Archive for the 'Gardening' Category
It’s almost here! The event that we have been preparing for, waiting for, all year. Yes, this Sunday is SUPER SOW SUNDAY, the annual day that gardeners from far and wide get dirty and go online, sowing seeds together (virtually) on Twitter. This year boasts some great information to be shared and prizes to be won. It’s a great event that will have some of the most amazingly talented gardeners at your disposal, if you have questions about, well anything seed-related. More information can be found on Bren from BG Garden’s website or on the TweetChat website.
Last year in honor of #SuperSowSunday I posted about starting seeds outdoors under umbrella greenhouses, which is incredibly successful in my climate. As part of Delish Magazine’s Spring issue, I also wrote a piece on seed starting which I thought I would share here. Enjoy!
Seed Starting 101:
Start your own seeds this spring and revel in your gardening wizardry
“I made this!”, I gloat while serving up a dish made entirely of food that I grew in my garden. Well, “gloat” is probably not the right word. I prance around like the fantastical wizard I am, cheering about my mad skills in making real food from tiny seeds. It took me months. I had some fatalities. But overall, it’s fairly simple to grow from seeds. And more importantly, it’s awesome. Here are some basics for staring your own seeds at home.
Choose Your Seeds
Starting seeds early in the season is a great way to save money on annuals, which are flowers, herbs, and vegetables that will flower or fruit in the first year. More advanced propagatrixes could also start perennials from seed in many cases, but it is a more difficult and time consuming process as perennials may need many months, or years, to reach the size of a nursery plant.
Seed companies in your area should sell the right seeds for your climate, but do make sure that you pick the right plants for your experience level. If you’re a seedling yourself when it comes to propagation, don’t bother starting watermelons in Northern Ontario. Many seed companies will also list a difficulty rating that will help to guide you.
Read the Packet
Following the instructions on the seed packet will give you the best possible start unless the growing directions read like my radicchio, “sow seeds a few days after a moonless night”, which may as well be gibberish. The majority of seed instructions will list everything you need to start seeds, like when and where to sow, planting depth and spacing, special watering requirements and days to germination. Some will also list special information like germination temperatures, repeat sowing, transplanting, and thinning. Following the instructions gives you the best chance of success, so those map-hating-instruction-scoffing types out there best pack away your stubbornness for this project.
Containers
You can start seeds in just about anything you can find around the house that will create a mini-greenhouse, or you can buy all sorts of interesting setups to best suit your needs.
Greenhouse Kits
Many different greenhouse kits are available now. Most will have a plastic tray with a clear plastic greenhouse dome. Some come with a soilless mixture for starting seeds like peat pellets that expand to a mini seed pot when soaked in water, others may have coconut fiber pots that you can be transplant right along with your seedling. Others may even have a heat mat that gently warms soil to improve germination.
The beauty of these kits is that you can start a large number of seeds individually in one tray (up to 72) and many are made for small spaces like windowsills. The drawback is that the seedlings will need to be replanted either in the garden or a larger pot in a few weeks. Leaving seedlings in small pots with no nutrition will cause unwanted stress to the plants.
Seed-Starting Trays
Garden retailers will sell many different types of professional grade seed starting trays, domes, and inserts with features like root training, moisture control, automatic watering, and grow lighting. Certainly many of these features have value in starting the year’s plants off on the right foot and can be used over and over.
Household Items
An inexpensive and creative way to start seeds is to use household items as seed containers. Lining a seed tray with pots made from toilet paper tubes, newspaper, or egg cartons will cost nothing. At times your family may think you’ve gone mad given how excited you will become when you get to take home the plastic cake dome from the party. But come on, that’ll make a really great greenhouse dome, right? Search for biodegradable paper products you can plant right in the ground or food safe plastic containers you can use as mini-greenhouses for your containers if you are on a budget.
Growing Medium
You can buy a pre-made seed starter soil or you can make your own with a mix of three parts peat, two parts compost, and ten percent perlite. This mixture is light and holds moisture well, so it is wonderful for helping seeds germinate. All growing mediums will need some time to absorb water, so add moisture and let it soak in for an hour before planting.
