LET THE GARDENING BEGIN!

Yes that's right, I finally have my plot!

 I headed over to the Dempsey Community Center after work today - because frankly I was tired of traipsing around the allotment grounds trying to guess which one was mine - and asked for a map. The woman behind the counter said they didn't have any and then proceeded to hand me one. It was strange and I didn't understand, but I now had a map, so whatever. As I was leaving she told me that they were at the garden today numbering the plots. Yippeeeeee!!!

Now if you remember from a previous post, I showed pictures of overgrown lots and shanty shacks and piles of garbage, and wasn't exactly sure which plot was mine. As it turns out, none of them were. Apparently my map interpretation skills are not the strongest. I was pretty far off. Completely in the wrong row. Note to friends and family - do not ever partner with me for the Amazing Race.

Anyhow, I was absolutely DELIGHTED with the state of my actual plot. Allow me to introduce you to her just as I found her:

Here she is in all her glory

Isn't she great!!!! I can practically plant already! I just needed to clear the little bit of garbage and dead branches out, which I did this evening. She's looking better already:

The next step of course will be weeding, adding in compost, tilling, and then creating new rows. I'm hoping to be finished all of that by sometime next week, and then I can set up trellises and other supports, and then start planting my cold season veggies! I am dorkishly excited by all of this.

Funnily enough I also happened to meet the owner of the "garbage" plot today. Her name is Corona, she's from Bangladesh, and has been gardening in the Kilborn allotment SINCE I WAS BORN. No wonder she has accumulated so much trash (lol). But seriously. She's been gardening there since 1986 and has amassed a whopping 15 plots... she basically has a farm. Part of me thinks that's cool, but another part of me is angry that a single person is able to take up so much space when there were more than 30 people in line this year vying for a chance to get a plot when only 14 or 15 were even available. The land should be offered to more gardeners when the demand is so high, not hoarded by a select few members. But I digress... Corona was a lovely lady and we got talking, and that's when she informed me that my plot was shit. Like total shit.

*the sound of my bubble bursting*

Apparently all of the water from the surrounding plots tends to accumulate in mine, and after it rains the plot is practically flooded. Greeeeaaaaaat. I'll have to assess this as time goes on since it's still Spring and I'm going to chalk up the mucky wet ground to that for now... but I may need to come up with a plan for proper drainage if she's right. Which she probably is because she's been gardening there for LONGER THAN I'VE BEEN ALIVE. This is still blowing my mind.

Anyways, more updates to come as I get the plot in tip top shape over the next week or two! But for now I am pleased that I can at least get started and that the plants quickly outgrowing their pots in my living room will have somewhere to live by the end of May.

Yay!

PATIENTLY WAITING

Or maybe not so patiently...

The new plots still haven't been numbered yet, much to my chagrin. I have been stopping by the garden after work every single day in hopes that my plot will have been identified, but unfortunately they don't seem to be in any sort of hurry to let the new gardeners start gardening. Sigh. I guess I won't be planting anything before May after all.

It has been 10 days since my last post, and my plants are getting crazy big. I had to take one of the shelves off of my bookcase so that I could move the light higher.

I hope they don't get too root bound in their little solo cups before the end of May. I would pot them up because they sort of look like they need it.... but 1) there's way too many to do all that work again and 2) I don't have nearly enough pots to accommodate everyone. Or potting soil for that matter. I need to save my pennies so I can add some compost/manure to the plot and buy the other items I need to garden outside... like a hose!

In other news, the seeds that Natasha ordered for me and had shipped to Ireland, and then mailed home to me in Canada, arrived safely and without issue in my mailbox a week or two ago. Woo hoo! ACHOCHAS FOR ALL! Thanks for possibly importing illegal cucumbers into Canada for me, Natasha!

Just kidding. It wasn't illegal. I don't think.

WORD ON THE STREET

... is that the plots will be getting their numbers in the next few days! Apparently they were supposed to go up yesterday but it was very windy so it didn't happen (I think they spray paint the numbers on wooden posts). Exciting! I can't wait to get in there and start clearing it out. I would love to plant my arugula, beans, peas, lettuce, etc. before May.

