getting ready for spring gardening

right now i live in an apartment. i still belong to a community garden in SF. last year i cut my foot real bad, at home, right after i planted all my seedlings. then we had a week of sun. by the time i made it back ... not many left.

one plant i would like to continue with is Chamomile. i drink chamomile tea a few times a day and the tea-bags can get a little expensive.

thanks for reminding me about sunflowers !

i would like to learn to press sunflowers, peanuts, & soybeans to extract the oil for biodiesel.

i have pictures of a manual press. one heck of a workout. bust your buns and get maybe a cup of oil. do that 16 times and you have a gallon.

the leftover mash is about as nutritious as before the oil is removed.

Last summer, on my walks here and there I collected seeds from trees I liked. I have a bunch from our Christmas tree, a fir of some kind.

I was just thinking, before I read this thread title, that I'd like to get some potting soil and start them off soon. Maybe this weekend. I have to find some place to put them though, my few south facing windows are already full with house plants, and a passion flower vine that is spending the winter indoors.

I have a modest little tree farm on the go here, and with a niece and nephew living on five acres between Appin and West ForLorn, Ont., and friends on a farm in Dundalk who lost some trees due to a December ice storm, I have no problem finding homes for them.

Last September I took fifteen maples, almost three feet high, and two ash trees (hopefully, the ash borer will miss them, as they are small) and spent the day planting them with my nephew and my grand nephews. It was a fun day-- even though digging in the hard clay of that region was a challenge.

I planted them incorrectly, btw. I dug too deep, and back filled with peat moss. My thinking was influenced by very dry conditions last September.

A day after I planted them, it started to rain, and rain and rain. My planting method might actually lead to the saplings being "drowned". The roots need some oxygen, as I learned later.

And then, some deer grazed the tips of them, my nephew tells me.

Anywho, I expected a 50% die off, so I already have replacements ready to go for them, and this time I will follow Ministry advice on tree planting.

This year I will plant the oak seedlings that survived the attacks of the squirel vermin, a jack pine that is almost a yard high now, and maybe a black locust, depending on how it has survived the winter. It sprouted late.

Actually, I just remembered that many tree and wildflower seeds need to be stratified in order to germinate. I think I will plant the seeds and put them outside to go through the regular freeze thaw cycles that the might need. I use clear plastic bottles with the tops cut off to cloche small plants.

Yes....yes this will do nicely....mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha *cough*.

(It helps to pretend it's an evil plot for world tree domination.)

[ 02 February 2007: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]

Certain kinds of glass work better than other for greenhouse growing, BB.

Much easier to work with is greenhouse grade plastic, which again, comes in various grades and forms.

We have several large greenhouses here. One plastic and one glass. They're entirely different growing enviroments.

For outdoor, row garden work, I would suggest a low level hoop setup, or something similar. Last year I made up a bunch of tri-angular clear-plastic portable row covers about 16 feet long that worked excellent. I ate fresh peppers in November. In fact, BB, with a set-up like that, growing a short day variety, you could probably pull off a tomato crop.

A small greenhouse like the posted pic would give your plants a good head start, and combined with some kind of row cover for frost protection, I think you'd be surprised at what crops you could pull off.

oooh, that is such a fun-looking greenhouse in the picture above.

there's a lot to be said for using available materials. in my case, that means plastic shopping bags. i've been saving them. i won't start taping them together into square meter patches until i land the deal on the land, and verify that the tape i'm using is good for low temperatures.

Re stuff to plant...I don't grow much of anything to eat as my garden is too shady (I live in an old part of downtown Toronto).

I do however, always have a pot or two of herbs near my back door. Usually stuff like parsley, basil, marjorum, etc. Some herbs are selected to eat, some just for scent or appearance. This should work fine in your climate.

I tried a couple of tomato plants once but the raccoons got them before I did.

[ 04 February 2007: Message edited by: oreobw ]

quote:

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The biggest greenhouse ops I know are located in the extreme south parts of Ontario, and Niagara, and are run year round, in stunning heat.

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Yes, very true Farmpunk, but all that I have seen have large industrial fans, or the more modern ones have walls that can be retracted when it gets hot.

I'm a lazy gardener. I garden when I feel the need to do something with my hands. So, I look for solutions that are home made, and require little fuss after the feeling of doing something with my hands passes.

My experience with herbs is for the most part positive, as far as growing them goes. Far too positive, in fact.

I have tyme growing all over my lawn now, and a sage bush that I "trim" with a hand sickle twice a year.

I recommend planting them with an eye to containment.

Thinking about this, I should really move this spring to find a way to harness rain water. The price of water in London is astronomical. I wish we were located near some of the Great Lakes, then it might be cheaper.

[img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]

Greenhouse grade plastic is the best. But there is no point bthering with the extra cost unless you can leave everyting in place.

Best bang for the buck is CMHC graded vapour barrier, the more expensive stuff that is required by building code.

