Forest Garden Update

This year, I can see, that the forest garden is turning a corner. We inherited a homestead orchard containing apples, pears, serviceberry, chokecherry, currants, grapes and plums. It had been tilled and planted up with squash. There was also a tilled veggie patch beside. I have been converting the orchard into a forest garden and the veggie patch into a sunny demonstration garden.


Grape planted with golden garlic (Allium moly), and oregano. Some bread seed poppy (Papaver somniferum) is also making itself at home in the area. 

September 2010, I fall seeded a bunch a lot of plants including good king henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus), nepeta, kale, perennial sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani), bloody dock (rumen sanguineus), alliums, mustards, chicory, parsnips, lupins and much, much more.


Yellow: Zizia aurea and golden alyssum (Aurinia saxatilis) in the distance and goji berry.

Season 2011: Wonderful growing season though I did have quite a few brassica flea beetles mid-summer. Little would I know that was my initiation into what was to be the zoo of flea beetles. Garden was expanded. Paths and beds put in.


Perennial leek 'Oeprei' with little violets (Viola cornuta) as part of the sunny demo bed.

Season 2012: Season started early followed by late frost, once in 100 year drought and hungry pests. Then we added another baby to the family and it finally rained. Garden was messy at best though I did get some produce.


Viola odorata 'bicolor' with English daisy (Bellis perennis) and rhubarb.

Season 2013: Still ansy from 2012 and with a new baby in tow, I try covering the ground with limited success.


A hairless version of Sweet Cicely (Myhrris odorata) beneath an apple tree. On the other side is my tallest Hablitzia and wild ginger (Asarum canadense) too.

Season 2014: Perennials like Blue chives (Allium nutans), buckler leaf sorrel (Rumex scutatus), hablitzia, walking onion, rhubarb, strawberry spinach (Chenopodium capitatum), patience dock and more are really starting to shine. The ground is growing more edibles, beneficials and beauty than it is weeds (which have their edible, beneficial and beautiful side of course). I feel we have turned a corner.


I rather like how Seakale 'Lilywhite' (Crambe maritima) and Blue Alkanet look together. I imagine they'll be even more spectacular in bloom.

I was happy to see good survival of soldier mallow, poppy mallow, monkey flower, and overwintering of roots like turnip, fennel and parsley for seed. Lots of new plants to the garden too like udo (Aralia cordata), Beetroot bellflower (Campanula punctata) and variegated daylily (Hemerocallis sp.). Any plants that don't go in nursery sales this year, will be planted either in propagation beds or in the forest garden proper. The forest is really filling in now!

All of spring's promise...

... and none of summer's reality. It's that crazy wonderful time of year before the snow reveals all that you didn't get done in the fall, before you discovered that you need three times as many carrots and half the pumpkins and before various little tragedies befall your plants.


Some not quite related pictures to pretty up the post: Pepper babies are up and growing

Ah yes, you may have been in a dream state during the depths of winter while combing through seed catalogues but now it's starting to feel real. The red winged blackbird calls, the maple sap is running and the snow is turning into that slushy, dirty cover called early spring. Soon bulbs and overwintered weeds* will appear in the mud.


Albino tomatillo seedlings: not long for this world I suspect.

Or maybe you are like me and underneath the excitement is the recollection of last year's problems. Top of the list is Drought 2012 meaning I am keen to hasten the installation of ponds, trenches and other water direction/collection. Second is The Earwig Plague 2012. I hope that the various poultry I purchased last year have cleaned up most of them but just in case I'm going to let them scratch through the mud for a week or so this warm spring before tidying up the paths that the chickens put asunder. There is also the Ecological Chaos of March Summer 2012 when the mercury shot to plus 20 during sugaring. The snow vanished, the sap threatened to go green and the flea beetles emerged early to decimate all the brassicas babies. This was followed by Late Frost 2012 when plums, cherries and friends were wiped clean of fruit over much of the fruit growing regions of Ontario. Apple and pear growers even suffered losses. Heck, this year has the most notable plant death events that I have experienced yet. Much worse than Leek Moth Invasion 2008 or the Cucumber Curse (ongoing).


