The Next Tier

Over the weekend, we added a second vegetable garden tier below the original. And it was just in the nick of time, as my seeds from The Cottage Gardener arrived today and the top tier is now officially full. I'm so excited about these seeds - Rossa di Milano (red heirloom storage onions from Italy) and Small Sugar Pumpkins, which apparently make THE best pie in the world.

So what exactly have I filled the top tier with? Well, from seedling we've planted yellow peppers, two kinds of zucchini, and pickling cucumbers. And from seed, we've got Scarlet Nantes carrots, a 20 lettuce blend (green, purple and polka-a-dot, oh my!), a rainbow carrot blend, and garlic.

There's a row of space left, but it's reserved for the heirloom tomatoes which are currently being hardened off.

A third tier is definitely going to be necessary though, as I currently have ground cherry, chives, lavender, chamomile, and pea plants growing from seed indoors.

Seedlings

The kale and lettuce that I planted 2 weeks ago has sprouted and is coming up nicely. The kale looks great, but the lettuce is the real star - it's dark purple! I planted the carrots about a week ago, but they haven't come up yet.

My order from Salt Spring Seeds arrived yesterday. Last night I planted the Bali tomatoes and yellow lavender in pots to start indoors. The tomato really should have been started weeks ago, but I'm going to give it a go anyway. Today I planted 2 rows of the 20 lettuce blend outdoors. It'll be interesting to see what comes up from that blend.

I'm waiting on a few more seed packets to arrive. I wanted to grow fruit from seed, but berries and pitted fruit take years to establish. Then I found something great from Sunshine Farm in Kelowna - ground cherries, which are actually tiny sweet tomatillos. The flavour is described as a mix between strawberry and pineapple. But the best part is you get fruit by the end of the season.

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.