The indoor plants are coming along exceptionally well this year. So glad Russ bought me these lights for my birthday! They are so much greener, healthier, and happier than last year's plants. These are just plug-in fluorescent light fixtures with one "cool" light bulb and one "warm" light bulb in each in order to provide full spectrum light. They work great! I've been leaving them on overnight for about 15 hours - seedlings love lots of light!

Some babies still need potting up into solo cups

Tomatoes, peppers, and cucamelons, plus one poquito squash plant!

It's a jungle in there

A PLOT AWAITS

Yesterday was a nice sunny day (although still a bit cold) so I thought I'd take a walk through the allotment on my way home from work. I was eager to see which plot now belongs to me!

Improper footwear for traipsing through a snowy spring garden

Long story short, I couldn't figure it out. The plots haven't been numbered for this season yet so it's a bit hard to tell where one ends and the next begins. I did narrow it down to the general area though (I think) and this is what I discovered:

A giant pile of trash?

This is one of 3 plots in a row that look unused, and I know my plot is one of 2 "new" plots that are side by side in this general area, so I'm hoping this isn't it! It's actually a bit sad how much random garbage like this is around the garden. The whole place looks a bit like a shantytown with makeshift shelters and fences and piles of STUFF - buckets, bags, broken pallets, rope, wood, broken lawn chairs, empty pots... the list goes on. Maybe I'm wrong and this plot isn't garbage... maybe someone just decided to put everything in a giant pile for the winter? Who knows. But it looks like junky garbage to me!

I'm hoping my plot is actually one of the 2 adjacent to that one:

I especially hope it's the one on the right with the nice clear soil and no garbage! The one on the left has a lot of brush that would need to be removed before I could start any work. I guess only time will tell. Unfortunately the plot numbers aren't usually posted until the beginning of May. I was hoping I would be able to start some cool-weather crops before then though, or at the very least start removing any garbage, weeds, etc. that need clearing.

I can't wait to get started!

RED SOLO CUP, I FILL YOU UP

With potting soil!

The seedlings were outgrowing the Jiffy peat pellets that I started them in, so today I potted them up into red solo cups with holes poked in the bottom for watering and drainage.

This is the first time I've used the Jiffy pellets for seed starting (last year I made newspaper pots and filled them with potting soil, which worked, but looking back now I wasted so much soil doing it like that! You really don't need much soil to start seeds, especially if you are going to re-plant them after their true leaves form). The Jiffy pellets worked great - I had excellent germination rates and everything seemed to pop up FAST! It probably also helped that I kept the tray above the baseboard heater for warmth, something I didn't do last year. Some people have also had issues with the pellets growing mould, but I think I prevented that by re-hydrating the pellets with chamomile tea (it has natural anti-fungal properties). So they pretty much worked perfectly for me - I was very pleased and will be using them again next year!

I also planted my melon and squash seeds last Thursday. I was just so excited about getting my plot. I realize now that this was way. too. early. to be starting melons and squash. Like by a month. They have already sprouted and are big. And getting bigger. With a lot of roots. I hope I can keep them happy enough in pots until they are able to go outside...

Cantaloupe and Lambkin melons

I was away when these popped out of the soil and they literally grew this tall overnight! I usually keep an eye on them so I can put them under the light as soon as they sprout, but these guys were too quick for me and started searching for the light on their own.

A CUCAMELON HAIKU

Dear Cucamelon

You have such lovely tendrils

Reaching for the sky

THE PLAN - PART 4: THE WEIRDOS

Last but not least, part 4 of THE PLAN - THE WEIRDOS!

I saved the best for last, because some of the best vegetables are the weirdest ones!

