Neighbours talking over the garden gate has long been a tradition. They share gardening tips, complain about the weather and pests yet are ever eager to discuss their gardens. That is what I had in mind when creating this blog. So stop by my garden gate to find out the latest happenings in my garden.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." ~ Madame Marie Curie"
Winter 2014 was the coldest on record since 1996 in southern Ontario. I was looking through last year's pictures when I realized that this time last year we were in the midst of a deep freeze. It was cold and blustery with downright nasty snow, ice, and sleet. Spring was cold with us still wearing winter gear when we headed south the first week of May. Area farmers had a hard time getting their crops in because it was so wet. The summer proved to be nice on the air conditioning bill but almost a total wash-out for those with pools. Not only was it cold and damp but algae became a huge problem. We were at our vacation home in October then home for three weeks and back there for five. Normally, the field behind us would have been harvested during that three week period because I always do rodent proofing before going back down south. When the fields come off, the critters like coming indoors. From the comforts of the not so sunny and cold south, I read tweet after tweet of the wet conditions at home preventing area farmers from getting their crops off. From an agricultural perspective, 2014 was not a good year!
Unfortunately, the weather really affected our gardens this year. We had no peaches and only a few pears but the gooseberries and mint produced nicely. Other than that, it wasn't a good home garden year. I wasn't happy but in the end, it proved to be nice that we could focus on other work that needed to be done when the weather permitted. Even the local growers I buy from had a difficult year so it was harder for me to get the produce I wanted for home canning. The weather certainly drove up the price of local produce.
I hope the growing season is better this year than 2014!
Chamomile
June 9, 2010
Chamomile is an annual daisy-like herb that gets its name deriving from the Greek from
chamaimēlon meaning
earth apple or
the apple-like scent. Chamomile is commonly made into a tea for it's calming effect to help relax before sleep. In the home garden chamomile tea can be used to prevent dampening off in seedlings. It can also be used as a dye to produce a green colour.
I love chamomile tea! It is hard to find chamomile plants here most years I have to grow from seed. However this year I got lucky and found a nice sized chamomile plant for the garden. This was a nice surprise because I've had problems getting my chamomile to reach a good size for drying. Drying chamomile is quite easy as you can pull up the entire plant, discard flowers, check for other infestations then simply break into stems and dry in a dark, cool, dry place on a drying screen for about 7 - 10 days. Flowers must be removed because the yellow bits fall off as the herb dries. Dry to the point that that the leaf crumbles. Cut across the chamomile into 1" pieces then vacuum seal in glass jars for later use. This year I'm hoping a couple of jars of home dried chamomile will grace my pantry for tea through the winter months.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
A Couple of Stumps
May 10, 2010
A couple of weeks ago we did a
massive ripout which is rather on par for this property. We have definitely been doing more ripping out than planting since the property was so over planted and poor planted with inappropriate plants. This time we got smart and hired out the work. The guys came in with a small backhoe. Within 2 hours the two gardens being ripped out were no more. All the stumps were gone! Had we done this by hand it would have taken us several days. We were left with a blank slate to replant as we want. As soon as it dries enough they will delivering 8 cubic metres of top soil so things will really start happening then! It's funny because I was concerned over the local predictions that we were going to have a dry spring but it hasn't turned out that way. I'm anxious to get the new beds going along with landscaping.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
Recently a Vancouver, Canada homeowner, Ken Dyck has done a fair amount of complaining about his neighbour Sara St. Vincent's urban garden. He has filed complaints with the City of Vancouver because he feels Sara's garden is reducing his property value. However, Sara and her housemates view their gardens as a way to live ecologically ethical lives. The goal of their tiny bungalow named The Farmhouse is to feed their house of five and maybe others too if their crops are successful. The city did issue work orders but Sara and her housmates complied so the work orders have been withdrawn with the restriction the property be kept neat and tidy. The City of Vancouver is quite clear that it encourages these gardening initiatives and hopes the two neighbours work out their dispute
There are actually two problems going on with this urban garden but it pays to be aware of problems you can encounter with urban gardening and likely moreso if you turn your front yard into an edible garden. A front yard urban garden can look out of place in a neighbourhood with tidy, manicured lawns, many framed by a row of spring perennials. It is imparitive thaat front yard gardens be kept neat and tidy at all times to prevent neighbour complaints. This really only shows respect for your fellow neighbours something that goes a long way towards neighbour relations.
The second problem here is Mr. Dyke does not understand why urban gardening is so important or if he does he has an axe to grind with Sara and her housemates. Urban gardens are here to stay and their popularity is growing as more people struggle with finding a low cost way of provinding organic fruits and vegetables for their table. Neighbour disputes are never any fun and they can esculate so it's best to use prevention tactics first. If you are wanting to turn both your front and backyards into edible gardens here are a few tips for you:
- talk to your neighbours - Letting your neighbours know what you are planning is just a nice way of keeping good neighbour relations. Sure you can go ahead and do what you want as long as it complies with municiple bylaws but that little bit of communication goes a long way toward preventing complaints later. Educating your neighbours as to how edible gardening is considerably more eco-friendly than a well manicured green outdoor carpet is key to living harmoniously and a few freebies from your garden never hurts.
- consider the aesthetics of your neighbourhood - It is amazing how much food you can grow in your front yard without it looking like a sore thumb in your neighbourhood. Low growing herbs, vining vegetables (squashes, cucumbers, beans and peas) and container gardening can all be worked into your front yard without being an in your face thing.
- fencing - Good fences make for good neighbours. Install privacy fencing around the perimeter of the backyard. That way any gardening eyesights neighbours don't want to look at will be shieled from them. In Key West most of the homes have gorgeous front yard fencing and this is not an uncommon thing especially in older neighbourhoods. Plant flower vines (eg. Trumpet, Clematis, Morning Glory, or climbing roses on the house side of front yard fences. This creates a friendly growing barrier that looks lovely while hiding the bare basics of front yard gardening from street view.
- know your rights - Always work within the municiple bylaws. Providing you are doing so other than creating a rukus there is nothing your neighbour can do as far as complaints go. If your neighbour continues to be unreasonable or esculates as long as you are on the legal side of the law there are other options available to you.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
