Sunberries are small, black berries that are a bit like a tomato. This annual plant is in that same family and needs to be started early indoors. We had such a slow start to the season that I mostly have green berries, but I harvested a handful of black berries for a salad. In a better year, I think this could be a very prolific plant. Read more information about this very cool plant at "Vegetables of Interest". The Chicory is from a few plants I started from seed in early spring. It is a perennial plant that produces very bitter leaves, but the slugs sure loved the leaf ribs. I'll write another post about my experiments producing more edible leaves later on.
This is the same bed we created last October! Tomatoes doing really well, lots of greens, lemon tagetes (edible marigold), sunberry, two honeyberry bushes, some green onions. Hard to believe this was lawn a year ago!
In the fall of 2010, I gave a permaculture workshop at my house that included creating this bed. We sheet mulched part of my yard, choking out the grass with cardboard and layering grass clippings, straw, manure, leaves and other organic matter. Now the bed has a nice cover crop that I will chop down in a week or so. I've already transplanted tomatoes into the bed and they are growing very well. They straw and plants around them keep them protected and moist. Early in spring, I seeded peas, daikon radish and buckwheat into the mulch. Under the straw, the decomposing matter was nice and moist and the worms were having a feast! We've been eating fresh lettuce for a couple of weeks. It grew very fast against the southeast wall in a thingamajig you could call a cold frame - see photo below. It's an old worm bin enclosed on two sides with school bus windows. I made a lid, a frame with row cover attached, for insulation and to keep out sparrows. This juicy Bok Choi has been growing under a row cover tunnel since May 7. I bought the transplants at Rona, a 6-pack for $3. The Swiss Chard is also ready for picking and the Brussels Sprouts are growing well. Last fall, I mulched the bed with straw, which preserves moisture and protects the plants on cold nights. My dear apple tree took a beating this winter. Deep, compacted snow hoisted the local rabbit population to new heights and the result is stripped bark along the major branches. I was very upset and phoned Amanda at Sprout Farms for help. She suggested I paint the damaged areas with some of the Doc Farwell's Grafting Seal I still had in the house from a couple of years ago. Once the snow was gone, Amanda came to create a couple of bridge grafts that will reconnect the damaged area and allow nutrients to flow from the roots to the top of the tree. I'm hopeful, as the tree has leafed out nicely and is blooming well!! I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with my resident White-tailed Jackrabbits. During the long days of winter, a cute bunny enjoys the meager rays of the winter sun and a quiet place in our yard, just below our dining room window. He is never totally asleep and takes off through the neighbourhood when I take out the compost.
Late last spring, as food sources got scarce, one of these rabbits pruned the lower branches of our Evan’s Cherry tree and pretty much mowed down a Romance Series Cherry. I also discovered that someone gnawed the bark of the lower branches on our apple trees. I decided to keep an eye on Peter Rabbit and I placed chicken wire cages around the trees of smaller shrubs. With all the snow we have been getting, I was wondering if my trees would be in trouble and meant to stomp down the snow. Unfortunately, I got sick and forgot about it. Once the weather warmed up and we got some freezing rain, that fluffy snow turned into a perfect step ladder for Pete! He stripped the bark on some of the previously unharmed branches... boy was I angry. Out of the garden with you! But what can I do, I left down my guard and now I have to hope my apple trees can cope. If they die, I guess I can plant some plum trees. As winter turns to spring and spring into summer, White-tailed Jackrabbits feast on the clover in my lawn and stay away from my prized plants. Then I don't mind them and actually like having wildlife in our yard. It’s January and we’re still eating carrots from the garden – stored in the basement since fall!
Kevin’s recording studio takes up most of the space in the basement but a small room for the freezer, a sink and some shelves provide me with a bit of a cold storage for veggies. The room has a window I open on warmer days to try and get the temperature close to 4˚C. Because the cold storage is only indirectly heated, I also have an insulated insert for the window for the really, really cold days, otherwise the potatoes may get too cold. In the fall, I realized I would have too many carrots for the fridge and I was too busy to process and freeze them. The recommended way to store carrots is in damp sand; I did not have any clean sand around, so I decided to risk it and layer the carrots in plastic buckets with loose, fairly dry soil from the garden. I topped off each bucket with a few scrunched up sheets of newspaper to maintain some moisture. I have to admit, some of the very small carrots shriveled up and most of them have started to sprout. The occasional carrot has a soft, rotted spot and some of them taste a bit odd. However, the majority are still crunchy and tasty. Not bad for January! I love the look of the funky window farms sprouting up all over. On a trip to the Evergreen Brick Works in November, I got to admire a live version of a pump-free window farm that some of the staff built. Very impressive! Check it out here: http://ebw.evergreen.ca/blog/entry/window-farms
At home, I have been sprouting seeds in jars or in recycled containers for a while. Most do fairly well without supplemental light. Recently, I wanted to grow some mustard greens and I also picked up a package of Mum’s Arugula. I decided to place the containers on my window ledge, a south facing window. I like things fairly simple and I also like to reuse materials I already have. So I found an old shower curtain rod (the kind that clamps on with a spring inside) and it fits my window perfectly. I also have a SunBlaster light that I use to start seedlings in the spring and I hung it from my curtain rod. Voilà! I can supplement the amount of daylight my plants get and raise the lamp if needed. This system also allows me to use real soil and compost, instead of special hydroponics pellets and liquid fertilizers. |
AuthorClaudia is exploring and sharing permaculture ideas in Edmonton. Categories
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