My 2010 gardening plan

[tamago23]

This year is as ambitious as some previous years, but with a lot more know-how and planning going into it. This year I'm trying three different techniques: using self-watering planters (SWP), square-foot gardening, and companion gardening

Comments

[kettunainen]

I'm experimenting with companion planting this year, too. And SFG for a second year, though in a rather haphazard way. Haven't tried SWP, though -- we don't really have any plants yet that produce anything -- all root veggies and leafy greens. Too many people and rodents coming by to fuss much with actual produce. *cries* I want STRAWBERRIES!

I so hope you have a better time with tomatoes this year and that the weather treats your balcony kindly.

[tamago23]

Companion marigolds FTW! They have marigold packets for $0.75 at Dollarama, if you want to get your hands on some of their awesomeness.

I'm detail-oriented when I feel like it, and I love the Tetris-esque challenge of fitting everything into a SFG plot. ;)

As long as there's not a freak hailstorm like there was last year, we should be fine. *rolls eyes at freak hailstorm* Seriously, that was ridiculous. All that work growing them under the fluorescent light and then - boom! - wiped out the very first day I put them outside.

I'm hoping the farmers that were at last year's farmer's market come back this year; they sold seedlings, and they had this amazing tomato variety from Russia, called Koralik, and it LOVED our climate. Cold weather did nothing to that plant.

[kettunainen]

I might have to try the Koralik if I can find it. The best place for sun is in our living room, since it gets more daylight hours of actual sun than our garden and the windows magnify the light.

I've also read a lot of awesomeness about nasturtium helping all sorts of other plants, plus you can EAT nasturtium. Double plus good.

Also, I still have your Thai basil seeds from last year. I need to actually PLANT more this year. We planted a bunch of basil and then cleaned everything up and there was the thai basil packet just staring at me, "You forgot me, didn't you? Well, THAT was dumb, wasn't it? :P"

[tamago23]

I think I'm going to do nasturtiums for the kids' window in their bedroom. Gavin picked out morning glories, but yesterday (after the damn things have already sprouted) I realized that morning glories are poisonous. Not really the best thing to have around a two-year-old and a cat (that occasionally nibbles on houseplants). So I'm going to pinch off the morning glories and go buy some nasturtium seeds.

Heh, yeah, seeds don't do any good unless they get put into some dirt. ;)

[pink_siamese]

I want to eat at your house this summer.

[tamago23]

We'll see how the yield turns out, but I'm quite hopeful it'll be our best year yet. :D And this year I've gotten the peas planted early (when they're supposed to be planted), so they'll produce more than last year. (Their production is highest during the cool months and slowest during the hot months. So if you're not getting your peas planted until late May, you've missed about a month of good-production weather.)

[gentlemaitresse]

Are there other blueberries in the area for yours to cross-pollinate with? I don't think blueberries self-pollinate, or at least not very well. That's why we planted several, of two different varieties.

[tamago23]

Tophat is a container hybrid, so it's designed to be self-pollinating. The whole self-pollination issue is why I'm not going to bother trying raspberries or blackberries in containers though. :/

Most of my stuff I pollinate by hand, because that greatly increases the yield. So plants like tomatoes and strawberries, I'll use a soft paintbrush and go from one flower to the next. But I don't want to assist with even more pollination than I'm already assisting with. :)

[gentlemaitresse]

I figured with everything else you must have already had this covered. I'd just never heard of self-pollinating blueberries before. Then again, I am fortunate to have plenty of space for regular outdoor in-the-ground gardening. :-)

Good luck with your garden, and I'm hoping for plenty of photos!

[tamago23]

I can't WAIT until I have a backyard space. :) Although this year elixxir, who lives fairly close to me, is letting me come over and plant stuff in her backyard! Of course the products will be pretty much consumed by her family (three adults & three kids, so they'll have no problem consuming any consumables) but it'll nonetheless be fun to see how things do in the ground. :)

[nimbrethil]

All that sounds awesome. I haven't had the opportunity to try SFG yet, but I've read up on it quite a bit. Tried to garden back in 2008, and got hit with a June freeze, a hailstorm, among other things, on top of being a novice who didn't really know what she was doing. I got one tiny cherry tomato and three squash out of the deal. =/

Now that we have a community garden coming together in my current locale, I'm going to try again, though I'm not nearly as ambitious this year.

[tamago23]

Ugh, last year there was this ridiculous freak hailstorm *after* the last frost date. Picture it: I'd spent the previous eight weeks nuturing all these little baby plants under a fluorescent light and finally the frost date passed, the soil was warm, and it was time to transplant them into the garden. I put them all outside for a few hours to start the hardening-off process.

And out of nowhere, a goddamn freak hailstorm that afternoon. Not only that, but it blew from *exactly* the direction it had to to destroy my plants - if it had blown from any of the other directions, they would have been shielded by the balcony above. It broke the stems on almost all my seedlings. :( I was furious.

I'm so excited about your community garden! Are you going to get your own individual plot, or if not, do you get any say in what gets planted?

[nimbrethil]

I'm not too sure on the details yet. The comm. garden in my previous city was a free first come/first serve deal, with free supplied manure, water, bedding, and even some basic tools. You got to stake out your own plot and there were no size restrictions. The only rule was that you had to get your butt in early to claim a plot if you wanted a ghost of a chance of having one.

From what I understand, there will be a rental fee for this one, and plots are of a predetermined size. That's about all I know so far. If I don't get the promised fact sheet in my email by tomorrow, I'm going to hunt someone down to give me the details. Hopefully it'll be within my budget.

[nimbrethil]

Ugh, last year there was this ridiculous freak hailstorm *after* the last frost date.

Guy I worked with briefly a few years ago used to always call gardening a full contact sport. My first foray into gardening was enough to convince me of that little truth.

[nimbrethil]

Oh, I see you're planting two squash varieties next to each other. I was under the impression that was a bad idea because squash plants are highly prone to cross-pollination?

[tamago23]

They do tend to be frequent cross-pollinators, but I have to pollinate everything by hand anyway; being up on a balcony, I don't really get bees. :/ Aside from that, I don't care about cross-pollination because it doesn't affect this year's crop; the major problem with cross-pollination is that the seeds aren't "true" for the next year. Since I use new seeds every year anyway, it's a moot point.

[nimbrethil]

Ah.

I make a point of collecting heirloom seeds that are organic as often as possible, and keeping them stored as well as possible. I have delusions of eventually having the competence to save and store my own seed and keeping a miniature seed bank. For that happy time in Nim-Land where I have a larger home and a yard, even.

[tamago23]

That's awesome. :) As for me, almost everything I plant are hybrids designed for containers, for maximum yield in minimum space, and minimum sprawl. Container varieties are rarely heirloom varieties, for obvious reasons. ;) I did have my Russian heirloom tomato last year though, which was awesome. That puppy kicked butt. I can't say I noticed any taste difference, but that variety (Koralik) looked at our Canadian cold temperatures and laughed, when other plants were lying down and dying of hypothermia.