A NEW DEFINITION OF WEALTH |
“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon." ~Doug Larson, 1989
Ben has his order in for seedling/transplants this spring.
Last fall, as you may know, Mark bought an 8’ X 12’ greenhouse for his backyard. He was so excited to get started seeding his veggies and flowers for this season that he now has 50 trays of green youngsters. Many will grow a little too big for practical use, but he will live with that. This is early April and the perfect time for everyone else to start tomatoes from seed, plus most other veggies that are best planted in the garden rather than direct sown.
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We have several tips for you that will help you succeed this season in your veggie garden, but first, why is this a good idea? That is, to grow your own food? After all, if we are honest and you were to apply value to every hour that you spend planting, nurturing, weeding, and harvesting, each tomato would likely be worth five bucks. At minimum wage, no less.
For readers who have done this for some years, the idea of “paying yourself” is preposterous.
We grow our own for reasons that transcend the value of time and money.
The experience alone provides stretching and muscle building that extends your life, so earning a wage doing it is a moot point.
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Here are our top 5 reasons to grow veggies, herbs, and fruit:
1. The alternative is to buy them, likely at a grocery store. The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit environmental health organization in the States, recently published the 2023 Shopper Guide to pesticides in Produce. Turns out that strawberries and spinach are #1 on the list. Followed by kale, collards, and mustard greens. Then, peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, grapes, bell and hot peppers and cherries follow. In total, they found 210 pesticides on these 12 foods. We are not here to argue about the advisability of organic vs. non. We are advocates for growing your own food, especially these listed, simply because the grower (that is you) has complete control over the pest controls (or not) used on them. Control = knowing where your food comes from.
2. Fresh = better. Canadian comedian and friend Ron James recently referred to store-bought winter tomatoes as tasting like gnawing on a Fisher Price toy. Don’t ask how he knows what that tastes like. A garden-fresh tomato: how does that taste? We rest our case.
3. Local. Your food is waiting for you on your condo balcony, back porch, or the garden in your yard. Is there more local than that?
4. Sweet satisfaction. The feeling that you get when you finish painting a room, or painting a picture, sewing a quilt, carving a masterpiece: that is the feeling that you get when you grow your own. Only you get to eat the results.
5. Live longer. Growing plants means connecting with soil and nature (they are really the same thing, we believe). This is forest bathing without the forest, but the results are the same. Maybe better, because there is a lot of bending, reaching and lifting when you garden. Wandering through the bush, not so much.
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Our top tips for a successful food garden:
a. Start early. Buy seeds now, to be sure you find what is on your list.
b. Start early. Sow seeds indoors now for most of the veggies and herbs that will be planted out in late May. Early April is 7 to 8 weeks from planting time. Read the instructions on the back of the seed packet.
c. Sow outdoors early. Many of us think of late May as the starting gate to plant everything. But there are lot of veggies that produce better sown directly into your garden, containers or raised beds in late April and early May. These include carrots, onions, lettuce, arugula, mesclun mix, all cole crops including cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and the like and peas.
d. Create support for climbing plants now, before the planting season really gets going, cause you won’t have time then. Peas, sweet peas, runner beans, grapes, morning glory, and hardy kiwi all need vertical support.
e. Enjoy your failures. The best way to succeed is to stretch your goals and risk some failures. We learn best from experience. No?
Mostly, enjoy the ride. Growing your own is an experience that becomes richer each season.
And, to steal from a popular ad campaign for a Canadian bank, when growing your own food, you are richer than you think.
With our best,
Mark and Ben Cullen
Merchants of beauty and beans
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GREEN FILE PODCAST
Episode 40 with Shane Jones of Durham College Horticulture
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Shane Jones is a professor of horticulture, food, and farming at Durham College and the new The Barrett Centre of Innovation in Sustainable Urban Agriculture.
Shane is helping to oversee the Barrett Centre's mission:
- Enhance the existing urban farm at the Durham College Whitby campus.
- Become a source for information, support and coaching for traditionally underserved and marginalized communities when it comes to urban agriculture initiatives including food security.
- Create a comprehensive and connected array of educational programs and materials in urban agriculture will be to meet growing employment needs.
- Create dozens of new opportunities in the years ahead for students to gain experience working on urban farms and in roles supporting the operations.
- Become home to a team of highly respected experts working to establish it as an internationally recognized hub of knowledge around sustainable urban agriculture.
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Start seeds indoors. Virtually all transplants that you wish to plant out come mid to late May should be started this month. Some now [peppers, leeks, snapdragons, alyssum] and others next week [tomatoes, zinnias, asters etc.] .
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When frost is out of the ground, sow your first crop of peas, carrots, onions, lettuce, radishes and mesclun mix directly in the soil. These are somewhat frost hardy and can take the light frost of late April and early May.
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Apply dormant spray. Control overwintering diseases and insects on all fruit trees, roses, most shrubs and deciduous trees with an application of dormant spray. You will buy two bottles [likely in one box] one is Dormant Oil and the other is Lime Sulphur. Mix according to directions and apply when night temperatures are reliably above zero Celsius and BEFORE the blossom or leaf buds open.
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Lawn. Rake gently to raise grass blades and open the root zone to oxygen. Feed with a fertilizer that contains slow-release nitrogen or use corn gluten for a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers. Thin patches are best thickened with 2 to 4 cm of lawn soil or triple mix spread over the area, grass seed broadcast over the area by hand, rake smooth [gently] and step in the works to bring soil/seed together. Water until germination occurs.
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Prune apple trees now [not when the buds are swelling].
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Prune cedar hedges for shape.
