Indoor Plant Projects Workshop

This morning I was fortunate enough to catch Evergreen Brick Works' Indoor Plant Projects workshop. Waking up early on a Saturday morning is not one of my strong points, but I was motivated enough by the promise of learning new indoor growing ideas to will myself out of bed and brave the stinging cold trek up to the Brick Works.

The workshop focused on two ways to grow plants indoors in a small space: green walls and terrariums. Even though the plants demonstrated were of the tropical, carnivorous, fern and moss variety, the same tools and techniques can be applied to edibles. Think herbs and lettuces. Keep in mind that edibles need a fair amount of sun to grow.

Green walls can be constructed a variety of ways. You could build a series of shelves or webbing to hold the plant containers vertically, or affix the containers directly to a wall, bookshelf, etc. For those who aren't DIY-inclined, a couple of great alternatives are Woolly Pockets or a plastic, modular wall planter kit. Evergreen purchased a few of the latter for us to try out.

I must admit, the kit is quite simple but brilliant. It's a hard plastic tray with slanted plant slots. A water tray with tiny holes fits into the top, and the water drizzles through channels down the tray. Another water tray sits at the bottom to collect excess moisture.

We threw in a few handfuls of regular potting mix into the slots, and stuffed the plants in. A bit of coir can be added on top to hold back any soil that wants to fall out once the kit is mounted on the wall.













The Evergreen staff also showed us a few of their own impressive vertical grow projects, including a series of hanging window edibles in upcycled pop bottles, an industrial planter made from an old electrical box, and sprouts growing from custom-made plastic tubes.




Next, we learned to construct a terrarium, which is basically a small enclosed ecosystem. Drainage rocks, potting mix, and maybe a little coir or Spanish moss is layered into a glass jar. Plants are planted, and about 1/4 cup of water is poured in. A cork or plexiglas stopper is fitted to seal the jar airtight. You can even turn the terrarium into a lamp stand by topping it with a lamp head. The lamp add-on serves as an additional source of light for the plants, not to mention changing the whole set-up to a wicked cool light fixture.





















The terrarium project really got me excited... it reminded me of Holly Handmade's crafted mushroom terrariums. I left the workshop feeling inspired, with crafty terrarium ideas stewing in my nog.

Year Two: Reflection, and Looking Forward

Happy belated birthday, my dearest blog. Looking back 2 years ago, when you were first born, it seems so long ago when I first started posting in my tiny west-end apartment. Back then, local food was on the come-up. The book, "The 100-Mile Diet", had been released for a year, and only a handful of the city folk I talked to understood the desire to know where their food comes from. I was already well into the ideologies of localism, but the thought of authoring a blog abhorred me for several reasons. 2008 was the year I broke down.

Fast forward to 2010. Locallyproducedfood is a household string of words, already adopted by the mainstream as a corporate social responsibility halo (see marketing campaigns for Hellman's mayonnaise, Lay's potato chips and Loblaws supermarkets). Nearly every neighborhood in downtown Toronto has a weekly farmer's market. I think it's a step in the right direction, though I warn that Motive is as important as Action.

But just when I thought I was the coolest local food kid on the block, I quickly discovered I still had a long way to go. So this year, I attended workshops on How To Start a Community Garden, and Mushroom Cultivation. My partner and I organized a CSA delivery group, tried to convince our community to set-up a garden at Joel Weeks park, flirted with guerrilla gardening and wild foraging, made and served veggie chili to hundreds of G20 protesters, and delved deeper into DIY craft through crochet, soaps and salves. We met dozens of people through Everdale, the G20 weekend, Plan B, Foodshare, Not Far From The Tree, and our daily travels, all of whom live and breathe activism, and continue to inspire and motivate my own life. And still, I feel this is only the beginning.

This year also brought about great strides in my balcony garden experiment, demonstrated by the appearance of fully grown, happy plants. I could not have done it without learning from Year One, proving that there is truth to those annoying "try, try again" quotes. The best advice I have coming out of Year Two is take care of your soil.

