garden therapy » Growing Food

SuperSowSunday Show & Tell

Stevie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:14:43 +0000

Here’s what seeds I’m starting right now (left to right) in my self watering mini greenhouses:

Green peas for micro greens x 2
Black oil sunflower seeds for micro greens x 2
Violetto Artichoke (and Italian heritage variety) x 2
Eggshells for seed starters

Gardening for Your Kitchen Table: Sprouts

Stevie — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:55:57 +0000

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.

Garden Therapy’s Best of 2011

Stevie — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:27:52 +0000

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.

How To Save Alpine Strawberry Seeds

Stevie — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:18:21 +0000

If you grow Alpine Strawberries (also know as Fraises des Bois) you appreciate them for their powerful punch of flavor and easy-going plants that produce well in some shade. In colder areas where plants may not overwinter, sacrificing a few of these delicious berries for their seeds is a smart back up plan.

Alpine strawberries will grow true from seeds which are simple to save. First, pick the best, ripest, largest berries from your plants.

Second, smoosh them on a paper towel with the variety written on it.

Third, let them dry somewhere warm. We use the top of the fridge. When dry, you can fold up the paper and stick it in an envelope for the winter. Next Spring, scrape off some seeds into some potting soil to germinate. It’s that easy!

Late Blight vs.Tomatoes

Stevie — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:54:17 +0000

The race is on. It’s the time of year when you encourage (plead) with tomatoes to ripen before they succumb to the horrors of Late Blight.

It first starts with a few yellowing leaves. Yikes. Remove these right away!

Then a few brown leaves and whitish-grey powder (spores) can be seen. Ack! Remove these immediately! At this point you could also top the plants by cutting the main runnier to prevent more flowering and send the plants energy into fruiting.

Sadly, there will start to be grey-brown spots on the stems which means the race has heated up. Cut off the stems that you can, and if the blight is widespread, begin defoliating the plants to allow all the plants energy into ripening the tomatoes.

It all happens so fast. You can go from lush green plants with many hidden tomatoes (August 2011), to sad looking sticks with ripening fruits (September 2011) in no time as seen in these photos of our raised bed tomato garden and self-watering container tomato garden.

Generally, we win the race and see late blight as a reality of growing tomatoes. Taking the proper precautions in the beginning of the growing season will greatly improve your odds.

Rotate tomatoes to different parts of the garden each year. It takes 3 years for the fungus to leave the soil.
Grow healthy plants: start plants off strong as seedlings, and feed and water them well through the season. Healthy plants are the best defence to disease and pests.
Keep the leaves dry by watering the soil below as opposed to top watering.
Grow plants undercover such as under a greenhouse, plastic dome, or roof overhang.
Wash tools every time you use them, particularly when snipping off the blighty bits.

If you must remove green tomatoes, many can be ripened on a warm windowsill.

When they are ready, those that haven’t been gobbled up fresh, made into sauce or salsa, can be wiped down and frozen whole for a winters’ worth of recipes.

So far blight has taken about 5 of our tomatoes, out of the hundreds that we have harvested off 40 plants. Take that, Blight.

Freebie: Brand-Spanking-New Canning Labels

Stevie — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:36:07 +0000

Since many of us out there are elbows-deep preserving the late summer bounty into jams, jellies, pickles, and sauce, we thought it would be a good time to create some new canning label templates you can download and print for free. Ta da!

Templates:

Supplies:

Full page shipping labels or heavy-stock, glossy paper and spray adhesive
Colour laser printer
2″ and/or 2.5″ round hole punch or scissors

Steps:

1. Print the labels on a full sheet shipping label or on a nice heavy-stock, glossy paper. Buy the best quality shipping label you can find. We like glossy paper for these. Printing can be done on your colour laser printer at home (do not use an ink jet printer as that will smudge when wet) or by taking the file to a printing house.

2. Use a 2″ or a 2.5″ hole punch (available at craft stores or online) to cut out each label or if you don’t want to invest in one of those fancy tools, cut by hand with sharp scissors.

3. If using plain paper, cover the back of each label with spray adhesive according to directions on the can, or use another type of fairly dry glue (don’t use white glue or the label with pucker).

4. Apply the labels to your homemade creations and revel in the beauty you have brought to the world.

For more ideas on how to dress up your canning creations, check out last year’s canning label template project and canning label inspiration contest.

A Smaller Harvest, But Just Enough

Stevie — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:33:44 +0000

Since I gave up the community garden plot this year, I actually have a larger harvest than last year at this time. A little care and attention to the home gardens is certainly paying off. I’ve been enjoying the home gardens so much more, they are less neglected and full of beautiful flowers that I enjoy everyday. I have 40 tomato plants growing in every nook and cranny, and that seems to be overkill. It was hard to cull the seedlings, or even choose between the varieties when seeding them, but now that I have mountains of tomatoes ripening every day, I’ll remember this and diversify next year.

This week I cut all the basil to make pesto which I freeze for the winter. With the high price of pine nuts, I’m now using walnuts. I also have just enough beans, blackberries, alpine strawberries, and ground cherries for snacking on and meals. I pick the numbers shown (except the basil) every day right now, so certainly there is no wanting for fresh fruit and veg around my house!

It’s Canning Season

Stevie — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:01:42 +0000

It’s that time of year again that keeps my hands and my senses overloaded. I hoard fresh produce when I see it at a market or farm, or by climbing my neighbour’s trees like a squirrel and collecting way to0 many figs, or by diving deep into the wild blackberry brambles for fresh blackberries. I can’t help it. It’s a compulsion.

Here are a few photos of the harvesting frenzy for the last full week of August. How can you blame me for stocking up?

Figs are abundant again on my neighbours tree although not as much as they were last year. I made balsamic, fig, & rosemary preserves, dried figs in my dehydrator, and plan to make whole figs in a balsamic syrup.

I picked up pickling cukes at a farm this year for the first time and they are pickling away in my dining room.

My secret blackberry picking spot was loaded this year so I made blackberry pie, blackberry jam, blackberry & blueberry jam, and froze some for baking and ice cream.

The tomatoes are staring to come in as well, some of which have seen dehydrated, others made into sauce for the winter.

Any other squirrels out there stocking up for the winter?

The First Tomatoes

Stevie — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:51:26 +0000

It’s not much of a harvest but with our cold rainy summer at least it’s something: our first bowl of mixed heirloom tomatoes. They are mainly Tumbler, but there are a few Orange Cherry and Golden Rave (a 2-bite yellow Roma). Hoping for more next week!

Drying Lavender = Garden Decor

Stevie — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:51:08 +0000

I bought a Kew Red lavender plant at the farmer’s market this past spring at which time I met a Lavender Guru. He told me the secret to beautiful lavender on the West Coast is to harvest the flowers and cut back the shrub by half all before August 15th.

I have eight different lavender plants scattered around the garden, all in bloom now and covered in bees. It’s hard to harvest these gorgeous plants and take the blooms way from the bees, but my plants are leggy, patchy and woody the rest of the year so I’m committed to cutting them back for the greater good.

I started with one plant today, and stumbled upon a problem, what to do with all that lavender? First I will have to dry it, and that leads me to a space issue, which I’m proud to have resolved by decorating the Virginia Creeper that trails along my side fence.

Next up? I’ll harvest the rest and use it to make a dried lavender wreath for the house. Stay tuned for that project.