Fresh Greens.

Mixed fresh greens and one large scallion, straight from the cold frame. This scallion was slightly lost in the back of the cold frame and grew to be quite big. 

Baby spinach, baby arugula, baby pok choi and baby black seeded simpson lettuce. 

The large scallion. Since I do not have as many scallions as I would like to have overwintered, note for next year, I have been trimming the onions and allowing them to grow new tops quite successfully. The new tops grow back in record speed, allowing for perpetual scallions.  

Very pretty baby mesclun mix lettuces growing beside radishes in the cold frame. Since I do not allow these to grow very big before harvesting they can be sown quite thickly and will not require thinning.

The rain bashed this tiny daffodil to the ground so I picked it to take indoors. The funny thing is that I found these daffodil bulbs growing away in the compost, took them out, planted them in one of my flower beds and they flowered right away. Spring bonus. 

Timely and Useful Organic Gardening Tips in No Particular Order.

Weed early, often and everyday. 

Weeds only get out of control if you let them. I try and weed every morning first thing and then pick at weeding all through the day. If you can get the weeds before they have a chance to establish themselves then they are easier to remove and do not have a chance to set seed and spread. Weeds compete for moisture and nutrients with your veggies and flowers, the sooner you remove them, the less competition. I can not stress this enough and constantly read this in gardening literature. Weeding can be hard work, staying on top of it reduces the total time spent digging and pulling. Time spent weeding is time well spent and greatly pays off in the long run.  

Work in compost, fertilizer or really well rotted manure prior to planting.

If you are using the same garden plot year after year, it only makes sense that you need to replace used nutrients. Compost works to add nutrients to the soil and retain moisture. If adding manure in the spring it needs to be really well rotted and preferably composted. Manure that is too fresh can contain weed seeds, potatoes and carrots will not grow well in it and it can contain too much nitrogen, causing rapid plant growth but little fruits or even 'burn' the plants. We allow our chicken manure to break down for two years since it contains so much wood shavings before composting and then pasteurizing it in the cold frame on a really hot day to kill any weed seeds. Often manure is added to the garden in the fall to avoid potential problems with potatoes and carrots. 

Mulch around seedlings and transplants. 

After your seeds have sprouted and reach a good size, mulch around the plants to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and add a slow release source of nutrients. Seaweed, compost, grass clippings and leaf mould make great mulches. Leaf mould is simply well decomposed leaves, usually obtained from piling leaves onto themselves in the fall and allowing them to rot through the winter. Do not place the mulch directly around the stalk of new seedlings and transplants, you can add more closer to the plant after it becomes established. I use straw to suppress weeds around the perimeter of the garden but not around plants as it uses too much nitrogen while breaking down. Wood mulches use the most nitrogen while breaking down and I find they encourage slugs, two reasons not to use it at all. The other mulches I mentioned do not use as much nitrogen as they break down. 

Water if needed. 

The last few years around here this really has not been a problem, too much rain was a problem last year, however if you suffer a dry spell, water accordingly. 

Rotate your crops. 

Crops should be rotated on an at least three year schedule. This helps reduce pests and diseases, reducing the need for pesticides, and different crops have different nutrient requirements. If you grow tomatoes in the same spot every year the soil will quickly become nutrient poor as tomatoes are heavy feeders. Legumes can fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, making them less dependant on soil nutrients and lighter feeders. Crops are rotated by family, as the same pests and diseases affect members of the same family. For example, the carrot family consists of carrots, parsley, celery, celeriac and parsnips.  Usually the families are referred to as the brassicas, legumes, cucurbits, carrots, the potato, amaranth and alliums although you will find variations and more proper versions of this, this is just what I have stuck in my head and will give you an idea to work with. 

Brassicas or the cabbage family contains, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, turnips, mustard and radishes. 

Legumes consist of all beans; soybeans, green and yellow beans and runner or pole beans, peas and even peanuts. 

Cucurbits encompass cucumbers and squashes like pumpkins, butternut and others. 

The potato family consists of the nightshades, potatoes as well as tomatoes and peppers. 

Amaranth has spinach, swiss chard and beets as a family. 

Lettuce and endive are on their own. 

The allium family holds all the onions, leeks, scallions, garlic, shallots and chives.

Chives are perennial and usually kept outside on on the outskirts of the main veggie plot with asparagus, berries and rhubarb. Rotation is not possible as you will not be moving these plants, however if removing an existing bed of any of these and planting another it should be moved to a new, different location. 

