Notes From The Garden

All of my tomato seedlings I planted February 10th have finally sprouted and are really starting to take off. I was a little worried when only half of the seeds sprouted in the first couple of days after planting and even a week later many had not yet broken through the soil. My seeds are quite old but they all finally popped out of the dirt and their true leaves have appeared. In the next couple of days I'll get them transplanted into larger containers, burying their stems deeply so new roots can grow where the stem is now covered.

The last four inches of snow that fell last week has finally melted and I can get out into the garden and start digging again! I can't complain though. The freezing and thawing helps lift the soil and loosen all of the weeds making the job so much easier :) I'm about half way there. Little by little I'm getting it done *grin*.

This weekend was Seedy Saturday and I found all sorts of goodies :)

There were loads of organic and gmo free seeds, mason bee cocoons and their houses, potted plants, fungi plugs, fruit and nut trees, seed potatoes, worm castings and bins, informational seminars and booths and so much more! I love seedy Saturday. I came home with new sprouting seeds, all my favorite salt spring island seeds, garlic heads for spring planting, organic seed potatoes, some really interesting magazines from the Certified Organic Association of BC and more.

Now I just have to map out my garden plan and figure out what I want to start next :)

If you're curious about what other gardeners are up to right now check out Ginny's garden journal link up and I'd love to know what you are planting, digging or dreaming of right now to *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Let's Get Planting!

It's that time of year. The days are slowly getting longer, the sun is peaking out a wee bit more and I feel the bloom of spring just itching to burst forth from the soil *grin*.

I know, it's barely the middle of February and we could get snow and frozen temperatures at any minute but I can't help myself but want to will spring to come now. So to fill the time until it finally does appear I pulled out my box of seed packets to see what I had, what is needed and to sort out all of my tomato seeds because it's time to get planting :)

Our growing season is wet, cool and rather short so anything I can do to help things speed along a little quicker before it's time to get things in the ground outdoors is always welcome. Last summer you probably remember that Hubby built me a little greenhouse and it will be perfect for growing an early crop of tomatoes in. So I pulled out what I had left of my little jiffy seven peat pots and soaked them in some nice hot water to puff them up for planting.

I planted Bonny Best, Italian Paste, German Red Strawberry, Polish Paste, and Rocket so far but I also need to start some Black Krim which is a wonderful meaty heirloom variety that we love for sandwiches.

You can find some of them in my favorite seed catalogues like West Coast Seeds, Seeds of Victoria, Salt Spring Seeds and of course all of the wonderful ones I find every year at the various Seedy Saturdays (click for listings) scattered over the island :)

With my little seeds tucked away in a nice dark spot itching to sprout they will be all ready to harden off in the greenhouse nice and early so we can make the most of this summer. I can't wait!

Hugs,
Rosina

We're Planting!

My greenhouse isn't ready yet but I'm still going to get a jump on my tomato plants this year *grin*. After lunch today I rounded up my youngest little helper and we went hunting for the leftover stash of jiffy sevens that I knew I'd tucked away somewhere last spring for safe keeping. You know, one of those super safe places that are so good you don't even remember where it was!

I love these little things :)

You drop the little discs of compressed soil into a little bit of hot water and they magically puff right up providing a lovely warm home for your new seeds.

My five year old is growing by leaps and bounds and becoming such a great little helper that this year I let him do all of the planting on his own. With supervision of course :)

He carefully opened up the top of each of the jiffy sevens and placed three tomato seeds onto the soil and covered them up very gently. I like to plant in groupings of three. That way if any of them die or don't come up then I've got backups!

I planted 9 seeds for each type of tomato and if all goes well I should have 54 tomato plants all together. Most likely I'll loose a few due to poor germination but this will provide a substantial amount of tomatoes compared to the few I did last year. I've got great plans of canning stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce again this year. Normally I just purchase cases of field tomatoes from local farmers for this task but I really want to use my own. They just taste oh so much better *grin*.

