Early frost in Ottawa

Cabbage

And the garden
Drunk from a summer's revelry
Wakes uncertain to frost


Cosmos


Prince's plume

I had a wonderful morning watching the frost add its glistening touch to the garden. Before the tender plants blackened and wilted, they were caught frozen but perfect. As the sun swept across the gardens, there was a sound like the faintest bells and the drip, drip as the ice melted.


Sunflowers as if in mourning


Variegated alpine strawberry

Though most of at the frost tender crop had been harvested, I covered some rare root crops that I am trying. The ground was still moist and warm so they were fine. I was intrigued by the dahlias however as frost seem to dance among them: hitting some but not others.


Some of my oca from seed as part of a selection project - both selection for earliness and cultivation tech. Covered by one of my favourite garden tools: the under-the-bed tupperware container.

Litchi tomatoes proved once again that they were tough.


Litchi tomato - not a tomato (though related), not a litchi is mild-frost tolerant.


A few hours after frost flowering and fruiting.

These pumpkins look to me like revellers awaking to face the next day.


Until next year pumpkins.

Last Frost: An exposé

2012 tomato seedlings hanging out in a small greenhouse. That was a warm year.

Now that you are diligently starting seeds, you may have googled last frost date and found that it is in the first week of May! Before you start counting back six weeks, remember this is the AVERAGE last frost date. This means that when all the last frost dates for last fifty years including those that occurred in April and those that occurred in June were averaged out, it gave May 6th as the middle point. This does not mean that we can rely on it as the day after which we can plant out tomatoes. To do that, we have to do a little speculating.

At the beginning of May, the risk for frost is still relatively high but as May fades into June, it drops off quickly to very little chance. Therefore every week waited, is less risky. This might be balanced off of other needs such as growing season, absences from the garden, ability to protect plants under plastic or a winter blanket or a particular microclimate.

Last frost is not 0C

But wait, water freezes at 0C like we were taught at school right? Well, yes, the freezing point of water is 0C however there are a couple complicating factors. Firstly, water is actually at its most dense at 4C. The molecules are then closest together and cannot easily move past each other. They start to arrange themselves into what will be their solid crystalline structure: ice. Unlike most solids, water expands as it freezes. One of the interesting consequences of this is that ice forms and floats on the surface of a pond. Imagine if it didn't!

Secondly, just because the thermometer said 4C on your house, does not mean that little hollow in the yard was not at or below 0C since cold air sinks. Air circulation, humidity and cloud cover all play a part. For example, wind can keep air moving around and prevent it from settling and open skies mean that ground heat may be lost. Also some materials, like metal, cool more quickly meaning you might have frost on your car but not on the ground.

I plant before last frost


Bellis perennis - English Daisy - growing under lights for spring flowers and greens.

But not tomatoes. I plant all sorts of greens, roots and peas even though there is the possibility of last frost. Plants' frost tolerance vary (sometimes even within a particular plant's life cycle) so that though peas can be planted even though there may be dusting of snow in the future - assuming the soil is workable - beans will rot in the ground or die if they sprout. Peas and parsnips are amoung the most frost hardy seedlings I know. Others will take a little cold such as lettuce and carrots though not a heavy frost. And still others are fair weather plants and must only be planted out after chance of frost such as tomatoes and cucumbers.

What this means is that when a seed package says start 4-6 weeks before planting out, they may not be referring to after last frost. Violas, for example, can be planted out when the temperature are still cool. As they need quite a big headstart, you'll be starting those in early winter and planting out in mid-spring!

Knowing what to plant when will keep it from being a one-stop weekend of planting fury in late May as well as extending your season. Another planting of frost hardy greens, for example, can be sowed to mature after first frost in autumn.

Of course, there is frost and there is frost. A light frost above -2C is different from a heavy frost below -4 where the ground freezes and different again if it is a one night thing or continuing for weeks. 

Frost as a helper

'Grow-boxes' are my little mini-greenhouses with frost hardy seedlings.

Many seeds have built in dormancy mechanisms that keep them from germinating until conditions are right for maximum success. This is quite common with wildflowers and trees that have evolved in temperate areas such as around Ottawa. Needing a period of cold before popping roots means they'll germinate in the spring. Some even require oscillating temperatures. If you have some wildflower seeds that you haven't stratified (in the fridge or seeded in the garden in the fall or by wintersowing), then you can try putting them out very early in the spring. The soil will be moist and cold temperatures are probably still in the forecast. You may also have time to moist stratify in the fridge using the baggie method.

Sometimes, plants are started very, very early in order to get them out when it is cold so that you trick them into thinking they have already gone through one complete growing season including winter. This is done to get certain plants to flower the first year when they would normally wait until the second such as globe artichoke or sweet william.

Even a few frost tender plants can be planted out a few weeks early (if you want to risk it), including potatoes. As these are under heavy piles of insulating mulch/dirt, their foliage usually takes a while before it is exposed to the air above so you can put out a few weeks before you are absolutely sure there will be no more frost. 

Thwarting last frost: plasticulture


Inside the grow-boxes above are some seeds and seedlings. Here are some crowded swiss chard in need of a little thinning. Look at the temperature inside. Outside it was about -2C but sunny.

Some people plan on putting out their vegetables under season extension devices such as walls-o-water, cold frames, polytunnels, cloches or beneath floating row covers. These can all help moderate the temperature though they are not fail-safe. I like to use these for plants that are frost tolerant. They won't be killed if temperatures do drop but they may grow faster and experience less stress with their blankies overtop.

If you did plant your tomatoes and think that a frost blanket will not be enough AND you don't have a pile of plants, you can dig them up and replant again later. It's not the best solution but it will save your plants.

When is last frost REALLY?

