You say rutabaga, I say turnip!

Is it weird that I have a thing for turnips? Growing up, you couldn't have paid me to eat a turnip, but in recent years, I find myself flipping excitedly through the pages of seed catalogues looking for new or heirloom turnip varieties. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't ever remember my mother serving turnips.. here in the Maritimes, if you say 'turnip', chances are that you really mean rutabaga.

It's easy to see where the confusion comes from. Both are members of the vast cabbage family and both are rounded veggies that grow beneath the earth. Yet, turnips are smaller than rutabagas and require much less time to mature. In fact, we start planting turnips in the cold frame a month or two before the last frost (late March through April) and they're ready in just 6 to 8 weeks. Rutabagas, on the other hand, take months to mature and the roots are often stored for winter meals. I rarely offer precious garden space to rutabagas - a long season crop that is cheap and widely available.

Turnips also have delicious edible foliage. When my hubby first tried them raw and straight from the garden, he declared them 'better than arugula' - high praise, indeed! Great for salads or for cooked greens.

These photos are some of my beloved Hakurei turnips that mature in just 38 days! The pure white roots are smooth, crisp and quite sweet. We start pulling them when they're an inch across (picking every 2nd one to thin the remainder) and the rest are pulled when needed until they're 2 inches across.

In my seed obsession this year, I've ordered about a half dozen new types of turnips to try.. not sure where they'll go, but they're easy to intercrop with other slower-growing brassicas like broccoli or cabbage. Plus, they're so quick growing, we can succession plant them from late winter to late summer..

Happy Gardening!

Hello. My name is Niki and I have a problem..

It's true, I'm addicted to seeds.. in my foolishness, I thought that because I ordered so many things last year (partially because of the book and the need to grow certain veggie for the sake of photography), I would be able to get away with a small seed order this year. Ha! Once seed fever struck, the orders began to pile up and now my veggie seed box went from organized to out-of-control! Check out the photo - and this is after I weeded out all the old seeds and stuff that didn't do well enough to deserve a second chance. I think I need a bigger box!

I'm still waiting for one more order (from www.reneesgarden.com), and once that comes, I should be finished with my seed orders. I think I have enough to plant a few acres - too bad I only have 2000 sq feet!

Yesterday morning, we went to the Seaport Farmer's Market in Halifax.. it's a busy place - plenty of people bustling around - but it's so much fun to wander the aisles checking out the eclectic mix of offerings. One booth might have felted wool bags, and the next one free-range eggs. Further down are Egyptian pastries and then my favourite coffee place - Java Blend (the BEST cappuccino in the world). Anyhoo, I went to the market with a purpose (two purposes actually) - I needed to get some seeds from Owen Bridge, the owner of Annapolis Seeds (and I wanted a brioche from Julien's French Bakery for Sunday morning baked french toast - a family tradition).

Side note - the brioche french toast was amazing.. mmmm.. why didn't I take a photo!? Next time..

I had a list for Owen - I only needed 7 seed packets (and not all were for me!).. but, when I see seed racks full of such unique varieties (Suyo Long Cucumber, Chiapis Wild Tomato), I can go a bit crazy! Plus, it's almost time to seed tomatoes, so if you get a chance, you should check out his booth at the market - he'll be there every Sat for the next few months I believe. Buying transplants from a garden center in the spring is convenient, but it certainly limits the amount of varieties you can grow - especially when it comes to heirloom tomatoes. Even if you only need a handful of plants, it's far better to grow your own rather than limit yourself to the whims of a nursery that might only offer Big Beef and Scotia tomatoes (the horror!).

Back to the topic at hand - This is the time of the year when I find the garden seems to be so small. I'm tempted by the vast array of seeds out there, but I know in reality, space is limited. Like most gardeners, we have our family favourites (Lemon cucumbers, Purple Podded Pole Beans, Sungold Tomatoes) and we need to grow these each year. But then there are always new (or new-to-us) varieties that I want to try. In mid-summer when I'm watering the garden, it seems HUGE, but now, when I'm hoping to cram in dozens of new veggies, it seems postage-stamp small..

