Patio Gardening

 

I knew when we bought this house that I wouldn't have the big garden beds I was used to at our little homestead. We would be giving up keeping chickens and giving up the greenhouse but I was going to find a way to continue to grow some of our food. I think it's incredibly important for children to understand how much time and care it takes to produce the food we eat. 

More than a decade ago I did some patio gardening in the apartment I rented. It was minimally successful. If I recall I grew spinach and everything else just died. This time I made sure to collect containers that would be big enough for some of our favourites such as carrots and potatoes. I then made sure to order seeds that we specific to container gardens. Here are some of the ones I chose:

• Olympia Spinach
• Patio Snacker Cucumber
• Emily Basil
• Bush Baby Zucchini
• Paris Market Carrots
• Simpson Lettuce

I'm still trying to figure out which plants with thrive in which spot on our patio but so far I seem to be having luck with my greens like lettuce and spinach. We are starting from scratch with our strawberries and raspberries so I'm not sure we will get anything this year but we are settling in here for the long haul so hopefully we will have many fruitful years ahead.

Pandemic

 

Like the rest of the world, 2020 for us was dominated by the Covid-19 virus. The lockdown began in March during spring break. It lasted about a month before our province moved forward with safety protocols that allowed people to return to work and centres to reopen. 

It was a time of resourcefulness and creativity. Our little house felt very tiny as the pandemic wore on. Schools remained closed and as we were doing our home learning at the dining room table I realized the children needed a space to focus on class work. So I made a “crisis school” room in our garage. It had a space heater, carpet, lights, books, everything they could need. It worked for a while but we quickly learned that Zoom classes were not compatible with the either of my children. Learning became much more hands on and creative. We abandoned the workbooks and made it up as we went along. 

Thank goodness we still had our garden and yard. My time in my garden saved my sanity. I would retreat to the greenhouse if it became too cold for the main garden. We delighted in finding a small birds nest built in our greenhouse. And around that same time we found a hummingbird nest just a 3 minute walk from our house. It was a welcome distraction. 

When summer finally came we were so relieved to be able to go camping. We needed a change of scenery but we needed our space. However it seems everyone was camping that summer. It was practically impossible to find a site. We lucked out a couple times but were disappointingly sent home just as often. 

At the end of the summer we bought our new home and sold our beloved little house. It was a good change but bittersweet. My babies were born there, learned to walk in those halls, we planted gardens there and buried pets there. It was hard to say goodbye. Our new house is calling out for good memories and we shall oblige. Change is welcome.

Garden Joy

The weather has been nothing short of perfect for planting. The sun keeps the soil warm but it's not so hot that I want to pass out after 20 minutes. We still have a lot of work to finish up the big garden overhaul. All the raised beds are built and most have soil. I've been waiting since October for this!

The radishes are planted and sprouting. So are the cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, swiss chard and lettuce. I've been having really excellent luck so far with my indoor seedlings. I decided to use a small heat mat to keep the roots warm this year. My celery, jalapenos and tomatoes are all very happy.

I'm very excited about my herb bed. I've transplanted several of my perennial herbs and started many from seed. I used stones and driftwood to separate everything until they are fully grown. I'm looking forward to making my own tinctures, salves and teas. I decided though not to plant my mint and oregano in the bed since they are so vigorous (they tend to take over). They are very happy in their pots, even this early in the growing season.

I had really hoped we would have a new colony of bees by the time our fruit trees bloomed but we haven't had any luck finding bees yet. So we got a small box of mason bee cocoons. The sun and warmth has hatched them all and it's wonderful to watch them work. They are such hard workers and actually quite beautiful. It's easy to appreciate these bees for all they do for us.

We spend most of our days outside planting, weeding, watering and playing but even when we are inside, we are talking about seeds, plants and flowers. We recently got a beautiful painting of an Linnaeus clock that we often look to for flower inspiration. I avoid cutting flowers because I believe bees and other insects need them outside but from time to time we bring in a few flowers. They are such a joyful thing for us all, it's hard to resist when A asks for some.

Beginnings

The weather is getting warmer by the day. We are having more sunny days and are going with out jackets more often. The buds are on the trees and bulbs are blooming. It's time to begin the garden. We have major changes in the works so I can't dive right in yet but I can do starts. After many an incident with our starts inside our house I made plans to raise my transplants in the garage. We have a south facing window that would work for seedlings but I decided this year to give the seeds a boost with a warming mat and a grow light. I started four tomato varieties, asparagus and echinacea. None have sprouted yet so I can't say yet if the warming mat and light has made a difference.

