Once the holiday rush has rushed by, maybe we’ll have time to dream of spring and new gardens. Plan yours with help from my latest Edible Vancouver article, “A Reformed Slacker’s Guide to Garden Planning.”

If you’ve ever wanted to save seeds from your garden for next year, now’s the time. Many vegetable, flower, and herb seeds are easy to save, and they make great gifts when packaged up in a pretty little seed packet. Here’s how:

Step one: Collect seed heads or pods from the plants you wish to save. Choose the healthiest and heartiest of your plants; no point in perpetuating a dud! Poppies, calendula, nigella, beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, dill, and cilantro all have easy-to-save seeds.

Step two: Download a free, pretty seed packet template, like the one on my freebies page, print it out (plain ol’ 8.5″ x 11″ printer paper is fine), and cut along the solid lines.

Step three: Fold along the dotted lines and get out your glue stick. Glue all but the top flap.

Step four: Write the seed info on the packet. Sort your seeds on a piece of paper, removing any debris. Use the paper to create a funnel and tip the seeds into the packet.

Step five: Seal the packet and store in a cool, dry place. Or give as a gift. Ta da!

I started a flat of seeds on the weekend, and I thought I’d share the process with you. I did it all indoors, on my coffee table, and managed to make very little mess. Here’s how:

Gather all your necessary ingredients: potting soil or seed-starting mix (a sterile blend of peat or coir, perlite, and vermiculite), a trowel, a large mixing bowl, a watering can, containers (recycled yogurt containers, homemade newspaper pots, or store-bought plastic cell packs), plant tags, and of course, seeds.

I started a variety of seeds, from cool-season crops like broccoli and leeks, to warm-season friends tomatoes, basil, and peppers. Oh, and strawberries. The end of March is a great time to be starting your eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes indoors, as well as most herbs and annual flowers.

Now, before you get all crazy with the soil and the seeding, take a minute to figure out how many containers you’ll sow with each variety, and then make up labels for each. You don’t want to have to do this halfway through with your hands all grubby, or worse, after you’ve finished sowing and can only guess at whether a particular container holds ‘Amish Paste’ or ‘Brandywine’ tomato seeds.

Next, it’s time to make up the soil. Many gardeners create their own special seed-starting blends, but living in a small space, I find it too difficult to wrangle all those different bags of amendments and whatnot. I stick with store-bought seed-starting mix, and it’s just fine.  Get out your biggest mixing bowl (don’t worry! The soil is sterile. You’re not going to end up with microbes in your baking) and fill it with the seed-starting mix. Next, add water until the soil feels damp, but not wet. Maintaining a uniform level of moisture (not too much, not too little) can be one of the challenges of indoor seed starting. Pre-moistening the soil before you fill your containers at least allows your seeds to start off on the right foot.

Fill your containers almost to the top, then gently tamp the seed-starting mix down with your fingers, or the bottom of another container. As you can see, I use plastic cell packs rather than recycled yogurt containers or other pots. I find them to be the most space-efficient: an important consideration when you’re trying to squeeze them all under one grow light!

Make a little hole for your seed using a pencil, chopstick, or your baby finger. I usually plant 2 – 4 seeds per container. As a general rule of thumb, seeds are planted to a depth of about twice their diameter. Cover them lightly with soil.

Because you pre-moistened your soil, you won’t need to water right away. And if you have a plastic dome (or even a plastic bag) covering your containers, this will help keep the humidity high and the moisture in. Remove this covering once the seedlings emerge to prevent damping-off (a fungal disease).

Place your seeds near a bright light source. A south-facing window will do, but even better is a proper grow light system that allows you to move the lights up as the plants grow. It’s important to keep your light source 3-4 in. (8 to 10 cm) above the tops of your growing plants so that they do not need to reach for the light and become spindly. If your tray is on a window ledge, rotate it daily.

The other thing to consider is warmth. I use a heat mat similar to this, and it is great for really giving seeds a kick in the pants. Or whatever it is seeds have. Peppers especially seem to love bottom heat.

Finally, because they’ve got to be just a little more needy, you might consider providing your seedlings with some good airflow. Not only will this prevent disease, but it’s also said to improve the strength of spindly stems. Aim a rotating fan (on low setting) at your seedlings for a few hours a day to achieve this.

One of the best ways to get great compost in a hurry is to turn it regularly. Turning (mixing or aerating) your compost pile adds air to the mix, which speeds up the process of decomposition and prevents your pile from becoming stagnant. It also gives you a chance to assess whether your pile is too wet or too dry (it should be moist, like a wrung-out sponge) and amend accordingly.