Litchi tomato or vila-vila, a nightshade with yummy fruit and ouchy spines. It will withstand light frosts when mature (not tried with seedlings)

It varies from year to year. That is the joy of gardening. We are working with nature who is not always so predictable. Generally it is safe to put out tender starts somewhere around the end of May though occasionally I've had to wait until the first week of June. So when calculating when to start seeds, count six weeks back from mid-late May rather than early May. However, if you've given your tomatoes a couple extra weeks head start, it's not a problem. As long as they are in big enough pots, they can wait until the weather warms. If you have really big tomato babies, plant a portion of the stem under ground as they will root along the stem. This is a trick for a sturdy plant. 

I wait to plant out tomatoes around the third week of May and then look at the longterm forecast. The risk of frost drops precipitously as we approach June. If it looks fair, then I'll plant but with the proviso that I might have to cover if the weather takes a sudden turn. Also weather trends can help you determine if it will be a late or early year. Looking at the long-longterm forecast for spring 2014 suggests lower than average temperatures. Stormy, cold weather has been the norm since last fall and it doesn't seem to be letting up. I would probably not even contemplate planting out until near the end of May unless we get a sudden reversal of fortune. 

What kind of planter are you?

1. May is spring:

* Lives in a sheltered place

* Has lots of seeds or plants of frost tender varieties

* Doesn't really care if everything needs replanting

* Gardens in pots that can be moved inside

Will plant at the beginning of May.
Risk Taker

2. Middle May:

* Plants when it's getting warm 

* Lives in the city or a sheltered location, not a frost pocket

* Has to go away on a trip at the end of May (my usual reason)

* Will happily cover if there is frost

Plants when the weather is fine
Optimist

3. Late May:

* May 2-4 weekend is when you plant tomatoes!

* I have to plant. My seedlings are crawling out of their pots!

It's worked for generations!
Traditionalist

4. Beginning of June:

* There is always a late frost (not so)

* These are my precious babies and I'm not risking them.

* Too much work to cover

* I just bought these seedlings. That's okay right?

Plants when danger of frost is a distant memory
Nervous Nelly or Nettle if you prefer

Mid June:

* Oops, I have to plant a garden?
Procrastinator

Right, okay, so just tell me when to plant them!

As I said, gardening, like nature, is a wonder of patterns and variation. If I were to advise someone, I'd say around the long May weekend but that every year is different. Many, many times I've planted out in mid-May with excellent results especially in the city. In the country, I try to wait until around the end of the month as I have a lot more plants than I want to bother to cover. I have seen last frost as early as the end of April and as late as the first week of June. If I had to pin a number on it, I'd say around May 20 but if I had to guess for this year, I'm going with May 31st.

Lastly, the proper wording on seed packets for planting out should be 'after all danger of frost' rather than after last frost.

Happy gardening!

***

Helpful explanation on frost by meterologist
Great document on frost formation and factors

Drought Watch 2012What still no rain?

Prickly gooseberry dried on the bush in the woods.

I suppose this is where the city and the rural diverge, at least at the moment as those in the city are being encouraged to water to prevent a fire hazard where many of us in the country can't. Though I know that city folk have been seeing the signs from ponds and creeks turned into mud holes or mud cracks, box store landscaping dead and the great swathes of dead looking grasses and crispy shrubbery.

Some of you may have had rain over the weekend or yesterday which is AWESOME. We were not one of them though the sky teased and taunted us the entire day with heavy, grey clouds and rumbling thunder. Unfortunately, the two week forecast looks dismally pleasant if you were planning a beach holiday someplace with normal tide lines. I wouldn't go camping: forest fires.

In fact, fire is becoming a serious worry of mine when I look at the state of our forest at the top of the hill. I honestly ache for the trees. Thankfully the graceful giants directly around our house are still looking alive.

All that to say, this blog is officially on drought watch until further notice.

What is drought? 

Simplest definition? A drought is insufficient water in the water cycle. Need more? Okay. So a lack of precipitation possibly combined with high levels of evaporation and lower than normal surface flows cause insufficiency of soil moisture and the eventual depletion of larger water reserves such as major river systems and groundwater. Doughting-out is a top down process. First you turn of the cloud taps which dries out everything else. Its reversal is also top down. Bring down the rain (or snow/hail/sleet) and soil moisture will return to normal, seeping into groundwater and rivers systems. Hurray!

According to the Ottawa Gatineau Watershed Atlas, there are three kinds of drought that are interrelated and can follow each other. When precipitation falls below 75% of normal, it is a Hydrological Drought (they don't mention the period of time required). This combined with a lack of surface flow can lead to a lack of moisture in the top one metre of soil - the root zone of crops, i.e., an Agricultural Drought. A Hydrological Drought is when major surface systems and groundwater are aversely effected.

Ontario's Low Water Response further defines this into levels of drought intensity roughly equating to Level 1 - hmmm, this doesn't look good - moving on to Level II - oh, yeah, the writings on the wall - and Level III - help! More officially, when you get to Level III drought, water supply does not meet demand "...resulting in progressively more severe and widespread socioeconomic effects."

At the moment, they use above ground measurements - precipitation and surface water flow to determine if we are in a drought rather than merely looking at crunchy leaves and fish flopping in a few inches of water. According to the above linked 2010 document, they are working on measurements for groundwater.

So, a Level I drought is when the 3 month precipitation or 18 month levels drop below 80% of average. Or if the river flow levels drops below the lowest average summer flow for a month in the spring or below 70% at any other time. "Hmmm... I think we have a problem."

If a further 2-3 week period (depends on demand) of very little rain - less than 7.6mm - follows, you have entered Level II. Alternatively, if the following three months or 18 month period of precipitation remains between 40% and 60% of average or if surface water flow drops between 50% and 70% during spring or between 30% to 50% below lowest average summer levels at any other time of year you have entered Level II. "The writings on the wall."

"Help!" is defined as continued levels below 40% of normal of precipitation or continued surface water flows below the level II percents. Confused yet?

I'll tell you my observations.


A small tree with leaves curled and dry though still green. Some birches are changing colour early but trees like young maples are just dying. I'm hoping some are just going dormant like the grass.