Such is the lot of a gardener I guess.. but then I wonder.. do we really need that flat expanse of lawn beside the garden (another 2000 square feet).. do the children really need a space to play soccer, tag and badminton? hmmmm..

Happy Gardening!

New tomatoes for 2011

A few weeks ago, I posted about the tomatoes that we'll be growing this summer.. well, that list has grown dramatically, thanks to a blogging friend and a frequent guest on my radio show, Craig LeHoullier, also known as the North Carolina Tomato Man. For years now, Craig has mentioned a unique tiny-fruited tomato called Mexican Midget and I'm thrilled to actually have seed this year for this unusual tomato. He has also sent me some seed from his Dwarf Tomato Project. You can find out more info on this project at:

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/dwarf-tomato-project-introduction-and-information.html

His blog is also accessible from that site. Although I don't have details on all of these new varieties, here is what I know about some of the ones that I'll be growing this summer:

Dwarf Beryl Beauty (see top photo - courtesy of Victory Seeds) - An introduction from the Dwarf Tomato Project, this mid-season tomato grows just 4-feet tall and bears smooth, round fruits. The colour is bright green, but many offer a soft blush on the blossom end.

Mexico Midget (photo courtesy of www.seedsavers.org) - Ok, not part of the Dwarf Tomato Project, but I've been wanting this one for years! Each plant bears hundreds of tiny bright red tomatoes - 1/2 to 3/4-inch in diameter. The tomato flavour is HUGE and the plants can also get quite tall as they are indeterminate.

Tasmanian Chocolate - soon to be released - Craig will be announcing where gardeners can get this new dwarf tomato soon (keep an eye on his blog), but I'm thrilled to have some seed.

Rosella Purple - soon to be released - Another new dwarf tomato that will be available at seed catalog's soon - check Craig's blog.

Variegated (photo from www.totallytomatoes.com) - An old heirloom tomato that has variegated foliage and red 2-inch diameter tomatoes. The flavor is said to be very good, but I think it's the showy plants that add appeal to this unusual variety.

Craig also sent me seed for Dwarf Kelly Green and Dwarf Sweet Sue tomatoes, which are still under development and not available yet. We haven't grown many green maturing tomatoes, so this will be a fun season as we experiment with 2 to 3 different varieties of green.

When I get photos of Rosella Purple and Tasmanian Chocolate, I'll post them..

Also, it looks like it will be a pepper-filled year too (thanks to Craig).. I just hope we have a long hot summer like last year so that peppers have enough time to mature. Fingers crossed!

On another note, I'm off to the Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market tomorrow.. Owen from Annapolis Seeds (www.annapolisseeds.com) will be there and I need a few more things from him too! Here's a shot of Owen and I last summer after his spot on my radio show.

With all this seed talk, I think I need a bigger garden this year..

Happy Gardening!

Seeding Season!

Mid to late February is the official start of the seeding season.. As year round gardeners, we do end up sowing seed - directly in the garden, cold frames or indoors under our grow lights pretty much continually from late February until October - but the next 6 weeks are the busiest! There are artichokes to be seeded (I'm running a bit late!), onions, celery, celeriac, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and so much more.. Plus, now that the days are longer and beginning to show signs of warming up, it's time to start seeding in the cold frames as well.

At this point, there are plenty of empty spaces in the frames from ongoing winter harvests and we can now fill those in with a wide variety of seed - arugula (regular and rustic), mache, claytonia, spinach, lettuce, mizuna, endive and so on. In early March, I'll start seeding more carrots in the frames, even as we continue to eat the ones sown last August. In mid-March, the first seed potatoes can be tucked into the frames too for a late May harvest of tender, baby nuggets! Ah, it's all so exciting!

These are photos from last year in late winter and early spring. As you can see, there was a mix of crops including salad greens, beets, purple pak choi and more. At this point, we're also still enjoying our herbs that are in the frames - thyme, parsley and chervil.