It only makes sense to follow heavy feeders with light feeders, even if you add soil amendments each year as roots travel deep into the soil. Crop rotation is often referred to as the single most important tool for organic gardening. Promoting healthy plants that grow well and quickly is the best way to defend against pests and diseases. Many pests depend on soil to live and reproduce.  A hardy, healthy beet green can take a few nibbles from flea beetles, aphids and leaf miners and still be well enough to eat. 

Protect peppers, beans, tomatoes and other affected plants from cutworms.

Cutworms can take a healthy transplant down in one night. Placing three nails, toothpicks or a collar of some sort firmly into the soil close to the base of the plant will prevent the cutworm from being able to wrap themselves around the stalk and nibble it down. Better safe than sorry in this case. I put collars around all my tomatoes, ground cherries, peppers and beans just to be sure. 

Hand pick slugs at night and in the early morning. 

Slugs can be a gardener's worst enemy. Slugs usually attack tender greens like lettuces, however they do not stop there. They can eat berries, flowers and all kinds of crops.  We allow our chickens out to free range for about an hour at night to help clean up on slugs. When I have the garden planted, I usually pick the slugs first thing in the morning while I am weeding and checking on crops. As with the cutworms, it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to slugs and prevent them from being able to nosh on plants. If they are a huge problem you can also set up various traps containing beer, wine, yeast and water and many other proven concoctions.  Slugs particularly like to eat marigolds. I use a very thick barrier of crushed eggshells and sand which seems to work well. The slugs do not enjoy crawling over the sand.    

Kale.

You would think we would be sick of it, we have been eating it so much. Simply steamed and topped with butter and sea salt, kale is so tasty I could never get sick of it. A lot of people will dehydrate their kale into 'chips'. Ours never makes it to the chip stage.  

What's Going on in the Gardens.

We had a busy gardening stretch, however the rain is going to quickly put an end to that. It's simply not worth working in the garden when the soil is too wet, when more harm than good can be done. I concentrate my efforts elsewhere during wet gardening days. Wet soil can be great for weeding flower beds, putting up fencing, tending indoor plants and transplanting. I have also been digging up dandelions and eating the greens. I snapped these pictures this morning when there was still a bit of sun peeking out, although it is still pretty miserable light for showcasing flowers and veggies.  

This clump of arugula overwintered in the cold frame and is now going to flower. The leaves are still not too spicy despite being so large so I want to collect some seeds to plant in the fall. I have more than enough of this early spring lifesaver planted right now. We use arugula leaves in salads, on wraps and sandwiches, tossed into pastas and vegetable/fish/meat dishes and to make pesto. Some eat the flowers and the seeds. 

Lettuce. It is so nice to have the cold frame filled with goodies this time of year, I can relax a bit on planting the garden, although we are still hammering it in. 

All the new arugula. This will need to be thinned, although with greens I find you can get away with planting them fairly close together, especially if you are constantly harvesting.

Rhubarb coming along nicely. I recently put some compost around this clump. Rhubarb appreciates some compost or well rotted manure in the spring. 

Chives. We harvest from this clump constantly and allow about half of the clump to keep growing. 

The first daffodil. 

First windflower. 

The hyacinths, slightly battered by the rain. 

Siberian squill. These bulbs were in a bit more shade than my main flowerbed, where the squill has already flowered and is now looking tired. 

Happy Earth Day!

I hope everyone had a fantastic earth day. It was lovely here, overcast but warm, the perfect weather for working outdoors. We took our doggy for a fish that I would never say was unsuccessful, although we did not catch any fish, spending time outdoors is never a regret.  We put the fencing around the newly expanded garden, it grows every year, we must be feeding it well. I planted some things, did some weeding and transplanted a few seedlings. There has been lots to do outdoors, which means I have not been able to spend as much time indoors documenting, however it also means there will be more than enough pictures and events in the very near future. Every day is earth day around here, we are constantly mindful of our impacts and contributions to the environment. Growing most of our own food is a daily reminder of how generous the earth can be and how it should never be taken for granted. 

Snagged some baby spinach leaves from the cold frame for dinner.  We usually eat our spinach baby sized before it can get too large, well it's tender and tasty. Spinach, and almost all greens, can be almost constantly harvested for a continuous supply.

Blue Glory of the Snow.

