Adventures in Gardening: Part 1

So much has happened since our last blog- some good, some bad. First of all, Josh built a beautiful ladder for our peas to climb. He fashioned it out of old branches and hemp we had laying around. This will help to maximize our crop by allowing the peas to grow upwards instead of all the plants crowding each other. The other picture is of our tomato and pepper flat. All of the plants are looking great, although we had to construct a hanging light in order to give them the light they need on days we cannot get the plants outside- due to weather or work.

Hmmm...what else is new...? We realized that dogs prefer to be inside fences rather than out, which led us to increase our fencing a little. We added more branches and secured all of the poultry fencing around the base, since apparently our dogs like to enter the garden through the gate- even if that means to tear down the fence. :) But, have no fear- we have reconstructed and perfected the fencing.

So far, we have quite a few plants popping up in the garden. All our lettuce plants have sprouted, along with our carrots, brussell sprouts, radishes, swiss chard, peas, dill, spinach and cilantro. We're happy with the progress, thus far, and hope to see more and more plants coming up due to all this natural watering! We also started some flats with plants to transplant once the roots are established. This is where some of our disappointing news comes into play.



It turns out, those trays get REALLY hot, really fast. This unfortunately led to the demise of some of the seeds we started...We lost: broccoli raab, broccoli romanesco, cabbage and quinoa. We are still hoping for the best with our celery, strawberries and melons- Josh just informed me that one cantaloupe sprouted today! Wahoo- celebration here at the Heald household... We do have some nice looking seedlings of cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, zucchini, spaghetti squash, asian greens and thyme. The picture up top is of some of the seed trays, pre-sprout. I'll update the picture ASAP. We did just put in another seed order, since we obviously don't have enough to do. So, arriving sometime between Friday and Tuesday are: red and green cabbage, romanesco and rapini, okra , rhubarb and tropical (warm weather) lettuce for planting during the summer months. I'm sure we forgot something else- I don't doubt we'll either be placing another order soon or running down to Pickering Feed and Farm to browse the supply.

I think that is all for now- we will try and be more regular with postings- especially since this one was so long! I guess it really is excited to watch things like grass grow....Happy belated Earth Day everyone and happy gardening!

Getting Started!

So here we are!...First post- kinda nervous...oh, where shall I start??

Hoping to upload some more pictures, but here it is- our mini-farm. It has come a LONG way. So, I guess we should start with some background information. This will be our fourth year managing our own vegetable garden. Josh and I (Lauren) both share a feeling of respect for the earth and take full responsibility for our impact to it. So, in our continuous quest towards eventually living our dream of getting 'off the grid', we'll be taking small incremental steps, including producing our own grub!

So far, we have already stocked our far garden (in the picture) to the max. We have directly sowed arugula, miners lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, salad bowl mix, cilantro, carrots, beets, swiss chard, iceberg, radishes, scallions, lentils, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and dill. I must mention, of course, that we already have onions, parsley, oregano, leeks, chives and sage coming up- which you may be able to see from the picture. I know it sounds like a lot already, but just wait until we start planting into the other gardens!...

I guess it's worth mentioning that we are planting all organic, self pollinated seeds and we are using no fertilizer or pesticides on our vegetables or plants. It makes for a lot more weeding, for sure, but I'll take a little dandelion or clover over arsenic any day :)

So, why, you may ask, are we making this totally, boring blog?? Well, our goal is NOT to bore you, of course, but instead to reach out to our families and friends who want to know what is going on in our lives and also to teach a little something to everyone. We hope to share tips and tricks we have learned for not only organic gardening but for living greener, reducing energy and water consumption, and other ways to 'green' up your lives! Hope you all enjoy reading and please feel free to comment! More pictures to come soon- so check back!