Pre-level I: Gee, it's kinda dry this year. We haven't had rain for like 2 weeks. I've had to water to establish seedlings.

Level I: The lower forest isn't muddy at all. Strange. And that grass is playing dead. If I don't water, my peppers are going to curl up their roots and die. No bonfires here.

Level II: O.M.G. If the trees in the rocky outcrops aren't dead, they're doing a good job pretending. Woah, the ground covers - both  in the forest and in the garden - are fried. I better just concentrate on saving things in the garden that I can't replace. And keep my nose on smoke alert. Didn't that creek used to have water?

Level III: I'll let you know when I experience it.

Whose experiencing drought?

The trees, the animals, the... okay so here is a map of Southern Ontario last updated July 12, 2012.

Winter Solstice - Light in the Garden

In honour of the days getting longer and the promise of glorious growing ahead, a post on light.

For most veggie growers, light is a big preoccupation. Do you have enough in that hidden corner of the yard that has been given the utilitrian task of raising edibles? Is it the right kind? Is it morally wrong to curse the beautiful shade tree that overhangs most of your yard?

The Canopy

My answers would be why are you hiding your edibles? Yes, you can grow edibles in most sun conditions but they might not be tomatoes - See Edibles for Shade. Trees have surprising benefits, especially if they are located to the north of the garden.

Deciduous trees provide a thick layer of mulch every fall enriched by nutrients their roots have liberated from the subsoil. Members of the walnut family can cause poor growth in many plants but there are those that are resistant to jugalone such as both black raspberry (grows under our 100 tree grove of Black Walnuts) and black elderberry - some others to try. Hopefully you'll be getting edible nuts from the tree too.

Some, like Norway maple in my experience, can create dry, poor soil with their thick mat of feeder roots under and beyond their dripline. If you are going to grow a garden at the base of a tree that lets a good amount of light under its canopy but has poor growth and dry soil under it, think hardy plants like violets (viola odorata: leaves edible in spring, flowers edible) and hostas (young shoots edible) and keep it continually mulched. Over the years, you can probably incorporate more delicate plants as the soil becomes rich. We currently have a 13 acre maple bush on our property covered variously filled with an understory of spring ephemerals like dog's tooth violet (edible but as I understand it a starvation food) and hepatica followed by woodland grasses in sunnier spots and various others like native sweet cicely.

To increase light, you can limb up a tree by cutting off the lowest branches. Do so sparingly not only for the tree but also for your own enjoyement. We had a huge specimen of a Little Leaf Linden in our old front yard (Linden leaves are edible in the spring and their flowers are used to make a honey scented tea though use sparingly as they have medicinal affects) with branches that bowed to the ground. Cutting up on one side made an entrance into an enchanted space filled with bulbs in the spring.

Evergreen trees will create a thick weed/lawn supressent mulch beneath them but they provide year round shelter from the blowing winds and snow. Use these acidifying needles to enrich a bed of blueberries and plants that require a low soil pH. Their branches can also be used to shelter tender plants like some roses (petals are useful and rugged rugosa produces choice hips) and overwintering cabbages.

All trees moderate the climate. Their leaves shed water by transpiration and their structure breaks up howling winds. One interesting affect I've noticed in the spring is that their roots act like heating cables under the soil melting away the snow. Conversly, an area sheltered by trees like where I live now holds onto its insulating snow longer in the winter than the surrounding open farm fields keeping heavy frosts out of the soil and off the dormant plants. In combination, trees mean that the snow melts at a time more auspicious for the understory.


Light's faces

Light dances from Easterly to Westerly across the buildings lighting up nooks and crannies throughout the day. Your house might not neatly line up with the four cardinal directions but the sun will play across its angles in a predictable way throughout the day and across the seasons.

East facing gardens soak up the morning sun, drying morning dew quickly which might help thwart fungal disease. They can be beautifully planted with morning blooming flowers like morning glory. Lots of bolting greens like coriander and asian greens can benefit from shade during the hottest part of the day.

West facing gardens get the hot afternoon sun. Though they are considered less valuable as places for growing vegetables if you have to choose, I had a thriving sunset garden full of currants, jeruselum artichokes, walking onions, daylilies, bellflowers, rhubarb, garlic chives, and much more.

South facing gardens are the goal of most of us northerners. Assuming there are no barriers, they get the most sunlight so are best for the real heat hogs like eggplants, peppers, and sweet potatoes. Because the angle of sunlight in the northern hemisphere tilts toward the south in the winter, such a garden gets the most sun all year round. This can mean fluctuating temperatures which can be determinental to plants if the ground freezes and thaws causing heaving of roots and cracking of trunks. Fruit trees or other flowering / fruiting plants may suffer losses from early flowering followed by late frosts.

If you have south facing garden, why not go all out and create a xeriscape filled with north hardy cacti like prickly pear and dryland flowers like poppy mallow. You could incorporate stone pathes or stone mulch or just place smooth rocks decoratively around. On nice spring days, it will be a place to soak up the sun but you may want to avoid it on the hottest days of the year. See drought tolerant plants for the north.* Alternatively, ring with friendly shrubs to cool it down a bit and plant a tropical inspired garden with cannas (I've heard that at least some have edible tubers - something to explore at a later date) and cardoon (very decorative and edible leaf petioles) for the summer.

North facing gardens are often considered the bane of gardeners with their dark, damp aspect. These will receive the least sun theoretically but they do have their uses. There are plethora of beautiful shade and woodland plants. For choosing edible varieties, look through native edible plant guides. If you live in a place with dry soil like I do, then they are often filled with luscious green growth in areas outside of the deepest shade. Of course in near full shade, these can be ideal spots for growing mushrooms.

Slopes: All the above also applies to slopes only more so. A slope to the south will amplify heat creating a microclimate that behaves as if it is several zones south especially if planted above frost pockets. Similiarly, northern slopes will be slow to warm in the spring.

