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Biochar for Home Gardeners in Canada
Biochar is a friend of the garden and a positive addition to soil. It’s there when you aren’t even thinking about it and it helps you get the best veggie garden ever. Permanently. Among various types of Biochar the professionally produced Airterra Soilmatrix Biochar has been approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency because of it’s consistent and reliable characteristics. If you want to try Biochar, why not try the approved brand? Now available on Vancouver Island.
2019 Great Potato Experiment – in Rootpouch Grow Bags
Potatoes are cheap to buy so why make room to grow them at all? Because they are so heavily sprayed in commercial production and the difference in flavour and texture between home grown and store bought is just incredible. So even if the only space you have is under a tree or on a patio, consider growing your own potatoes next year. I am surprised by the results of my potato experiments in 2019. This is not what I expected at all. I have been growing potatoes in bags, pots and the ground for years. Over time I discovered I grow better potatoes in grow bags than I do in the soil so this year I wanted to compare various additions to the grow bags so I can save money and grow better food faster. Ordinary crops grown in extraordinary ways!
Why I Am Peeling Garlic This Year
So just to be clear I am not in jail and I do not have that much free time on a daily basis but I do have a lot of those piddly little garlic cloves because my garlic self seeds all over my garden and sometimes I don’t see it right away until the plants are grown and are ready to pull. So I do that – I pull it. And then in fall and winter I peel as I go – using it up in my kitchen. I love garlic. But when the cloves are small you have to peel two or three to get enough for a recipe.
Back to Reality: Renovating our Front Yard to Remove The Lawn and Add Edibles
So what is your motivation for making changes in the garden? In my yard it all started with Helpful husband. He had better things to do so he stopped mowing the lawn. And when our irrigation system imploded he stopped watering the lawn. Only the weeds were growing.
So with pencil and paper and I did for us what I usually do for others: A front yard redesign starting with removing the lawn and adding more parking for all our toys and vehicles. We … started by widening the right side of the yard, building a small wall to contain the plants, and creating extra parking. Then came the edible and ornamental plants.
Growing Cauliflowers for Success
Like labradoodles (a cross between a Labrador retriever and a poodle), plants that have been deliberately cross-bred are expensive to buy. And when you buy a cross-bred cauliflower you are probably only buying the seed or potential for a better plant. This is a good thing, though, because you know exactly what you will get with hybrid seed and exactly how the seed will perform in your garden. Cauliflower varieties have known and grown
Grateful For Bugs
I am grateful for all bugs even though many gardeners at large only like good bugs. And these people do everything in their power position to get rid of the bad guys. I had a neighbor once who hired a killer to eliminate all the young ladybugs on her tree because she thought they were pests. And this is not unusual. I encounter bug squeamish-ness among friends and family all the time….
