Selection
Thursday January 28, 2016
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
OMAFRA, 1 Stone Road, Guelph ON

8th Organic Seed Growers Conference
February 3-6, 2016
Corvallis, Oregon
Check the conference web site for amazing Canadian content!

Check out the Seedy Saturday (seed exchanges) in your area… here are a few coming up in Canada:

Creston, BC - Feb 7

SS Island, BC - Feb 13

Winnipeg, ON - Feb 13

Bridgewater, BC - Feb 20

Kitchener, BC - Feb 20

Ladner, BC - Feb 20

Penticton, BC - Feb 20

Victoria, BC - Feb 20

Wingham, ON - Feb 20

Musquodoboit Harbour, BC – Feb 21

Award-winning authors Dave & Lillian Brummet:

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