I don't learn until it happens to me....

So, I don't know about the rest of you gardeners out there, but I have discovered that when it comes to gardening, I have a hard time retaining the "what not to do" advice until I try it and inevitably fail.

For example....do not start morning glory seeds indoors in peat pots before planting them inside. It does not work. My mom told me that, but for some reason, I wanted to try it anyway (this was a couple years ago when I dabbled a bit in gardening). They barely survived for 2 weeks, and then it was over. Well, I can now say that I will never forget that morning glory seeds must be planted outside directly where they are to grow.

I am going to give morning glories another try. I have some "Picotee Blue" seeds to start and I am very excited. Unfortunately, my dog chewed the package (but didn't appear to damage the seeds) and I can't tell which company they are from. I bought them at the Stratford Garden Show and since I bought a bunch of seeds from different places, I just don't know where they came from. I will find out though. It's too early to start them obviously, but I am excited to give them another chance.

Seedlings upended, but not a disaster

So, a crazy thing happened....a bird flew down our chimney and was flying around the house. My dog went berserk chasing it and she knocked my seedlings and seeds off the window sill. I couldn't believe it. I was able to re-plant all the seedlings, and I had to re-plant the seeds. It has been a couple days and the seedlings are fine and a couple seeds have sprouted.

So, it was all good...we caught the bird in a blanket and were able to get it outside fairly quickly.

I got out in the yard today since the weather was great. I pruned some bushes (name unknown) that were spilling over onto the sidewalk. I also swept the deck and raked up some leaves that I put into the composter. It doesn't take long for our composter to fill up (with all the trees and shrubs we have) so I got some paper yard waste bags (lots of them).

I need to order a big load of topsoil....ASAP. Now that the snow is gone, I need to get on it.

A lot to do......

Peppers are up!

Well, it has been 3 weeks, but my chili peppers and jalapeno peppers have come up. It has also been quite a bit warmer in the last week, so I wondering if that had anything to do with it.

One of the Nasturtium seeds that I planted first is now bursting out of it's peat pot. It says on the seed packet to start the seeds 8-10 weeks before last frost, so I am surprised at how big it is getting already. I wanted to show a picture, but it will have to wait...I can't find my camera.

In addition to a picture of my Nasturtium, I want to take some pictures of our now snow-free front and back yards. Now that the snow is gone, I am more aware of how much work I have to do. I am planning on ordering a big load of topsoil (which I need to do ASAP) and I have a lot of clean-up in the mean time. Leaves, twigs, pond removal etc....

Should be fun, so I am looking forward to the weather warming up again.

Finally

So, some seedlings have finally come up...Honeywort, Sweet Cherry Tomatoes and more Nasturtiums. I still haven't had success with any of my pepper seeds. I am not completely discouraged yet.

We have quite a few bulbs coming up in the front lawn right now. The funny thing is, I planted a bunch of daffodil bulbs in the fall and I have no idea where....there were already some tulip bulbs in the front. It is a mystery.

Do most people have some sort of garden map? I guess I just don't know mine very well yet. It is a bit overwhelming. There are a lot of plants and trees on our property and I don't know what all of them even are. I guess it will take some time...

Only one came up...*sigh*

So, only one of my nasturtiums has come up (it has now been 12 days)...and none of my peppers. I think I was right, my house has been too cold and I think I planted them a bit too deep. My inexperience is definitely showing. Well...it was a nice warm day today and I turned the thermostat up and I have started some more. Hopefully with more success.

I don't feel too frustrated yet, but the warm sunny weather today probably helped.

More seeds started

So, I started another 4 seed types. I am pretty excited about these ones. Here they are:

2 x Honeywort (Cerinthe major purpurescens) from Florabunda Seeds












2 x Golden California Wonder Pepper (Capsicum annuum) - Organic from McKenzie Seeds










2 x Sweet Cherry Hybrid Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum) from McKenzie Seeds













2 x Big Beef Hybrid Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum) from McKenzie Seeds


I am a bit worried that the pepper seeds that I started last weekend won't do very well. We have been keeping the thermostat in our house a bit low and it might have been a bit too cool for them. The weather is warming up though and I have turned it up, so I also started a couple more of the jalapeno and chile pepper seeds that I started last weekend, just in case.

I have had one of my Nasturtium seeds peek through today.....but only one so far out of the six that I planted.

Slow Food Movement

So, in my internet exploration for articles and information about growing your own food, I came across the Slow Food Movement. This is a relatively young organization that was started in Italy in 1986. Here is an excerpt from their philosophy:

" Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work."

The members of this organization call themselves "co-producers" instead of "consumers". They believe that by being informed of the food production process and actively supporting producers, they become part of the process. It is now an international organization with over 80,000 members in 850 local chapters. As of now, there is not a Canadian chapter, but the slow food idealism has started.

The Walrus just published an article by Murray White about Vancouver Island's slow food rebirth. In his article, he discusses how Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island is seeing some economic hope with the slow food movement since the faltering of the forestry industry, once the island's lifeblood.

The movement has been criticized for being "elitist" and discouraging nominally cheaper alternative methods of growing or preparing food. Slow Food proponents respond by claiming to be working towards local production and consumption which will exploit "best practices" of science and professions worldwide but ultimately prove cheaper due to less reliance on transport and energy and chemical and technology intensive methods.