Be sure to use sterile mix if you are starting seeds indoors. Soil or compost from the garden will bring in all sorts of critters like soil gnats which will drive you freakin’ crazy as you run around your propagation trays like a mad person swatting and squashing an endless supply of teeny tiny flies.
Moisture
Germination will be best in a moist environment for most seeds, so keeping the soil damp and a greenhouse dome on top will keep the right amount of humidity for optimal germination. Keep the soil from drying out by checking it daily. Water gently, from the bottom where possible, so as to not damage the seedlings about to emerge.
Dampening Off
Dampening off is a term for a fungal growth which looks like fuzzy hairs on the stem of the seedling. This fungal growth will kill the seedling so it’s bad, real bad. To prevent dampening off, occasionally spray with a bottle of 3% food grade hydrogen peroxide and vent the greenhouse dome on a regular basis to regulate humidity.
Light
Seeds won’t need light until they emerge from the surface of the soil, but then they will need strong sunlight for most of the day to prevent them from becoming leggy (overly tall and spindly = weak). You can supplement a lack of sunlight with florescent lighting, either buying a set of grow lights made for seed staring or by making your own with florescent shop lights.
Thinning
Generally the seed instructions will suggest you plant 2-3 seeds per pot and thin out all but the strongest. This seems to be the thing that some gardeners have the hardest time with. If three strong tomato seedlings have popped up in one tiny peat pot, then the gardener rushes off to get tweezers and separate out the three wee plants and re-pots them all. More inexperienced gardeners may damage each plant giving none a strong chance at survival, so it’s best that you grab a clean pair of scissors and snip all but the strongest seedling in each pot and be done with it.
Hardening Off
As the seedlings grow into plants and the date to plant outside is getting near, it’s time to start hardening them off, or toughening them for their natural environment. I like to start by opening a window a few hours a day so they get a breeze. Then start moving the trays outside, out of direct sunlight, for a few hours. Start at one hour and gradually increase to a full day outside. By the time your plant date has arrived, you can safely transfer your tough little soldiers directly into the ground, with some delicious compost and a thorough watering, to brave the elements on their own.
Seed starting is such an interesting and magical process, especially for children, so it’s the perfect activity to do as a family this coming spring. The months that you’ve spent germinating and raising seedlings will be a series of trial and error, so expect some loss. Not every seed will germinate, not every seedling will survive being transplanted, and not every kind of plant will do well in your garden.
The gains will be clear when you have piles of leafy greens taking up every inch of your windowsills bursting to get outside. Starting the plants off yourself ensures you are in charge of the health of the plant and can control what goes into it. And the satisfaction you’ll feel from starting your own seeds is tremendous.
from Delish Magazine Spring 2011
This project may be submitted to these wonderful link ups.
February 03 2012 | Gardening and Projects | 4 Comments »
I learned to garden at the library. Well at least that’s where the guidance came from: the books. When I was forced to stop working due to illness, both budget and boredom had me leaving the library with an armload of books on some gardening-related topic to learn about. Then through multiple trials and failures and successes, I started to get my feet (or should I say thumbs?) Now, as I sit in my Master Gardener’s course I’m surprised and delighted at the knowledge that can be gained through self study and practice.
Even though my gardening knowledge has a great foundation and soon you will have to call me “Master” (which I swear is not the only reason I’m taking the course), the library trips haven’t stopped or even slowed down. Just today I picked up a bunch of new books with sewing projects as I hone my skills at my machine. Plus I have a great big pile of wonderful gardening and garden-related craft books that I’ve been sent to review.
This is the inspiration that brewed the new Garden Therapy Book Club that will be launching, heck, let’s launch right now!
I’m not totally sure what the book club will look like in a few months time, but for now I’ll start with this: I’ll select a book every week or so to feature and review. I’ve spent a fair bit of time out there searching for great books and interesting projects so I have a large selection to get us started. If the book has projects in it I’ll give one or two of them a try and post the results. Then, you can get a feel for if the book would be a fun for you as well, and maybe inspire you to get out for a little garden therapy. All the books I recommend will be on this Pinterest board so you can find them easily.
