Playing in the Dirt

It’s that time of year again! Time to start thinking about growing plants from seed. I had hoped to have the time/space/energy to grow some tomatoes in the basement this year but it just isn’t going to happen. I will probably take a couple of trips to some different growers to find some cool heirloom seedlings later in May or June, instead.

The whole shebang. Most of the seeds were either heirloom tomatoes (the trend continues!) or flowers.

I received the seed package on Friday afternoon, and today I sorted through and chose a couple of packets to keep:

Malabar Edible Climbing Spinach
Nasturtiums
Tithonia Mexican Torch Sunflower
Broccoli Romanesco

The source for all of these is unknown, but I can start them all either directly in the ground or outside when the weather warms up.

What I put in (pile on the left) and what I took out (pile on the right).

I think I put some pretty nice packets (all brand new) back into the envelope for the next person:

From Thompson & Morgan:

Morning Glory “Carnevale di Venezia”
Tomato “Vilma”
Pepper “Chili Pyramid”
Pepper “Mohawk F1 Hybrid”

From McKenzie: (You can follow McKenzie on Twitter now.)

Strawberry “Patio Temptation”

From Burpee:

Money Garden Pepper “Home Run”
Money Garden Tomato “Steak Sandwich” (The name of that one makes my mouth water.)

From Richters:

Poppy Opium Blue Seeded

From Heritage Harvest Seed:

Early Blood Turnip Beet

And from Mr. Fothergill’s:

Lettuce “Romaine”

I hope whomever ends up with these has good success with them!

Previous years’ exchange posts:

• YGG Canadian Round Robin Seed Exchange 2009
• YGG Canadian Seed Exchange, 2007

6063 Comments »http://playinginthedirt.ca/2010/02/20/annual-ygg-round-robin-seed-exchange/Annual+YGG+Round+Robin+Seed+Exchange2010-02-20+18%3A09%3A51Amy

My husband, Graham and I are so pleased to announce the birth of our son, Nathan James! He was born on November 24 at 8:13 pm.

If you’ve been asking to be added to the Green Thumb Blogroll, please have patience…I’ll be updating the blogroll when our babymoon is over!

5886 Comments »http://playinginthedirt.ca/2009/12/09/three-peas-in-a-pod/Three+peas+in+a+pod.2009-12-09+22%3A47%3A28Amy

I’ve just spent an hour doing something in the garden that, until now, has seemed somewhat unnatural to me: I’ve been ripping out plants.

Inspired by the neighbour of my parents, whose lovely back yard perennial garden seems perpetually free of weeds (each of her mature perennial plants standing proudly in its place, unencumbered by unwanted greenery), I’ve decided to follow her lead and garden a little more ruthlessly. When my step-mom, Heather, asked her neighbour, Alison, how she kept her garden looking so nice, she told her that she showed no mercy, pulling out any plants she hadn’t put there in the first place. This includes unwanted perennials that spread by seed or by runners. Of those plants, I have plenty.

As a beginner gardener, I was just happy that anything would grow successfully in my garden. Now that I’m a little more seasoned, and my plants are more mature, spreading their roots and their seeds around the yard, I’ve come to realize that there’s nothing wrong with pulling aggressive, invasive perennials from the places they’ve taken up unwelcome residence. In fact, I’m doing the rest of my garden a favour, and in the process found a little therapy for myself.

Rip away! It’s my gardening motto for the summer of ’09.

4761 Comment »http://playinginthedirt.ca/2009/06/27/rip-away/Rip+away.2009-06-27+13%3A50%3A24Amy

I realized just the other day that I haven’t yet mentioned here on this website that my husband and I are expecting our first baby!  The third member of our family will be arriving in November.  I’m almost at the end of my first trimester since I’ll hit 12 weeks this coming Friday.

What does all of this have to do with gardening, you ask?

It means that this year I haven’t started any seedlings, although I intended to at least do some zinnias and cucumbers outside.  It means that the perennial gardens in the back yard haven’t been cleaned up yet.  It means the raspberry canes I intended to move from the back of the yard near the shed into the veggie plot will be staying put for another season.  And it means that the vegetable garden will be simplified this year.

I wrote earlier about planning a direct-sow vegetable garden, which I had planned hoping that a baby would be on the way.  That being said, I really didn’t know how very little energy I’d have right through into May, or how much I’d prefer a nap to getting my hands dirty.

I did get out for an hour a couple of days ago to clean up the herb garden, and that felt great.  I’ve just accepted that marathon gardening sessions aren’t going to be happening this season, and I’ll just do what I can to maintain what’s growing here while I concentrate on growing the little person inside of me.

4397 Comments »http://playinginthedirt.ca/2009/05/06/something-new-is-growing/Something+new+is+growing.2009-05-06+18%3A26%3A36Amy

For the last several years I’ve experienced the fun that is growing vegetables indoors from seed. In Ontario (and most of Canada, really), this is one of the best ways to extend the growing season, since our last frost date here isn’t until May 24. Seedlings and young vegetable plants are widely available for purchasing in the spring, but the idea of having something green and growing and filled with hope for the coming season is so appealing that I usually grow plants indoors, starting right around this time of year, or earlier.

While the thought of having vegetable and annual plants in the house tucked away under their lights in the basement is certainly appealing, this past year has been so unbelievably busy and personally challenging that my heart is just not into it this time around. Graham and I both work two jobs right now, and we have a couple of home renovation projects on the go, as well, which means I just don’t think I can handle another area of the house that needs tending to, and this unfortunately means the basement seedling setup is going to go on hiatus for this year.

This doesn’t mean I won’t be growing from seed at all this year. I’m planning to concentrate my efforts on vegetables that can be sown directly into warm soil come spring. This includes radishes, greens, beans and squash. I’ll look for interesting heirloom varieties of tomatoes and eggplants, grown organically, for planting directly, benefiting from the work and care of other gardeners this spring.

Even though my growing process will be a little bit different this season, I expect my vegetable garden will be no less productive or beautiful this summer. I can’t wait to get planting.

4321 Comment »http://playinginthedirt.ca/2009/03/01/planning-a-direct-sow-vegetable-garden/Planning+a+direct-sow+vegetable+garden.2009-03-01+16%3A01%3A29Amy