Turning the compost is an easy—if messy—task if you’ve got more than one bin (three is often considered ideal. Add new organic waste to one bin, emptying it into the second and eventually third as it decomposes). But with one bin, you’re stuck trying to mix a heavy, deep, and tall pile of rotting stuff either by using one of those compost aerating tools (I used to have one but found it less than helpful. Then it broke.) or by scooping out the bottom of the bin and putting the waste back in the top. (At least, those are my methods. If you’ve got a better solution, please share in the comments!)

This used to be a task I’d do maybe three times a year—grudgingly. Then I let Lila in on the action, and she took to it like, well, a worm to a rotting Jack o’ Lantern. She loves visiting “her” worms, wood bugs, and millipedes. And she actually helps move the compost from bottom to top with her little shovel.

Okay, it’s slow going, but I do love watching—and sharing in—her delight as she discovers the simply wonders of a compost pile.

A couple of weeks back, I received my yearly trial pack of Proven Winners annuals: a giant box filled with six new introductions. Here they are, clockwise from top left: Superbena® Royale Chambray (Verbena hybrid), Golddust™ (Mecardonia hybrid), Lucia™ Lavender Blush (Lobelia hybrid), Supertunia® Pretty Much Picasso™ (Petunia hybrid), Slightly Strawberry™ (Anisodontea hybrid), Superbells® Blackberry Punch (Calibrachoa hybrid).

As I’ve mentioned before, I especially like receiving these boxes of plants because of the surprise factor. Often they aren’t plants I’d seek out in a nursery, but once I find a home for them in my garden, I quickly see their value. That’s been the case with the whole Proven Winners trial program; before I was “forced” (poor me) to find homes for them in my garden, I didn’t see the value in annuals. Now I like them – in moderation – for the instant punch of colour and easy care they offer.

This year’s box of plants arrived once my garden was pretty full up, so I decided to put all my eggs in one (hanging) basket.

This is the first time I’ve made a moss hanging basket from scratch (as opposed to planting into a plastic or wooden hanging basket container). Moss hanging baskets are usually made using a wire frame lined with peat moss, coir, or an artificial liner.

I used a Supamoss liner, which was clearly too small for my jumbo frame, but with a little added moss, it managed to hold in the soil. I don’t have more detailed photos of the process because, wow, was it messy. In a nutshell, starting near the bottom, I poked holes through the liner, inserted the plants, and topped up with soil. I worked my way upward, poking, planting, and filling, until I reached the top. Then I stuck a ‘Tumbler’ tomato in the centre, because apparently I can’t plant anything without it containing an edible.

I wasn’t thrilled with the look of the faux liner (especially with the gap at the top), so I covered the entire thing with moss. And damn, it looks fine.

Ta da! Can’t wait to see how it fills in.

Have you made a hanging basket this year? Share your photos on my new Facebook page!

Here’s a roundup of garden-related gifts you can DIY:

It’s not too late to make an evergreen wreath. This step-by-step guide shows you how.

I would still love to make this gourd birdhouse. If only the gourds were easier to come by. Next year I might have to grow my own.

Alice from NoussNouss gave me this idea. Seedballs as Christmas gifts! One afternoon cranking them out and you’d have all your gifts covered. Here’s the low down on how to make them.

Finally, Martha’s stone plant markers would also make fabulous stocking stuffers.

What are you making for the holidays?

Ready or not! Here I come…

The rain started today, signalling the end of what was a beautiful stretch of sunny days. Figuring that my tomatoes had probably seen the last of the warmth, I harvested the lot of them.

Did you know that placing a ripe banana in a paper bag with your green tomatoes will help them ripen quickly? There. You learned something today.

I’ve been wanting to grow my own mushrooms for a long time now, even listing them as one of my Growing Challenge edibles, but never quite got around to buying the necessary supplies. So when, at Seedy Saturday a few weekends back, I saw local mushroom company Western Biologicals (no website – call 604-856-3339 or email westernb@shaw.ca) selling mushroom plug spawn and indoor mushroom patch kits, I knew it was time to live the dream. 

I chose to go the plug spawn route, in which you inoculate a log with mushroom spawn-laced wooden plugs. The other option I considered was the indoor patch kit method, in which you buy a bag of mushroom-spore infused growing medium. While that would provide almost instant-gratification, the patch kits don’t produce mushrooms for as long, and, well, I couldn’t really picture mushrooms growing in my living room. Plus I thought shiitake mushroom-covered logs might look kinda cool in the woodland garden.  

The first and toughest part of this whole project is finding the logs you want to use. The guy from Western Biologicals recommended fresh-cut alder with a diameter of between 4-10″ and a length of no more than 4′. I don’t know about you, but there aren’t too many fresh-cut alders hanging around my neighbourhood. Luckily, my parents live out in the sticks, and there are plenty of government-owned lots to pilfer scrub alder from.

