It’s all happening in the soil, or as grape growers say “in the Terroir.” Wine grapes grow better on special but not always better ground. Grape like grape ground. This is stony rocky soil that can barely raise a radish yet it is perfect for grapes. Why is that? Grapes are a perennial crop so the plants are not pulled out and replanted ever year. So there is time for the active biology in the environment to slowly eat the soil.
Our fresh pea and basil sprouts grown indoors had the sweet tender taste of garden peas and fresh basil. We serve them with salad or all on their own with a splash of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt. If you haven’t grown your own micro-greens yet what are you waiting for? It only takes a week! And because the easiest micro-greens to grow are pea shoots I am providing the guidelines here. They taste exactly like peas and only take a week to eight days to serve fresh with dinner.
So here’s a question. Did you know flowers can hear very small sounds? Sure we’ve all heard that classical music makes plants grow better than heavy rock but seriously? Probably the first serious research to show the effect of sound on flowers was reported in National Geographic in January this year.
The research has just begun and I am looking for all my old favourite vegetable seeds (Juliet tomatoes and Susanna cauliflower) plus a few new additions (Jade Beans). This doesn’t mean I am throwing out the baby with the bathwater. No way. I am growing my favourite vegetables as usual but adding a few other vegetables and flowers this year.
Professional Horticulturist Donna Balzer seeking volunteer (“Woofer”-style) help with her organic zone 7 edible garden on Vancouver Island. This large plot offers extensive learning opportunities to a Horticulture student or graduate of a Permaculture Program. Work may include: pruning small fruit, propagation from woody cuttings, seeding, transplanting, greenhouse and garden work, weeding, wood mulch spreading and general garden clean-up. Bring ideas and talent, practise what you have learned and come excited to learn more! What I Offer: A one week mentorship opportunity with bed and board. This is a physically challenging opportunity for one or more people
Right. So it’s is probably true that there is nothing new in Agriculture. And yet I continue to order books both new and old, online and through book stores. The use of minerals by plants is well documented in books like The Intelligent Gardener by Steven Solomon and in Gary Zimmer’s Advancing Biological Agriculture. With hundreds of books launched hourly and all the old ones still waiting to be read there is always something to be learned about gardening from a book. It is the deep dive of learning less common in today’s twiiterverse or caption-driven instagram society. Some tidbit of wisdom or some unknown factoid is waiting to be discovered in every new and old book I order. Or maybe it is only new to me because, as mentioned, there really is nothing new to everyone anymore. Or at least I thought that until I got the call.
