Experimental vegetarian cooking and urban gardening in Ontario, Canada
Hey fellow gardeners, foodies, and nature lovers! How’s your summer going so far? The weather has been brutal here. If you live in Eastern Canada or the Northeastern U.S., you already know about the record-breaking heat waves we had this month. Here in Ottawa, our Canada Day celebrations were cut short by the highest humidex ever recorded: 47. As the weeks went […]
Somehow I never got around to posting photos of the harvest this year, so I’ll post them all now as a yearly summary. As you can see, my eggplants did the best. I finally got a watermelon to grow, although I think it was under-ripe when I picked it. I didn’t take photos of all the butternut squash, but those […]
Can you believe that it’s almost October? It seems like the summer passed by so fast. With the nighttime temperatures dropping, it’s time to start harvesting the cold-sensitive plants. I decided to deal with the plants at home first. Although I didn’t do much with the front garden this year, I did grow a large basil plant in the yard, […]
I can’t believe it’s September already! This gardening season is passing by quickly. Despite the challenges that I faced this season, there have also been rewards. Take a look at the plot and the transformation it has gone through. RIGHT SIDE OF PLOT At the size of 25 feet by 50 feet, the plot won’t fit into just one picture, […]
This summer, H and I built a grape trellis for the garden plot. I’ve been wanting to grow my own Cordon grapes for years now, so I’m excited that I finally found time for this project. We went with a trellis that works well for North American and European grape varieties: the High Cordon Trellis System. It consists of two […]
So last month I taught myself how to save seeds from garden vegetables. I figure if I’m going to keep gardening, I should expand my knowledge at least a little bit each season. I chose to start with something easy: tomato seeds from the gigantic cherry tomato plant in our front garden. Of all my plants, it growth was the most […]
Hello all, I have news to share! I’ve moved out of my downtown apartment and into a house in a quiet neighbourhood. This has been both sad and exciting. Sad, because I had to give up my garden plot. I now live too far away from it to maintain it. However, I now have a garden outside my front door, which […]
It’s time to transplant the seedlings! For the past couple of weeks I’ve been hardening them off. This means gradually exposing the seedlings to outdoor weather to help them adjust to it. This way, when they are planted outside, they will be more likely to grow well rather than go into shock and possibly die. The hardening off process involves a bit of thinking ahead, but for […]
It is past time to plant bulbs for the spring. I’ve planted garlic before without success, probably because I put the bulbs in containers outside, which doesn’t work. This year I planted cloves in the ground, following instructions from a Harrowsmith article. I feel much more confident about my chances of success this year. According to the article, it is best to […]
I haven’t updated in a while, so I’ve got a few things to share. As my fellow Canadians are fully aware, the weather has grown much colder and that means wrapping things up in the garden. My goals were to harvest the carrots before the cold killed them, preserve the herbs, and do something with the huge amounts of swiss […]