If you decide to get a book on the reading list, get in touch with your review, thoughts whatever. You can leave a comment, send some photos, or send a link to a project you tried from the book and I’ll post them up here.
Here’s a Disclaimer: I do fully support using the library or buying the book wherever you prefer. That being said, I will add links to the books on Amazon and if you buy the book from there I will get a small commission. No pressure. Anything that I make will just to help pay for new books and materials for my projects, the tutorials on this site for which I provide for free. Some of the books are sent to me for review as well, which will not affect my review of the book. If I love the book or hate it, I’ll disclose either way. Never fear, I’m not doing this to generate great gobs of income (ha!) and will not be “pushing” books. The goal is to have fun and I hope you will join me.
Now, for our very first book club selection check out A Green Guide to Natural Beauty: 35 step-by-step projects for homemade beauty by Karen Gilbert. Based on the popularity of the Natural Skincare Series of recipes that were posted before the holidays, I though this would be a great place to start. Look for a review to come next week, with a project tutorial from the book.
Please chime in if you plan to grab a copy and want to share your thoughts.
February 01 2012 | Book Club and Gardening | No Comments »
I wasn’t into gardening in the 70’s (unless you count eating dirt while running around my yard in diapers) but those of my friends who were a bit older back then remember growing their own sprouts in a jar or a basket, forgetting about them on a windowsill and that memorable odour of neglected, fuzzy sprouts.
Well if that’s how you remember sprouting, then welcome to the new millennium. For Christmas / Hanukkah a few years ago, I was the lucky recipient of a Fresh Life Automatic Sprouter and it’s been making regular appearances each winter as the garden is asleep. This lovely contraption has a water basin below a tray for your seeds and sprinklers that automatically turns on and off at some random intervals that I have yet to figure out. All you need to do is change the water in the basin daily, find a nice spot with some indirect light and in 4-6 days you’ll be eating crunchy fresh greens right from your tabletop.
Sprouts are nutritious little mini-plants full digestible energy, bioavailable vitamins, amino acids, minerals, enzymes, proteins and photochemicals. All that good stuff is locked up within the seeds just waiting for you to give it the start needed to create a plant. For more information on sprouting go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprouting.
Needless to say, many of us in cold climates are lacking nutrients in the winter. Fresh vegetables aren’t growing in our gardens anymore, our pantry and freezers are emptying of the previous year’s harvest and we are resorting (ugh!) to buying our fresh produce shipped in from warmer climates. That combined with the gardening itch that starts ramping up after Christmas for me, got me into sprouting.
So far I have sprouted alfalfa, fenugreek, red clover, radish, broccoli, beets, spelt berries, mung beans, lentils, sunflower seeds, and I am currently working on a batch of green peas. The results have been varied. My favourite is the mix of alfalfa, fenugreek, red clover, radish that has the right mix of flavour and spice for salads and sandwiches. The mung beans were hard to do and was an eye-opener for the unnatural conditions required to make those crunchy and sweet mung bean sprouts we get from China. The lentils have a delicious nutty sweet flavour perfect for adding a crunch to soups, and the sunflower seeds are best grown as micro greens (seeds jam-packed in a soil-less mixture) rather than in the sprouter.
{From left: sprouting spelt berries, sunflower seeds, and alfalfa / radish / red clover mix; the Fresh Life Automatic Sprouter; the whirling sprinker is a hit with the under 4 crowd.}
As I was organizing all of my packets of seeds for the garden this coming season, I started feeling overwhelmed with the idea that I could very possibly be a garden hoarder. I have a lot more seeds than I can possibly grow this year, or any year for that matter. It seems reasonable then to sprout the suckers now and eat them before I have to call A&E and register for the show.
Link ups for this project here.
PS: I buy my seeds from West Coast Seeds but you can also find them online here.
January 30 2012 | Gardening and Growing Food | 8 Comments »
2011 was without a doubt an exciting year full of garden therapy. It all began with some Proposals for a New Year which really launched the Weekend Project series of tutorials that go up each and every week. It took a little while to get a groove going, but now Garden Therapy is loaded with crafty/garden-y/foodie projects that will hopefully inspire you to dig in. After all of the blood, dirt, and paper cuts it was hard to choose the best of 2011. Nonetheless, here they are.