I tried to find varieties that were well suited to growing here on the coast or for canning purposes so I went with:

Bonny Best: a strong indeterminate plant with excellent flavor. Especially good for colder climates.

Rocket: medium sized fruit, fast maturing and grow well in the short season of the coastal BC and prairies.

Italian Heritage Roma: abundant harvest of thick walled tomatoes with few seeds, perfect for tomato sauce and paste.

Lisa King: large red beefsteak, good flavor and very productive. This was highly recommended.

Polish Paste: flavorful and meaty, good for tomato pastes.

German Red Strawberry: large 1lb fruits, good producer and canning tomato.

They're all organic, non gmo and some are heirloom varieties so I'm hoping to have a great crop :) If not I'll cull the ones we don't like and pick new ones next year *grin*.

Can't wait until they start to sprout out of the dirt!

Hugs,
Rosina

Seedy Saturday

Seedy Saturday.... the unofficial start to spring *grin*.

I must say it was mighty spring like today in the comox valley :) The sun was shining and it actually felt warmer. Maybe it was all in my head LOL. My morning didn't start out all that spring like as we scraped thick ice off of the car windows and fought our way up to my mom's house through the icy ruts of snow that had formed over the last couple of days.

At 8am we were all packed into my car and slip sliding our way out of the yard when I came across actual parts from underneath my car frozen into the humps of snow in the driveway! I'm always worried that something is going to break off as we scrape and skid along the icy snow in the winter and it finally did. My dad had a good look underneath and couldn't see anything seriously damaged as it was just part of a rock guard underneath. Phew, nothing to to bad but not good either.

So back into the car we went and once we finally hit the highway the car started to shake and lump along the pavement. My heart sank. Something was wrong with the car. We limped it back home slowly fearing the worst and had good old dad check it over again *grin*. The final verdict... my tire had frozen solid in the position I had stopped in last night so that when we drove on the pavement it was round three quarters of the way and the last quarter way around the tire was frozen straight like a board!

In all my life I have NEVER had my tire freeze flat on the bottoms in the snow and ice. My cousins in Ontario who experience -30 or lower temperatures have talked about it before but here on Vancouver Island!? It was like some crazy dream LOL. By 10:30 things were thawing and my tires assumed their regular round shape and off we went *grin*.

Spring, you can hurry up and come anytime now! LOL

Just after noon we finally arrived at the seedy saturday :) In past years we've been there right at 10am and the lineup to get in is HUGE, but this year it was actually nice to just walk in without having to wait. Although we did miss out on all of the interesting and unique potted plants that would have been available for purchase for the opening hour.

Inside was an entire room filled to the brim with organic seeds, fruit trees and bushes, rhubarb and strawberry plants, seed potatoes, garlic, mason bees, honey, gardening supplies, informational displays, seed swaps where you can bring your seed to trade with others for new veggies or flowers you don't have and so much more.

At one of the tables my youngest who was with me got to watch a batch of mason bees emerge from their winter cocoons. So cool!! They were very docile as they came out so they let us have good look inside the jar without the lid :)

At other tables we got to sample Jerusalem Artichokes, crack hazelnuts with fun little wooden screw type nut crackers and at one table M even found one lovely lady that happily fed him cookies while I browsed the seed racks *grin*.

I picked up quite a few different tomatoes for canning this coming summer, a great assortment of sprouting seeds for fresh sprouts, beans, peas, and I even purchased a giant block of Oyster Mushrooms so that we can grow our own mushrooms. I can hardly wait to see them start sprouting up! The fellow said it should take about 2 weeks and we'll be able to start harvesting them :)

I think we were there at least a good hour browsing and shopping but I could have spent much more time. They host a series of workshops throughout the day as well. This year's topics were seed saving, the zero mile diet, mason bees, healthy soil and more. One of these days when all of the children are old enough to be left home I think I'm going to take advantage of the seminars :)

Have fun at a seedy saturday near you!

