Today, I finally got around to getting my potatoes in the ground. In preparation for planting, I chitted the potatoes for a couple of weeks first. What is chitting you ask? It's a word that you should enunciate very carefully as to not cause confusion. Also, it is a word that describes the process of encouraging the seed potatoes to sprout before planting them. I do this by placing the seed potatoes in an empty cardboard egg carton and arranging them so that they are not touching. I put the egg carton in a sunny warm window until they start to sprout. I have now planted them in the ground, placing them about 3 inches deep, 12 inches apart, with about 24 inches between the rows. I hilled soil between the rows so that I can scrape it over top of the growing plants when they need their first hilling. This will probably be when they are around 6 inches tall. I have reserved additional garden soil and straw for when the time comes. I selected Norland and Yukon potatoes so that I would have versatile red and yellow potatoes that are quite productive and pretty good at storing.

I also have 3 russet potato plants in each of two 20 gallon upcycled nursery pots. I tend to not have as great success with container potatoes, but they still offer a reasonable yield for a small space. I am hoping that since I have not crowded them as much this year, that they will offer a heavier crop. Containers are a great way to add instant capacity to your garden without digging or tilling an in-ground bed (especially when you are working with rock hard clay in the absence of rain.

This post is more for my sake than yours. If you are interested, read below everything that I have in the ground this year (unless otherwise indicated). This gives me a clearer idea of how much food I (hopefully!) will be harvesting over the next several months. It also shows you that it doesn't take a farm to feed a family. You'd be surprised at how much will fit on a suburban lot if you get creative.

All right, here we go...

Sown in the ground, uncovered:
Arugula
Peas (snap, snow, shell)
Spinach
Corn Salad
Onion sets
Scallions
Garlic (overwintered)

In the polytunnels:
Chard (overwintered and newly seeded)
Spinach
Radish
Corn Salad
Parsley (overwintered)
Leeks (overwintered)
​Lettuce, Romaine
Chicory
Kale
Carrots
Arugula
Broccoli
Cabbage
Pac choi
Kohlrabi
Beets

Indoors:
Artichoke
Jalapeno pepper
Miniture bell pepper
California Wonder bell pepper
Tomatoes (Roma, cherry, beefsteak)
Melons (cantelope, watermelon)
Squash (butternut, kobocha)
Cabbage
Broccoli
Kale

Trees:
Cherry (mature)
Pear (mature)
Apple (mature)
Apple, young honeycrisp, container
Pear, young bartlett, container
Fig, young Ruby, container
Cherry, young Stella, in the ground

Miscellaneous fruit:
Baskets of strawberries (6)
Blueberry shrubs (6)
Raspberry shrubs (3)
White grapes
Red grapes
Kiwi berries
Chilean guava
Salmonberry

Whew! I think that's it for now. I will be adding to this list as the season progresses. These are just all the things that have hit the dirt so far.

I can dig it! So can you.

I have officially begun the journey of actually planting my front yard foodscape. It was only coincidental that we decided to remove the lawn and beds before the coronavirus/COVID pandemic unfolded. 

In the days and weeks following the clearing of our yard, the coronavirus pandemic began hit much closer to home. Then the panic buying started at our own grocery stores. Events and vacations were being cancelled. People began to go into self-isolation, hiding from an invisible danger.  Soon, we realized the detailed plan for the garden didn't really matter. We had bigger things to deal with. We had to worry about the health and wellness of our family first and foremost. Our lives felt much smaller and more precarious. Schools, community centres, pools, libraries, public services have closed. Access to medical services is narrowing in the face of possible impending healthcare disaster. 

I, like many others reading this, have felt overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of grim information and imagery day in and day out. There is a feeling of loss of control in these uncertain times. While social distancing and self-isolating, we are most likely stuck at home. What better thing to do than plant a garden? Working the soil, sowing seeds, and planting flowers, shrubs, and trees are all very therapeutic activities in my books. Fresh air, the elements, and some good old fashioned heavy lifting. You are connected with nature and you feel alive as much as the plants, bugs, birds, and critters around you. 

