Wow it's been awhile! If you want more Suburban Micro Farm more often, check out my Instagram - @suburbanmicrofarm I post there almost everyday with lots of beautiful photos and my most recent updates! Although I love the instagram format, it's not quite the same as a detailed post about my plans, dreams and ongoing projects.
I have so much to share from 2017, and I will be doing some back-tracking in the coming weeks. 2017 was rough year full of change, loss and reorientation. Thankfully gardening was there to help me and inspire healing. In the spring of 2017, I transformed anunused suburban yard into a glorious 2000sq ft vegetable garden and created a kitchen garden program for adults in transitional housing; the food grown then supplied the in-patient residence kitchen. It was an amazing experience.
This year I want to keep progressing forward and ramp up my personal garden to the level I know I can reach with a couple of dedicated weekend grunts. Like many early starts to the garden season, here I am starting tomatoes once again.
Like always there are new varieties and old classics which I can't imagine not growing year after year. There will be a Ultimate Tomato List Part 2 as I have since added a few more varieties (beacause - why not?).
Friday, March 16, 2018
Friday, May 27, 2016
DIY Spontaneous Rain-barrel Pond!
It seems like a few things came together just right and I had a fun project idea, with all the supplies on hand. I've been wanting to do a few things and decided to smash them together into one awesome project! The rain-barrel pond!
Last year I bought two short and flat-backed rain-barrels from a garage sale for $15.00, I've been waiting to use them somewhere ever since. So, the other day, I was looking at the side of my shed beside my planters - and thought "will one of them fit there?". I had already created a level base from old bricks, almost like a patio. The bricks were high enough off the ground for a hose to be attached to the bottom of the rain-barrel, so that issue was solved. Because the rain barrel has a flat back, it fir perfectly against the shed wall and does not impede my path to the side of the shed or chicken door, it's the best location. Another bonus and one to be seriously considered is the amount of sun hitting the barrel, thankfully it's in some light shade, sheltered all day. Goldfish are best suited to cooler more comfortable temperatures, I wouldn't want the "pond" exposed to the hot sun, cooking the fish all day.
To set up the rain-barrel pond you need to make sure it's on a level surface and in a stable position. Make sure you use a barrel that is designed and suited for holding water, bins and rubbermaid material is not designed to withstand the pressure of holding water longterm and you could have a problem months down the road with cracking and integrity. My rain-barrels already came with a shut-off spigot and I plan on using water fairly often by simply dunking a watering can or using the hose several times a week. This acts as both a watering device - but also a method of doing water changes for the health of the fish. The top of the barrel is open and I'm not worried about mosquitos, any larvae will be eaten by the fish.
For the inside of the barrel, I made a small "Jenga" like tower of bricks (made sure it's strudy) and filled the base of the barrel with some small rinsed stones. On top of the bricks I placed a bigger piece of flagstone to act as both a shelf for pond plants and as a shelter for the fish. The fish like to go under the flagstone when they see a shadow, this will protect them from predators, and the hot sun if it ever reaches the barrel. Alternatively, the flagstone will act as a heat sink at night and add some warmth. I placed a potted mini lily-pad on the shelf and bought two floating hyacinth, not only are they interesting to look at, they also protect the fish and help clean the water from the toxins created by the fish waste. Using and re-filling the water will also help maintain the water quality.
In the end, this is an experiment, will this work out? I hope so! I might make some adjustments and add some things, otherwise, it's up and running and let's see what happens!
Last year I bought two short and flat-backed rain-barrels from a garage sale for $15.00, I've been waiting to use them somewhere ever since. So, the other day, I was looking at the side of my shed beside my planters - and thought "will one of them fit there?". I had already created a level base from old bricks, almost like a patio. The bricks were high enough off the ground for a hose to be attached to the bottom of the rain-barrel, so that issue was solved. Because the rain barrel has a flat back, it fir perfectly against the shed wall and does not impede my path to the side of the shed or chicken door, it's the best location. Another bonus and one to be seriously considered is the amount of sun hitting the barrel, thankfully it's in some light shade, sheltered all day. Goldfish are best suited to cooler more comfortable temperatures, I wouldn't want the "pond" exposed to the hot sun, cooking the fish all day.
To set up the rain-barrel pond you need to make sure it's on a level surface and in a stable position. Make sure you use a barrel that is designed and suited for holding water, bins and rubbermaid material is not designed to withstand the pressure of holding water longterm and you could have a problem months down the road with cracking and integrity. My rain-barrels already came with a shut-off spigot and I plan on using water fairly often by simply dunking a watering can or using the hose several times a week. This acts as both a watering device - but also a method of doing water changes for the health of the fish. The top of the barrel is open and I'm not worried about mosquitos, any larvae will be eaten by the fish.
For the inside of the barrel, I made a small "Jenga" like tower of bricks (made sure it's strudy) and filled the base of the barrel with some small rinsed stones. On top of the bricks I placed a bigger piece of flagstone to act as both a shelf for pond plants and as a shelter for the fish. The fish like to go under the flagstone when they see a shadow, this will protect them from predators, and the hot sun if it ever reaches the barrel. Alternatively, the flagstone will act as a heat sink at night and add some warmth. I placed a potted mini lily-pad on the shelf and bought two floating hyacinth, not only are they interesting to look at, they also protect the fish and help clean the water from the toxins created by the fish waste. Using and re-filling the water will also help maintain the water quality.