Boundaries

Just because the sun shines does not mean that it hits the ground. The Urban Forest is filled with not only trees but parking garages, apartment buildings and parked trucks. These light impenetrible barriers are not the same as the shifting light of the deciduous forest but rather create continuous shade. One advantage to these barriers is that they can create sheltered spots. In the eastern side of the house, it can block the predominantly westerly winds or on the southern side of the house, the northern winds are thwarted. Use these sheltered spots to put plants that would have questionable survival if left out in the drying winds or that are pushing zones. The heat of the house will also help keep the ground from freezing as deep. In fact, think of the urban forest as filled with these pockets of insulating hot air.


The most difficult spots can be treated like a north facing garden or the deep forest. Grow hostas (spring shoots are edible) and ferns (ostrich and cinnamon produce edible fiddleheads). Think of it as a glade of rich foliage. Also, try some greens, I had luck with parsley, chives and others in a garden against a north wall. You can paint the wall white to increase the reflected light. Water too can be a useful reflective surface.

Winter's Sun

I'm not sure if it is just me but I find references to creating a winter garden amusing. Images of ice scuptured into flowers come to mind though it is meant to invoke pictures of evergreen foliage and grasses sparkling with frost. The amount of snow we normally get makes a 'winter' garden in the normal sense a little less likely though I did see one straight faced reference to using shadow such as the uniform slats of a picket fence to 'decorate' a snowy garden.

Near the winter solstice, the sun traces its most southerly path. If you are putting in a new garden, know that where the sun falls now may not be where it falls in the height of summer. Imagine an arch across the sky and raise that toward the top to get a sense of where it is more likely to hit during summer. Not only that but shadows are longer in the winter than they are in the summer by many times.

When placing a polytunnel for the winter season, this might be to your advantage. In my old place, the greenhouse was placed beneath a tree to the north of the garden. In the winter, the tree's shadow was behind the greenhouse so it was in full sun whereas in the summer, that area was in dappled shade. I started greens in that moist place which grew to fruition in the full sun of fall and early spring. Having a shaded greenhouse in summer might be useful if your summers are very warm as they can be here so that the plants inside don't overheat (you should always have a way to vent your season extension buildings) but in cloudy cool zones such as near the coast where many heat loving crops like melons are grown 'under glass' you will want to choice something without shadow.

Gardens around here do suffer from being a sorry sight in the months of November before the snow falls and in the long spring after the snow melts sometime in late March until the plants really get going in May. Your salvation in the late fall could be grasses or other plants with decorative seedheads, and evergreens like juniper. Vegetables that come into their own this season are the brassicas such as brussel sprouts, cabbage and asian greens like mustards and some alliums like leeks, especially purple leafed varities. Some flowers like violas and calendula can add colour. Early spring is a time for early risers. Nothing lifts the spirits like the appearance of green spikes from the walking onion, tulips and trilliums (edible shoots but why would you eat such pretty things?)

Summer's Rays

The fact that our summers start with long days which shorten after the summer solstice around June 21st is significant for what we can grow. This day length difference is more dramatic the further north you go. Many plants use the changing daylength to coordinate their flowering and fruitig. When you get a plant from a different region that doesn't flower until days are short, you may not get many days to enjoy their flower and you can forget about fruit or seeds.

You'll notice that some fruits like strawberries and raspberries will be spring bearing, double bearing in the spring and fall or 'day nuetral' or everbearing. Onions too must be selected for their sun preference. In the north, we want long day onions whereas in the south they use short day varieties. In fact, if you can, find out what latitude the onion works best in for the most luck in growing big, heatlhy bulbs.

If you have a hankering for growing a rare tuber from far flung places - like Oca - look for one that has been selected to be more day nuetral or to start flowering/tuber growth/fruiting early. You could try and trick your plant into doing its thing by excluding light in the right amounts.

Solar Input grows Plants

One of the reasons that varieties adapted to coastal regions with their thin sun doled out sparingly through the clouds do well up here in the north is because we can get about the same solar input. The total amount of sun energy hours ripens the crop and is the reason that I am often hunting pepper varieties that do well in England. They often do better here with our blazing sunny summers even though our growing seasons are much shorter. On the other hand, this will not work as well to crops that typically do better in cooler temperatures.

The shifting amount of sunlight does have one obvious effect of relevance to gardeners that like to plan a whole year's harvest. Fall gardens take a bit longer to mature than their the optimistic predictions on the seed package. If I remember correctly, season extension gardening guru Coleman suggests adding two weeks to the Days to Maturity estimate when planning a fall garden.

Bringing us back to the Winter Solstice

One tradition for some gardeners is to wintersow promises of spring on this day. This is a technique to grow plants that can either take the cold or need cold to germinate. Today, on the other hand, I plan on potting up some dwarf cherry tomatoes to see if I can get a little holiday indoor red and green during this season of cold and dark.

***
Jugalone resistant companion planting studies

Path of sunlight at different latitudes - creates a chart

Sunset/sunrise calculator - National Research Council of Canada: where the sun rises and set, the path it follows and the length of shadows. Very interesting.

I was rushed through this post as I am setting up my new computer today (old one is very old) so I'll be back to add pictures, more links and examples (like you needed to read an even longer post!) and check for errors/typos. Feel free to help point out my mistakes!

Planting Out Considerations

Someone asked me, "When do you plant out tomatoes?" I answered then I expanded on that answer then I gave that answer some deep thought (or at least deeper than the shallow rut of habit). There are various considerations when deciding when to seed or transplant.


Hardy, woodland Hablitzia handles light frost as a seedling.

Temperature: Probably the best known is the air temperature or whether or not there will be frost. Most seed packets only give instructions in relationship to either first or last frost. This is important because frost tender plants keel over when touched by ice but following the instructions does not necessarily mean that they will thrive.