I'll start with the melons. While these melons aren't exactly weird, I've included them in this category as melons aren't as common in home gardens (compared to tomatoes and peppers, for example). I'm a bit leery of attempting to grow melons in what is basically a community plot, as unfortunately I've heard its quite common for them to be stolen. I guess everyone loves a nice ripe cantaloupe or watermelon.  If anyone has any ideas for preventing garden theft I'm all ears, but I guess I will have to expect to lose one or two (hopefully no more) of these guys:

Left to Right: Lambkin hybrid melon, Faerie hybrid watermelon, and Whopper hybrid cantaloupe

The Lambkin melon is a Spanish dessert melon that has the look of a honeydew with a honey-sweet flavour. I can't wait to try this one. The Faerie watermelon is unusual in that it's rind doesn't look like your typical green and white watermelon, which I thought was pretty neat. Someone that had grown it once before said it was so tasty that they were tempted to eat the rind too! The final melon is the Whopper cantaloupe, which as the name implies, is BIG! We're talking 6 to 8 pounds per melon. Someone's going to have to help me eat these big guys! I see a lot of fruit salad in my future...

Next on the list of "weird" are my absolute favourite.... cucamelons!!!

Can't even handle the cute

These are the most adorable little things I have ever seen. About the size of a green grape with the appearance of a tiny watermelon, these are actually miniature cucumbers! I managed to grow some of these on my balcony last year, but they didn't receive enough sunlight (or pollinators) to really produce to the best of their ability. The taste was very interesting - definitely "cucumbery" but with a little hint of lemon. I will be growing SEVEN of these plants this year, hoping to get a ton of these babies so I can try pickling them as well as making cucamelon bruschetta and relish!

Cucamelon bruschetta from She Eats

And last but not least....

I present to you another very weird looking member of the cucumber family... the Fat Baby Achocha!

Alien cucumbers?

After watching this video on YouTube, I knew I had to have them. Just watch it. Did you see HOW MANY of them were growing on that vine? This is such an unusual vegetable that I had a lot of trouble finding seeds for it. In fact, I couldn't even find seeds within North America - I had to get my wonderful friend Natasha, who is currently living in Ireland, to buy me some from a website based in the UK. I don't have the seeds yet but I'm hoping they come in the mail without any problems! I'd like to grow these guys around the perimeter of the plot, creating somewhat of a "green fence" to try and deter people from coming into my garden uninvited. For those of you wondering, those little spines are not sharp and you can eat them just like that!


What else will be in the garden?
THE PLAN - PART 1: THE BASICS
THE PLAN - PART 2: THE PEPPERS
THE PLAN - PART 3: THE TOMATOES

THE PLAN - PART 3: THE TOMATOES

Like the peppers, I may or may not be growing way. too. many. tomatoes. But at least tomatoes can be made into salsas, sauces, paste, and sundried... mmmm! I'm sure there are many other ways to prepare tomatoes too... like bruschetta, delicious. On pizzas, yum. Oven roasted, fantastic. I love tomatoes!

I'm not entirely sure yet what kind of tomatoes I'm growing, as like my sweet rainbow peppers, I bought a package of heirloom tomato seeds that were all mixed together. I tried my best to differentiate between them and tried to plant as many different looking ones as I could, but we'll see how well I really did once the tomatoes show up!

some fuzzy, some smooth, some big, some small, some dark, some light.

Here's a selection of what I *might* be growing:

Clockwise from top right: Purple Cherokee, Black from Tula, Big Rainbow, Dixie Golden Giant, Brandywine Red, and Aunt Ruby's German Green

I know that I definitely have either Cherokees or Brandywines growing (or maybe both), since their leaves look different than the others. I'm really hoping that I have at least one Big Rainbow plant, I love the colours and the weird brain-like insides!

I'm also growing some Tiny Tim and Tumbing Tom tomatoes, which are cherry tomato varieties, as well as Roma tomatoes which I plan to use for making sauce.


What else will be in the garden?
THE PLAN - PART 1: THE BASICS
THE PLAN - PART 2: THE PEPPERS
THE PLAN - PART 4: THE WEIRDOS

THE PLAN - PART 2: THE PEPPERS

I may have gone a little bit overboard with the peppers this year. I was just so excited about my garden plot and how much space I will have now, and all of these peppers just looked so good! If all goes to plan I will have a super abundance of peppers for pickling, grilling, stuffing, and om nom noming.