2011 will bring even more change. Starting in March, I'll be taking a year off to travel through Europe, Asia and Australia. It is with sadness that I announce that this blog will be on hold during that time. Though I'll no doubt be dying to share travel stories with you all, I can assure you it won't be through a travel blog or Facebook account. We'll figure something out.

Wishing you all a year of courage, change and action.

In solidarity,
Minda

Garden Update: mid-July

These past few weeks have been nothing short of wacky… earthquake, G20 protests, another trip to NYC, heat wave … and here we are, already knee deep into July!

I just took a peek at my last garden update in mid-June. In comparison, the plants have grown considerably in 1 month. The pole beans have climbed to the top of the trellis, then to the top of a taller stake I added later, and is now bending over the divider and onto my neighbor’s side. The dill has grown almost 4 feet tall, with tiny yellow flowers all over. Cucumber plants are flowering and also climbing uncontrollably. Chives flowers have dried up, and their tiny black seeds are being saved. And I just saw the first signs of a tomato budding from a flower yesterday.

Unfortunately, aphids have found their way onto my balcony again. They attacked the arugula plant that I was trying to seed, so I ripped it out in my madness. Now that I've calmed down, I started using a very diluted solution of Dr. Bronners peppermint and spraying it on the plants twice a day. It seems to be working to get those buggers under control.

Here are some photos of dill, cucumber and nastursium flowers. Love, love, and love.

Garden Update: mid-June

For the most part, the garden has never looked better. The plants continue to look healthy and strong. But for some reason, the onion seeds never sprouted. I tried several succession plantings, but nada. So I planted dill seeds in that spot. Also nada. Very strange.



















Photo (L): the left side of the balcony continues to be the most prolific area. Probably because it gets the most sun. Grown here are cilandro, basil, tomatoes, mint, dill, cucumbers and pole beans.
Photo (R): a continuation of the left side. Leafy beets and leafy nastursium. A sign that the soil is too rich is the absence of nastursium flowers. One pot shows no sign of growth, that was garlic planted last year. I have since planted sunflower seeds for sprouts in that spot.

Photo (L): the right side of the balcony. Arugula has flowered, and I've been too lazy to cut it down. Maybe I'll save the seeds. Small kale and chard plants in the rectangular planter, and large kale, mustard and chive plants in the far pot.
Photo (R): a collection of things on the patio table, including a bushy silver thyme plant, and hens-and-chicks I got from my Dad. It is the only inedible plant I'm growing.

Garden Update

The growing season is well underway in Toronto. So far things are looking great, thanks to unseasonably warm weather. Someone even commented that the plants look better now than they did at any point last year.













Agreed.

In fact, the arugula and most of the mustard greens started going to seed, so I harvested the entire plants and made a nice salad for dinner.

Indoor Gardening Experiment

Since my apartment doesn't get much sunlight (due to a west-facing, partly blocked view), indoor gardening hasn't been much of an option. Most edibles require a fair amount of sunlight.

But my living space is seriously lacking greenery. So I picked up a small rectangular planter at a garage sale, and visited a local corner store to see if I could find any seedlings that can tolerate shade.

I ended up with chicory and sweet woodruff. Chicory can be eaten like a lettuce, and sweet woodruff is an herb that can be used medicinally. Their tags said that chicory enjoys partial sun (4-6 hours), and sweet woodruff prefers shade. I planted them together in the pot, and it looks great sitting on my kitchen table. In a few weeks we'll be able to tell how the plants feels about its new environment.

Soil Mix-A-Lot

With the weather in Toronto staying unseasonably warm, I decided to start planting a little early this year.