Soil temperature is also important for the growth of the plant. You may have noticed that some plants just seem to sit there until the temperatures rise and they they burst into growth. Not all soils warm at the same rate in the spring. Heavy clay soils take longer to warm then light sandy soils. Loamy soils hold moisture so I presume they would moderate the temperature. Besides, that crumbly beautiful loam is something to aspire too.

Topography will effect how your soil warms too. Sunny slopes will warm more quickly than those that slope north. The advantage is quicker thaws but the disadvantage is late frosts killing early blossoms so no fruit. Slight variations in landscape can be used to your advantage. Plant water loving, cool weather crops like most brassicas in the little dips and heat loving, dry tolerant plants like sweet potatoes (they'll grow better if not droughted) on the rises.

Buildings, trees and other barriers to wind, sun and rain will also affect whether or not soils are ready to work.

The point? It may be less stressful for certain plants to hold off a week until heavy soils are warmer. Got sandy soil? You could plant earlier but be wary of late frosts.

Give garlic the jumpstart and plant in the fall.

Weather Patterns: Seasonal drought, rainy periods or cylical flooding obviously will effect planting. One Ottawa application is that with the high water table of spring, planting out carrots a few weeks after hard frost but before last frost date gets good germination. In the height of summer, it can be harder to germinate a fall crop of carrots without help - either daily watering or a germination board.

Of course weather patterns on a large scale include seasons. For example, it is a good idea to plant anything that bolts easily in heat like florence fennel, chinese cabbage in mid-late summer so that it matures in the cool weather of fall.

On the small scale, seed just before rain and transplant under cloudy skies. I should make the weather forecast my homepage as it rules my gardening schedule. Seeding=Wet, Weeding=Sun, or S=W, is the formula I use to let nature help. Of course, weeding heavy clay after a few weeks of drought is pretty much hopeless without a pickax. But in moist spring soils or mulched beds, pulling young weeds in the sun and tossing them roots up will kill them quick (the occasional weed like purslane will just set seed anyhow - good thing it's edible).

The Point? Planting out or seeding when you can expect good soil moisture means less work. Also, don't fight the plant. Some like it hot and some do not.

Red cabbage with its cutworm collar. Started in March, set up in April.

Stage of Growth of Seedling: Have some determinate tomatoes that are in bud but stuck in a pot? I understand your desire to plant them out. At a certain stage, seedlings have to have more space or you run the risk of them flowering prematurely or otherwise having their growth checked or roots damaged. Potting them up may be a better alternative to planting out if the weather is not cooperating. I've been stuck on more than one occasion with bulky brassica or towering tomatoes and frost on the forecast. The former can go in the ground as long as the weather system doesn't fall into wintery patterns for too long but the former has to wait under cover.

Overly small plants often don't transplant well either possibly because of an under developed root system even if they would self seed.

The point? It doesn't always pay to seed early though if you do (and I always do for something), then you may need to plant before conditions are ideal. However, sometimes you win the weather jackpot by planting early. The point again? Why not seed twice a week or two apart.

Half winter sown tomato.

Insect and Disease Pressure: This will depend on what's pest-ering you but waiting a couple weeks after the first wave of carrot rust fly have flown through may lower damage. Some people have to get their tomatoes in the ground early to get a harvest before blight arrives. Hopefully your garden is free of anything serious. Other prevention techniques like providing a diverse habitat to beneficials, breaking up the blocks (or not providing an all you can eat buffet of one kind of plant in one area), rotation, and keeping your soil in good health will mean that even though you have the odd disease or pest, they are not a big problem. That said, some pests are a fact of life for some people and even the best management is not enough. You win some and some get eaten.

The point? Think of your pest like the weather and watch its patterns. Use with Exclusion, Intrusion, Removal and Rotation*

Harvest: If you are harvesting a plant all at once rather than hoping to eat it all summer, then you don't have the pressure to get it out as early as possible. Sauce tomatoes, pickles and canning beans could all fit into this category. Determinate or bush varieties work well for this too as they often fruit all at once. Alternatively, if you really, really, really want some greens early in the season, then try overwintering young plants of spinach or kale for early regrowth is the way to go.

So when do I plant out tomatoes?

Not earlier than May 14 and sometimes as late as the first week of June. Depends on the longterm forecast and the size of my plants. I have predominantly sandy soil in the working gardens on a slight western slope.


* Exclusion, Inclusion, Removal and Rotation: The way the bugs and I live with each other. Exclude them using barriers like row covers, cutworm colours and windbreaks. Include lots of plantings for beneficials like insects, birds and toads that predate or parasitize them. Also include plants that break up scent and sight signals of the pest. Remove - hand pick - pests when you see them. You may also want to remove any weeds that could harbour diseases like viruses or fungi or help overwinter pests. I generally don't because I like the diversity but it's an option if you are running out. Rotation is a more complex issue because it is done on a very microscale in most urban settings. More on this topic another day.

No Snow Day - taking bets

Looking at the apocalyptic pattern of snow/rain/sleet/frogs/ice pellets/fire raining down on us for the next two weeks, it's hard to imagine No Snow Day. We need some sustained above zero/dry/sunny weather without follow up blizzards to melt the frozen land cover.

Normally, and by that I mean 6 out of 7 years, that I have lived in this area, I have had no snow in my garden by April. Really. I'm speaking about the city rather than the outlying areas but they follow shortly afterward. Last year was an anomolously early spring where it felt like Ottawa had been picked up and transported to Windsor but this year the reverse transplantation seems to be in the works. Compared to normal spring (see above for my assessment of normal*), my crystal (snow) ball is telling me that N.S.D. will be sometime in early April this year.

What exactly is No Snow Day? That's when, with the exception of giant parking lot mounds, there is no more snow on the ground. Often we'll get flurries later than that but they're quickly burnt off the ground by the long spring sun. So I'm taking bets.

