Beautiful! Emerged today.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Worm Compost Harvest:Step 8
Worms are added to fresh bedding and fed, and the process begins again, to be repeated every 4 months.
Worm Compost Harvest:Step 6
You have finished vermicompost, which is left to "season" for a few days/weeks before going back onto the garden.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Meyer Lemon
Fingers crossed it will survive! These are apparently fairly hardy and with the right conditions will yield two crops of orangey-lemons (cross between a lemon and mandarin orange).
Patio wall
Lemon Verbena, Meyer lemon tree, herb wall, and passionfruit vine. One of the sunniest spots in the yard.
new veggie beds
I think my next step is to build raised beds. The native soil is too poor and I keep pulling the hose over everything when watering.
Slug fence
Copper mesh to keep slugs away - so far it is working! Lettuce transplants from the farmer's market, and spinach from seed (finally starting to do okay - planted in February!)
Kiwi
Slowly starting to climb its trellis. The neighbours have a huge pair that is taking over their deck and flowering like crazy.
Carrot bucket
Growing them in a bucket means they can be moved, there are fewer pests, and they don't hit rocks which make them bend.
Corn
On a whim, I thought I'd try growing corn in a container. People have done it, but with much more light than I. It's a long shot, but fun to try anyways.
Little leeks
These poor little guys get so little light - I planted them in March or so, and they're only this big. Don't know if I'll have leeks for the winter! I think I'll have to start them indoors, along with most things. Live and learn!
Aphid farm
Normally I like farmers, but the ants have taken to farming aphids on my raspberries and apple tree. I've banded the apple tree and keep spraying them off with water, but the raspberries are something else. Anyone have any ideas?
Shiitake log
I mail-ordered this mushroom-impregnated log from Winnipeg. It's supposed to grow mushrooms, but nothing yet. I think it's too dry.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Veggie Beds
I moved the rhodo and viburnums from in front of the house windows here. raked off all the bark mulch, and double-dug some beds and added compost and manure. Have planted kale, lettuces, mustard, radishes, spinach, peas and bokchoi. Near the house is challenging due to lime leaching and moisture issues, but I think it will be workable.
Espalliered Apple
I hope this apple will someday bear fruit, but it is hard to find somewhere in the yard with enough sunlight - we shall see. It's got Gravenstein, Macintosh, Spartan, and Gala branches all grafted together.
Raspberries
Planted early spring, taken from Ben's parents house - hopefully they will live on here. Lots of new leaves are a good sign.
Arctic Kiwi
Planted this spring. Smaller cousin of the furry fruit we see in grocery stores. Supposedly very vigorous. The neighbours have one taking over their house, so hopefully it will take off soon!
Rain Barrel
This was last weekend's project. The City of Vancouver subsidizes these barrels for residents. Scariest part was cutting the downspout! The rains the past few days have it slowly filling up.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Welcome to my new garden blog!
Hi all,
I've turned my former travel blog into a chronicle of my attempts to transform my urban backyard garden into a productive permaculture garden. As of late, I've become a garden nut, spending every spare minute that I am at home with daylight planning, planting and propagating.
We moved into this house in November, and the first project was to install a composter. The city subsidizes these for residents, so I promptly installed one in the corner of the yard under the Japanese maple tree. Five months later, it's working well, and absorbing all our biodegradable waste without seeming to fill up much. I still have a worm bin as well, so have no problems handling all we can produce.
The next job was to remove two rows of hedging cedars which weren't contributing a lot to the yard, just taking up space and blocking light. Ben did this while I was out of town for work. I came home and voila - no cedars! Thanks to Sara F. for giving them a good home.
Next major project was to move a number of viburnums and a rhodo from in front of the house windows. This is the only really sunny area of the yard and thus prime real estate for veggie beds. The shrubs got moved to other places in the yard (shadier locations), and I dug out turf, added sea soil and manure, and edged with the bricks I already had. I tried to create a version of the permaculture "keyhole" bed, which enables the gardener to manage the entire bed at arm's length. Still debating if I'll need to make these raised beds eventually - we shall see how this season goes, then decide.
Once set up, I planted radishes, peas, mesculun greens, pac choi, kale (that I had overwintered), and spinach. All but the peas have come up. Unfortunately, the slugs seem to have a taste for radish. I installed some beer traps, and have caught one in the last week. Maybe the sole culprit? I recently planted some mustard greens and corn salad (Mache), and another round of peas, as the first ones didn't germinate being too close to the house with not enough moisture. Everything else is up, but going slowly due to the cold start to spring.