Last year, I bought a pre-made potting mix, and added coir and mushroom compost. Throwing away the old soil this year seemed unnecessarily wasteful, so I amended about 2/3 old soil with:

• a bit of coir
• a sprinkle of kelp meal
• a good layer of worm castings
• a good layer of "sea soil"
• a good layer of 1/2 perlite, 1/2 vermiculite
• a very thick blanket of mushroom compost

The peas and the arugula were planted first, since they should be relatively cold hardy. One week later, the arugula sprouts were visible. The garlic I planted last fall still hasn't shown any signs of life. In the coming days/weeks, I'll start planting beets, lettuce, kale, chard, green onions and mustard greens. (yay!)

Wishing you all a great growing season!

Year One: What I Learned

My first year of balcony gardening was TOUGH. I feel like I invested a lot of time and energy into a garden that didn't give much in return. I feel much doubt on the suitability of my balcony and of my abilities to grow food. I feel like Apollo Creed after 1 round in the ring with The Russian. But I know I can't let one bad year kick my *ss just like that. Now that I'm armed with a year of knowledge and experience, this upcoming year is sure to be an improvement.

To help you avoid the same growing pains I went through, use these learnings and tips to get started on a healthy garden.

• Growing from seed and starting indoors is challenging, especially in low-light conditions. Start some of your plants from seedlings, and don't think of it as cheating.


• Be sure to FILL your containers with potting soil. Over time, the soil will pack down considerably.


• Container soil will run out of nutrients. Add nutrients every 2 weeks or so --- compost, manure, kelp powder and fertilizer teas are your friends.


• Be realistic, but experiment. Grow what is best suited for your conditions (e.g. sun, etc), but if there's a plant you really want to grow, give it a go.


• Talk to fellow gardeners, seed exchangers and farmers to collect tricks of the trade.
  
  
• Diversify! Choose plants that do well in different conditions, and plants that mature at different times in the season. That way, you'll always have food to eat.
  
  
• If the edible part of the plant is ready to eat, harvest it now. You could wait to see if it'll get bigger, but it'll probably also get more bitter and tougher.
  
  
• Don't get discouraged. Pests, weather and other destructive conditions are sure to arise and work against you, and get even the best gardeners.
  
  
• And most of all: Spend time enjoying your garden. Bring positive energy to your green space. We garden because we love.

Thanksgiving Ephiphany

After 30 years of living on this planet, I think I finally get Thanksgiving. Not the part of being thankful... sure, that makes logical sense. But the timing and the big meal part. This little gem of insight was all thanks to my balcony garden.

There was a Risk Of Frost warning on the radio earlier this week. So I dutifully harvested all of my vegetables that night. If I didn't, there was the chance that the frost would kill the plants and I would have nothing to eat.

So I now I'm looking at a table full of freshly harvested vegetables, wondering how I'm going to eat all of it before it goes bad. Hmm, maybe I should prepare a big meal of some sort. Maybe invite lots of people, like a feast.

A-ha. The Thanksgiving feast. It's all about frost. Historically, Thanksgiving dinner was the freshest meal one would eat until the following spring. And because frost hits Canada before America, Canadians have Thanksgiving several weeks before Americans.

Let me savour this moment of ingenuity before you tell me you already knew that.

Haiku

Sick tomato plant.

What was green and growing is

Now yellow-purple.

A Lesson In Biodiversity

This summer's weather has been unusually rainy and cold. As a result, crop yields have decreased across southern Ontario. City folks don't need to worry about their food supply since most of their food is sourced globally, but those who eat locally might have noticed. For example, there were little or no strawberries at the farmer's market.

My own garden is following suit. The leafy greens, to which makes up most of the garden, aren't growing. I just pulled the entire lot of mizuna mustard, since they were still very small plants (about 1" leaves), but already started to bolt. When greens flower, their leaves become bitter.

But 2 of the plants seem to be loving the cool weather: arugula and peas. The peas were an underdog plant: I planted the seeds very late in the season, only because I had an empty space and figured I would give it a shot. Now, it's my favourite plant. I love how the plant grow arms that hook onto nearby sticks for support, and how the peas poke out right from the flower.

