Living around the Kitchener-Waterloo area in southern Ontario we have a decent gardening season, but most years you can’t reliably plant vegetables outside until late May and most produce is finished by late September. I’ve read a lot about year-round gardening and have, with limited success, been able to extend our harvest with row covers… Read more »
Weather Confusion – What Happened To Spring?
If it wasn’t April 4 I’d think this was someone’s idea of an April fool’s joke. After a very mild winter, with little snow, old man winter dressed up as a Polar Vortex and decided he’d show up just as spring arrived. He’s not just late to the party but he’s the guest no-one wants… Read more »
Practical Crop Rotation – A Second Look
Gardening evolves with knowledge and experience. I have been formally planning my vegetable garden layout on paper for several years now and each year I think I get a little bit better. In addition to learning about plant families, I have come to realize how you effectively rotate your crops depends upon what exactly you… Read more »
Crop Rotation, Plant Families And The Vegetable Garden
When planning your vegetable garden, consider the benefits of crop rotation. Good crop rotation prevents the build up of pests and diseases in the soil and preserves micro-nutrients. For example, legumes (beans and peas) will actually add nitrogen to the soil. While crop rotation will not guarantee that diseases will not occur, it greatly reduces… Read more »
Why Can’t I Grow Cauliflower?
I’ve got a pretty good green thumb when it comes to outdoor plants and the vegetable garden. On top of that I love to experiment. We’ve grown our own sweet potatoes, celery, kidney beans, black beans and even pak choi one year. But for the life of me I can’t grow cauliflower. OK, I’ve only… Read more »
Growing Celery – The Grand Experiment
I first outlined our plans to grow celery in our garden in my Growing Celery in Ontario post in early May. Well I’m happy to say that the experiment in growing celery our first time has been a huge success. Everything I researched came up with four main themes for growing celery: Celery is a… Read more »
San Marzano Plum Tomatoes Under Cloches
We are trying to get a head start on the garden this year since planting everything in a two week time frame can be a bit overwhelming. I purchased 8 small San Marzano Plum tomatoes Monday from a local garden center and rather than nurse them along in the tiny pots for a couple of… Read more »
Growing Celery in Ontario
Always eager to try something new, I decided to try growing our own celery this year. I thought it would be nice to see if we could have our own fresh celery to add to potato salads during the summer and to my Neapolitan Tomato Sauce at the end of the season. Celery has a… Read more »
Time To Start Onions From Seed
Luckily for me it’s a leap year. My 2012 vegetable garden schedule called for me to start my first indoor seeds, onions, at the end of February. And they just made it in the nick of time — thanks to a leap day today. This year I’ve decided to turn a little more professional for… Read more »
2012 Vegetable Planting Schedule
The garden layout is finished, the seeds have arrived. It’s almost time to begin spring seed sowing. This year we are putting in over 50 different varieties of vegetables. Some are old favourites, many are new. Growing so many types and varieties of vegetables is a bit overwhelming so I once again created a detailed… Read more »