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Plant trees, shrubs, evergreens, and roses (later in the month). Fact is, if the plant is winter hardy and has not just come out of a greenhouse, where it became soft and frost sensitive, all dormant plant material will survive and thrive in April planting, even if there is frost in your area.
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Don't work the soil over or even walk on it until it has dried to the extent that you do not leave the impression of your boot when you walk on it. Once the soil has dried, apply a layer of 2 to 4 centimeters of triple mix or 70% compost/30% sharp sand to your entire garden. Do not turn it under: let the earthworms do this for you.
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Remove the spent soil from last year's containers: spread this on the garden. It is good stuff, just not good enough to use again in your containers.
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Hang out your hummingbird feeders late this month.
Relax, enjoy and breathe deep. You have earned this spring!
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TOTALLY USELESS INFORMATION with NICK & ROY |
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My old friend Nick Maiorano from my radio days was in touch and interviewed me on his Totally Useless Information podcast… not sure I agree with the title, but Nick and Roy had a lot of fun with me.
We had a lot of fun and I think actually squeezed some practical gardening information into this piece.
Thanks Nick and Roy.
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DONATE TO TREES FOR LIFE FOR A CHANCE TO WIN! |
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Earth Day is April 22, and to celebrate Mother Earth and the Spring planting season, Trees for Life has partnered with Root Rescue to provide you with a special opportunity. Root Rescue is an organic plant starter (we have used it on many of our TFL plantings), made from special fungi that help new plants establish roots, grow stronger, and function better.
For the month of April, everyone who donates $50 or more will receive a 4.5 g package of Root Rescue, enough to transplant four 1-gallon trees! If you can donate $500 or more, your name will also be entered into a draw for a chance to win one of two gift bags valued at $150 each, including a 180 g package of Root Rescue.
Trees for Life helps local partners across Canada to create healthier communities by planting trees where we live, work, and play. One way to increase tree survival rates is by using Root Rescue, an organic plant starter that puts life back into the soil. Whether you are a home gardener, a landscape contractor, or someone cultivating a green thumb, Root Rescue will give your plants a head start.
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BIRDS IN FOCUS:
Purple Finch
By: Jody Allair
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Bird names are funny things. Sometimes they’re spot-on in describing the plumage, behavior, or the characteristic sounds of a bird. Good examples include “Red-tailed Hawk,” “Black-throated Green Warbler,” “American Dipper,” and “Eastern Whip-poor-will.” But there are also bird names that defy common sense. My favourite example is “Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet,” a bird that can be found in the extreme southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Central America. Naming a bird species by a feature it does NOT possess – in this case, a beard – is just plain odd. But don’t get me wrong. I love that name because of its weirdness, and the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet is a real charmer.
Another strange bird name is “Purple Finch.” Yes, it is a finch, but the adult male is definitely not purple. I’ll admit that the alternative “Pinkish-rosy-red Finch” is not all that appealing, either. Names aside, the Purple Finch is an absolute stunner and one of my favourite birds to see and hear in my backyard.
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Purple Finch
Photo credit: Jody Allair
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The Purple Finch is quite similar to the House Finch. But if you look carefully, you will notice that male Purple Finches are almost completely rosy-red whereas male House Finches have only a limited amount of orange-red colouration on their head, chest, and rump along with grey-brown streaking along their sides. Female Purple Finches have a bold brown-and-white head pattern with rich brown streaking underneath. Conversely, female House Finches are uniformly grey-brown with blurry grey streaking underneath. Finally, Purple Finches appear stockier and rather short-tailed compared with House Finches. |
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Purple Finches at feeder
Photo credit: Jody Allair
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Purple Finches can be found across the forested regions of Canada. They are a year-round resident in southern Canada outside of the prairies. In winter, they’ll move in search of cone crops and will even move down into the southern U.S. if food is scarce up north.
Make no mistake – despite the strange name, the Purple Finch is one of the most beautiful birds in Canada. And luckily for us, one of its favourite foods is black-oil sunflower seeds. So keep those feeders stocked and clean this spring!
Good Birding!
Jody Allair
Director, Citizen Community Engagement
Connect with me on Twitter and Instagram at: @JodyAllair
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Have you spotted a Trees for Life ad ? If you have, show us for your chance to win a great prize! Here’s how you enter to win:
Take a picture of one of our ads (Hint: keep an eye out for transit shelter ads in your city or you might see us reading through one of your favourite magazines).
Post the picture of our ad to your story or profile on Facebook or Instagram and tag @cdntreesforlife so we can enter your name into the draw to win.
That’s it! Entries are unlimited and you will receive one ballot for each platform each time you post our ad – don’t forget to tag us!
Check out our great prizes:
- Three subscriptions to a magazine of your choice. Choose any three of the following: Maclean's, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, FASHION or Canadian Business.
- One signed copy of Mark Cullen’s best-selling book ‘The New Canadian Garden’
- One copy of David Johnston’s book ‘Empathy’
The contest ends April 10, 2023.
Good luck!
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HARROWSMITH MAGAZINE – Feature Recipe
Harrowsmith's Brunch Recipes for Spring
Spring is one of our favourite times of the year to make brunch. From French toast and mimosas to easy make-ahead egg casseroles to savoury challah with goat cheese, we love giving classic dishes lighter, brighter twists — and dressing them up with in-season ingredients like berries, asparagus and more.
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Don’t miss an issue of Harrowsmith’s gardening, cooking, sustainable living and DIY tips. Harrowsmith’s Spring Issue is on newsstands now and features 23 easy recipes with leftover food, tips to set up your home workshop, planet-friendly-activities, Harrowsmith’s Complete Guide to Growing an Organic Food Garden from Mark and Ben Cullen + so much more!
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