1. Garden Therapy Handmade Shop Opens!
Opening the new Etsy shop to sell a hand crafted line of floral throw pillows was by far the most exciting thing that happened this year. The Studio Blooms line of throw pillows started from flowers grown in my gardens which were then photographed in macro, blown up to mammoth proportions, and printed on fabric using the giclée technique. Each pillow represents a piece of artwork for your home, yet artwork you can cuddle up to and read a book on. Every step was carefully (obsessively?) planned out and executed, so the final cushions are truly show-stopping.
A labour of love that took well over a year and a half to launch, it’s been a great success so far and I have very high hopes for 2012. Look for new designs, new products, and new locations where you can buy Garden Therapy Handmade in the coming year. And remember, each design is a limited edition so please snap them up before they are all gone.
2. Free Printable Canning Labels
It seems a shame to put so much love into a a jam, jelly, or pickle to then just label the lid with a sharpie. These printable canning labels are also meant for the canning jar’s snap lid so it get’s recycled when the lid does with no sticky glue to soak off the glass jar. Oh, and did I mention they are free? Yup, just download and print ‘em on label paper. You’re welcome.
3. The Natural Skincare Series
While making bath and body care products isn’t technically gardening, these projects all honour nature by using only natural essential oils, colourings, and other ingredients. Tutorials for handmade cold process soap, bath bombs, sugar scrub, bath salts, and lip balm were incredibly popular and made amazing holiday gifts. Good news, there will be more recipes and tutorials to come in 2012!
4. Candles in Many Shapes and Forms
The first candles to be posted were these Citronella CAN-dles. And while no bugs bit me while they were alight, I was bitten by the candle-making bug! Soy and beeswax jar candles followed which were beautiful in their simplicity. The real star of the show, however, was the beeswax flower jar candles, where a 3-dimensional beeswax surprise hides under the lid of these. A perfect holiday gift, although so far, those who have them have not wanted to burn them and watch the flower melt away. To that I say, light away and make more…and here’s how.
5. The Grinch Tree, Whoville Party and & Holiday Decorations
Speaking of the holidays, the Grinch tree was the singing Who’s that warmed up my Grinchy demeanour this holiday season. Feeling a little blue and growly before the holidays, I didn’t want to put up a Christmas tree this year. The compromise was to decorate a tree that mirrored the feelings, and the Grinch tree was born. And just like the movie, my spirits warmed up and the true meaning of Christmas was revealed: to make festive holiday planters and decorate the house and throw a Whoville-themed party! Thanks, Grinchy.
6. Wreath Making
There is always a wreath on the Garden Therapy front door, and maybe another few scattered around the garden. Tutorials for Making an Evergreen Wreath, Lavender Wreath, and Halloween Hop Wreath were easy and fun projects that didn’t cost a penny. Love!
7. Halloween Planters, Jack-o-Planterns, & Rock Spiders
Now that Hop Wreath wasn’t the only Halloween decoration this year. Scaaary planters with severed hands, witch’s brooms, and kale (OK, not too scary) were unique natural decorations. But nothing was as fun as the Jack-o-planterns and DIY Rock Spiders (sorry, Elisabeth, I know they freak you out).
8. Concrete Garden Projects
Being lucky enough to receive a review copy of Concrete Garden Projects: Easy & Inexpensive Containers, Furniture, Water Features & More
meant a fun afternoon making modern planters and leaf-print stepping stones. I’m totally addicted now!
9. Jammin’ Recipes
Not as much canning happened as normally does, but there were still some fantastic recipes this year: Winter Marmalade, Black & Blue Berry Jam, and Bourbon Cranberry Sauce topped the list.
10. Tangerine Tango
The final highlight of 2011 was the announcement of Pantone’s 2012 colour of the year, Tangerine Tango which will undoubtedly be a popular colour in fashion and home décor (already seeing it everywhere!) but there are also some pretty cool plants that can spice up your garden. Also cool, a set of Studio Blooms pillows rocks out in Tangerine Tango. Hmmm. That is a really great way to start of 2012.