Supplies you'll need:
wide-mouthed rain barrel
spigot with shut-off
bricks
small stones
1 piece of flagstone
pond plants
small/short hose
1 doz feeder goldfish
goldfish food
Thursday, May 26, 2016
New Perennial Fruit Plants May 2016
I've been busy in May! Working my butt off to get all the micro-farm chores done and prepped for our growing season. I do feel a bit behind, but in actuality I've made so much progress on top of the usual maintenance. Aside from all my edible garden space, I have an extensive perennial garden of both full sun and shade areas. I also have a cactus garden, shrubs and trees and grass to maintain throughout the season. In the past, the vegetable gardens have taken priority and received the bulk of my attention, thing is, they were the easiest thing to take care of.
This year I told myself I'd give a bit more care and grunt work towards my perennials and some more neglected areas of garden - and as a reward I'd invest in a few neat projects and add some more perennial fruit. Fruit picking takes me straight back to my childhood in Annapolis Valley Nova-Scotia.
On May 15th I bought 2 massive high bush blueberries from Terra Greenhouses in Milton, ON, full of blooms and first forming fruit, and at least 4.5ft tall. The inspiration behind the perennial fruit overhaul in the yard. I have had blueberry bushes in the past, but one hot summer they didn't make it. I have two remaining twig-like blueberries left that I'm hoping will take off once moved into a permanent blueberry location.
I also picked up two blueberry plants "Blueberry Glaze" and "Pink Popcorn". They are dwarfs in comparison to my recent Terra bushes, but overall it's a nice variety. Again I might have to make additional raised beds specifically if the high-bush varieties look bizarre beside the smaller bushier plants. I'm interested in a few other varieties like "Jelly Bean" which are larger fruit on a compact plant, "Peach Sorbet" which turns bright red and peach come fall, "Pink Icing" with pink tipped foliage and "Perpetua" a double crop mid-bush blueberry. Hell- if I had the funds, I'd have a row of 6 of each variety. If you really want your own fresh fruit, that's the way to go. One day, and I'll show you how I did it!
This year I told myself I'd give a bit more care and grunt work towards my perennials and some more neglected areas of garden - and as a reward I'd invest in a few neat projects and add some more perennial fruit. Fruit picking takes me straight back to my childhood in Annapolis Valley Nova-Scotia.
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| I've always been inspired by Martha Stewart's amazing high bush blueberry patch and arbor |
On May 15th I bought 2 massive high bush blueberries from Terra Greenhouses in Milton, ON, full of blooms and first forming fruit, and at least 4.5ft tall. The inspiration behind the perennial fruit overhaul in the yard. I have had blueberry bushes in the past, but one hot summer they didn't make it. I have two remaining twig-like blueberries left that I'm hoping will take off once moved into a permanent blueberry location.
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| Look at all those blossoms! Hopefully I get at least a few quarts |
Yesterday I bought some smaller bush blueberries from a President's Choice garden centre in town. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love what they are selling over at PC (Lowblaws, Zehrs, etc). Perhaps a touch expensive, but they have great quality and they have some very unique plant introductions each year, some non-chain garden centres don't even have some of the unique plants PC carries. I'm not sponsored by PC - but if they want to hook a girl up, I'd be happy to try out all of they're stuff - especially the fun edibles! Maybe it was the packaging that drew me in, but wow I got some fun stuff!
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| Neat how they made the packaging with little labels you can cut out - I probably wont use the labels, but it's a cool idea. |
The first thing I found was this funky unique-strawberry 3 pack. The packaging was clever and the varieties are super cool. There is "Heritage" an alpine/wild-like strawberry, seems to have longer wispy growth. "Pineberry" which is an increasingly popular berry, small, white and very sweet, almost tropical fruit-like, I already have a few "White Soul" strawberries and they are great, so I'm looking forward to comparing them. Last-off we've got "Framberry", apparently it tastes like a raspberry cross, it has very compact foliage and shorter growth. Excited to see what comes of this trio, might have to go back and get 2-3 more 3-packs! I think they need they're own space too because my traditional standard strawberries will probably choke them out and smother them with their size. My "White Soul" berries have their own dedicated pot - maybe I need a mini strawberry varieties raised bed? One upside to these smaller berries is that I find they are less predated then the juicy big berries from market varieties.
I also picked up two blueberry plants "Blueberry Glaze" and "Pink Popcorn". They are dwarfs in comparison to my recent Terra bushes, but overall it's a nice variety. Again I might have to make additional raised beds specifically if the high-bush varieties look bizarre beside the smaller bushier plants. I'm interested in a few other varieties like "Jelly Bean" which are larger fruit on a compact plant, "Peach Sorbet" which turns bright red and peach come fall, "Pink Icing" with pink tipped foliage and "Perpetua" a double crop mid-bush blueberry. Hell- if I had the funds, I'd have a row of 6 of each variety. If you really want your own fresh fruit, that's the way to go. One day, and I'll show you how I did it!
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| "Blueberry Glaze" a small compact variety with dark coloured fruit. |
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| "Pink Popcorn" Blueberry - excited to see how this turns out |
I have lumber ready to make some low 2x8ft raised beds of 4x4 posts for the blueberries and another for my gold raspberries. If the design works well, I plan on expanding for more fruit. I need to find some pine needles and I am getting a load of mulch in the next two weeks, things might actually look presentable (to my standard).
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| Examples of the fruit on each |
More updates to come, we've got a rainy-stormy weekend ahead, so I'll actually be able to catch up on some indoor non-garden work and plan some blog posts. I'd like to thank thunderous downpours for the opportunity to force me inside for this post. Stay tuned for my rather spontaneous rain-barrel pond project post!
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