Seed Starting

One of the most alluring features of our home is the sunroom at the back of the house. This undergoes the conversion to seed starting room over the next few weeks, although I have already started a flat of them and will likely do another two before I arrange more shelves. Although my seedlings stretch more thinly than commercially grown ones (I do not use grow lights, so the tiny plants stretch towards the sun until the days grow longer), they usually fare well once in the ground. In my opinion, sun is the most important factor to starting seeds without grow lights, and the sunroom offers plenty of it.

I start seeds for the variety. There are dozens and dozens more varieties available via seed catalogue than you can buy in your garden centre. This year for the first time, I received a catalogue from Heritage Harvest Seed - I cannot wait to receive my order, which includes the very rare Reisetomate, Canada Crookneck Squash, and Worcester Indian Beans.

I also start seeds for the wonder. Simply put, it is amazing to watch them grow.

I do not start seeds for the savings. I get too excited and buy too many seeds. In theory, however, you could save quite a bit if you split packages with friends, or used up all your seeds before buying new ones. Or only bought exactly what you needed. I am neither organized or controlled enough to manage this.

That being said, my favorite types and varieties that pass the "easy-peasy to grow and maybe even economical" test include:

• Tomatoes - any type, but our family finds in particular that paste tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and heirloom tomatoes offer savings and are easy to grow. I pick varieties recommended for home growers from my favorite seed companies, but also ones that look interesting: that is how I have tried Sicilian Saucer, Big Brandy Hybrid, and this year the Reisetomate, and Opalka.
• Kale - Darkibor hybrid - I had success overwintering this kale for 3 seasons before it got in the way of an expanding garden terrace. It did not survive the transplant. However, it was prolific, and worth a try for the gardener who likes kale.
• Squash - I have had success with both butternut squash and pumpkins. I am going to try tucking them into beds near the front of the lot (and the road), which I am converting into perennial space. This year, I am also growing zucchini, something I've held off on because I have a friend who drops off mega-zucchinis every week. It's payback time.
• Beans and radishes - all kinds, any kinds. Both germinate readily when sown directly in the soil, meaning that you don't even need to start seedlings!

I generally seed everything within a one month period, creating a timing disaster come planting time, and consequently everything goes in late, and bears fruit late. This year will be different. I repeat! This year will be different! I am exceptionally pleased with myself for having already started a flat's worth of perennials.

My seed starting routine

1. Select your seeds however you will: my selections are largely based on what I want to eat, what has grown well in the past, what looks interesting and unique to grow, and approximately how much space we have. I write a list of the kinds of seeds I need that year - there are likely a dozen or so types/varieties on that list - then select seeds from catalogues, grossly exceeding the number of things on the list. I make one in-person trip to William Dam Seeds. I have yet to pass a season where I don't buy at least twice as much as I need.

2. Plan out when you will start each type, and write the dates down on a calendar. (I have a calendar dedicated to gardening and also record the actual dates that I seed things, as well as projected planting dates, etc). I use instructions on the packet and an approximate last frost date. Sweet Domesticity gives an easy-to-follow schedule in her Seed Starting Bootcamp post, which is much more comprehensive and knowledgeable than this post is.


3. Prepare your materials: pots, trays, and medium. I am using newspaper pots this year, as after a few years of working with Jiffy Pots I have decided they don't hold enough soil, and therefore require more frequent watering. I generally use cheap seed starting trays and their fitted covers, but managed to misplace all but two of them this year. So I am jamming my seeds into take out containers. You SHOULD make sure your trays are rinsed out. Mine this year were not, as evidenced by the strange seedlings popping up from the bottom of the tray. For medium, I usually buy whatever seed starter is available at Canadian Tire. It is not the cheapest option, but generally comes in nicely contained small-ish bags, which don't make a mess in my sunroom.

4. Plant according to your schedule. I add soil to the pots, moisten them with water (which also helps keep your paper pots together), arrange them in the tray, create my labels, and then plant.

I plant 2 - 3 seeds per pot, again, according to the instructions on the packet for depth. I always cover the tray, preferably with a fitted lid, which keeps the soil moist. Seedlings are labelled and the tray is placed in a window with southern exposure.

And if for no other reason, at the end of winter, starting seeds is a wonderful way to rejuvenate hope for spring.

The Ornamental Vegetable Plot

I can't recall where I first heard of potage gardens, which have now become a source of inspiration to me. Books on the subject and it's related subjects - potager,  kitchen gardens, ornamental vegetable gardens - are the ones I turn to most for developing my garden plans. After inheriting some very high-maintenance gardens with the purchase of our house 3 years ago, I have slowly started to convert the beds to be 1) more easily maintained and 2) able to produce food.

