Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Crop Circles in the Garden - updates

N.S.D. (No Snow Day) has come and gone in this garden and things are progressing fast and furious. I am working on my own garden as well as designing several others. Hopefully implemtation will be soon. I love putting in new garden beds.


The Veggie Garden Face Lift:

I've decided to take my vegetable garden which previously looked like this:

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Last year's veggie patch was all about the wide stripes.

And turn it into something more decorative, ie. circular so now it looks like this.

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Yes, I too used a rope and a stick to make my 'crop circle'

Today, I'm planting some peas, potato onions, and parsnips.

A question for you all, what do I put in the centre of the circle?


An allotment:

I went out and got myself a 30x40ft parcel of land. It's the one in the background. Right now it looks something like a brown, muddy field but hopefully it will transform into a lush edible jungle in a couple of months. We are planning on donating much of the produce to the Grow a Row campaign.

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Gorgeous isn't it? Oh you were looking at what is presently there. No, no gardens only look into the future. Now do you see it?

The Kids Garden:

The front is being redesigned to include this little circular bed which often has a plastic dino living on top. It is planted up with a Josta Berry at the moment but I'm not sure if I'm going to leave that there (the jostaberry - the dino can stay) or plant it somewhere else and choose something else for the centre - a nice contorted redbud that's only borderline hardy here? No, no, it's for the children, the children! Anyhow, they are planting mini pumpkins in this bed this year too. Nearby are several blueberry shrubs and I'll be moving over the alpine strawberry soon. I'd also like to squeeze in another currant bush somewhere?

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Yup, another brown spot. It will be filled with pumpkins, pansies and berries.

We are all impatiently awaiting the arrival of pansies at the nurseries so we can dot them around the garden. They are a favourite of my eldest.

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Introducing my eldest to the family biz. Here she is planting Catawissa tree onions. I have more local gardeners - anyone?

Oh and I transplanted a bunch of old alpine currant, along with a row of young suckers. My neighbours were throwing out there hedge and replacing it with a cedar one. I hope they take so we can yell, "Not past the hedge."


The Container Garden:

Since my neighbours had to buy a lot of cedars they had a lot of pots left over. Big pots. Perfect pots for peppers, etc.. to grow. I plantcycled more than half but the rest are mine, all mine! I have plans. I also got a bunch of huge tupperware containers to grow cukes, cherry toms etc... on my porch for easy pickings (yes, I can walk 10ft into the backyard). I have fantasies of preparing a salad on the porch by just plucking off a cuke and some greens right beside the salad bowl.

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Not the right way to grow vertical but nice pots.

Wintersown
The count so far:

Kale
Lettuce - the red iceburg is big enough to plant into the garden
Edible Chrysanthum
Nodding Onion - Giant Pink (this plant will germinate under any conditions - I swear its container was bone dry).
Bachelor's Button
Leeks
Various weed seeds

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One of these pots contains red iceberg lettuce ready for transplant. First I have to get some cups to put them in and keep out the slugs.

The perennial beds:

As you know, I'm on a mission to remove any plant not pulling its weight. This includes pathetic looking ornamentals, anything I can't eat, or isn't native. I'm adding to this list anything that self seeds itself annoyingly that I can't eat. I've started to get rid of a nice matting bellflower that though technically edible tastes a bit too green, and not that good kind of green. I'm also removing the mountain bluet as its seedlings are a pain to remove and a native sunflower whose latin name I've forgotten for now but its reproductive abilities are impressive.

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Spiral Garden in spring.

Seedlings:

Let's just say that my husband is happily awaiting the day when our guest room no longer looks like a greenhouse.


Spring Cleaning means good trash:

I got this trellis from the curb as well as a cute metal froggy garden decoration which I'm using as a stepping stone.

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I'm giddy, a puzzle with no picture.

I love spring!

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Croci in the garden.

10 comments:

Daphne said...

They call them allotments in Canada too? Usually I don't find a lot of language discrepancies between Canada and the US.

I love your crop circle. Very pretty. I can't change the shape of mine since it has a fence around it.

Dan said...

Wow, the allotment will be fun to watch. Good find!

Aiyana said...

I've always wondered why they were called allotments. Very interesting photos and progress in the garden. BTW, your little girl has beautiful red hair! I have a niece with red hair--the only one in our family--ever!
Aiyana

Ottawa Gardener said...

Daphne: Technically they are called Community Gardens but I've lived in the UK for awhile and got infected with some of their lingo.

Dan: Fun, fun. I love to garden so any more space is always fun :)

Yeah, Aiyana, the red hair was a bit of a surprise on our part too.

Leigh said...

Thanks for the garden tour! You made some great freecycling scores there - excellent urban foraging!

Kathy said...

Ooo! Exciting crop-circle garden! I hope you dug up all those ant homes!

30' x 40' feet is HUGE! Are you doing raised beds or rototilling? Is that at Val's community garden in the east end? There's a similar garden here in Kemptville, called A Giving Garden. I'm trying to find out more about it as I think a lot of the produce is donated. It's nice to know that there's a place for all my extra seedlings to go as I just hate pitching them.

And great score on the pots!

O.I.M said...

wow... you have been busy. how about asparagus or rhubarb for the centre of your circle? or a serviceberry. that would look beautiful. or how about a small fruit tree?
irena

JGH said...

Those circles are going to look great when they're filled in. I like your philosophy about plants that aren't pulling their weight. I have quite a few and need to get ruthless! You've given me some good criteria here.

Rosemary said...

I am impressed with your garden. Crop circles are a great idea. Brings a smile too.

Angela said...

Great blog- I garden and homeschool to in NH. We are a 5b but lately a 5a. What are the nets you have over some of your garden plants in these pics?

Thanks