Winter in our area isn't over yet. The last frost day is still more than two months away. But spring is coming, and with it the next growing season! Since our growing season is so short we get only about 100 frost free days in a row (if it is a good year, that is), we try to make the most of it by ...
Planting
Growing Overwintering Spinach in Cold Climate
Spinach is one of my favourite greens to grow in the garden, for so many reasons. It is the first crop to plant and to harvest in spring, it stays alive over the winter, and it needs no extra space in the garden. In this post we share with you a video that I made in the course of a year. There ...
Transplanting Tomato Plants into the Ground
It is always a very exciting day when my tomato plants can finally go into the ground! I start all the seeds indoors. We grow mainly heirloom tomato varieties. When to plant tomatoes out Tomatoes are a warm weather crop. They do not tolerate frost and do not like cold, wet weather either. To ...
When to Plant What – And Why Not Follow the General Rule
When to plant what? - The answer to that question in our area seems to be very simple: on the May long weekend. This has to do with our last frost day, which is around May 25, and the Canadian Victoria day, a holiday that happens to be around the last frost day. Many gardeners here have followed ...
When to Start Tomatoes Indoors
There is a very simple answer to the question 'When to Start Tomatoes Indoors': it’s written on the seed package. For most tomatoes it is 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost day. To find your last frost date, go to these links if you live in Canada or in the USA. Our last frost day is May 26, ...
Planting a Fall Garden in a Northern Climate
Our growing season is short, and there are many things that we can't grow because of it. To plant a real winter garden, like growers do in the south, might not be possible, but don't give it up altogether. A lot more is possible than you might think. What about planting a fall garden or growing an ...
Growing Food – Carrots
Beautiful, tasty, crunchy, healthy - just a few words that come to mind when I think about carrots. Raw or cooked, sweet or spicy, juiced, fermented, pickled and baked - carrots have so many uses. Carrots are a must have in the garden. During World War II my mom (at that time a child) was ...
How to Deal with Multiple Plants in one Seedling
Seedlings are great for short season gardeners. They help us to extend the growing season up front. Transplanting seedlings can be tricky though. Here is how to deal with multiple plants in one seedling. Do you start your own seedlings from seeds or do you prefer to get them from a ...
Organizing Seeds
As gardeners we have lots and lots of seed packages. Old seeds, new seeds, and empty seed packages. It can be confusing. Some kind of organizing is needed. When organizing seeds you can go from very simple to super fancy. As you know, I am all for simple. Here I share how we do it. Storing seeds in ...
3 Great No Till Gardening Methods
Most green thumbs are really not green but rather black. Yes, success and failure in growing great gardens is mostly in the soil. Great soil = great gardens! What makes soil so great? It is not the soil itself - it is the soil life that is the most important element. - Geoff Lawton When we ...