Atris Hybrid Pepper

This is an Atris Hybrid pepper (for those who don't know, hybrid just means that it is a cross between different peppers, it does NOT mean that it is GMO/weird mutant food). It's a sweet pepper. How cool is this thing! They grow to be about 9 inches long and the plants are said to be super prolific. In fact, the description reads: "Vigorous and highly productive, this is one of the best peppers of any type you can grow". Well OK then, I'm sold!

Early Jalapeno Pepper

Next up is everyone's favourite nacho pepper, the Jalapeno. I picked a variety that is supposed to mature earlier than regular jalapenos, hence it's name. I also managed to keep a jalapeno pepper plant from last year's garden alive over this past winter (peppers are actually perennials if you bring them inside) and it's now ready to go back outside in the new garden. It's already flowering but I keep pinching off the buds so that it grows new leaves and gets bigger and bushier instead of putting all its energy into growing fruit right now. But I will definitely be getting an early batch of jalapenos from that plant once he goes into the ground!

Garden Salsa Hybrid Pepper

As the name implies, this is a hot pepper that is great for making salsa and spicy sauces. They are skinny and grow to be about 9 inches long. Apparently they are best for salsa when they are still green. As with other chili peppers, you can also dry them to use in recipes later.

Karma Hybrid Pepper

Yet another hybrid, but this one is a very large sweet red bell pepper that can measure 6 x 4 inches. That's a big pepper! I hope they are as big in flavour as they are in size. I will also be planting other colours of bell peppers from a "sweet rainbow mix" that I picked up, but I won't know what colour peppers I'm actually growing until the fruit show up since all the seeds were mixed together in one package.

Mariachi Hybrid Pepper

I really didn't realize how many hybrid peppers I picked out for this year...whoops. I guess I was lured in by their promises of early maturity and high-yields. I'll have to try more heirloom varieties next year. These Mariachi peppers are described as "fruity hot peppers" and "the heat has a rich, fruity underbite with hints of melon". What? Hot fruity melon peppers?! Clearly I had to get them to taste for myself.

Sahuaro Hybrid Pepper

Sahuaro peppers are big 9-inch fruits that are technically a hot pepper, but are mild enough that you could eat them raw or use them for stuffing or grilling. I hope these are good because I already have 5 of these seedlings growing in my living room - every seed that I planted germinated and I decided to keep them all. They are said to have "enormous yields" so I have a feeling I will be passing some of these along to friends and family throughout the summer!

Sweet Pickle Pepper

Last but not least is the Sweet Pickle Pepper. I grew one of these last year and like the jalapeno, I kept it alive over the winter and it is ready to go back outside now. I won't be planting more of these seeds this year since I honestly wasn't that impressed with the peppers last season - they were small and pretty tough, and not all that tasty. I kept the plant over the winter more as an experiment, but it ended up doing exceptionally well so back out it goes. Maybe with more sunlight and better growing conditions this year it will produce tastier fruit - is that a thing? Will that happen? I don't know. Sounds like it might make sense though.

And that concludes the list of peppers that will be gracing the plot this season. Am I insane? This is a lot of peppers. And I have multiple plants of each kind. Hope everyone likes peppers because I'm going to have LOTS!


What else will be in the garden?
THE PLAN - PART 1: THE BASICS
THE PLAN - PART 3: THE TOMATOES
THE PLAN - PART 4: THE WEIRDOS

THE PLAN - PART 1: THE BASICS

I've heard people say that you should limit yourself to a small variety of vegetables during your first gardening year (so that you can focus and really learn how to grow them properly) - but that doesn't sound like me at all. I say BRING ON THE VEGGIES!!! The more the better. I'll figure this all out as I go (yep that sounds more like my style).

So jumping in head first, here's what I'm hoping to be eating come summer, Part 1: The Basics

1. Kentucky Blue Pole Beans

I love green beans. Because they need to grow up some sort of trellis, I'm planning on planting these guys next to the corn. The pole beans will be able to use the corn stalks as their trellis, and the corn enjoys their company as the beans return nitrogen to the soil for the corn to use. VEGGIE SCIENCE!