I also trellised (with Ben's help) the espalliered apple tree that came with the yard. It's hard to find a place with enough light, but I think its current home between the garage and fence is the best bet, unfortunately. Hope I get some fruit! It has spartan, gala, macintosh, and gravenstein grafts on it, so it would be amazing if it produced this year.
I've also been planting a number of perennials. A hardy kiwi will grow up the arbour along the westernmost fence, I hope. It will have to compete with overhanging fruit trees and a trailing rose, so we'll see how it does. Also planted a blueberry, so I'm excited for fall! Raspberries from Ben's parent's old house were planted, and they've all got leaves. Hurrah! Also found a couple canes abandoned in the mud in the yard, so moved them and they seem happy too. Got a rhubarb as well, which has another leaf coming since planting.
I finally made it out to pick up a rain barrel from the city's transfer station (they subsidize the cost), so installing that with the necessary diverter piping will be this weekend's project.
Tonight I just started some tomatoes (2 varieties), cucumbers, and peppers in my propagator inside - I hope it's warm enough for them to germinate! We have radiant floors, but don't keep the heat turned up all that high, so I'll have to see what I can do. I might cave in and pickup a heated mat from Lee Valley to speed things along.
Phew! That's just an overview of the past five months. I'll try to post some photos soon so you can actually see what I'm talking about. From now on I should be updating more frequently, so you won't have to read as much.
Would love comments, ideas, hints and tips from you experienced gardeners out there, and from those I haven't heard from in a while!
Till next post,
-K
I've turned my former travel blog into a chronicle of my attempts to transform my urban backyard garden into a productive permaculture garden. As of late, I've become a garden nut, spending every spare minute that I am at home with daylight planning, planting and propagating.
We moved into this house in November, and the first project was to install a composter. The city subsidizes these for residents, so I promptly installed one in the corner of the yard under the Japanese maple tree. Five months later, it's working well, and absorbing all our biodegradable waste without seeming to fill up much. I still have a worm bin as well, so have no problems handling all we can produce.
The next job was to remove two rows of hedging cedars which weren't contributing a lot to the yard, just taking up space and blocking light. Ben did this while I was out of town for work. I came home and voila - no cedars! Thanks to Sara F. for giving them a good home.
Next major project was to move a number of viburnums and a rhodo from in front of the house windows. This is the only really sunny area of the yard and thus prime real estate for veggie beds. The shrubs got moved to other places in the yard (shadier locations), and I dug out turf, added sea soil and manure, and edged with the bricks I already had. I tried to create a version of the permaculture "keyhole" bed, which enables the gardener to manage the entire bed at arm's length. Still debating if I'll need to make these raised beds eventually - we shall see how this season goes, then decide.
Once set up, I planted radishes, peas, mesculun greens, pac choi, kale (that I had overwintered), and spinach. All but the peas have come up. Unfortunately, the slugs seem to have a taste for radish. I installed some beer traps, and have caught one in the last week. Maybe the sole culprit? I recently planted some mustard greens and corn salad (Mache), and another round of peas, as the first ones didn't germinate being too close to the house with not enough moisture. Everything else is up, but going slowly due to the cold start to spring.
I also trellised (with Ben's help) the espalliered apple tree that came with the yard. It's hard to find a place with enough light, but I think its current home between the garage and fence is the best bet, unfortunately. Hope I get some fruit! It has spartan, gala, macintosh, and gravenstein grafts on it, so it would be amazing if it produced this year.
I've also been planting a number of perennials. A hardy kiwi will grow up the arbour along the westernmost fence, I hope. It will have to compete with overhanging fruit trees and a trailing rose, so we'll see how it does. Also planted a blueberry, so I'm excited for fall! Raspberries from Ben's parent's old house were planted, and they've all got leaves. Hurrah! Also found a couple canes abandoned in the mud in the yard, so moved them and they seem happy too. Got a rhubarb as well, which has another leaf coming since planting.
I finally made it out to pick up a rain barrel from the city's transfer station (they subsidize the cost), so installing that with the necessary diverter piping will be this weekend's project.
Tonight I just started some tomatoes (2 varieties), cucumbers, and peppers in my propagator inside - I hope it's warm enough for them to germinate! We have radiant floors, but don't keep the heat turned up all that high, so I'll have to see what I can do. I might cave in and pickup a heated mat from Lee Valley to speed things along.
Phew! That's just an overview of the past five months. I'll try to post some photos soon so you can actually see what I'm talking about. From now on I should be updating more frequently, so you won't have to read as much.
Would love comments, ideas, hints and tips from you experienced gardeners out there, and from those I haven't heard from in a while!
Till next post,
-K
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