One of my favourite gardening quotes of all time is "to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" (Audrey Hepburn). Gardeners are hopeful people. You don't plant a seed expecting it to rot; you expect it to grow. Gardening is about hope, patience, optimism, and vision. You plan to be there to watch your garden grow and unfold. Like many people, gardening has helped me through some tough times. I have leaned on it many times throughout the decade that I have been seriously gardening. 

Right now, I am leaning on my garden to get me through this. If you are having a hard time right now, I encourage you to do the same. Whether you have a yard, or a balcony, or a plant pot in a window sill, plant a seed and watch it grow. It needs you to be there tomorrow. You will be there tomorrow.

I want to sow a seed of happiness and hope in you. Yes, we are in some very tough and destabilizing times. But I believe in tomorrow. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but when I awake my garden will be there for me.

Oh, and my second favourite gardening quote is "gardening is cheaper than  therapy, and you get tomatoes!" (unknown). A very compelling statement indeed!

So, go order some seeds online. You don't even need to leave your house! My favourite source is Westcoast Seeds, based in Ladner, BC.

Have you ever watched the show Doomsday Preppers? Years ago, I watched several episodes which I found both entertaining and enlightening. The show followed individuals who put a great deal of effort and energy into preparing for a number of catastrophic (‘sh*t hits the fan’ = SHTF) world events which would change life as we know it (‘the end of the world as we know it’ = TEOTWAWKI). These people are probably feeling pretty pleased with themselves right now and muttering “I told you so” while sitting on a mountain of toilet paper.

Similar to some of those people (but not in the same extreme), I love being prepared. I love planning and making lists. I meticulously combed through our emergency kits within the last few months and replenished and supplemented our supply. It felt pretty good and gives you a feeling of control when faced with the unknown. And it’s reassuring given our current circumstances that I have these modest supplies in the event of an emergency.

However, one thing you can’t include in an emergency kit? Fresh produce. Yes, fresh food might be considered a non-essential luxury in the event of an emergency. But what about sustained circumstances which impact your food security? I am fortunate to have the confidence in my ability to produce a long growing season of fresh produce. And now that I have polytunnels, hopefully I will have access to fresh food all year-round.

In all likelihood, in most types of emergencies, you will be “bugging in” (I picked up on some of this prepper language!) if it’s safe to do so. That means you’ll be staying home, where your garden is most conveniently located. If you have a productive garden, you can use it as part of your emergency plan. I’ve even seen some “preppers” refer to their garden as their TEOTWAWKI garden. Perhaps not a bad idea.

In my previous post about food security, I described how I was in the midst of changing my garden plans for this year. I am going to try to stuff every reasonable nook and cranny with fruits and vegetables. My front yard foodscaping plan will weigh more heavily on the edible plantings this year. In thinking about my garden over the last few days, I have decided to prioritize FIVE things in particular:

1) Reliability
I want to choose varieties that I have planted before and that I know work well for my climate and soil. I want to select things that are tried-and-true so that I can have a greater degree of assurance that it will be a successful harvest.

2) Trouble-free Crops
I want to choose cultivars for pest and disease resistance. I don’t want to lose the time and energy (and soil!) that is put into a flop crop. I don’t feel like I have time to waste

3) Long Harvest Windows
Ideally, I want something that is going to keep on giving. I want to include lots of cut-and-come-again veggies and I want varieties that are going to produce more as you continue to harvest them. I want something I plant at the beginning of the season to produce until it runs out of steam in the fall (wishful thinking).

4) Heavy Yields
I want something that is going to give me the more edible material for the least amount of effort. I want one seed to give me a large crop.

5) Storability
I want to ensure that I select varieties that can be stored long term. I plan on freezing, refrigerating, or self-storing (cellar-style) as much as possible.

Selecting Vegetables for My Emergency Supply Garden

Having said all of the above, I realize that perhaps it might mean that I won’t be planting as many heirlooms or varieties with ornamental value. I will still try to use high-quality non-GMO and organic seeds whenever possible.

So you ask, what are my top picks and why? Well, here we go…

Potatoes: A reliable crop, which is usually trouble-free, with a long harvest window starting with new potatoes, a potentially very heavy yield, and excellent storability with minimal effort depending on variety. I have selected Norland and Yukon Gold. I have a full 4x8 bed set aside for my seed potatoes.