Moral of the story: biodiversity is good. But you knew that already. So if you have the space, grow a lot of different plants. When Nature acts unexpectedly (and she will), your garden can adapt much better.

Tomato Love

My first tomato ripened last week. One yellow cherry tomato, to be exact. Though it's encouraging to see some edibles flourishing in the garden, I feel like a cheated a little... this tomato was on the plant when I bought it. In my own defense, it was small and green at the time. So I did bring it to maturity, I guess. I took about a zillion photos of the lil' guy... my own collection of tomato porn.

In case you're wondering, the tomato plants I grew from seed are a pretty pathetic lot. Most of them died some way or another, and of the 2 that I transplanted, they haven't grown at all in a month. To give you some persective, they are only about 1 or 2 inches tall as it is.

Attack of the Aphids

Think your apartment balcony garden is pest-free because it's off the ground and isolated? Think again.

I was watering the plants, when I noticed that one of the little beet leaves looked fuzzy. Upon a closer inspection, I realized it wasn't green fur... it was covered in aphids.

Little green aphids. They look so small and harmless. Until they infest your garden and kill your plants slowly by sticking in their fangs and sucking out the life juices. I should have checked sooner; the nasturtium leaves (see photo) were looking strangely puckered (see most-left leaf) and yellow coloured (see most-right leaf).

How did they get here? My guess is that they rode in on another plant. Here's a creepy fact: each aphid can produce millions of babies, and aphids are born pregnant.

So at least one time in the morning and evening, I religiously inspect the plants and squish aphids with my fingers. From the You Grow Girl book, I've also tried a few other methods to keep them under control (also as seen in photo):

• making homemade yellow sticky traps -- not too effective; the sticky stuff (petroleum jelly, molasses) isn't too sticky and most of it drips off in a few days
• adding some foil to the plant base to confuse the aphids -- also doesn't seem to0 effective
• making citrus oil spray by steeping orange peels -- seems to kill aphids when sprayed directly

I'm actually finding the whole finding-and-squishing process sort of relaxing and meditative...though it probably also helps me accumulate bad karma. And I've been late for work everyday this week; you can really lose track of time doing all that killing.

May the best organism win.

Seedling Gets A Beating

My tomato and pepper seedlings haven't been growing well under the fluorescent indoor lights; only one set of true leaves have grown. After visiting a couple of garden stores and seeing the strong and tall plants for sale, a surge of envy convinced me that the seedlings just needed some outdoor exposure.

I started exposing the seedlings to the outdoors a few hours a day, to harden them. Then one day last week, we had an unusually chilly spring day. I checked the weather before I left work in the morning; the forecast seemed warm and sunny enough. I still put the seedlings outside, but put a clear protective shield on the containers, just in case. The wind swooped in like.... well, like the wind. By the time I arrived home that afternoon, the protective shields were nowhere to be found. Three of the 6 seedlings were lying down, their stems snapped. Some of the other seedlings' leaves turned yellow, shrivelled, or blew off entirely.

Sorry little helpless plants. You paid dearly for my mistake. This post is dedicated in your memory.

Outdoor Planting: Round 1

This weekend, we spent a few hours setting up the balcony for the first set of seeds to be planted outdoors this year. We:

• Soaked the tougher seeds overnight to help them germinate
  
• Cleaned the used containers with a diluted bleach solution
  
• Lined some containers (knaf liners for the milk crates, clear plastic garbage bags for the cedar planters)
• Hydrated the coir bricks
• Mixed the coir with potting mix, and added fish emulsion fertilizer where needed
• Created a plan of where to set-up the containers and which plants would go where, based on the plant's sun needs
  
• Filled the containers with the new potting mix
  
• Planted seeds: arugula, swiss chard, beets (2 kinds) and mustard greens (2 kinds)
  
• Drank beer

We ended up being 2 bags short of potting mix; very annoying since I took 2 separate trips to buy the potting mix and had to take a taxi home since the load would have been way too heavy to bring on the streetcar.

