The seeds have arrived!

I am happy to announce that my 2010 seed selection has arrived! I will also tell you that when Sean brought the mail in yesterday and I spied the brown kraft envelope tucked under his armpit, I started to jump up and down (just a little). It was like Christmas all over again. This jumping and excitement came to a quick end when he called me a Farm Nerd! I then ripped the envelope out from under his armpit, tore it open and made sure they were all there. They were all there and accounted for, and Farm Nerd or not, I know that all of you will be interested in knowing what a fellow gardener has planned – you all understand, right? So, without further ado – here is what I humbly have planned: Tomato – Gourmet Mix (small) These tomatoes are promised to grow forth in assorted sizes, colours and shapes. Similar to that of small cherry sized tomatoes. Tomatillos I grew these last year for the first time. They were super easy and pest-free and were also unaffected by the late blight that raced across the area and did in my tomatoes at the end. I made about 6 jars of super spicy, super delicious salsa verde with my crop, so this year I plan to grow even more! Sweet Basil I put basil in all kinds of food-stuff through the summer, I wish I had more basil around when August came eventually for making pesto. This year, I will! Chard – Five Colour Silverbeet I grew this beauty last year and the year before – and we hardly even ate it. I actually was quite happy to just admire it out there in my small but mighty garden. I am growing it again to look at,but also plan on eating a lot more of it. It is so good for you. Carrot – Tonda di Parigi This is a carrot that grows in a ball shape,kind of stunted. I thought it looked intriguing and I can probably freak some people at work out with it in my lunches. I cannot wait to see it take shape in the garden. Tomato – Gourmet Mix Medium Same thing as the small tomato gourmet mix mentioned above, but these are the larger ones, for sandwiches and main dishes. Drool…need I say more? Carrot – Dragon This is a fire-breathing carrot. Just kidding, but you can see (or you will see), why they call it a dragon carrot. It is promised to be dark red in colour and I have heard it has a very light pepper taste to it. We will see. Tomato – Black Giant Its Giant, its black, its a tomato! A very good friend (Hey Nancy!), dropped off 3 beautiful black tomatoes at my door step late last summer. They were so delicious tasting and so intriguing that I decided to grow some myself and maybe I can return the food gift this year. Fingers crossed for no blight for the region this year! So, that is what I have planned so far. I do also plan to head out to the seed exchange that is happening in London this weekend with Stacy, so my collection may grow a little – or a lot! What about all of you? What do have planned? Have you purchased any seeds yet? Did you save some of yours from last year? What are you plans?  Read More

Seedy Saturdays are coming to London

I am amazed at how quickly this winter is passing. There are people eating, cooking and posting about rhubarb already! How great is that? I don”t know about you, but this brings a huge smile to my face when I think of it. First comes rhubarb then comes spinach and then comes asparagus! Phew… another winter almost put away – yahooo! If you start to think about all of these early spring goods sprouting from the ground, your next thoughts may be to get going with your very own garden plans. These plans may involve an extensive inground 1/2 acre lot of veggies galore, or perhaps you may be dreaming of an urban front lawn that you plan to rip up and plant great heaps of edible greenery in, or – maybe you have humble plans of gardening all kinds of fruits and vegetables out of small patio containers. Whatever the case, the time is now to peruse the seed catalogues and start dreaming of a delicious summer. Along with seed catalogues, you can also find a variety of seeds available through seed exchanges. In fact, there is one coming up in London on March 13 and I am told that the one in Port Burwell on February 20th is fantastic. London Seed Exchange Siloam United Church, Rear Entrance Saturday March 13, 2010 10-3:30 Admission is $5.00 per adult. Featuring a wide selection of vendors of seeds, Seeds of Diversity Canada,plants,unique horticultural & environmentally friendly products & a snack café. Demonstrations and Power Point Presentations will be held through the day. Organized by the London Middlesex Master Gardeners at www.londonmiddlesexmastergardeners.com Contact: Jennifer Grant jgrantplants@sympatico.ca ALSO This one in Port Burwell I am told is great! theviennacafe.ca/seedysaturdays/ SEEDS Stokes Seeds They are Ontario”s oldest seed supplier www.stokesseeds.com Veseys They are out of Prince Edward Island www.veseys.com Ontario Seed Company These people are out of Guelph www.oscseeds.com Last but not least – I love these people! Terra Edibles Located in Foxboro, Ontario www.terraedibles.ca  Read More

How Does Your Garden Grow?

photo: Danika Barker I asked you to send me some pictures of your vegetable gardens and some of you did – thank you! Maybe this year you were a new gardener, or perhaps you are an old Green Giant and it comes naturally to you, or maybe you were really ambitious (like Amy) and you grew vegetables for market, no matter which kind of gardener you are out there – greenhorn or green thumb, keep it up, its looking really good! But don”t take my word for it, take a look for yourself at how some of your gardens are growing! photo: Danika Barker The above picture is a group of baby carrots from Danika”s new front lawn garden. I love the idea of ripping up urban lawns and planting edibles. Go Danika – you food rebel! Danika also sent the cool picture that is at the top of the post of some really good looking beets that she grew, yum! Photo: Amy Hogervorst This is lettuce from Amy”s Garden. Amy is a school teacher who decided to grow vegetables for market this year. You may have met Amy at the North London Market on Fridays. Go Amy! She has a garden blog that she is keeping notes about her experience and you can follow along here: Amy”s Garden Photo: Paul Sham This amazing picture I have linked from Paul Sham”s blog that is called “The Post Script“. Paul did not send the picture in to me, I poached it because I am a dedicated reader of Paul”s awesome blog and I think you all might like to follow too! Paul is posting his adventures in food and he is a real fan of local produce and is constantly trying new foods. Go Paul! Photo: Stacy These are Stacy”s beautiful sunflowers. I love them! Stacy is also a beekeeper, how cool is that? I have been trying to get a hive tour, but the summer is so busy, we will have to try for next summer (maybe Stacy?). Stacy is a Busy Bee and I don”t think she would mind being grouped in that category,that reminds me… I should do a post on local honey – I picked up some melon pollinated honey that is worth raving about. Thanks everyone! kellyxo UPDATE: August 20,2009 Photo: Melanie E. Melanie has sent me some pictures that you should see, they are of her herb garden. She has oregano, basil and rosemary growing. Melanie is my “local food twin” in Guelph, Ontario. She runs a blog all about eating local in Guelph. I have just found out about this blog and have just cruised a few of her posts and it is very, very good. Check it out here:http://onehundredmilemel.blogspot.com/ Make sure you watch this video she posted on strawberries that originally aired through the Toronto Star. http://onehundredmilemel.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-more-reason-to-eat-local.html and http://www.thestar.com/videozone/653244 Photo: Melanie E. Photo: Melanie E.  Read More

