Working with Mother Nature - Urban Gardening

Pea Blooms

For the past few years I have dabbled in growing a few vegetables in my back yard.  Nothing major; few bean plants, lettuce, peas.  the usual fare.

Basically it was a little challenge I posed upon myself. Just to see if I remembered my childhood tasks on the family farm outside of Halifax where I spent my weekends and Summers.

At first I could only recall the unrelenting weeding and picking rock out of the garden plots. 2 chores that I found no love for what so ever.  I did remember the little sense of joy when a plant produced a product though and the amazing flavours of the fresh organic crops in mid Summer like baby potatoes, green beans, beets, and lettuce.

So this year, since I have a lot of time on my hands between deciding on a new career and grieving my old public service, I decided to expand my thoughts to actions and to attempt a larger Urban Garden in my back yard (known as the back 40ft) consisting of veggies, berries, and produce (potatoes, corn, beets)

 Other variables that convinced me to try this:

• Cost - seasonal produce is expensive if you are on a fixed income.
• Health - Gardening is a good form of exercise, and is a great form of meditation (in my opinion), Furthermost, the benefits of eating veggies is well known, but often not practiced because of time constraints. 
• Taste- nothing comes even close to fresh organic food, this means without pesticides, herbicides, or is some cases human feces. 
• Self satisfaction - the end results are so gratifying

Each year I have stepped up the challenge; adding more variety to the little backyard in the middle of the city and have somewhat pushed the boundaries of our fickle growing season by starting and growing plants to food production in my home.  Typically planting beans and spinach in containers and placing them in the South Western exposure windows.

Bean Seedling

The results have been positive! Green beans before the last frost, spinach to munch on or add to a salad before the first of May.

So this year I took it a little farther by constructing something I like to dub "the McGyver Greenhouse".  Using a 3'x 6' cold frame, 4 bamboo hoops, a sheet of plastic, and a lot of bricks salvaged from the ruins of the old home that stood on the property I found buried, I made my first attempt to cheating Mother Nature at her cruel Nova Scotian Spring.

Transplanted Indoor Garden to McGyver Greenhouse

I transplanted the plants to the greenhouse in the middle of April, secured the plastic around the frame with the bricks, and for added measure, planted more seeds around the transplants.

To my surprise, everything survived and grew!  Herbs from the previous year thrived, onion sets I had forgotten sprung back to life, and nasturtium seeds began to grow.

With much enthusiasm, I began to plan an expansion of the McGyver Greenhouse. Thankfully I have leftover supplies from the other construction and didn't have to purchase anything for the additions.  As you know, Halifax weather in the Spring can be two ways: Crappy and or Shitty; so trying to construct these greenhouses meant braving cold temperatures and hoping that the heat from the sun would keep the interior of the McGyver's warm enough to grow the seedlings and or transplants.

2 more Greenhouses (far back in photo)

To alleviate my fear, I doubled the plastic on the structures for the first month (March to Mid- April), and removed the extra plastic when the temperatures rose.  Moreover I added chicken wire to the end of the greenhouses to allow the plastic to be rolled up on unseasonably warm days so not to steam the plants and to keep my neighbour's cat from pooping in and on the crops.

McGyver Greenhouses basically become a microclimate and will draw the water out of the soil and "rain" back down on itself making it easy to water (once a week).

While awaiting growth in the McGyver's, I began to work on the landscape of the back 40ft.  Adding more flagstones, re-establishing the stone borders of the existing garden plots, and enjoying the rapid growth of the garlic and mint patch.

Mint and Garlic Patch next to stairs

Although 85% of the back 40ft is dedicated to vegetables, I do enjoy growing flowers.  I have been able to introduce tulips and daffodils into the mix by growing them among the established plants such as the mint and garlic, and the large plot where I have a "transient" plant selection.  Each year I either add new annuals or plant sunflowers, cosmos, lillies, hollyhocks, and whack of other flowers.

This year the plot has become a mishmash of flowers and veggies.  Several tomato plants sprung up in a McGyver (from my own compost) so I have relocated them away from the lettuce and other greens as they do not like each other.  Companion gardening certainly helps with produce yield.

Tomato Plants in pots, Mint and Garlic Thriving

Plant near: asparagus, basil, cabbage family, carrots, gooseberries, mustard, parsley, onions, rosemary, sage, stinging nettles

 Keep away from: fennel, kohlrabi, potatoes, walnuts: 

Tips like this are so helpful and will put your mind at ease to why certain plants are not growing or seem stunted. Moreover the internet can provide you with money saving tips on how to cultivate your crops properly.
A person just the other day asked me about "hilling" potatoes.

Although this video shows a sad looking potato, the method is correct.  I personally like the Potato Bag method.  The ones I purchased a few years ago have a Velcro flap which allows you to harvest without harming the plant.

2 Potato Bags with 3 ft Potatoes in Bloom

This photo taken today demonstrates how well the bags work. I plan on harvesting a few taters for dinner tonight!

These bags were worth the 2 for 20. dollars as the free up the garden beds for other plants and they are quite mobile.  I moved these around a few times over the past months.

Since I live alone and only entertain once in a while,the crop from last year was used up till April of this year when I used the remaining potatoes as seed potatoes for this years' crop.

Growing vegetables organically isn't difficult.  It just means you just have to get back to basics.  Save your table scraps (no meat) and peelings, old veggies and start a compost bin.   Look up natural fertilizers on -line.  I personally like using Epsom Salts.  Plants love magnesium, and this works well.

The Back 40ft. as of this morning.

Enough of this blogging. The sun is coming out and I have spinach to pick.