The indoor seeds are doing quite well, except for mint (which still continues to be M.I.A.). Kale is the newest addition to the indoor team, and are sprouting up nicely.

Container Stories

I was hoping to set up the balcony garden using as many second-hand materials as possible. Aside from the containers I've mentioned already, I also received 2 plastic milk crates, an old shipping crate purchased from Craigslist for storing tools, and had some handy few gardening tools donated. But I needed a bigger planter... after all, I have the space, and a lot of plants to put into the "ground".

I contacted a fellow from Craigslist via email to inquire about an old wood planter he posted on the site. Turns out it was too small for my needs, but he insisted that he could make me one to my specs out of found wood. After negotiating on price, $90 for a 4' L x 2' W x 2' H cedar planter, he was off to build my masterpiece.

A few weeks later, after hearing no word from him, I emailed him to see what was going on. He was sick, but he would get to building the planter as soon as he could. A few days later he sends me an email, stating that he bought the wood, but it was really expensive ($75) so he wanted to renegotiate the price.

Huh? I thought that he was going to FIND the wood, not BUY it. Grrr. So being the pushover I am, I said fine, how about $120. He agreed, and was to deliver the following weekend.

My phone rings on Friday: the 4' x 1' x 2' planter is ready to be delivered that night. Great, but... HUH? I clearly stated 2' wide, NOT 1'. Well, I ended up paying him the money and taking the very tall and awkward looking planter. Before he left, he suggested that next time he could build me a planter out of found wood and it would be much cheaper. And that's when I realized I was living in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

In the end, we broke the planter in half and built 2 planters, each with 1' height. Overall, the twins turned out well, and we supported an independed seller of a locally-made product, though I know there's a lesson to be learned in this story somewhere.

On The Come Up

Oh boy..... oh boy. Sweet and hot peppers have started sprouting a couple of weeks ago. Last week up came the cherry tomatoes... though I had them in a dark place and wasn't watching, and now they're leggy. And this morning: tiny basil leaves were peeping from the soil. But the mint pot remains barren. I thought mint was supposed to be hardy?

Not all the seeds sprouted. Good thing I planted several seeds to fall back on. But now I wish I planted more.

For the past few weeks, I've been searching for second-hand containers. So far, I bought 2 Wild Turkey whiskey half-barrels, found 1 cracked terracotta pot on the curb, and had 3 clay pots donated from a generous Craigslister. But I still need lots more... at least 6 medium/large containers, mostly for planting greens (kale, mustard, chard).

Top photo, from L-R: tomato (Riesentraube), tomato (Yellow Currant and Black Cherry), pepper (Hot Fish), mint, pepper (sweet Purple Beauty).
Bottom photo: basil (Spicy Globe) --- barely visible sprouts.

Making Babies

So now you have seeds and the basic seed starting equipment. Next step: SEED STARTING. Finally....oh joy!

But wait. Don't be too eager: be sure to start your seeds at the right time, to ensure the seed is ready when the weather is. The description on your seed packet should help.

Add seed starting mix (or potting mix, if no ss mix available) to the containers you're using for seed starting. Embed seeds, about 1-2" apart (if there's room), depending on size of seed. Plant more seeds than you actually want to grow, since some might go to heaven. Not sure how deep to plant the seeds... I just added a light cover of mix.

If you're starting seeds indoors: add water to the tray and wait for 1 hour. Discard any water left in the tray that hasn't been soaked up by the pot. This method will ensure you're not drowning the seeds. Place in a very sunny spot, or a few inches under your fluorescent light for most of the day.

I started hot fish peppers, sweet purple peppers and mint seeds last weekend. No sign of life yet.

Container Gardening - Equipment

Here's my list of things to acquire for the balcony garden. If you have the time and interest, try sourcing items second-hand from a thrift store or on Craigslist. I scored these great whisky barrel planters for $40. Especially with containers, you can get really creative... rain boots, kiddie pools, old bathtubs ... the sky's the limit.