You say Tomato, I say Tomatoe…

Everyday I come home from work and I stroll over to my 3 little raised beds and I check on my tomato plants. I have great affection for these plants, this type of affection can sometimes be hard to explain to people, but the tomato plant holds a very special place in my heart. Maybe it is the effort that I take in growing the different heirloom varieties all the way from seed, or perhaps it is the irresistible musky/earthy and green type of smell that only tomato leaves possess, whatever it is I just love the tomato and I am not calling the whole thing off! I fuss and prune and pinch these little plants until they grow into the large wilda-beasts you see above. Truth is, they are well worth the effort when it comes time to harvest them, they have the most delicious taste and texture – nothing beats a fresh tomato, picked at its perfection – right from your own backyard. Not to be neglected, I also have Brussels Sprouts, Rainbow Chard, Tomatillos,Eggplant,Mint, Coriander, Basil, Rosemary, Sage, Hot Peppers, Bell Peppers and Carnival Carrots growing in my garden. Take a look! Those marigolds I planted amongst the vegetables this year really did the trick in keeping the bugs away. My tomatoes do not have a single bite out of them – the fruit has not shown up yet, but the beginnings of them are there. I have been thinking and I know alot of you planted your very own vegetable gardens this year. Maybe you can send me a picture (just one!). Pick your favourite photo and email it to me and I will make a post of all of your gardens. Email address can be found here. Happy Gardening!  Read More

A Little Early for Seeds..

I know, I know it is a tad early for starting to plant vegetable seeds for the garden. But I can not resist thinking about it lately. The thoughts of fresh fruit and veg. are constantly on my mind. Now that I think of it, so is kicking back on our deck in the hot sun with a smooth Canadian beer… sigh! This morning I pulled out some of my leftover seeds from last year to decide what I would like to plant and maybe what I did not like growing so much and will try to avoid this year. This is the fun in gardening – the decisions on what to plant, where to plant it and the constant discovering of new flavours – new likes and dislikes. A personal favourite of mine is growing my own tomatoes – anyone can do it, from the most experienced gardener right down to the newbie green giant, you just cannot fail! Well you can, but trust me, it is hard to do. The reason I like to grow my own tomatoes is that you can order heirloom seeds online and you can pick from all kinds of really strange but lovely varieties. It is great to watch them grow daily and the flavour is out of this world, they truly deliver an Muhammed Ali knock-out-punch to the normal grocery store tomatoe. For anyone that is interested in starting a veggie garden this year, you usually sow your seeds indoors about 6 weeks before the last frost date (this six week window differs from vegetable to vegetable, but it is a good general time frame). The last frost date in our area is anywhere from May 9 – to about May 24. I am a garden nerd, so of course I will be taking my chances and going with the earlier May 9th date,which means I really should not even think about planting these seeds until end of March – but right now is a perfect time to order seeds. So far,my favourite place to get seeds online is Terra Edibles. Terra Edibles is a seed distributor in Foxboro, Ontario. They have a great website where you can download their catalogue so that you can peruse at your own pace and decide what you want to grow eat through the summer. Another amazing place to visit online for information and to even buy heirloom seeds is the Seed Saver Exchange program. They started this exchange the year I was born – 1975, so they have a huge selection to choose from and are a wealth of knowledge to any gardener. Their mission is to preserve heirloom seeds from year to year so they do not get forgotten or lost and we can keep enjoying them for decades to come. If anyone knows any other great places to get seeds, please share with all of us!  Read More

A sad haul and a sad day

Let me set the scene. It”s a few days somewhere in the middle of last week, there I am, pulling weeds and old dead plants in my little garden, deciding what is food and what.. well.. just wasn”t! I ended up pulling the last few tomatoes and these greens (beet greens and rainbow chard) pictured above. This marks the end of my garden for this year (insert very large sigh here!). Why am I rambling about my garden? Well, I want you to know that vegetable gardening will make you happy. I post these pictures for you in defense of veggie gardening. It”s fun (in a dirty way.. heh heh) .. no, really now.. its satisfying – now don”t make that dirty! You will not know the joys of pulling the last things out of your garden until you do it, so just do it – next spring that is. For now, I leave you with an amazing link to a place to buy seeds, http://www.terraedibles.ca/ they deal alot in heirloom varieties – meaning that the seeds are not common and they are old breeds – they were popular before modern large-scale agriculture. More importantly – when you decide to grow an heirloom plant you are ensuring its existence for another year and as a bonus you get some really interesting and gnarly looking things growing that taste out of this world delicious! If you want to know more about heirloom plants and vegetable growing and seed exchanges, go here: http://www.seedsavers.org/  Read More