If you are in the Ottawa area, leave a comment with the day you think that the snow will be gone and if you win, you will get the choice of either a hardcover copy of Rodale Organic Gardening Almanac & Pest-Control Primer, like new (bought second hand) or one of my two copies of Secrets of Plant Propagation, depending on your predilections. Remember, if only you play, you win :)

* I am sure that there was one or many or all springs previous to my moving to Ottawa that fall outside of what I consider normal. I am not disputing this only saying that I have photographic evidence of the last 5 years (on these blogs) and only one had significant snow on the ground in April. If you disagree, that's okay. IF you know better, you should enter the contest cause you'll most likely win! :-D

** Looking forward to more adventures in Rot? The next segment of The Story of Crumbs will be about crumbs (and dryer lint, and vacuum cleaner inards etc...)

Welcome Whiteness

Newsflash: Ottawa Gardener likes snow!


The problem with privacy is you have a looong driveway. The 600ft treed lane that leads to our new rural house.

Around these parts, winter is clearcut: when there is white, there is winter. The white falls, the wind howls and several months pass before the sun rises higher and the freeze is shredded by golden rays creating the rivlets, puddles and streams of the springtime melt. I have lived in climates where winter is dominated by cold, cranky rain or where the minimal snow shifts like sand in the frigid temperatures or where winter never quite takes hold and 20 centimetres of snow is followed by a week above zero. Though we do get our mid-winter thaw, this is really just a little bounce up from the normal minus double digits. It often happens as the path of the sun gets high enough to start the ice sweating even in subzero weather - sometime around winterlude.


A comforter for plants

Though apparently the antithesis of growing, a snow blanketed landscape can also be seen as a comfortable place for plants to wait out the winter. Not only is it stockpiling water (and some nutrients) for the spring soak, but it acts as insulation. Snowflakes jumble together as they fall, leaving spaces which trap insulating air. The windchill might threaten above, but the perennial roots, and dormant seeds, stay cozy beneath.

Overwintering

Hardiness zones are a crude estimate of whether or not a plant can survive in your garden. They are based on the minimum air temperature that a plant can resist before it keels over. However, if you live in a region with reliable snowcover then you might be able to grow more delicate plants than you first thought. I have had various interesting conversations with nursery people about using the snow to extend your zone. The first suggested that hardiness zones were most reliable for woody perennials as they tend to stick up above the snow blanket. Perennials were less predictable. In a well drained spot, you might have all sorts of things growing.

A father of a friend of mine apparently managed to overwinter globe artichokes near Montreal. The region he lived used to get early, consistent, heavy snow fall. This same person moved somewhere with slightly less snow cover and now can't even get parsley to overwinter which amazes me because my parsley seems to be able to withstand sitting in a block of ice. A nursery man, also near Montreal, gets peaches to produce by cutting them close to the ground. This protects the flowerbuds produced on first year wood from the ravages of winter and the fluctuating temperatures of early spring. Various favourite members of the prunus family can be root hardy but suffer from blossom / bud kill in late spring when the temps decide to freefall for a couple of days. This is the reason why some people suggest planting early blooming fruit trees midway on a north facing slopes that warm more slowly in the spring or even planting them on a buried rock.

My own experience is that I have often gotten zone 6 plants to grow well in my urban zone 5a home but not every zone 6 plant will survive. Bronze fennel is a total bust for me but cabbage often overwinters. Of course, whether or not a plant will be vigorous in your garden depends on many factors such as soil type, heat, humidity, rainfall, pH, day length to name a few. Hardy kiwi, often rated to Z. 3 may not fruit because the growing season is not long enough.

The choices would be more limited though if it wasn't for all that shovelling we have to do. So in between the curses as you get on your winter tires, remember to thank the snow.

Still Harvest(ing) Tomatoes Monday

The cross over harvest of both warm and cool crops.

Some of my tomatoes have burst in the irregular fall rains but the plants are still pumping out fruit. I have only now started to see signs of tomato chickenpox though I am not which spotty disease they have.

First Frost Watch 2010

Cloudy skies and wet weather has kept the white death off the tender plants. So far the longterm forecast is calling for more of the same, but any day now, the skies could open and the cold could settle. Some factiods follow:

Average First Frost for Ottawa - often quoted - October 5th

Farmzone - Weather Network - claims that the records for today were -2C and 28C. Last year, we had a frost skimming minimum of 4C

Predictions are for a La Nina winter and to quote wiki "In Canada, La Niña will generally cause a cooler, snowier winter, such as the near record-breaking amounts of snow recorded in the La Niña winter of 2007/2008 in Eastern Canada" According to NAOO, it is not clear how strong it will be. Oh goody.

Harvest Monday - Taste Test Take II

This San Michele cabbage head breezed through our unusually mild winter. I could harvest it but I think I'll let it, and its friends make seeds.

Apparently, this unseasonable spring decided to take a U-turn as soon as the official spring date had passed so after today's possible high of 9C, we are nose diving into forcasts that use the words: Freezing Rain, Possible Flurries and Double Subzero Celcius temperatures. I know spring will return but as I will have to wait, I am going to go outside and see what salad materials I can harvest from the still unfrozen ground.


Orach sprouts up early.

I have baby nodding onions (Allium cernuum) in the ground and decided to take a nibble today. At first, I thought, not much of a strong taste but then a gentle, mild quite pleasant oniony flavour developed after a couple of chews.


Pale yellow crocus half open on this partly cloudy day.

Also in the front garden were crocuses and violas a-bloom. Among them were various bellflowers. I tried two. The first was a small, yellow leafed variety which was not bad but as you can see it would take quite a bit to bulk up a salad and the common Campanula persicifolia (I believe). At first, I thought "tastes green, like grass" but really it was not bad and there was a fair amount of leaf available. Ox-eye daisy never really impresses me when it comes to green so I designate it 'pot herb' until I experiment more. The leaf buds are sometimes pickled as a caper substitute.


Zebra mallow edible but palatable?