Onions. A reliable crop that is usually unbothered by pests and diseases. The harvest window is short but they can have a very long shelf life if stored correctly. Onions are a versatile vegetable that can be cooked with virtually anything! I selected a variety pack of onion sets (yellow, white, red); I will not be planting from seed due to the extra time and effort.

Peas. Peas are a staple in my house and they are eaten abundantly fresh and frozen. Last spring, I grew enough to eat fresh and sometimes even two meals per day. I plan to freeze extras or give some away if we have an excess. I want cultivars that will grow vertically on trellises to maximize the square footage of my garden. My choices? Oregon Sugar Pod II (snow pea), Super Sugar Snap (snap pea), and Alderman (shell pea), all of which I have grown with great success.

Beans (snap, i.e. long). As with my peas, I want to grow my beans vertically. This means that I will be using pole beans which have a longer harvesting window but they still have heavy yields. My crop last year suffered from bean mosaic virus and stink bug damage, so I’m actually going to try changing the variety in hopes of remedying this. I plan to freeze excess as usual. I have selected Seychelles and Hilda Romano.

Beans (drying). I have not tried growing beans for drying before this year, but I feel like this could be very important for fall and winter protein. They are grown in the same way that snap beans are grown, though they are left to fully mature before harvesting. It is important to note here that drying beans may also be eaten as snap beans if harvested young/immature. I have selected: black turtle, Taylor Horticultural, and Dragon’s Tongue.

Carrots. Depending on the cultivar, carrots can have a long shelf life if stored correctly. I wanted a longer harvest window, so I chose both quick and slower growing varieties. I have selected Bolero (slower growth, longer storage), Nantes, and Napoli (faster growth, better for fresh eating).

Cabbage. This is a new choice for my garden. It is something that can be directly sown in my zone (8a) and stored for longer periods. I am starting with a fast-growing variety (Tiana) and following with a storage variety (Danish Ballhead).

Swiss Chard. Even before this post, I would wax poetic about Swiss chard. It is a cut-and-come-again vegetable which just keeps giving (until November in my garden!). It is a real workhorse in the vegetable patch which doesn’t get as much attention as it should. I have used Ruby Red for the past two years with great success and I will be using it again. I blanch the stems and leaves separately to freeze and they turn out great.

Spinach. Another cut-and-come-again vegetable which can be planted early and keep on giving until the weather gets too warm. Spinach is versatile and very nutritious. It can be blanched and frozen without taking up much freezer space. I prefer Bloomsdale.

Lettuce. Yet another cut-and-come-again vegetable. I find Coastal Star tolerant of a range of temperatures and slow to bolt. It is a pretty resistant variety of romaine, which I find doesn’t get a buggy or sluggy as other lettuce.

Tomatoes. I want versatility in my tomatoes. I want cherry tomatoes for eating fresh, and I want Roma for slicing, stewing/sauces, roasting, and freezing. I don’t want a fussy indeterminate variety as I don’t want my time occupied by staking, training, and pruning. I want determinate varieties; Tiny Tim and Roma are what I have selected.

Squash (winter). I have selected to include winter squash, rather than summer squash, for their storability. Squash take up a lot of space, especially the vining/trailing varieties. I have chosen buttercup (First Taste), butternut (Waltham), and pumpkin (Early Sweet Sugar Pie). I am probably going to have to add these to my front yard to give them the space they need.

Parsnips. These will serve as my fall root vegetables that can be stored in-place in the garden, or in a root cellar. I have selected Hollow Crown.

Rutabaga. As with parsnips, these will be one of the root vegetables that I will be growing for fall harvest and beyond. They keep well in the garden or a root cellar. I have selected Laurentian.

Turnip. Yet another long-storage root vegetable. I have selected Purple Top White Globe.

Parsley. Parsley is easy to grow and it produces plentiful foliage for a very long period. The best part? It is highly storable once dried and sealed properly. It can be used to season pretty much any vegetable dish. This is a decadent add-on.

Garlic. Along with parsley, garlic is not a necessity (though some might argue that!) but it is versatile and stores well. It is very low maintenance, just set it and forget it. For those reasons, I will also ensure that I include more garlic this year.

