Mid-March Garden

I took some photos a few weeks ago, showing what's going on in my garden (and in my kitchen). Of course this was the year that I really got on the early seeding in indoor flats and just as a few things needed to be hardened off, the snow, sleet, hail and horizontal rains came (and stayed for a week). We seem to be back to rain now, so I'm starting to harden off some oriental greens, lettuce and peas to go into the garden (most under plastic or cloches for a bit yet) by the weekend. Wish me luck! Gardening is always a bit trial and error, but they're only seeds. They can be restarted.



My stalwart rhubarb bed that seems to hang in there every year despite having to deal with the shade and roots from a nearby "hedge" of cedar. I gave them a good mulch of alder leaves this winter and have fed them a few times with manure.



Greenhouse harvest! These radishes were planted last fall and just put on a nice growth spurt. Very tasty; not too woody.



Greens in the greenhouse: arugula and tenderheart (an oriental green, I believe). I have some other small lettuces starting to grow well in the greenhouse as well as mizuna in the garden.



This was the first winter for my little lemon tree. It seemed to survive just fine, despite the cold snaps and the greenhouse being blown apart a few times. I harvest 3 lemons from the tree (which is how many blooms there were on the plant when I bought it). It needs a good fertilize and perhaps a larger pot, but I'm eager to see what it will get up to this year.



I am a firm believer that the biggest challenge we have here is not so much the lack of sun, but the abundance of rain. I usually try to cover beds I'm about to plant with plastic (or glass) for a week or so beforehand. Then, once the seeds or seedlings are in, I also keep the beds covered until I think they are well-established. After that, I keep a close eye on the beds and when excessive rain or wind is on the way, I cover them up for a bit. I also have a small portable cold frame (about 3'x4') that I move around and an old window that I use to cover newly seeded sections of the beds.



Of course the kale is hanging on. This is Lacinato. I'm using most of the kale in juices and green smoothies at the moment as there will be new greens soon! Other plants in the outdoor garden include fava beans and garlic (both planted in the fall and looking well), a few stalwart beets and mizuna.





This year I have done a lot of seeding indoors. It helps that only two of us are at home at the moment, so most of the kitchen table, the sunny window seat and a table downstairs (with my first grow lights) are taken over by seedlings. Here's what I've put in:

leeks, sui choi, artichoke, fennel, broccoli (two varieties), lettuce (two varieties), collards, cauliflower (two varieties), several varieties of flowers (calendula, lupine, cosmos, sweet peas, etc.) I also sprouted peas and fava beans in moist paper towels. This worked very well and all of the sprouted seeds are now in peat pots and I'm hardening off the peas already, with some going in the garden this weekend. (The first batch were planted a few weeks ago in my cold frame.)

Outside, under glass, I have seeded: arugula, corn salad, kale, collard, radishes, carrots (a bit early; but they're only seeds!) and oriental greens (Gai Lan).

Book Your Calendar and Search Your Greenhouse

So I was out rooting around in the garden the other day and thought I'd better take a good look at what was going on in the bottom of the jungle in my little greenhouse. Out appeared two huge cucumbers! That was pretty exciting. I thought I was going to have to wait another month or so.

It's been busy with work, travel, and, yes, the garden so posts have been slight. Still trying to get some broccoli seeds started indoors, but I've probably missed the window. Perhaps if I had Carol McIntyre's winter veggie gardening calendar, I'd be on track! You can order yours now from Trina at OCN. She's only taking pre-orders so let her know now. Price is $16.99 + HST.

Stubbs (Clayoquot) Island Gardens

If you didn't have a chance to get out to Stubbs Island yesterday then there is still time today. I can't recommend this outing enough even for people who couldn't care less about gardens. It is a treat to be able to visit this private island where the community of Clayoquot once sat. (Clayoquot was here long before Tofino existed. It was the first non-native community in the sound.) Don't miss the enormous rhodos on the trail across the island. They were planted by Betty Farmer and Jo Brydges who ran the hotel there for years. (They are also responsible for the rhodos down by the Mini Motel/Armitage Point area by the Crab Dock.) But, of course since you are probably keen on food gardening, you can also go and drool over their beautiful, and very productive, veggie garden. I pine for raised beds such as these.



Such an ingenious, yet quite simple, design. Love the height of the bed and also the flexibility the rolled plastic "walls" give.







And then there's the beautiful little greenhouse...





And they are growing mushrooms, too...



And, of course, there are lots of lovely details to look at in the gardens...





Boats leave the 1st Street Dock beginning at noon and the island is open until 6pm. After that, you'll have to wait until next year!