Once we had our logs cut, the next step was to drill holes for the plugs to nestle into. Using a 5/16″ drill bit, we drilled holes 2″ deep and no more than 4″ apart, creating a spiral pattern on each log.
 
Next, you just pop the dowel plugs into the holes you’ve created.

Give them a gentle tap with a hammer if necessary. The plugs introduce the mushroom mycelium into the log and will, over six months to a year, colonize the wood. Once the logs are colonized, mushrooms will start to appear, popping up from cracks or channels in the wood.  

Finally, you seal the plugs with melted cheese wax or other appropriate sealent to protect against other fungi and bugs, then stack or lean the logs in a shady area, watering during dry weather. Then you wait – for as little as six months, but more likely a year – until your little fungi friends appear. Then you make omelettes. Yum.

You can order mushroom plug spawn and other mushroom growing necessities from a number of online shops. Google “mushroom plugs” or try Fungi Perfecti if you live in the US.

Before planting in the spring, I like to do a quick soil test for pH (soil acidity or alkalinity) and nutrients (your basic NPK, or, nitrogen, phosphorous and potash [potassium]). I just use an inexpensive testing kit from a local nursery, although if you want a more detailed soil analysis or suspect you have serious problems with your soil, you can have it tested in a lab. In the US, your cooperative extension office does this. In Canada, try this.

I don’t really need a kit to tell me what’s up with my soil; Vancouver soil is typically acidic and nutrient deficient (perhaps because the rain leaches the good stuff out?). Despite regular amendments with compost, I’m always fighting those underlying traits. I like to do the test anyway, partially because it’s fun in a nerdy Grade 8 Science kind of way, and partially because I just want to double check.

This year’s test didn’t reveal any big surprises. Again, my soil was borderline acidic, so I’ll add a bit more lime. If your soil is alkaline, try granular sulphur, coffee grounds, or pine needles.

As for the nutrient test, my soil was low in phosphorous, and even lower in nitrogen. Typically, other than amending with compost and manure, bone meal and blood meal are suggested as organic soil supplements for these deficiencies (blood meal is high in nitrogen; bone meal in phosphorous). I’ve used both in the past, but this time I decided to look for alternatives to these slaughterhouse byproducts. No, I’m not a vegetarian, nor am I concerned about contracting BSE through the use of bonemeal. But in the past year I’ve stopped buying commercially-raised beef, so it would just seem wrong to use a byproduct from that industry. And I also question how blood and bone meal can be considered an organic amendment, when they aren’t likely produced from organically-raised beef. Plus, well, let’s face it: spray-dried blood is just icky.

Thankfully, there are vegetarian alternatives to blood meal, bone meal and fish fertilizers:

Instead of blood meal or fish emulsion, try alfalfa meal* or alfalfa pellets (sold as rabbit food) to raise your nitrogen levels. With an NPK ratio (the percentage of available nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potash (K)) of about 3-1-2, alfalfa is a green manure that also provides a dose of phosphorus and potash. Because it heats up in the soil, (making it a great compost accelerator) be careful not to burn your plants: don’t add it to the planting hole.

Cottonseed meal*, with a NPK ratio of approximately 7-2-2, is another good nitrogen source. Available at your local feed store, cottonseed is acidic, so unless you’re trying to lower your soil’s pH, avoid it or use in combination with lime.

Soft-rock phosphate, with a NPK ratio of 0-3-0, will raise your phosphorous levels and is a good slow-release substitute for bone meal.

*In the interest of full-disclosure, it seems unlikely that these products would be sourced organically-grown plants, unless otherwise noted. Is that why the organic gardening guidelines developed by Garden Organic (following standards set by the British Organic movement, the UK
government, and the EU) don’t endorse the application of any fertilizer, organic or otherwise?

She says, “We often see gourd birdhouses, but they are usually left unpainted, or are
painted decoratively. How about just a simple coat of non-toxic
paint? Add in a little twig perch.”

Here’s how you can make your own:

*  Buy a pre-dried, cleaned and drilled gourd. (Martin gourds seem to work best. You can buy them here.) Or grow your own and preserve it yourself. 
*  Paint the gourd. Courtney ended up using leftover latex interior paint. You could also try non-toxic or low-VOC paints.
*  Drill a hole for the twig perch. Courtney says, “the size of the hole for the perch is dependent on the size of the twig you’re using. It needs to be a bit smaller than the twig so that it is “press fit”– meaning tight. I also brush on wood glue.”
*  Attach the cable (or whatever you’d like to hang it with). You can buy steel cable by the foot at any hardware store. Courtney says, “you will also need little aluminum crimping fasteners that can be hammered closed (one to make the top loop, and one to make the bottom loop.) They are found with the cable.”

Hang outdoors or in (I’m thinking this would be lovely in the woodland nursery!).

Thanks Courtney!