Beautiful drifts of blue glory of the snow in front of some daffodils. 

Using the Chickens to Control Garden Pests.

Chickens love eating bugs. They even eat slugs, a gardener's worst enemy. Although we have the chickens completely confined to their tractor in the spring and summer months, we let them free-range in the fall and winter, we let them out for a couple of hours each evening. They cruise around the yard eating bugs, slugs and whatever else tickles their taste buds. I really notice a decrease in garden pests in comparison to the years we gardened without the girls. Since they are only out for a few hours, they don't have a chance to be destructive and destroy my flowers. Another huge bonus of having chickens and hens in the spring and summer months is they even eat mosquitoes and black flies and they eat them all day and  night. We have a flap of screen over the door to their house in the tractor, however the flies and mosquitoes still find their way in. You can hear the girls and meat birds beaks hitting the walls as they grab the pests. You can also encourage bats, sparrows and toads to make homes on your property to help keep the insect populations down. Making sure you do not have standing water on your property is another way to discourage the bugs.  I usually still have to hand pick the slugs, first thing in the morning usually seems like a good time, then I feed them to the girls. I can hardly believe they eat them. 

Kale from the cold frame with dinner. I really have to start taking more pictures of my meals, somehow I got out of the habit. I still cook dinner every night and there's always something we grew involved. I will make a point of posting more meals with recipes, if there is one as most of the time I wing it. 

Chives that would be even larger if I did not constantly pick and eat the tips. I just love eating fresh chives. 

The blue glory of the snow have caught up to the purple. 

One tiny iris reticulata bloomed today. 

Crocus still going strong. 

The main crocus patch. 

Growing and Blooming.

Black seeded simpson lettuce in the cold frame. 

Assorted greens in the cold frame, requiring a thinning.  

Baby spinach. 

Overwintered kale starting to look slightly tired. I do not usually allow the kale to get too large as the tender  leaves are tastiest to me. Steamed and served with butter and sea salt is about as good as it gets. 

This poor little chicky got loose in a jail break from the chicken tractor yesterday and was pecking at the glass in an attempt to get at the goods inside.

Strawberries growing with great vigour. 

Purple Crocus. 

Purple glory of the snow. 

After the snow crocus bloom it's then time for the dutch giant crocus to steal the show. 

Purple glory of the snow basking in the sunlight. I have had a busy weekend working outdoors on some new beds for asparagus and strawberries and tilling our main garden. In organic gardening practices no-till gardening is getting up there. We are really hoping this is the last year we have to till our, much improved over the years, clay soil. This is the driest year yet for our garden and we will be planting ASAP. Stay tuned for documented progress. 

Hen stopping to smell, or rather try and eat, the crocus. 

Everything's Coming up Purple.

I love how beautiful purple crocuses are. I find they almost look fake at times, they're so lovely. 

These guys really opened up during the nice warm and sunny days we had recently. 

Purple glory of the snow joining the show. 

Team Work.

Never do a job yourself that you can get the chickens to do. I wanted to turn my oldest compost pile to really get things decomposing again. The pile was frozen around the edges and steaming hot in the middle. It is about a year old and I covered it with lots of leaves and seaweed in the fall. I'm hoping to be able to use it to side dress my crops in early summer.

If you have ever witnessed the destructive nature of a chicken, you'd know that their speciality is scratching through soil, and other matter, turning it over and over. They use their feet to scratch through the soil, eating any bugs they uncover in the process. Soil, and other matter, goes flying through the air, being spread several feet from where they initially started scratching. This is why chicken can be used to aerate soil and lawn, turn compost and soil and basically till a garden space. The chickens love having a job to do. If they do not have a project to work at, you can find them completely destroying my flower beds. They've ripped up perennials and bulbs on several occasions. That's why we normally contain them in the chicken tractor.  I just start turning the compost myself and after several shovelfuls the girls take over. An easy way to turn compost is to simply take it all out of the pile and put it back in, turning it a few times in the process. The girls will shortly have the majority of the compost pulled out, scratch through and broken down into smaller pieces. After that, all I need to do is shovel it back in. Easy peasy. 

Getting right in there. 

Hey there. 

Lots of bugs to eat. 

Scratching away. 

Pallets are quite trendy and make a great frame for a compost pile. It's a good idea to allow air to flow all around the compost, the pallets allow this. Ours are broken in spots since we live in bear country and in early spring when food is short, we may have a bear try and take the compost apart.