100 Mile Challenge

Watching 100 Mile Challenge on FoodTV. If you haven't seen this show, I'd recommend you check it out - it's what got me excited to start growing food at home. 100 Mile chronicles a number of families in Mission, B.C. who undertook the 100 Mile Diet. The challenge is to eat solely local food (i.e. within 100 miles of your home), not only to reduce your carbon footprint, but to encourage a healthier diet. An easy way to eat within 100 miles is to shop for produce at farmers' markets - think Granville Island and Lonsdale Quay, but there are lots more across the Lower Mainland. Check out these resources for eating 100 mile in Vancouver.

Potatoes & Carrots

Just planted 2 rows of the carrots in the main garden bed. I was reading Jamie at Home earlier, and he suggests planting batches of carrots in 2 week intervals to ensure carrots all summer long. That seems sensible to me, so I think I'm going to do that.

But what I'm really excited about are the potatoes that I planted yesterday. It never would have occurred to me to grow my own potatoes, but I read somewhere that you can get a huge yield from planting just a few seeding potatoes. I also love the idea of just reaching into the potato bucket for a spud whenever I need one. I can't wait to make some fries and dip them into Jamie's homemade ketchup. There are some pretty cool varieties of potatoes out there (Russian Blue anyone?), but we've got a pretty basic red-skinned potato called Norlands which is supposed to be quite tasty. Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes in Alberta has an amazing selection, and if the Norlands work out this year, I'll probably order something really cool from them next year.

I'm growing the potatoes in buckets w/ holes drilled in the bottom b/c I read in a veggie garden blog that it's a great way to reduce the chance of the spuds getting a blight. It's also simple, b/c as the potatoes grow up, you just keep covering with compost. I've got 7 buckets going on the deck outside my bedroom, as it gets full sun and I read that potatoes love the sun.

The gardening begins...

Began planting seeds in little pots a few weeks ago, and from that effort I've got some nice looking spinach coming up. I was shocked to find that zucchini planted 5 days ago has already germinated and is coming up with gusto. Read a blog post that zucchini plants yield huge crops (love that there's a "Sneak some zucchini onto your neighbour's porch day" in August). I'm not a huge zucchini fan, so I'll have to find some good recipes for using them up. In the house, also have planted dill, mint and some gypsy peppers.

Eventually I hope to transplant the seedlings to our big outdoor garden. We have 3 beds going, 1 of which is huge and 2 are much smaller. In these gardens I've planted some purchased seedlings which include pickling cucs, more zucchini, and purple peppers (which I've been told I shouldn't have planted yet b/c it's still too cold, but we'll give it a go). Some herbs too - big fragrant basil plants, sage and cilantro. I've got some heirloom Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds to plant in there as well.

I'm really loving all the heirloom varieties of plants you can get from B.C. providers. Most of the seeds planted so far have been from West Coast Seeds. I couldn't help myself yesterday and bought a few seeds packets online from Salt Spring Seeds. I'm becoming a bit obsessed with all the rare varieties of plants that you can get, especially tomatoes. I decided on Bali tomatoes b/c they look really interesting (ridged w/ marbling of pink, yellow and red) and are supposed to taste fantastic. I'm so excited to make Jamie Oliver's homemade ketchup recipe from Jamie at Home. Also ordered a lettuce blend and yellow lavender (I couldn't resist - I'm a sucker for lavender). I especially love the lavender's description on the site:

The scent has citrus overtones with a hint of spicy lavender, so place it where you like to walk in your garden for full enjoyment.

Now that I'm getting into this, I really think that everyone should grow their own food. It's so easy, and with all these different varieties, you can get things you'd never find in the grocery store.