And there we have it. These are the vegetables that I will really be throwing my efforts behind this year. I will be growing a variety of other things (especially because I already have them growing) but I want to make sure that I baby these crops.

In addition to these vegetables, I also have a number of fruit trees which I will ensure that I give some extra TLC so that I can maximize my harvests.

Have a look at your access to outdoor spaces. Do you have a deck or balcony which can fit several pots or containers? Do you have space for raised beds in a yard? Can you plant vegetables in your existing beds and borders? Do you have access to a community garden or friend’s or family member’s garden? You may have multiple options for finding and using outdoor spaces for growing. Once you find a space, you can make a plan. The sooner you make a plan, the sooner you are going to be eating your own fruits and vegetables and improving your food security.

Gardening during the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic outbreak; growing your own emergency rations to become more self-sufficient

First of all, wow. I did not expect to be writing something on this topic right after the launch of my blog. As I have stated in my inaugural post, I have been aiming for self-provision rather than self-sufficiency. About three days ago, the wheels in my brain were turning and I feel like I am going to have to push closer to self-sufficiency. Seeing image after image of grocery stores cleared out and people hoarding food, I started to get an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. My own local shops were clearing out as well. I bake nearly all of our bread and baked goods, but our stores were out of flour and so was I. I started to think about what the grocery stores would look like in a week. A month? Three months? Six months? Yes, supply chains for retail stores have reserves in place but at what point do they become impacted as well, if at all? It would be naive to not expect a cascade effect from today's circumstances. I have a number of questions racing through my head. I have a family to feed and care for. People around the world have very real concerns about their job security, food security, healthcare access, and economy. At this point, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

What is "food security"?

Food security is "the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food" (lexico.com). This is something that we usually take for granted. We usually go to a presumably stocked grocery store, with our list in hand, to buy the things we need and we know we can afford. But what if those foods are no longer available? Or affordable? Those are questions that we should have been asking ourselves, not in this past week, but perhaps the past decade or more. It was nearly ten years ago when I went to see a speaker talk about food security and how truly precarious it may be. The food and agricultural industries are changing, supply chains are changing, and our climate is changing. Our circumstances that we are living right now may affect our food security. Are you ready?

The mystery of what happens next

We are all doing what we can to keep our family well during this challenging time. Hopefully you are not participating in the hoarding (and especially reselling!) of much needed supplies right now. I want to make sure that my family will continue to be able to eat good, healthy fresh food in the coming months. This situation at hand is dynamic and lends itself to a lot of guesswork. One of my concerns that I feel I have some control over is food security. I have the skill and experience to supply my family with fresh, stored, and frozen foods. I worry in the coming months that food prices will increase and availability will decrease due to operational and labour disruptions. I am not the only one predicting this. Furthermore, travel restrictions will impact harvesting labourers as well.

Planning for the unknown

My perspective on gardening and 'micro-farming' has taken a bit more of a serious tone. While I would usually plant things based on trying new foods or things that require fussy care, I am now shifting my efforts to family staples and vegetables that can be prepped to store for longer periods. I am already thinking toward fall and winter, yet it is only March. 

Right now, I want FIVE things 1) reliable harvests, 2) trouble-free crops, 3) long harvest periods, 4) heavy yields, and 5) storability. I want vegetables that freeze or can be stored for long periods in root cellars. I have not forayed into canning, but maybe that is something that I might want to consider as well. In the event that I grow too much, I can share with family and friends. 

I recently shared that I am working on a sizable front-yard foodscaping project. I currently have no front beds or lawn. Now I am rethinking the proportion of the edibles which I will include this year. Maybe I need to dedicate more space to berry bushes, squashes, and cut-and-come-again crops?  I am back to the drawing board in some ways, but I'm going to have to  commit to a plan quickly as we enter our prime growing season. I have two of my DIY polytunnels fully planted and I am currently using the third as a greenhouse for starting some cool weather seedlings. I have been furiously sowing seedlings indoors as well. I have planted trays and trays of everything from broccoli to tomatoes. 