Recycled Greenhouse

Leah sent over these pictures of the greenhouse she is sharing with Jonathan and Denise. Thanks, Leah. (Come on the rest of you. Don't be shy to send in your pictures.) Here's Leah's description:

The entire greenhouse was built by Jonathan from recycled materials. There are gutters to divert water to a catchment system (not showing yet). Here's the front:



This is the side of the greenhouse beside our bench around the tree. This is where we visualize our garden plans, have lunch or just relax. It's so peaceful to garden in the middle of a forest. there's a big pond beside the garden where we get our water and watch the kingfishers fishing!



Here are a few starts resting in the greenhouse before they're planted out in the big garden. Artichoke, shallot, 3 varieties of onion, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley and celery.

Greenhouse Dreams

Sigh. I have a bad case of greenhouse envy. It even looks as if the window frames are purple. Would look great in my yard, I think!



But, my backyard is now officially a lake, or at least a healthy-sized pond. I should really just let it be the swamp it desires to be. For now though, I'm trying to figure out how I might position a greenhouse without it floating away. I'd love to be able to build a funky one with old windows and recycled wood, but neither me nor the FH are that handy. For those who are, you might want to check out this post, which will show you how to build something like this:



I've been trolling for options on-line, but I'm not sure my pockets are that deep at the moment. Here are a few places I've found: Patio Concepts, Greenhouses 123, BC Greenhouses, and Sliptube Greenhouses. Trina, from Ordinary Corner Nursery in Tofino, has a line on this greenhouse from Sliptube. Here's what Trina said in her newsletter:

"As promised for those that may be interested. we have secured a line on a commercial grade residential greenhouse, in the same styling as our own, this is made from tubing that locks together. the greenhouse is manufactured in BC with 95% of the components out of BC and the rest from North America. It is steel tubing made in Canada so very sturdy. Really the only thing you supply is the manpower to put it up, and the foundation of 6x6's to attach it to the ground, and anchoring it to the ground we may even be able to work a deal to have the builder come and erect one for us, but that will need to be discussed later. Anyway everything is included, frame, plastic, spring lock, door and 1 roll up side it's 8'x15' so definately big enough for home please see attached for more information. one note: the benches inside the greenhouse are not included, so you may style the greenhouse to your specs. If you want more information, just give me a call, the great thing about these are if you have any questions, the answer guy lives in BC. oh yeah pricing. :Landed in Tofino $2000.00 plus taxes let us know asap, as the manufacture date on these cannot start until April, as they are booking out their time to do other jobs, so asap on replies."

If you're keen, get in touch with Trina asap (250.725.4450 or by email: ocn [at] island [dot] net). You can also see a larger version of this greenhouse at Ordinary Corner.

Do you have a greenhouse? Fire over a picture. (Or let me know and I'll come and photograph it. No doubt there are a lot of funky — and functional — greenhouses hiding out in west coast backyards.

For Your Well-Coddled Seedlings

Nikki, a writer colleague and super gardener, has found a great little unit in which to start your seedlings. Check out her idea here, from her blog Dark Creek Chronicles. I have seen these and now just might take another look. At the moment my coffee table is taken over by seedlings so this might be a better choice!

A Little Help from Plastic and Glass

As a planting guide, I tend to follow this planting chart from West Coast Seeds. I was adding a few weeks to the chart to compensate for the cooler temperatures out here but this year I've decided to try sticking closer to the chart, with some help from plastic and glass. We don't have the same warm temperatures as Vancouver and area, but I think that the extreme levels of rain we get can actually do more to inhibit the early spring growth. Seeds just get too wet and the soil super-saturated. So, in combination with trying to raise my soil levels even higher, I've started seeds in my little greenhouse and under plastic tunnels. This is how it's going:



This is a snazzy little cold frame/greenhouse my parents gave me as a birthday gift years ago. We built a garden box the exact size so when it is getting too warm for whatever is inside, we can just lift it off. Right now, I have fava beans, peas and spinach seeded in the greenhouse. On sunny days, I open it up so it doesn't get too warm, but this does help to keep it a little warmer (and dryer) at night. Once things have sprouted, I'll move the frame as these are crops that don't mind some cool weather.



I also rigged up these little tunnels. Before I planted I also added a few inches of soil to these beds as it is a pretty wet area of my yard (the entire neighbourhood drains into our yard — it really aspires to be a swamp and probably was one once). I built the cloche using wire frames (from Lee Valley I believe), old poly we had left over from some painting work, and clothespins. Underneath went fava and peas. This is how it's going:



Again, once the weather warms up a titch and dries out, I'll remove the cover.

As I was trolling the Internet looking for web sites and blogs that specifically talked about gardening in the particular conditions of the wet coast (I didn't find much; thus this blog!), I did find the site Heavy Petal and her post on a square foot garden she just put in. I was curious how planting some of these seeds out here would work in comparison to Vancouver, so I set up a similar garden with one change:



I added an old window I had kicking around, again as much to limit how wet the soil gets as to warm up the temperature slightly. I've seeded spinach, radishes, corn salad, arugula, and a few others that have slipped my mind. I'll let you know how it goes!