Nowhere on our property is there a chunk of land eligible for the perfectly rectangular veggie bed that I grew up with, so I had to get creative. Our house backs on a river, making the backyard a regular wildlife sanctuary. Yes, groundhogs. Yes, deer. Yes, fluffy bunnies. I decided that it would be better to grow food closer to the house, as the larger, hungrier animals tend to stay "down by the river." However, this means working with oddly shaped beds, and ones that are already occupied (overtaken, in most cases) with perennials and even some wildflowers. And serious weeds. Eek.

So I started the conversion with the least populated, most rectangular bed, a front bed that lines our driveway up to the sidewalk. While formal French potage gardens require fairly large spaces to incorporate their geometric layouts, I simply tried to make a "pretty" veggie plot, incorporating some patterns into planting and including flowers throughout. I planted radishes, cabbage, kale, beets, and runner beans with nasturtiums, marigolds, borage, and ageratum, which was completed buried under the foliage from nearby cabbages. Tomatoes reseeded themselves from last year and I was literally pulling them like weeds. By the dozen.

These pics show the garden shortly after planting on June 10th, on June 27th, and July 11th. I clearly tried to squeeze too many plants into the bed. But that is kind of my style.

I try to take road traffic and potential pollution from passers-by into consideration when planting. While it seems wonderful in theory to grow food on your front lawn, you don't want dogs to water your lettuce. For this reason, much of this front bed was planted as it was purely because I liked the look of the plants, and as a growing experiment; I was hesitant to harvest much leafy growth from a road-side location. This year I am going to try to push back the edible plants even further from the road by moving more blooming perennials to the front of the bed, and will try to find another location for my leafier plants.

Tilling near bulbs isn't practical, meaning most perennials don't mix well with annual food plants. In the top most photo, you can see two bean tee-pees; I roughly allotted the space in between them for tilling and vegetable growth. However, easy grow annuals that don't need much tilling can easily by set amongst your perennials to add a decorative effect - I personally love nasturtiums.

Though this bed wasn't a total success, I did learn some things about what thrives in it and what doesn't. And most importantly, the bed is better organized for growing this year.

Seed starting

Since moving to this house three years ago, I have very enthusiastically been starting my own seeds in our sunroom.  Growing from seed is satisfying, gives you many more varieties to chose from than are typically available locally, and is theoretically cheaper than buying seedlings.

Theoretically because I tend to go bananas at the seed store.

Currently I have 6 flats and a few miscellaneous containers of seed started,  and I will likely start 2 more flats. I am not in any particular rush to get things started, as the increased daylight further into spring helps seedlings grow in a less spindly fashion.

While most of my seeds are started in the pots you see pictured, I am also trying some tomatoes sewn in a larger container (a pre-washed lettuce container from the grocery store). I babysat my mother-in-law's seedlings last year and they performed beautifully in that kind of setting, I think because of the larger amount of medium they could draw nutrients from, and the added moisture that medium retained.

Although I enjoy watching all my veggie seeds grow, and I like trying out new annual blooms, I love growing tomatoes. Love. Love. Love. In addition to the lettuce container, I seeded a flat of tomatoes on the weekend, including some Sicilian Saucer tomatoes from William Dam. Last year I tried to encourage my friends and family to compete with me for the title of the biggest Sicilian Saucer tomato, but no one adhered to my astringent reporting regulations, despite good reporting yields. I look forward to seeing whether someone takes my title.

William Dam Seeds - Trip

While I read catalogues from several different seed companies, William Dam in Dundas is the only seed company I visit. Friday was seed day!

William Dam is where I buy most of my vegetable and flower seeds. I like that they've maintained the family business feel, I appreciate their commitment to organic and heirloom gardening, and the fact they have a cat at their storefront. I also love their selection of green crops, which help with soil improvement. You grow the crop, you mow it if necessary, you turn it into the soil. Bam. Your soil is better. 

Although I needed to restrain myself from buying flowers and vegetables, green crops are a worthwhile investment. This fourth summer at the house, I am ready to do some serious renovation of the planting beds. Buckwheat is a fast growing cover that suppresses weeds, and the 50/50 peas oats mix is supposed to be a good nitrogen fixer. I have plans to use both in various sections of the garden throughout the season.

Although calling a three-dollar packet of seeds a "splurge" I must impress that I have many, many seeds already, and almost ten types of tomato seeds. So my splurge was actually for my father's garden: a crossed heirloom tomato that keeps the great heirloom taste, while providing more disease resistance. William Dam has several new "heirloom marriages" this year, and while I will still grow traditional heirlooms I would like to give these a try as well.

While it is by no means exclusive to William Dam, I also picked up some diatomaceous earth for snail control. We have many, many snails. We will see how effective this treatment is.