biodegradable Pellets

Today was my day to plant some seeds. I have been looking for a seeding kit for some time, and came across a product from Planters' Pride. They are these little thin pallets with a seeding mix inside a fiber membrane. Instead of making biodegradable pots out of Peat moss, Planters' Pride uses fibers like coconut coir.

Peat moss is a great growing medium and widely used, but for the most part it is mined. This rich soil takes generation to create and we are using it faster then it is being made. Peat bogs are disappearing, find out more here.

I found this particular kit, reasonably priced, at Canadian Tire, I'm sure that other retailer also carry this or something similar.

The first step is to add water....

The pellet will expand to 3 - 4 cms tall.

Next is the seeds. Today I planted Marigolds, Cherry Tomatoes, Cockscomb Celosia Bombay Wine and Lavender all from my last Johnny's Selected Seeds and Lupins that I had left over from Pacific Northwest Seeds in Vernon BC. They don't have a website that I can find, but their seeds are available at David Hunter Garden Centres.

I'm growing Marigolds and Lavender for specific reasons. Marigolds help to keep small animals, (like squirrels) and some non beneficial insects away from the garden and Lavender will attract Ladybugs that are a beneficial insect to the garden, they eat aphids.

The Bombay Wine is a bit of an experiment. This is not the environment they were intended for. I think it will be warm enough during the summer that they will do fine and probably be Ok threw the winter, but will unlikely survive the winter so I am growing them as an annual.

I proceeded to place 1 or 2 seeds per pellet, gently pushing each one in. I planted them in rows. The Lupins, Lavender, and Cherry Tomatoes each got one row, the Bombay Cockscomb got three rows, and four rows or Marigolds.

Some seeds are very small and difficult to handle. I used a common butter knife to move the seeds into the pallets.

Last step was to place the clear cover over the top and sit the "greenhouse," in the front window. Are apartment stays pretty warm and lots of light comes through this front window. Now I will let the seeds do their thing. Once the plants start to grow to big for the green house I will put the whole plug into a container and the roots will simply penetrate the membrane.

Soon I will be planting carrots and peas directly into their pots. I will likely also be doing some gardening for my building as we haven't yet hired anyone to do anything. This is part of my plan to create our own community garden. I think that if I start doing the work then it gives me the opportunity to meet some of the people in the building who are interested in helping out with the garden. Step one!

After

I did get started with my container garden clean up yesterday, but found there wasn't really much to do. I trimmed away anything dead and moved everything to the south deck for now, with the exception of the Bamboo and Aloe. Thats it, no picture for now. Next week is the deadline to purchase a seed starter and the weekend after I will be planting some seeds, so stay tuned.

Before

Todays post is a before, as I am hoping to get some clean up down this afternoon. If all goes as planned, I will post the after tomorrow.
A few weeks ago I posted about planting some Kale seeds that I forgot about last season. 18 days later most of the seeds have grown into young seedlings.
I won't be doing anything with these just yet, but in a couple weeks if all the seedling survive I will be doing some thinning and transplanting.
On the east deck, these three are the only current residence. The first is a Sedum that I rescued from a yard waste container of a client. I had taken three trimming samples, stuck them in some soil and two took root and grew. They were transplanted into a garden then this one was potted when we moved. Next to it is a Black Mondo Grass and a Hosta I purchased at last years Van Dusen Plant Sale. This years Plant Sale is April 25 by the way.
Inside is on the Piano where they got as much light as the Vancouver winter can offer I have an Aloe that I brought home from my dads cactus garden in Delia Alberta. I will have to do a post on it next we are out that way. He has been collect cacti since I was in High School. Behind that is a Sassafras I purchased at Kits Farmers Market last year and potted to bring with us. In the big pot we have a combination that I put together. I don't remember what the main plant is called, but I think it is some kind of Fuscia. I divided a Chinese Lantern I got at the Ambleside Farmers Market last year after we moved to the North Shore. I also added the offspring of the Black Mondo Grass I mentioned earlier to this pot as well.
In front of the window are some failed seeds. Sometimes seeds and a three year old do not go well together. There is also the previously mentioned Chinese Lantern and a Money Tree that was a house warming gift when we first moved to Kits almost 3 years ago. It has had a rough time. It has Almost died twice and was well on the road to recovery when Cillian pulled it out of the put a week or so ago. It still has some green and hopefully, like our finances will pull through!

On the south deck I have a random collection of pots. The green cooking put out from is a Passion Flower I rescued and stuck in some soil. It started to grow until the temperature started to drop, I expect it will start where it finished off this spring. There are also the two roses I rescues from an abandoned house, Cillians mini rose, two Azeleas, Strawberry bush, and our Norfork Pine we used as a Christmas tree that dried out while we were away.