After various grassy greens, I popped some Zebra Mallow - Malva sylvestris - into my mouth and though I find its texture a bit tough (preferring the salad version 'curly mallow'), it had a very pleasing sweetness. Oregano was quite good raw or maybe it was in comparison. I was also happy to see that my Celeriac made it through the winter. The early greens shooting up were very yummy, tasting just like the swollen root/stem.


Young salsify sending up grass thin leaves.

I also nibbled on some salsify - Tragopogon porrifolius - which is called 'oyster root' as is Scorzonera. It's leaves are thin, almost grasslike but they are not hairy like its perennial namesake and so the lettucy flavour could be better appreciated. Too bad it didn't produce more abundant spring shoots.

And now I'm going to hide indoor until spring reappears and its pea planting time.

***

Plants for a Future - Bellflowers
Pickled Ox-eye Daisy buds from Forbes Wild Food

Harvest Monday - Spring Taste Test

The unusually warm weather we've been having is that NSD (No Snow Day) is fast approaching. We'll probably get a few flurries before spring really settles in but tomorrow the forecast is calling for an incredible 15C!

So for harvest monday, I did some taste testing of various spring greens as I made a salad.


Corn salad looking lush in March

The bulk was provided by corn salad - Valerianella - also known as lamb's lettuce and it really is a valuable crop right around lambing time. I did not seed these lovely, crunchy, mild tasting leaves as they are reliable self seeders. They have slowly spread outward from the original spot they were sown to cover a good 8 foot wide radius, just enough for plenty of winter and spring salads. Besides being abundant in spring, they are also available in the coldframe all year - yes, you read me right.

To this mild backdrop, I added flavour.

Egyptian onion did not disappoint, providing succulent onion tasting hollow spears. Bloody dock was crisp and slightly sour as expected from a member of the Rumex genus. Sorrel was lemony and chicory was mildly but pleasantly bitter. Horseradish shoots, as always, were an interesting addition with their pleasantly pungent, slippery flavour. And there was a mound of parsley from overwintered plants, tasting just as it should.


Bloody dock opening its decorative red veined leaves.

Surprises in great tastes for spring shoots were Red Valerian - Centranthus ruber - which had an excellent mild, sweet crunchy flavour like the best lettuce and English Daisy - Bellis perennis - whose leaves were almost peppery like arugula. Funnily enough, Plants for a Future had different impressions of the quality of these greens. Maybe it is in the amount of frost they received.

In my so-so category included salad burnet - Sanguisorba minor - whose reputed cucumber taste is always lost on me though I did pick up something vaguely gasoline like. Scorzonera has a nice nutty taste but it is hard to appreciate because the leaves are hairy. Also, Mallow - Malva moschata - is a bit too fiborous for fresh eating in my opinion. I prefer the seedpods.


Salad burnet takes over the brick.

Plants that I did not swallow included yarrow - Achillea millefolium. It had a prickly unpleasant texture which made me spit it out. I think I'll leave it to medicinal uses. Also, creeping sedum was too acrid. I do like Sedum telephium whose succulent leaves were excellent when I had them on a wild weed walk while they were growing under deciduous leaf cover.

That's all for today but enough to full my salad bowl. Lots more plants to nibble on in future days. Welcome back spring, early though it may be!


First flower of spring - winter aconite. I also have a viola almost in full bloom - crazy!

Putting kale through its paces

Picture taken today. Temps are around 0 degrees celcius and somewhat to my surprise, the leaves of this plant perked up. You can see some frost scorch on them nonetheless.

"If you thought that weeks of weather with lows in the minus double digits and wind chills causing a vertigo inducing dip below that, ice storms that coated me in several inches of ice, and weeks with no sun could kill me, then you were WRONG!"

-- says 'Red Cavalier' kale

This is one of a gang of possibly 'perennial' or long lived brassicas that are undergoing winter - Ottawa style - to see who emerges on the other side of the spring melt alive. Of course, just because a plant survives one winter (or half way through one winter) doesn't mean that it is hardy around here. It may mean that we had lots of coozy snow to protect its root system or that we had particularly mild temperatures. A killing year is one with less than average snow fall and lots of cold snaps. So far, I would say that this winter has been average.

Some oldsters who have survived several years are:

Very hard kales like Red Ursa and Dwarf Scotch Curled


This one is 'Red Ursa' kale, a nice cross between Red Russian and White Ursa if memory serves correctly.

Seakale


This is the species, I think. I also have the cultivar 'Lily White.'

Horseradish: I love the vegetable which is good because it's here to stay.


Got the first root from the grocery store, but if you don't feel like spending the couple bucks, contact me in the spring. I have roots for you (as do I supsect anyone else who has grown it before does.)

Upland Cress (Barbarea vulgaris): No picture sorry. I want to try variegated winter cress but it is not supposed to be hardy here. The regular all green variety, on the other hand, is hardier. It may also self sow.

Some others undergoing the 'test'

Walking kale / Chou Daubenton


The one not beheaded by the rabbit. I have a couple others undercover.

9 star broccoli (cauliflower): I don't expect this one to make it.


I've heard not to expect too much from this sprouting 'cauliflower' - seen here as the wavy grey/green leaves next to my youngest. Next year, I am growing it in a polytunnel as well.

Thoughts on brassica suvival:


Chinese heading cabbage resprouting from the crown. This died shortly afterwards I believe.

Large leaves and heads tend to die back, especially if they are above the snow line. I have had some cabbage heads, particularly 'Red Rock Mammoth', overwinter but most of the wrapper leaves were dead. The stem with cabbage and brassica sometimes manages to resprout a head and some leaves and then go on to flower. Plants that resprout from the roots also do better like Seakale. Short open leafed kales can also make it. Of course annuals that reseed such as mustards have carpetted my gardens with babies in the spring.

In warmer climes, many brassicas such as purple sprouting broccoli and overwintering cauliflower all sail through winter to produce crops in the spring. Sources say that they have seen kale that is tree like in proportions in some very mild areas.