Quite obvious IRL, these are my Red Rock Mammoth x San Michel seedlings. On the left are the RRM pod parent seedlings and on the right are the much bigger SM pod parent seedlings. The SM pod seedling show intermediate traits but the RRM show much stronger RRM traits so may not be crossed. Hence the SM babies may be showing hybrid vigour.

Yes, it was a year to remember.

So it is not without some trepidation that I look forward to the growing season. Will the trees on the rocky ledge be alive despite burning up to green crisps in August? Will I be able to eat mustard and kale this year? P.S. I'm building some brassica boxes which are pretty much like you imagine them:  boxes with insect netting to put over flea beetle susceptible plants. Will earwig armies come in the night to eat all the parsnips (etc)? Trapping will commence early this year. I used tuna can traps last year but in order to avoid attracting the darlings (which walk the line between beneficial and pest** by the way), I'll be going with rolled up cardboard.


Prairie smoke and asters share a tray: natives for infilling the old orchard garden and adding a bit of their natural beauty to the demo gardens.

At the same time, I'm excited to begin a new growing year. I am starting a garden related business (anyone have a drawing program I can borrow for my logo that's better than paint?). My demo gardens are filling in with beautiful, useful plants and I have a huge pile of wood mulch, a hoard of fall leaves, bags of green manure seed and a stack of straw - hurray!

Besides this year is going to be awesome right? I will get soccer ball sized cauliflower, enough tomato sauce to feed the extended family and just enough rain.


Two varieties of Taraxacum - red leafed and pink flowered - for the dandelion garden and some Mexican Shell flower.


*Ah weeds. Though you could argue that exotic invasives are troublesome enough to spit the curse weed at them, I try to feel wonder for prolific ground covers instead (before smothering, burning, cutting or yanking them out of course. I'm all for good stewardship).

**Pest is unfair too. Sure some bugs annoy me what with their inability to share but mostly I like earwigs. I think the hungry hoards removed every other insect pest from the garden temporarily (the flea beetles preceded them).

***

In other news, the Edible Ottawa Garden Group's next meeting Gardening small in the Urban Sprawl will be April 10 at 6:30 at the Hazeldean Public Library.

We'll also be holding a pre-meeting meeting at 5:30pm about trying to get the concept of a Seed Library off the ground or any other projects people want to put forward.

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:


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.


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.


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?


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.


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.


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


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.


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.


I'm giddy, a puzzle with no picture.

I love spring!


Croci in the garden.

The White Death - too tender for frost

Tomatoes before the fall. They were not trellised this year as I was gone for most of the season but the vines stretch at least 6-8 feet.

I decided to give a mercy killing to my tomatoes today as it calls for frost tonight. I chopped off their mighty vines and yanked out there firmly grasping roots. My Chiapas Wild tomatoes tumbled to the ground where they will undoubtedly reseed lots of Chiapitas in the spring.


Spilt tomato progeny. It just occurred to me that I should save some more seed with these fallen ripe ones.

What was really interesting for me was their roots. I have always been amazed at how tomato roots tend to grow laterally, just undernearth the surface of the soil, but this time I was amazed at a difference. The Chiapas Wild tomato had huge, tenacious roots to match the massive size of the 6 foot sprawling vines I imagine. The more demure and more cultivated varieties had much smaller root systems.


The left is a cultivated variety like brandywine or black plum. I don't remember but they all had similiarly smaller root systems. The right is the mighty chiapis wild.

***

More on Chiapas Wild Tomato

Question: Is it wild?
Answer: Apparently, it is a wild progenetor of the modern cultivated tomato

Question: Is it disease resistant?
Answer: They say yes. All I can say is that it didn't seem that bothered by foliar disease in my garden.

Question: Did you like these tomatoes?
Answer: These are the perfect kid tomato. There are tonnes of very small, intensily sweet tomatoes. They are also very good whole in salads.

Question: What did you not like about these tomatoes?
Answer: Whoever said that they had 5 foot vines and didn't ramble (I also would call them red rather than orange?) was not growing my seed out. It had huge vines that should have been trained. They also tend to drop there tomatoes much like ground cherries when ripe. This is fine as long as you collect them. They'll stay fresh for quite a while. They also hold onto their stems unlike other currant sized tomatoes.

Question: Worth growing.
Answer: You bet.