pepper care!

from the "all new encyclopedia of organic gardening"

transplanting
-space at least 2 feet apart
-stake if plot is exposed to winds (stake BEFORE transplanting to avoid damaging roots)
-protect young plants with hotcaps if it gets chilly/rainy (homemade hotcaps can be made from big plastic bottles with the bottom cut out, placed over top of the plant, and pushed into the ground)

cultivating care
-spread a thick but light mulch (straw or grass clippings) around plants to encourage evenly moist soil
-water deeply during dry spells (lack of water produces bitter tasting peppers)
-fertilizing usually isn't necessary, but if leaves are pale or growth is slow, feed with manure tea

post by emma

tomato care!

from the "All New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening"

transplanting:
-make the planting holes larger than normal for each seedling; cover the bottom of the hold with several inches of mixed compost and a handful of bonemeal. for magnesium, which promotes plant vitality and productivity, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of epsom salts into each hole
-disturb the soil around the seedling roots as litle as possible when you set them in contact with compost
-set transplant so the lowest set of leaves is at soil level; fill the hole with a mixture of compost and soil (strip off leaves on part of the stem that will be buried - many growers claim this planting method produces higher yields)

staking vs. sprawling
I checked out tomato cage prices, and they look expensive (1.99-5.69 each). However, the book had this to say about sprawling:

"Letting plants sprawl involves less work, and the vines often produce higher yields. They do, however, consume more garden space. Unless protected by a very thick mulch, the plants and fruits are also more subject to insects and diseases from contact with the soil."

cultivating care

-soaking is better than sprinkling - tomato plants prefer 1 inch of water a week than several light waterings
-avoid wetting the leaves! this makes them more prone to diseases (take note of this particularly if we're gonna let them sprawl)
-feed with liquid seaweed, side-dress with compost and feed with manure tea (more on that yummy sounding concoction above)

post by emma

spreading compost/staking the beds

Here are some pictures from the morning shift of our planting day.
big pile of manurey compost, courtesy of Curtis!

John and Emma dividing up the seeds into bags for the afternoon shift to plant.

See Lukas run. See Lukas run and play. (also...note the insane amount of dandelions)

Fully staked! But still seedless.

More reflections on chickling vetch... or a lack thereof

So, funny story about chickling vetch. Emma was the one who introduced us to the fact that there even was such a thing. When we're out buying seeds at the Ontario Seed Company (OSC), she asks one of the clerks about chickling vetch, and the woman tells her that she doesn't even know what that is. Meanwhile, John and I are laughing hysterically behind the shelves of seed packets, since it totally sounds like Emma has completely made this all up. (Yes, I know I found a picture of it online... maybe she planted that. Ha. Planted, get it?) ANYWAY, so we end up getting fall rye, which is apparantly another kind of green manure that will work just as well.

However, our fall rye has not yet made an appearance, sadly. The bed where it was planted contains only weeds and more weeds. But on closer inspection, one can see the little seeds of fall rye just sitting on the surface of the ground. I don't know who planted it, but whoever you are, you know who you are - you can't just scatter seeds on top of the ground! It doesn't work!Although I have to admit, the idea is appealing. It brings to mind a picture of a farmer with a sack of seeds tied around his waist, scattering them to the four winds as he walks down the rows.

So, now we know. This garden is definitely a learning garden. One of us (who shall forever remain nameless) learned the hard way that the entire garden hasn't been planted yet when she carefully watered all of the patches of dry ground that didn't have any seeds in them. We're learning how fast weeds grow, how dry the ground can get when it doesn't rain, and how exciting it is to see something that you've planted pushing its way through the soil. We're also learning that people are busy, that having a garden in our backyard instead of the outskirts of Kitchener would be infinitely more convenient, and how dependent we are on vehicles as much as we'd like to bike everywhere all the time. But we're also finding out that people will make time to follow through on a commitment, that maybe sometimes it's good to not have everything come so easily, and that we can be quite creative with the transportation that we do have (tomato cages in milk crates attached to bikes with hose clamps....)

Oh, right. Tomato cages - I need to learn more about those.

-Mimi

Update from the front lines

(written on Monday evening)
I just got back from the garden and this is what I have to report in the battle against dryness: our garden is pretty dry. But so is everyone else's. I spent over 2 hours thoroughly dousing everything that we've planted thus far. I think it should be good for a couple days. I really think we should try to have a sign up for people to go water every couple days. And in pairs, it gets kind of long and lonely when you're by yourself.
Good news! Our onions are coming up marvelously. Question about those: are they just planted along the long sides of the garden? Or the short ones too? (I didn't see any coming up along the short sides.) Other things that are apparent: teeny weeny little lettuces, and what I think are nasturtiums. Ahhhh! So exciting! They just made my day.
Bad news: we need major weed patrol. The weeds are by far and away growing the best out of anything in our garden. It's amazing how they can sprout up so fast.
So: we need to get a bunch of us out soon to weed, and to plant our transplants. The frost danger is officially over (supposedly), which was confirmed for me by Desmond, a new gardening buddy I met today. So we have a bunch of tomato and pepper transplants that are ready to plant.

*Update on the update*: It rained last night. Yay! It's supposed to rain more. Yay!

- Mimi

Planning Meeting

meeting notes:

- its supposed to rain this week so that will be good!
- weed saturday! after all the rain it will be easier. that day we can also plant the transplants.
- matt can drive out the transplants thursday with mimi and maybe emma, and then we can bike out saturday and plant them and weed.

saturday work plan:
- first weed beds where the transplants will go
- plant transplants in those beds
- get tomato baskets (emma will price them, and get them for thursday)
- weed paths
- weed sprawl fest (we'll plant those transplants in a month)
- WATER as needed
- label the stakes

things we need for saturday
- shovel, hoe, spades, wedder claws

homework for saturday:
-everyone explore stake and cage options for tomato plants thursday
- get ahold of curtis to see if he can come saturday (with his truck and tools!)
- blog more. email mimi.hj [at] gmail [dot] com if you want the password to post.

watering schedule:
- thursdays- emma and mimi
- monday or tuesdays- jess and friend
- saturday- angie (?) and leena sometimes
- john! when he comes back from israel!

planting day photos, numero 2

dane, the cheerfullest gardener i've ever seen, raking a bed to plant with cilantro

did you now that's what spinach comes from? they are kind of cone/triangle shapes

mimi, ready for anything in those rubber boots!