• Containers.
  Be sure to add drainage holes if there aren't any; plants don't like to be sitting in water for too long. If you don't want to drill holes, the next best thing is to add a layer of lil' rocks to the bottom of your pot.
  Keep in mind that different materials hold water differently: plastic, ceramic and tin holds water for longer; terracotta and wood less.
  Consider the plant when thinking about pot size. Better to go big than too small.


• Potting mix.
  I had to do a little searching before I found organic potting mix; $5 for 15L bag at Grassroots, also sold in bulk. Though it has peat moss in it, which I heard is sourced in an environmentally-destructive way. Boo.
  Don't use garden soil; you'll need a sterile mix.
  


• Fertilizer.
  I'm hoping my worm composter will provide all the fertilizer I need. Plus I have a little sample bag of organic fish compost from a nice man at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair, so I figure I'm good to go. But in case you're looking, check out the organic fertilizers at Grassroots, all under the Urban Harvest brand.


• Pruning scissors.
  Much more kind to the plant than twisting, pulling, etc.


• Gardening gloves.


• Trowel.
  


• Watering can.
  Not essential, but makes it easier to sprinkle your plants with water and avoid flooding them with a sudden, hard downpour.


• Resources.
  Books, internet sites (like this one!), people.


• A PLAN!
  Lots can be said for trial-and-error, but you'll probably have more success from the start if you're armed with a little knowledge and some ideas of where to put your plants, considering sun/temperature.

And, if you're starting from seed, you'll also need:

• Seeds.
  Seed exchanges are great - I think YouGrowGirl.com has a forum for this. Otherwise, you can buy from a garden store, or order directly from a specialized seed seller. Some popular organic seed sellers from Ontario: Urban Harvest, The Cottage Gardener, and Greta's.
  


• Seed starting mix.
  Where's the organic seed starting mix in Toronto at? Since I couldn't find any, I'll try potting mix. A lady at Grassroots suggested this, since she had some success with it. Plus I like the idea of buying less things, and using what you already have.


• Cells or small containers (if starting indoors).
  You could buy seed cells, or use containers you have on-hand. I cut up some empty tetrapak cartons and plastic bottles, added some holes in the bottom, and placed them on styrofoam take-out trays.


• Very sunny spot, or a fluorescent light (if starting indoors).
  If you don't have a south-facing window or balcony, get a fluorescent light from a thrift shop.
  

Seed Booty

Hoooo-rah! Having just moved into a bigger apartment with a large balcony (100+ sq ft), I've been having dreams of container gardening. So last Saturday, I attended Seedy Saturday, Toronto's annual community seed exchange event. It was the perfect place to grab seeds if you're looking for rare, organic, heirloom and/or local seeds, and talk 1-on-1 with growing experts. It was held at the Wychwood Barns, a restored TTC (public transit) repair barn which now serves as a community and art space.

The event had a great turn-out; though a little breathing room and some more face time with seed sellers would have been nice. I went armed with a short list of seeds:

3 herbs - mint, coriander, basil
4 vegetables - kale, swiss chard, beets, hot peppers
1 edible flower - nasturtium

But seed mania got the best of me, and I ended up with 6 more seeds, including 5 donated by a container-gardener friend. So now I have seeds for mustard greens, cherry tomatoes, arugula and bell peppers too. Grand total: 15. Yikes.

I spent the rest of my seedy day peeping into thrift shops looking for planters (none yet), reading 2 gardening books from the library ("You Grow Girl" and "The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden", both really good references for beginners), and setting up a comprehensive gardening schedule and balcony layout based on sunlight requirements and companion planting. I've transformed into a garden geek, when did that happen. If it so tickles your fancy, you can check out my gardening schedule and layout, I welcome any and all comments!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0083wFSfTpO5XF7yYFvtAQ