Hugs,
Rosina

Soaked Fruity Oats ~ Recipe

Oatmeal is a main staple during the winter months and to keep the children happily munching away on it without growing tired of it I like to spice it up with fruit :) I use steel cut oats which can take considerably longer to cook than quick oats and since I usually don't beat my children out of bed I needed a fast track cooking method!

Soaking the oats the night before provides this. By popping them in a bowl with water right after dinner (so I don't forget to do it) I have soft oats first thing in the morning that cook up in a matter of minutes :) The perfect solution when surrounded by a pack of hungry monkeys as soon as my feet hit the floor each day *grin*.

You will need:

3 3/4 cups of water

1 2/3 cups of steel cut oats

(rolled oats or quick oats can be substituted)

Assortment of chopped fruit

Maple Syrup

~ Serves 4

The night before place your oats and water in a glass bowl or jar, cover and let stand until you are ready to use them in the morning. Like I mentioned above, I like to do this when I'm cleaning up after dinner so that I don't forget and then they get a chance to soak a little over 12 hours :)

When you are ready to make breakfast in the morning, transfer your oats to a pot, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Stir continuously as they cook for 5 - 10 minutes. The shorter cooking time will provide a chewier texture. Remove from the heat and stir in some yummy maple syrup to sweeten it. I usually use 2 - 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and find that it is sweet enough. Pour into bowls and top with chopped fruit.

Right now we are using an assortment of kiwi, pomegranates, oranges, apples and banana :) After Christmas the pomegranates came on for a super good price so I couldn't resist buying some and since not everyone likes the same fruit I like to have a few different kinds in the fridge.

Nuts, seeds and dried fruit are other delicious additions to your oatmeal to. Oh there are so many different ways to spice up your breakfast... literally! Try adding cinnamon with your apples or a touch of pumpkin pie spice with pumpkin seeds :)

Enjoy making your oatmeal a little more exotic the next time you cook it and don't forget to sing *grin*.

Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old;
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot, nine days old

Hugs,

Rosina

PS. Looking for more yummy recipes?? Check out this week's Hearth and Soul blog hop :)

Waiting

I find it very amusing that barely 2 months ago I was really looking forward to putting my garden to bed for the winter and not thinking about weeding, watering or what I wanted to can any more. Yet here I am standing out in the field looking at the frozen mounds of plowed earth, turned and waiting for the spring thaw and making mental notes on what I want to do this year to improve my garden!

The seed catalogues have been showing up one by one and I now have a Stokes, West Coast Seed & Johnny's Seed catalogue to peruse during these darker winter days. West coast seeds is my favorite as they have non GMO, heirloom and organic seeds and my list of seeds that I want to purchase is growing larger every day *grin*. I was teasing Hubby that I better start my own personal lay-away plan just so that when I do finally make my order it won't break the bank!

I would love to build a small glass greenhouse for tomatoes this spring on our front patio. It is crazy hot out there in the summer so we never actually sit there and the space would make a fantastic hot house. Maybe I'll have to put my son's new miniature doll house building skills to use and see if he can make a full sized building for me this time :)

So many plans. Thank goodness it's only January....

But wait! Now that I think of it I really don't have a ton of time! The tomato seeds need to be started in February if I want to see red tomatoes before the next fall frost. I better start planting the greenhouse bug in some ears sooner rather than later *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

PS. I've got Day 2 of my Project 365 posted HERE :)

Seed Tape Update

Okay so I told you I'd update you on how the seed tape making was coming along and it is working fabulously!!

It didn't stick to the table like I had feared with all of the wet newspaper and the seeds stayed put *grin*. So tonight we started another batch and I came up with a genius way to get the flour paste on! Instead of brushing it on with a paintbrush which was a little tedious as the paste is so sticky and doesn't spread especially well we used a squeeze bottle.