Cillians Mini Rose is off to a good start.

Across the street from my previous place was an empty home that the realtors where looking for a developer to buy and take down. The yard was wildly over grown include several roses huge rose bushes. I had told Suzanne that I wanted to go over there and dig up the roses and she insisted that I couldn't do that. I gave up the idea of stealing these beautiful roses as technically it was stealing. Within 2 weeks of that conversation the city of Vancouver came in an leveled the yard. The grass, roses and everything else cut to ground and trucked away to the dump. I was instantly sorry I had not help myself, obviously no one would have carried. Months later I was walking past the yard and realized that three of the rose bushes had sprung back and, although awkwardly, began to reach for the sky. That night I ran over with my shovel and liberated them. They bloomed nicely that summer and in the fall I dug them up two of them and brought them with me.
This one has some Hens and Chicks sharing the pot with it and the other has another Mondo Grass. I am looking forward to seeing them bloom again this year.

Urban Farm

From Fancy Publications, the people who are known for Hobby Farm Magazine, comes a new publication. Its called, "Urban Farm, Sustainable City Living," and as the title and tag line suggest it is all about the city farmer. There have only been two issues published to date with three more planned for 2010.

I came across the premier issue late last fall while scanning the gardening section of the News stand in the Lonesdale Quay Market in North Vancouver. I have been keeping an eye out for the next issue and have finally found it.

Each issue so far has been jam packed with stories and editorials about many different aspects of Urban farming from produce and livestock to container and community gardens. Advice for any urban gardening in any situation. Following is a review of some from the Spring 2010 installment.

In "Pushing City Limits," fellow garden blogger Erik Knutzen takes us along as some Urban Farmer share the tribulations with city bylaws, including Tara Kalla of Silver Lake Farms in Los Angeles, California. She grows organic cut flowers to sell at farmers markets. Sometimes I can understand why people might have issues with someone having chickens in their yard, or even a large produce garden in the front yard. But you would think a large flower garden in your neighborhood wouldn't ruffle too many feathers. This is not the case with Tara Kalla and others. Learn how see and others have over come outdated laws.

Debbie Moors introduces us to Will Allen and Growing Power in the article, "P is for Prosper." The once professional basketball player turned gardener created the ultimate community gardening experience in Milwaukee 17 years ago. I won't get into much description, the article says it all.

In "Power to the People," Carol Ekarius gives an overview of the many different options for "greening" up and lowering your electric bill with options ranging from on and off grid.

These as well as articles about Gardening on a rental property, square foot gardening from its creator Mel Bartholomew, or how to use grey water from your washing machine to water your garden, make this issue a must read.

Subscriptions are not yet available so search the shelves of your favourite magazine rack, or check out their website.

Spring Kale

I managed to use my surprise day off to get some gardening done. Months ago I purchased seeds from Johnny's Seed Company, and put them into a drawer until last week when after eating my found treat and flipping through the new Johnny Catalog I decided it was time to pull out these packets of new life and make a plan for this years exploration of container gardening. Among the paper envelopes I found Winter Kale, something I bought with the intent of planting in the fall, but forgot about and now I am faced with a decision. Do I risk planting now in January and harvest before it get it gets to warm, potentially not harvesting a decent crop and wasting the seeds? Or do I save the seeds until next fall, potentially not having any of them sprout from being too old thereby wasting the seeds? I feel there is really only one thing to do at this stage, and that is to do both options. In the name of Garden Sciences I will attempt both and document the out come.

The first step I need was to find something to plant the Kale into and to give some organization to the East deck. Believe it or not this is an improvement. Two boxes went down into storage and some cardboard trays left over from berry picking last fall finally made the voyage to the recycling.

I decided to use the old Blender Pots to start with. These blender have burnt out motors. Instead of spending more money then they are worth to fix or throw them away, I have recycled them. Loosing the cord I made them into pots. The soil in them had dried out and compacted so much that I need to dump it into a pail, then mix some other soils from smaller pots to loosen up and improve soil quality. This will allow water to penetrate the soil, and for the soil to hold on to the water molecules better. This will ensure in part that enough water is available for the seeds in germinate and later for the roots to soak up to feed the plants.