Thank you to everyone who has visited in 2011 and I so very much hope that you will be back this year. Happy gardening!
I’ll be linking this post to these wonderful parties.
January 03 2012 | Canning and Garden Therapy and Garden Therapy Handmade and Gardening and Growing Food and Projects | 22 Comments »
This weekend’s project is a going up a little bit late. With New Years Eve 2011 just now behind us, perhaps we are all moving a bit slower than usual. Nonetheless, this pinecone birdfeeder project is super simple & family-friendly and will get you outside for a little garden therapy, even in the cold. It seems like the right way to start off the year.
Materials:
- Dried, open pinecones
- Peanut butter
- Garden wire, twine or ribbon
- Mixed birdseed
- Plastic containers or plates, spoons, and scissors
Instructions:
1. Pick out a pinecone that has dried and opened up.
2. Tie a length wire or twine around the perimeter of the top third of the pinecone and secure firmly. Close the loop at the top by tying a knot or twisting securely, so that the pinecone feeder won’t fall out of the tree when birds are sitting on it.
3. Using a spoon, spread/smoosh/smear peanut butter into the crevices of the pinecone. You don’t need a whole lot of peanut butter; just enough glopped around it will allow the birdseed to stick.
4. Pour birdseed into container. Place the peanut butter-covered pinecone in the seed and toss the seed over top and all around. Really get in there and pack the seeds into the crevices and stick it to the outsides. The finished product will look like a little seed ball.
5. Decorate with ribbons if you would like, then hang them in the trees and wait for the birds to come. It won’t be long.
I’ll be linking this project to these wonderful parties. Happy New Year!
January 01 2012 | Gardening and Projects | 15 Comments »
Ready for your weekend project? It’s holiday-themed planters this week and a quick tour of our front door, decorated for the season in non-traditional but natural tones of deep green, eucalyptus blue, and golden yellow.
It just didn’t feel like a red and green year for the holiday planters and wreath. Somewhat inspired by the golden berries and seeded eucalyptus stems that were found at the garden centre but also a unique contrast to the Bloodgood Japanese Maple-coloured front door, the pale green of the house, and the rustic tones of burlap which the planters are wrapped in.
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December 09 2011 | Gardening and Projects | 16 Comments »
Every year we like to hang a different wreath on our front door during the holidays. We’ve amassed a collection of wreaths to match the holiday season trends of sparkly red berries, Christmas ornaments, peacock feathers, and square-shaped boxwood but my favorites are most certainly natural, fresh wreaths.
A fresh wreath makes for an individual work of art that smells as good as it looks. Florists and garden centers are wonderful places to find one to suit any style but if you are feeling adventurous, a homemade wreath made with garden clippings or purchased greens, can be most gratifying.
Given the current popularity of lateral space gardening, there are supplies available for all sorts of wreath plantings. Evergreen, succulent, moss, and flower wreaths are beautiful micro gardens that will suit most any style or climate. Care will vary depending on what type of planting you decide on, but many will last for months, if not years, with a couple weekly squirts of a spray bottle.
Here’s how to make one:
Materials:
- evergreen foliage
- grapevine wreath
- pruners
- gloves
- twine
- berries, twigs, pinecones, ribbons (optional)
Directions:
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Step 1: Gather a variety of foliage, berries, twigs, pinecones, ribbons, and anything else you want to add to your wreath. Some of the evergreen cuttings that work very well are: holly, cedar, contoneaster, yew, pine, pieris, boxwood, laurel, camellia, fir, cypress, and magnolia. I like to contrast needles with broad leaves, and vary the color, but a wreath made of entirely one type of foliage can be incredibly dramatic. Also, think about tucking in herbs like rosemary, sage, lavender into the foliage to add another delightful aroma.
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Step 2: Using a grapevine wreath as your base, start by choosing a firm branch with stem thick enough that it will not bend easily. Add other cuttings of different foliage on top and gather the bunch in your hand. Snip off any long stems.