The thing about food is that it is not instant. Ingredients are derived from crops, which take time and resources to grow. If you miss a window of opportunity to plant a crop at the specific period of time during which it optimally grows, you may have missed the opportunity for the entire year to grow it. You need to start planning now to ensure that you will be able to grow in optimal conditions to ward off bolting, pests, disease, and other considerations.

​My priorities have changed. I want to grow more, for longer, in less space. And I need to start now. Thankfully, this winter I will have my polytunnels, so I am hoping to eat fresh food from the garden all year long. If I have too much, I can share with family and friends which is a good problem to have. If I don't have enough, I may be paying more or not getting any at all which is a different kind of problem all together. In some ways, me growing my own food will leave more for other people as well. People who don't have the ability or space to do so.

I encourage you to consider planting fruits and vegetables this year, if you don't do so already. You can plant in your beds and borders. You can even add fruit trees in containers. Grow vertically on structures and trellises to give yourself higher yields in smaller spaces. You can take small steps to provide yourself and your family with more to eat, therefore improving your food security. You may be practicing social distancing or voluntary self-isolation. What better way to spend it than outside in a garden?

Reflection

This post probably doesn't have the same cheery, lighthearted tone as my previous ones but I think it reflects how I'm feeling at this moment in time. We will come out of this ok. Hopefully as many people as possible will come out of this ok. We all need to take responsibility in this, for ourselves and for each other. We are in this together. Let's flatten the curve. Let's make sure that there is enough for everyone. Let us all be good human beings during this time which is testing us all. This is also a time of reflection; thinking about what is most important to us and recalibrating our priorities in life.

Stay tuned for my next post, in which I will make recommendations for things to plant to get you through the possibility of a food shortage.

I remember planting the garden with my parents one spring in my teenaged years. It was a wildflower bed that surrounded their small pond. It was beautiful and wild and colourful and AMAZING! I loved the striking and informal look of the variety of colours and textures. The staggered bloom times ensured that flowers were growing and bloom from spring until fall. I loved it. It is certainly the garden that stand out most in my mind out of all of the years that I got my hands dirty alongside my parents (shout out to Mom and Dad reading this!).

The first spring after moving into our current home, I had an infant and was recovering from a terrible bout of shingles (yes, it happens to young-ish people too!). I did not have the ability to get into the garden much that year, aside from planting a couple of raised beds using the little energy that I could muster. One of my efforts was to throw a some wildflower seeds onto the surface of the existing beds and praying for a few blooms. Well, that didn't happen. The soil was like dust and the only things that the garden could grow were dandelions, creeping buttercup, and bindweed. I wanted those wildflowers so desperately. The next spring, I got into the garden as early as I could and weeded it and amended the soil enough to breathe a bit of life into it. Then, I repeated the scattering and praying routine. Voila! It worked! The scrappy little seedlings were fighting their way out of the ground and soon enough, the blooms began to open. I had wildflowers blooming right though November (!). It was a beautiful sight to behold. The tangled mess of colours and textured spilled from the beds. 

One of the biggest benefits of planting is welcoming beneficial insects to your garden. They will reward your botanical generosity with abundant pollination. Your crops which require pollination will result is greater and more reliable yields. This past summer I listened to the bees humming in harmony a song of happiness. Watching the honeybee and bumblebee traffic was mesmerizing. I believe that thanks to our wildflower garden, we had a colony of cute little bumblebees make themselves at home in one of our abandoned bird houses. It was so fun watching them come and go over the summer. I’m hoping that when the weather warms up, that we’ll see their sweet fuzzy faces emerge again.

I had three bird families nest on our property. I had a wide variety of bird visitors that we had b=never had before. The hummingbirds visited many times daily. Our garden was alive in more ways than one. Not only was it blooming, but the creatures that had invited themselves over was a real treat.

It truly was a garden for all the senses; sight, touch, taste (the dill!), smell, and sound. I think most of the pictures that I took of my garden last year were the wildflowers. I was in love. So much so, that part of me is considering planting a wildflower garden in our front yard as well. 

I urge you to consider dedicating at least part of your precious garden to wildflowers. Let the flowers that are happiest in those conditions really shine! Embrace the tangled, wild mass of blooms and leaves invite birds and insects to your garden. Let the perennials spread and the flowers self-sow. There is beauty in letting nature take the reins.