I have a confession to make. We lost our bees. Our hives were lost to American Foulbrood. It was crushing. It still breaks my heart. We worked so hard to protect them from pesticide poisoning and wasp predation that when it took hold I couldn't stand the idea that we couldn't help them. It was fast and bad. I've missed my many winged friends. I found a complete hive in our garage that we had been saving for a swarm. Foulbrood is so deadly to bees that the hive needs to be burned. Luckily this single hive was completely unaffected by the disease. It did however fall victim to wax moth so the frames need to be replaced. I gave the hive a new coat of paint and we are going to assemble frames in preparation for a new colony. I'm so excited, it's been too long without the buzz of bees.

I have so many ideas and plans that I've decided to start a planner to keep them all together. Sketches of the garden, grow charts, seed lists, other notes all in one place. I hope that when planning the garden in future years that I can look back at these notes and use them to make the best garden possible.

The Flora and Fauna

For Christmas we got this wonderful window hummingbird feeder. It's been so amazing watching the hummingbirds that over winter here come by for a drink. We love watching their little tongues in the syrup. The other day I sat down at our table to pour over our West Coast Seeds catalog and make plans for my yard when I was blessed with the company of this lovely Anna's hummingbird. He sat there for a good 15 minutes while I contemplated the environment behind my house.

While I've been putting a lot of thought into the garden for our benefit, I was reminded by my little friend that many more things benefit from what's in our yard than just us. I do have a few bushes that the hummingbirds love and they often nest in our yard. However, the mason bees have been struggling. The mild weather throughout the winter with bursts of cold doesn't suit them well. I think this year I would like to add another mason bee house as well as purchase some mason bee cocoons.

Last summer I didn't notice many butterflies in our yard. Maybe it was the fact that the heat made for short or absent blooms on most of our flowers. I was thinking that I might buy a package of butterfly specific flowers and toss them in the bare patches around the yard. A is very much into the natural world so I thought she might really enjoy raising some butterfly larvae. I would like to research this more but I think it would be a wonderful learning experience and help the biological diversity in our yard.


Of course we can't have the beneficial without the problematic. I'm still trying to formulate a plan to keep the urban deer out of our yard. Last year they came and ate my tulips as well as my cabbage. I think the problem is going to be worse this year as I've noticed more of them in my area. I would like to find a way to keep both the deer and the starlings from causing chaos in my yard. So far, I think raised beds covered with netting will help protect my greens. We are also talking about raising the fence around our property to keep the deer out of the yard entirely, not just out of the garden.

Garden Blessings

It's been a difficult year in the garden. It's been hot and dry. The heat has benefited the pears and the tomatoes but other things are struggling. My zucchini has been rotting on the stem and my swiss chard is barely 4 inches tall. If that weren't enough the blight of urban deer has spread to my garden. More than one morning I've gone into the yard to find a handful of deer happily munching away. They ate all my beautiful cabbage.

The long hot summer seems to be making the grapes very happy. Almost every morning I collect handfuls of grapes for my children's snack. I've also been harvesting cherry tomatoes daily. It's been such a joy to eat from our garden. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than picking vegetables and then heading straight to my kitchen to make my family dinner. Just the other night we had herb mashed potatoes with roasted carrots, beets and squash all from our garden.

July Garden

July has already been so dry and hot I wasn't sure my garden would survive. We are facing drought conditions and are on water restrictions. Still, in many ways the garden seems to be benefiting from the heat. The raspberries have ripened and been eaten, the blueberries as well and we are already seeing blackberries on the bushes. Blackberries!! We don't see those until August. We've been steadily harvesting kale and zucchini. Then all of a sudden all the english peas were ready. I can hardly stand to be out in the heat picking them all. Good thing A is such a pea fan because I can always count on her for help.

The chickens and cat however, are not doing well in the heat. Zooey is desperate to find a cool place to rest. It seems almost impossible to find for cat or human. The chickens too. It's been so long since we've had rain. The earth is so dry and where the chickens once rolled in the cool earth, they now huddle in any small patch of shade they can find. Their water needs to be filled over and over every day. The long days mean lots of eggs though.

These drought conditions have led to many forest fires throughout the province. Fire crews are stretched as it is. It's to the point now that they can only tackle the most severe fires, not all the fires. Since Sunday the city has been blanketed in smoke. It's eerie, the colors are off. There is a film of ash on my car and I haven't seen the moon in several nights. It's been making my eyes burn and making me cough at night. So, the garden has been left behind. We have been spending our days indoors until the wind carries the smoke offshore. My thoughts are with all the firefighters and those whose homes lie in fires path. Mother Earth, we could use some (or a lot) of rain right now.