If you take it off in 5-6 months you can use it 2 years.

if catnip repels mosquitoes, then it can be used to stop the transmission of the West Nile Virus ... and the terrorists might have West Nile Virus ... Someone tell the Department of Homeland Security !

i must live in America.

but actually, it's very good to learn, about catnip that is.

if you're sitting outside and you've used catnip to take care of the mosquitoes, how would a pet cat react ?

Re catnip, you can usually buy small plants in early May if you live near a garden centre.

I have cats and have catnip around sometimes. If I have some on my hands or feet they just rub against me. No actual danger to me.

But they certainly hang around.

i've been collecting seeds from food plants (apples, for example) and also tree seeds ("Cool Tree #1", "Cool Tree #2", etc.) I think I'm up to Cool Tree #6.

i planted some of them, also including tomatoes.

BoomBoom, Vesey's?? Noooo.
Stokes Seeds.

Kidding. But I do most of my business with Stokes. Less flowers, more power veggies.

BB, you can't go wrong with either Veseys or Stokes. Over the years I've found, and my farming and gardening friends have found Veseys a little less reliable in terms of seed quality. I'm sure someone else has had similar experiences with Stokes. I believe that Stokes has a larger seed stock...

At any rate, I've been very impressed with my Stokes stock.

Can anyone suggest some nice plants for an office that are easy to maintain for someone who has no idea about gardening or plants?

Thank you very much.  I'm going to see if walmart has them.  I'm slowly going to turn my office green, I'll start with the odd tidy subtle plant and by the end my office will be a shrine to the nature gods  (=

Quote:

Thank you very much.  I'm going to see if walmart has them.

As was so eloquently stated on another thread, "gah...."

PraetorianFour wrote:

Can anyone suggest some nice plants for an office that are easy to maintain for someone who has no idea about gardening or plants?

The "ZZ Plant": very attractive, although a little slow growing it does grow steadily. Your biggest risk is overwatering, otherwise the plant is extremely hardy - you have to work at it to cause it any harm. Very tolerant of cold draughts, does not require direct light especially if you have fluorscent overheads. Try to find a small one at your greenhouse as larger ones (over 12") are dreadfully overpriced. This plant does have large blooms, (about once a year), stalk and bloom are a lighter green than the leaves.

Also nice is the old standy-by, Rubber Plant: very suitable for low-light conditions. Generally very hardy, but soil must be kept moist. Do not put in direct sunlight. May need staking as it grows over time, but is also slow growing. A little trailing ivy in the pot also looks very nice.

I'm putting the final touches on my seed orders. I have a lot of seed saved from last year so I'll stay with the most of my tried and true varieties. I like to try a few new things every year though. Heirloom seed availability has exploded over the few years and there are just so many choices of interesting things to try.

I get my seed from a variety of places. Terra Edibles, Veseys, Saltspring Island Seed Company and William Damm Seeds.

I have over thirty variety of tomato seed on hand, some saved and some leftover from the past couple of years. I've tested all of them and have picked about ten that have done well here in terms of yield, bug resistance and taste. This year I'm trying out three new ones.

Hendersons Pink Ponderosa : A large tomato up to 2lbs. I have yet to find a big tomato variety that does really well in my conditions. Most get chomped up by the zillions of doodle bugs I have around here. Instead if fighting this losing battle with these bugs I'm just searching for varieties that do well despite them. Most of the ones I am growing this year don't seem to be bugged by them for whatever reason.

Japanese Triefle Black : A purple, potato leaf tomato that comes from Russia. I've had good success with other purple tomatos, they taste good and do very well in a variety of conditions including colder weather. I expect that's due to where they come from. Most purple varieties come out of more northern climes like Russia.

Longkeeper: Midseason, medium size tomato that's noted for it's a ability to keep well in cool storage after it's picked as well as ripen from the green state.In some trial articles people were still eating ones they'd pick at the end of October into early January.

I'll be starting about a dozen tomato plants next week. I've got a test space set up in the garden for planting them out about 6 weeks earlier then usual. The rest will go out at their regular time in June.

I'm trying out a few new varieties of lettuce and a small melon called Minnesota. It only gets 3ft vines and can easily be trellised. I've had great success with melons and squash but end up with mega plants that take right over. A 20 to thirty foot vine is normal here.

I'm trying out a small four by four test plot of wheat. Though I haven't decided on what variety. I do have the space to grow more if I want to but want to test it out before I put in the effort.

I'm going a bit bean crazy this year. I don't eat a lot of green beans but love dried beans. I'm focusing more on pole beans to save space for other things. I'm planning to plant them along a couple of fence lines and pretty much anywhere else where there is even a bit of good soil so they can go up. Last year I trellised some so they went over the paths between the beds. I'm trying out about a dozen different varieties this year.

Oh and chickpeas/garbanzo beans. I love hummus so I figure I should give them a shot.

My biggest project this year is mushrooms. I'll be inoculating some areas of my property with more wild varieties like morels and crossing my fingers. I'm also building a small mushroom house to grow oyster and shitakes in a more controlled environment. It's basically like a regular greenhouse excepted it's insulated. It's possible to grow them year round. I'd also like to try out the regular button mushrooms and portabellos but they are a lot more work to set up in the beginning so that may or may not happen this year.