***

More on perennial or long lived edible Brassicas

Chou Daubenton on the Perennial Platter

Perennial Cabbages on Homegrown Goodness

Watercress

Welcome Winter

Hoping for a white Xmas? Come on down.

Yup. Ottawa is joining the snow club. The first blizzard hit our parts dumping who knows how much of the white stuff. I commenced my winter exercise and asked my darling eldest (above) to snap a picture of me as what I look like is a big mystery on the web. Not that I am shy but I'm normally the one behind the camera.


Speaking of behind the camera: My well snow-pant-padded deriere.

"Falalala lalala blah."

Jack Frost has been packing his suitcase...

... and if you live in the northern hemisphere then he's heading for a return to a town near you if he hasn't been already.

It's the time of year to hurry up and take in the pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes, basil and other tender plants. Pull up and store those tender ornamentals too such as cannas, dahlias, and glads. If like me, you plant out half hardy herbs like bay larel and rosemary, they should come in soon too though they will live through a couple light frosts. Go, go, go, that white crystalline sheen does not respect busy schedules.


Lettuce in seed with red orach in the background.

Plants know it. Long ago, my corn salad and orach went to seed. Dry beans are rattling in their pods, lettuce and carrots sport their decorative seedhead fringes and my magenta spreen and bietina (type of swiss chard) have their mysterious green spikes that must look all the world like weeds to my neighbours. I self consciously assured the conservative gardening neighbour that I was saving seed from actual vegetables. I think she believed me and told me she didn't look over at my yard anyhow... (No really, she's a lovely lady but I don't blame her as the garden is looking a little bit dishelved at the moment).


Carrots in seed - easy to see that they are related to queen anne's lace also known as wild carrot.

The flow of ripe tomatoes which has been gaining speed for the last couple weeks is slowing down now. I will probably cover a few choose plants with blankets if it looks like we'll get a week or more of nice weather afterwards. As my hubby says, "Tomatoes are the ultimate seasonal fruit. You got to eat them when they taste good because soon they'll just be tasteless ice balls from the supermarket. Not worth it."


Magenta Spreen, a member of the goosefoot family, in seed. Think of it as a supersized lamb's quarters in party dress.

So today I'm going to be busy.

But the gardening season is far from over as my blush savoy cabbage is turning a lovely shade of purple and the kale keeps on pumping out leaves. Perennial onions, that melted in the heat of summer, have renewed vigor, pushing up green spires alongside the chrysanthemums that are in full bud just begining their dazzling show.


Buckwheat in seed. I grow it as a covercrop though of course it make a good grain too.

So when is Jack coming to Ottawa? Weather stations predict possible lows between 2-4C this weekend sometime, possibly even tonight. Anything 4C and lower is a possibility of frost especially in low lying spots as the temperature is read approximately 4 feet off the ground. It will decrease about a degree every foot down so it could be 0C at ground level. Other conditions favourable to frost are still winds and clear skies. And when he comes, you'll be sure that he too will make his complementary visit to "The Hill.*"

---

*The Hill: The rest of the country has a bad habit of calling the government Ottawa. Since not all the residents of Ottawa are employed by the government, it is often referred to as The Hill here since parliament resides on a slight rise in the landscape, cut behind it by a percipitous fall toward the Ottawa river.

Mom and Me and the Squash that ate the Garden!

Every since reading Eliot Coleman's glowing reports on Trombocino squash, which is reputed to produce prolific immature squash to be used like zucchini on its sprawling vines, I've wanted to try it. The texture is supposed to be superior to the more commonly used watery green machines and if left on the vine, it will harden into the C. moschata's typical tan skin housing sweet, orange flesh rather like its more well known sibling, the butternut squash. It apparently also shares the characteristic of having a solid stem making it Squash Borer resistant.

"Step away from the vine mom, it looks hungry."


My mom and her wonderful gulf island garden. See that huge Artichoke flower in one of the raised beds on the left. Yes, I'm jealous.

Last spring, I got my hands on a seed packet that I shared with my mom. Well, weather in Eastern Canada has not exactly been cooperative and vining crops got a sloooooow start what with a short drought in June followed by 40 days and 40 nights of rain in July. August has been slightly less soggy so I'm finally seeing my first female fruit.


Big things start small, I hope.

My mom, on the other hand, living on a Gulf Island off Coastal B.C. (otherwise known as La La happy snowless land) has been having drought. Her crops would have shrivelled and given up months before if it wasn't for the roof collected rain from winter that they store in a cistern. She tells me it has the lovely aroma of decaying vegetable matter that got caught in it as well making for a compost tea when it comes to watering time. Her trombocinos are a far sight more advanced than mine:


Newest fashion accessory for the eco-conscious.

How do they taste mom? Hopefully I'll find out for myself in a week or two... sigh.


Trobocino snake slithering around in the garden mulch.

Spring showers in May

I love going outside on a warm spring day in the gentle rain. Weedlings, even the tap-rooted kind, can be yanked with comparatable ease but best of all, it is the ideal weather for transplanting. No wilting sun or gusty wind during these kind of rainfalls just a root saving soaking.


Celeriac Seedlings tucked into the front bed along with leaf broccoli and some very small chard seedlings.

So today, I took the opportunity to get soaked to the bone and work on my own garden for a change.


My peppers potted along the drive. If cold weather strikes, they can be lugged to the garage for the night. I've also had to rip out some dismal lavender replaced with Seakale - a perennial, edible cabbage relative. These were purchased but I'm happy to announce that the two of my Lily White Seakale that I seeded last year survived the winter. They certainly were shy to raise their heads. I thought they were gonners. I have also seeded some more from seed friends in Europe.


I'm hardly finished, as there is a lush carpet of weedlings/seedlings to sort through looking for the treasures of self sown edibles and beauties, the garden edges to re-cut and mulching to be done in preparation for the dry days of summer.

But not today, I'm now inside with a warm cup of tea.