I had an old bottle that we used to take camping for putting ketchup in that hadn't made it into the junk box yet and I thought that I would just see if I could get the paste to squeeze smoothly through the spout. I made the flour and water paste the same as yesterday, the consistency of pancake batter making sure that I got as many of the lumps whipped out as I could and it flowed through the tip perfectly.

What a time saver!! Now we can just whip a strip of paste down the strips of newspaper in mere seconds and sprinkle seeds to our hearts content *grin*. We're heading out rain or shine tomorrow to start planting them in the garden :)

How about you, what are you up to in your garden right now?
~ Rosina

Making Seed Tape

I don't know about you but it seems that every year when little hands help plant the vegetable garden there is an inevitable spillage of seeds. Most of the time it's the carrots... those teeny tiny seeds you can barely see once they hit the dirt. There's not much you can do once it happens but wait for a rogue patch of Nantes to poke up in the middle of a pathway somewhere *grin*.

This year we're going to experiment and make our own seed tape :) I ran across a blog post somewhere out there in bloggy land (sorry can't remember which one) where they made a paste of flour and water to *glue* the seeds to newsprint on little dots of paste.
So we got out some newspaper and using my Fiskars cutter K sliced one inch strips of paper that we spread out all over the kitchen table.

For the glue we mixed 1/2 a cup of flour and water together. I don't have an exact measurement for the water but I just dribbled in water and mixed until it was a nice sloppy consistency similar to pancake batter. How's that for mental imagery! *grin*.

To spread the paste we used a large paintbrush and rubbed the paste down the lengths of newspaper making a thick layer of it down the center and then placed the seeds on top of the paste. So far we've just done some of the beet seeds as a trial run. I didn't want to do to many just in case something horrible happens like the newsprint glues itself to the table or all of the seeds end up falling off *grin*.

They're still wet so I'll have to update you again tomorrow on how they turn out and if all goes well we're going to have these great strips of seeds to just lay on our rows for planting in the vegetable garden! Can't wait to update you on how it works out :)

~ Rosina

Seed Saturday Finds

Well we hit the Courtenay Seedy Saturday this weekend along with hundreds of others! I thought being about 10 minutes early would give us sufficient time to find a parking place and amble over to the line but boy was I wrong. There was already two lines stretching for a good long ways in both directions along the building and we really had to hustle to beat the crowd coming behind us *grin*.

What a success!! It was fantastic to see so many people out :) The building was jammed full of seed tables, garden products, flowers and more. My main focus was to search out the seed potatoes and do it quickly because they never seem to be around for long with that many bodies roaming around LOL. So I quickly moved from table to table searching for the little nuggets and finally found some old favorites picking up a couple packages of 'Red Chieftans' and 'Sieglinde' which is an heirloom german variety that is super delicious :)

Among the sale tables were some really great displays as well. The above table was all about Mission Hill Farm's hazelnut trees and they had this great big bowl of hazelnuts to try. Of course the children all wanted to try one.

Who wouldn't when you got to crack your nut using this fun wooden nut cracker. I bet that if there had been some of these little gems for sale they would've sold them. I know I would have bought one!

The Comox Valley Exhibition (Fall Fair) committee always has a table every year where they hand out seeds to the children and this year they got a package of red romaine lettuce that sounds like it's going to be delicious and saved me buying lettuce *grin*. I picked up some Italian pole beans that are prolific producers of tender purple pods named 'Triumfo Violetta' from the Salt Spring Seeds table, old english shelling peas from Two Wings Farm and a package of 'Fava' beans that I'm going to experiment with and grow for dried beans. Should be fun!

The perfect end to the day was surprising everyone with a trip the the movie theater to watch the new Alice in Wonderland!! My daughter had brought our new Cheshire cat along with us that Jill had sent so I thought it would be fun to take a photo of him on his way to watch the movie with us *grin*.