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Step 3: Using the twine, wrap around the bunch and the grapevine wreath together a few times until secured. For the first bunch, tie a knot in the twine to hold it in place but do not cut the end of the twine.
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Step 4: Gather a second bunch of foliage. Lay this bunch overlapping the twine securing the first bunch to the wreath. Wrap twine around the base of the new bunch a few times and set down. Continue adding foliage to the wreath by overlapping the previous bunch and securing with twine until there are no more gaps to fill.
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Step 5: Secure the final bunch by gently lift the foliage from the first bunch and tuck the stems under it. Secure with twine and tie off the final bunch with a few knots.
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Step 6: Now take a last look at the wreath. You can tuck in a few more greens to even out the design or add a few embellishments such as pinecones (using florist wire to attach them), berries, ribbons, or even ornaments.
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Step 7: hang and enjoy!
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The final word on making a perfect wreath: just have fun with it. Experimenting with different foliage will allow the wreath to become tradional or modern, contained or wild, themed or everyday. I loved the look of the magnolia leaves with their velvety bronze undersides. There wasn’t much else this wreath needed to make it perfectly stunning and completely different from my holiday wreath.
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A special thanks to the wonderful neighbourhood gals who provided all the foliage, wine, and treats that go along with the annual wreath-making afternoon.
December 03 2011 | Gardening and Harvest and Photography and Projects | 40 Comments »
While shopping for interesting foliage to add to my holiday planters and wreaths, I was stopped in my tracks by this interesting beauty: Euonymous europaeus.
There are some really fascinating winter blooming plants that I have seen, like witch hazel ‘Diane‘ and white forsythia, but I wasn’t familiar with this one. Turns out these aren’t the blooms at all but the fruit that has set seed. Regardless, the show was splendid and completely stood out in a sea of holiday green and red.
Here is some more info on it from Wikipedia:
“Euonymus europaeus grows to 3 to 6 m tall, rarely up to 10 m, with a stem up to 20 cm diameter. The leaves are opposite, and are lanceolate to elliptical, 3 to 8 cm long and 1-3 cm broad, with a finely serrated edge. In autumn they often show a beautiful bright red colour.
The hermaphrodite flowers are produced in late spring and are insect-pollinated; they are rather inconspicuous, small, yellowish green and grow in cymes of 3-8 together. The capsular fruit ripens in autumn, and is red to purple or pink in colour and approximately 1 to 1.5 cm wide. When ripe, the four lobes split open to reveal the orange seeds.
The fruit is poisonous, containing amongst other substances, the alkaloids theobromine and caffeine, as well as an extremely bitter terpene. Poisonings are more common in young children, who are enticed by the brightly-coloured fruits. Ingestion can result in liver and kidney damage and even death.”
December 02 2011 | Flowers and Gardening and Photography | No Comments »
For the Halloween weekend project we put together a variety of festive planters and used some DIY rock spiders to dress them up.
We designed our planters with a colour scheme of purple, white, and orange plants along with various spooky additions that are nods to the holiday season. The supply list can vary depending on what you have or can find. Hover your mouse over the photo for a list of what was used in each planter.
Organic materials showcased in the four photos are ornamental kale, Filius Blue hot pepper, heuchera, aster, crocosmia seed heads, Cinderella pumpkin, warty pumpkin, artists gourds, butternut squash, and buttercup squash.
Other items you’ll see are a witch’s broom, rubber hand, Boo sign, rubber bats, and DIY rock spiders. Most of what we added was readily available in any store carrying Halloween décor. When the holiday is over, we plan to take the kitsch out and leave the gorgeous planters for some festive fall colour. We’ll definitely keep the spiders though!
For more Halloween decorating ideas check out our Halloween Hop Wreath and Jack-o-Planterns. Have a wonderful and festive Halloween; may it include some garden therapy.
October 28 2011 | Garden Therapy and Gardening and Projects | 5 Comments »
Today at the garden centre we saw these fabulous “jack-o-planterns” stuffed with various sedum and kale. Great inspiration pieces for a weekend project. Love!
October 25 2011 | Flowers and Gardening and Projects | 5 Comments »
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