2. Atlas Carrots

I'm not a huge carrot fan, but these are just the cutest little carrot balls! I tried to grow these on the balcony last year but there just wasn't enough sun and I didn't get a single carrot. If at first you don't succeed, try growing carrots again. That's the saying right?

3. Mirai 160Y Corn
This corn has received a LOT of hype for being the sweetest, most delicious corn ever. It isn't really grown in North America as it needs to be harvested by hand, but it's extremely popular in Japan on "boutique farms". I didn't know that Japan had boutique farms, but I did know that I had to get my hands on this corn. And good thing I bought my seeds early this year because it's now SOLD OUT!

4. Homemade Pickle Cucumbers

The name says it all - I will be trying to make pickles out of these bad boys. I have never made pickles before.

5. Lettuce, lettuce, and more lettuce
Because.... salads.

6. Parade Green Onions
I use green onions in everything - soups, salads, on baked potatoes, eggs, nachos, the list goes on. So versatile and super easy to freeze for use throughout the winter too.

7. Super Sugar Snap Peas
Called "super" because they are apparently supposed to yield twice as many pods as the regular variety. These things are my go-to healthy snack when you just want to mindlessly eat handfuls of something crunchy.

8. Summerpac Hybrid Squash
I picked this variety as they are supposed to be very heavy bearers throughout the summer, and only take 47 days to mature. I see a lot of zucchini noodles in my future!


What else will be in the garden?
THE PLAN - PART 2: THE PEPPERS
THE PLAN - PART 3: THE TOMATOES
THE PLAN - PART 4: THE WEIRDOS

WELCOME

After living 5 years in an apartment that didn't even have a balcony, I was desperate for some outdoor space when I moved into my condo in August 2013. I longed to step outside in the evening to cut herbs for dinner. I wanted to grow lettuce for salads to take for lunch. I dreamed of using fresh mint for mojitos when friends came over for drinks - so once Spring 2014 rolled around I planned, planted, watered and waited, and soon enough I was growing my very own food just outside my door.

Clockwise from top: mascotte green beans, sweet pickle peppers, cherry tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers.
Center: Cucamelons

I was able to grow lettuce, cucamelons, bush beans, cherry tomatoes, swiss chard, basil, juliet tomatoes, dill, oregano, mint, stevia, jalapeno peppers, and sweet pickle peppers on my little balcony! I was delighted, but I quickly realized that my plants weren't getting enough sunlight to really produce as much food as I wanted them to, and that I knew they were able to. The lettuce and herbs were great, but the cucamelons, tomatoes, and peppers really needed several more hours of sunlight than they were able to get on my mostly shady balcony. I tried my best to move their pots around as the sunlight shifted throughout the morning, but by 11:30AM the sun had already moved to the other side of the building and my poor plants wouldn't see direct sunlight again until the next day.

I needed more sun. I needed more space. I needed a garden plot! I wanted 2015 to be better.

So yesterday morning I got up at 6:00AM, determined to register for a plot at the Kilborn Allotment Gardens. There are many community gardens in Ottawa, but none are that close to my home, and all of them have wait lists a mile long. The Kilborn Allotment Gardens (I'll call it the KAG for short) are run by the City of Ottawa and is only a 15 minute bike ride away. Members are able to return to their plots each year if they choose to, but there are usually a handful of plots that are offered up on a first-come-first-served basis for anyone new who wants to sign up in the spring. And these plots are BIG - we're talking 20' x 50' - so obviously they are in high demand! I had heard that only 12 plots were available in 2014, so I knew I had to get there early.

I ended up getting to the sign up location around 6:40AM and there was already a bunch of people there ahead of me. Sign up wasn't even supposed to start for another two and a half hours!!! I was number 10 in line. Lucky for me, there were 14 or 15 plots available this year, and because early birds get the worms, this early bird got a garden plot!

I can't wait for the snow to finish melting now so I can get in there and start the best. garden. ever.
I will be using this blog to keep track of the garden progress, to note my successes and failures (hopefully more of the former), and to share my experience with anyone that wants to hear about this crazy attempt of mine to manage a 1000 square foot garden plot!