Recently, someone asked me if they could grow mint all winter long in a cold frame.. Although I think that it is likely, I can pretty much guarantee that if you planted mint in your cold frame, that is all you'll ever be able to grow there! It's so invasive, that we located (as I mentioned in a recent post) our mint patch several hundred yards from our veggie garden. When I was a teenager and bought my first mint plant (curly mint), I planted the small sprig between my delphiniums at our cottage.. it looked so small, who knew it would cause such mayhem! Within a year, that garden bed was completely overrun with the mint and it was even spilling onto the pathways (at least it smelled good when we walked upon it!). Although I tried to pull it out, it just kept growing back and even today, that garden still contains large clumps of curly mint. Live and learn!

On that note, I think I should start to get out my seed starting supplies and begin organizing them for the big seeding this week!

Happy Gardening!

It's coming.. (spring!)

Just a few spring-inspired photos from last year to remind you that it really is just around the corner! These images are from the amazing gardens of Duff and Donna - I wish I could claim these plantings as my own! :)

Have a great weekend!

Garden helpers

It's going to be a sunny, mild day today with temperatures rising above freezing! I love a good February thaw, although with all this snow, I doubt we'll get much of a thaw.. still, I'll take what I can get at this point! The beautiful sunshine is making me think of summer and one of our favourite garden helpers.. the ladybug. We have a ladybug breeding factory in our mint patch - which is located about a hundred yards from the veggie garden (if you've grown mint before you know why!)

They just love the mint and the kids (and us grown up's) love to spend endless summer afternoons watching the antics of the ladybugs on the shaded mint leaves. All stages of their life cycle are present and we often take handfuls of the larvae and adults up to the veggie garden to control a wide variety of pests like aphids.

Last summer, our sunflower house was beset by aphids - who were being herded and guarded by ants. When we brought up the ladybugs to help control the aphids, the ants would immediately (and aggressively) eject the ladybugs from the plants. It was amazing to watch nature at work and see how these small creatures interact. Don't worry, we rescued the ladybugs and put them in a safer part of the garden! :)

Anyway, here are some photos of our ladybug factory and various stages in their lifecycle.. as well, I included a shot of them on our sweet peas - a very aphid-prone plant, but so essential in a garden..

Happy Gardening!

A Tomato Surprise

Last summer my neighbour picked up a packet of Ildi tomato seed from a Thomspon & Morgan seed rack in the local grocery store. It was a bit late in the season to be seeding tomatoes (late April), but she did it anyway and gave me a dozen seedlings in mid-June.. the plants were tiny, and I certainly didn't think they would amount to much. I figured a frost would wipe out the plants long before they had a chance to produce their fruits..

And speaking of their fruits, here's a bit of background - Ildi is an open-pollinated tomato that grows about 5 to 6 feet tall. Each plant produces 3 to 4 trusses, with each truss bearing 50 to 75 fruits each. The packet also said that the small tomatoes are grape-shaped and golden yellow in colour. (thanks to Thompson and Morgan for the photograph)

So, I planted 6 plants in the main garden and 6 plants in our temporary terraced garden last summer. Yet, they were so small - in comparison, my other tomatoes were already 1 1/2 feet tall and the Ildi seedlings were just 2 inches tall. I underplanted them with a mix of romaine and red salad bowl lettuce and completely forgot about them!

Lucky for me, the season ended up being long and hot and just when the early planted tomatoes begin to wind down production, pretty Ildi picked up the slack. In terms of taste, they're not as incredibly sweet as Sungold (our #1 garden tomato), but they are still delicious, prolific and addictive! We harvested them through frosts and into November (I covered them with a row cover or a sheet of plastic at night). They really do produce sizable trusses that simply dripped in bright yellow tomatoes. We ate handfuls every day, but I have since learned that you can cut the trusses before the first fall frost, hang them in a cool garage or basement and harvest for weeks.

So the verdict - a definite 2 thumbs up! I would absolutely plant this prolific little tomato again and I think I would even plant another late crop of Ildi just in case this summer is also long and hot - fingers crossed!!

Happy Gardening!