Should you plant wildflowers and then wish to try something new or different the next year, clean up is usually pretty quick and easy. The only consideration that you might want to weigh is selecting a wildflower seed mix which is curated for your area to ensure a higher success rate and you are not sowing seeds which could be considered invasive (or aggressive propagators) in your garden.

So there you have it- get wild! Try out some wildflowers in your garden. I don't think that you'll be disappointed. 

So, I spent the day up to my eye balls sowing every seed I could find that was within the appropriate window for being planted inside or outside. I planted reusable nursery cells, egg cartons, used plastic cups, and old bedding plant pots. I have been falling behind since we started on our front yard landscaping project - we've moved 21 (twenty-one!!!) yards of soil by shovel and wheelbarrow in about a week and a half. Phew!

I pulled out all of my seeds, old and new, to take an inventory of which vegetables and flowers I have. Well... it turns out I probably have a seed library that rivals some mail order seed companies. Ooops. It's hard not to keep picking up packets of seeds when you see a new variety you want to try. They seem inexpensive on their own, but it starts to add up quickly when you plan your garden for the year. 

I think I am going to try to rehome some of my beautiful little seeds to other loving gardeners this year. I won't be able to plant them all this year or even next, so why not share the love? I want them to be used within their peak viability time frame as well. Also, it feels good to connect with other people who get as excited to see parsnip or artichoke seeds as you do.

So, how's a gardener supposed to do that? I'm not one to take on fussy, time consuming projects (that don't involve gardening). I decided to make seed packet templates that don't involve any intricate cutting, gluing, and folding. I look at some of the templates out there and I get scared away by all of the intricate cutting and gluing. No thank you, very much!

To make these seed packets, all you need are standard-sized #10 envelopes (the kind used for 'letter' sized paper), a printer, and some kind of adhesive (sticker, tape, glue, or homemade glue solutions), and a pen. That's it. And #10 envelopes are pretty easy (and cheap) to come by, if you don't have them already.

So, in case, you are scratching your head and asking yourself "why the heck is your website called The Knotty Garden?" It sort of feels like inside joke for gardeners.

I was so tickled when the name "The Knotty Garden" bubbled up from the depths of my brain. In so many ways it feels like the perfect name. Firstly, I love puns, humor, and language games. And I don't always behave, but then again "well-behaved women seldom make history" (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, 1976).

The word play with Knotty is also a nod to the formal and very structured 'knot' style gardens. These square-shaped gardens usually contain symmetrical, organized compartments (i.e. geometrical knots) filled with culinary herbs and vegetation. These gardens have their roots in the medieval times, though they gained popularity in England and Europe in the Tudor times. 

This play on words seems to capture my garden and me so perfectly. My garden is evolving, unstructured, and sometimes wild. It is certainly not a 'knot garden' by any stretch. It is, however, what I affectionately call my "knotty garden." Sometimes it simply does what it wants - just like its head gardener!

While I have been growing 'cut-and-come-again' vegetables for quite some time, it was only in the last few years when I came across that expression. It describes exactly what comes to mind: you cut off just as much as you need and let the remainder of the plant to continue to grow. The plant will grow to replace what you have cut, so that you can continue to harvest fresh vegetables for weeks on end. Leafy greens are best suited to this kind of harvest, though some herbs are also amenable to this kind of growth.

Cut-and-come-again vegetables can be sown early in the growing season, and often benefit from cooler weather for germination. For more information on when to best sow these vegetables, you can check out the detailed regional planting charts of West Coast Seeds.

Be sure when harvesting that you aren't pulling or yanking on your plant. You might just end up ripping the whole thing out! Use your garden or kitchen scissors to snip off what you need.

Check out the slideshow above for my garden favourites, including chard, lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, corn salad, pack choi, and herbs (cilantro, basil, parsley).

Other miscellaneous cut-and-come-again vegetables include:
Amaranth, beetroot (top greens), chicory, endive, mizuna, mustard, radicchio, sorrel. Similar to other leafy greens, the outer layer of leaves can be removed and the hearts can be left to grow and mature, producing even more tasty leaves!