My oldest two children loved the movie which was a mix of animation & real people and true to Tim Burton's style, a little on the dark side. It didn't quite catch the attention of my youngest and I must say that I was a little disappointed myself. I think that I was hoping that it would follow more along the original story of Alice in Wonderland but this is of Alice as a grown woman and how she must restore the crown to the White Queen and it just didn't grab me. I have such fond memories of watching the original and all the warm & fuzzy feelings that went along with it that I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one but definitely glad we went to see it :)

Let me know what you think of it, maybe I'm the only one that is stuck in the past with the happy mad hatter's tea party *grin*.

~ Rosina

Seedy Saturday Is Upon Us

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Okay spring fever has officially hit *grin*. There are seed displays in every garden market, grocery store, hardware shop, dollorama... you name it and they've probably got some. Not to mention the half dozen seed catalogues that have arrived in the last month :)

You can't escape it! Not that I really want to as it's so rewarding to grow your own vegetables but the cost can become astronomical if you don't watch your pocket book. That's where the 'Seedy Saturday' comes in!

Seedy Saturdays are a fantastic way to get heirloom, organic, untreated, non GMO seeds at great prices or for free if you have saved seeds of your own to swap with others :) The wealth of information is unbeatable to! These seeds are tried, true & tested and the guy or gal behind the table can give you the ultimate low down on how to raise up some mighty fine veggies *grin*.

This weekend there are nearly a dozen different swaps that I know of going on across Canada and I'm heading out to one in hopes of finding some new potatoes to plant, a few strawberry runners and whatever else catches my eye :)

Have a peek at the Seeds of Diversity website and see if you are close to one of the many swaps happening this weekend and on through the month. You won't be disappointed and even if you don't buy anything check out some of the seminars they're hosting or pick the brain of your local seed savers chapter and find out how you can hang onto some of your favorite seeds to.

See you out there!
~ Rosina

Gardening Catalogues

We just had to stop and take a photo the other day when we went down island of this great Inukshuk atop the big rock in Campbell River :) Someone was definitely bitten by the spirit of the Olympics *grin*.

Gone is that beautiful blue sky that was in the above photo and it's raining again but I've been cheering myself up with thoughts of planting my garden! I've been ordering from West Coast Seeds out of Delta, BC for quite a few years now and I've got my new 2010 catalogue dog eared already with my new favorites and old faithfuls :)



All of their seeds are untreated & GMO free and there are some new certified organic seeds as well. Quick note though, it appears when you do a quick glance through the first pages that all of their seeds would be organic with all the certified organic stamps and write up flashed but only seeds listings that specifically say they are organic actually are. I was really hoping that all of the seeds were now organic but some is better than none!

If you're in Europe, specifically England I just received a fabulous seed catalogue from a company called Sarah Raven's Kitchen & Garden and it is just chocked full of organic seeds!! So many interesting and very different vegetables to choose from.



I was particularly interested in the organic bean seeds that they have. We live in a colder climate and there is a cool climate pole bean named Borlotti Lingua de Fuocco that can be planted in April which is nearly 2 months ahead of when we can plant our usual bean seeds and another broad bean named Super Aquadulce that can be sown in February or September for a fall/winter crop. Sadly though it appears that they don't ship outside the European union so I guess my crazy winter bean dreams will have to be put on hold LOL.

Do you have a favorite seed company that sells organic seeds in Canada or ships to Canada that you could share?

~ Rosina

Bocacaui Seeds

I ran across these fabulous tropical Bocacaui Seeds (Sea Beans) the other day while I was in town! They have the most interesting pattern and texture to them and most of them are the size of a quarter and feel like pebbles.

They're purely for decorative use but apparently you can drop essential oils onto them for a lovely aroma therapy effect while you enjoy looking at them *grin*. I'm not sure though if I can just leave them to sit. I have a couple of ideas up my sleeves as to how I can use them, but for now I've got them on my desk and I can't keep my hands out of the bowl! LOL.

~ Rosina