This mixture was put back into the the Blender Pot and topped it off with Keefer's West Coast Planter Box/Container Soil Mix. I have used a lot of Keefer products in the past because they are local. Keefer Farm and Greenhouses has been family owned and operated in Richmond BC for more than 50 years. That means that these soils are extracted and treated right here in the lower mainland. Why is that important? The environmental impact of buying soil shipped from the other end of the country or from the US, or even overseas is enormous. I try to consider local products whenever possible. I even choose local over organic. Once the point of organic if it has travel 1500 Kms to get here right. I suggest finding a local source for all your soil needs. If you are in the lower mainland Keefer's products are available at Garden Works, David Hunter, and Maple Leaf Garden Centres.

With the new and improved soil in the pot I placed 3- 5

seeds on the top, then pushed them about 1/2 inch into the soil. After 4 weeks I will thin out the plants if necessary as they will crowd each other too much this close together. If this happens none will do very well and will likely be sick, which will attract unwanted insects like aphids. Health plants will not attract unwanted pests and act as a natural insect repellant. When I thin them I will transplant the unwanted Kale into other pots.

I repeated this process with two other Blender Pots and two other unused pots.

Cillian was eager to help out as much as possible. At my last home we had a portion of garden that he could play in. That is something we will have to work out in this unique gardening situation.

Once all five pots where plants with Kale seeds we water them using my new watering can from my father and mother in-law. Thank you very much!

Once these start to sprout I may plant a couple more pots, this way they can be harvested at different times.

Weekend come weekend go

I had great plans this last weekend for my balcony gardening. Life had other ideas. First the show I work on decided Saturday night would be the perfect time to catch up on some unfinished episodes. So thats a right off.

I used to have a fancy touch screen cell phone. A month or so ago I cracked said touch screen rendering it unusable. The phone still worked, just not the screen, limiting the functions. Not willing to pay for a new phone I decided to continue to use the phone as is. Until Wednesday of last week.

Working late in the pouring rain, the phone received enough moisture that worked into the cracks on the screen and into the phone... and then there was no longer a cell phone.

We have become one of those families that do not have a home phone. Suzanne and I both have our own cell phones and that is what we use. So with a broken cell phone I started to feel cut off from the world.

So instead of gardening I spent my Sunday shopping for a new cell phone and cell phone company. Not going to get into that, because I don't write this blog to promote anyone, but that is what happened to my weekend. I have a surprise day off tomorrow so maybe I will have some time for then.

Restart

Its a new year and time to decide what to do with the blog. Its always tough with this kind of thing when you have let it go for awhile.

Much had changed in 2009. When I started this blog I was renting a house in Kitsilano with a nice big yard open to all kinds of gardening possibilities. I was a husband and father of a two year old. I had a full time job as a Generator Operator in the film industry but was attempting to start a Organic Landscaping Company. I had some garden successes and some mishaps, but was having a great time.

I am still a husband and father, only now my son is 3. We have bought an apartment in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale area. We have traded our double lot on the flats, blocks from the beaches of the English Bay for double 2nd floor decks and the side of a mountain, blocks from the piers of the Burrard Inlet's North Shore.

In my last post I spoke of address my council about transforming our grounds into community gardens to be enjoyed by the tenants. My letter to council was not received until months later and was only addressed at the General Meeting, where the idea was in part rejected, but was agreed to pole for interest in the Minutes that was later distributed to the all the tenants. So far, no one has contacted me.

So what do I have if I do not have land. I am fortunate for a gardener without land. I have a south facing deck with lots of sun and an east facing deck mostly shaded by a Acorn tree. These two different environments create two different gardening opportunities. Best of both worlds really.

I still have my full time film job, but when we moved to a new area I had to make some decisions regarding my landscaping company. My original business plan was to find jobs close to home so as to reduce my carbon footprint by not driving all over the lower mainland from job to job. When I moved I had to decide whether or not to keep the limited clients I already had and still try to work in that area, or move the operation to North Vancouver completely. At that time I was contacted to bid on two other potential jobs, both very large and both interested in my different outlook. In the end Turned Leaf was not chosen for those jobs and I decided to drop my other clients in Kits. As far as the company goes, I have decided to stay where I am for the time being, we will see what the future holds.

So now what do I do with the blog. Do I start a new one, as this blog is named after my now closed landscape company? Or do I stay under this heading as I move into a new arena of gardening know as container gardening? It would be easy to start again as I only have the one follower and I haven't posted anything in months.

I still like the term, "Turned Leaf." As in a new leaf has already turned, and now it has turned again. What is gardening if not adjusting to new environmental needs and constantly turning new leaves again and again. So I will continue to blog under this heading.

I ask this of you. If you are reading this blog, let me know you are there. I dare not be so bold as to ask that you follow me, but I would love to hear your thoughts, questions, comments, advice or maybe even a little encouragement.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully we can grow our gardens and selves together.

J