How To Grow a Fall Garden in a Short Growing Season

Name: No Bake Saskatoon Berry Baked Oatmeal
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 6-8 Servings
Ingredients: Filling:; 4 cups Saskatoon berries or blueberries; 1 tbsp white sugar; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp flour; Crumble:; 2 cups large flake oatmeal; 1/2 cup salted butter; 1 tbsp cinnamon; 2 tbsp brown sugar; Serve with milk

July 24, 2019

Have you ever wanted to grow a fall garden, but thought it was impossible because you live in an area with a growing season of 90-100 days and often get early frosts in September? I garden in zone 3b in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in the heart of the Canadian Prairies and I’m here to tell you that it’s not an impossible dream–although it does have some limitations. In this post, I’m going to show you how I do it and some of my thought process behind it.

My future fall garden in a raised bed. I've started vegetable seeds indoors and will transplant them when these crops are done. #fallgardening #ideas #tips #beginners #zone3

Disclaimer time. I am NOT an expert at fall gardening. I’m still in the beginning stages of experimenting with different plants, timings, and season extenders. If you are reading this and are further along in the journey than I am, I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments. I also plan to update this post each year as I learn more from my experiments. You can follow along in real time on Instagram or Facebook.

When Do You Start a Fall Garden?

I’m still working out the exact best timing for this, but I have started my fall garden this year in mid-July. All my seedlings are under a grow light, because I don’t have any growing space to direct seed. I will transfer the plants outdoors once my beans, broccoli, and lettuces are done producing.

In an ideal world, I would only direct seed as soon as those vegetables were finished. However, this year (2019) we had a very late start to Spring, and everything is at least 2 weeks behind. In a growing season of only 100 or so days, one doesn’t have the luxury of time to wait if the season is late.

Wonder what you can plant in the cold climate fall vegetable garden? here's a list of vegetables that you can grow to extend the season. #gardening #fall #tips #zone3 #canada

In 2017, the season was typical, and I planted kale and lettuce as soon as I pulled out my beans. It worked and those vegetables grew, but they were not the size that I hoped they would be by the time it got cool and they stopped growing.

P.S. Wondering about 2018? I wasn’t able to experiment as I had a difficult pregnancy and had to give up my garden because I was on bed rest. You can read about the mistakes I learned with container gardening here.

What Can You Plant in a Fall Garden?

In short, you want to plant vegetables that get to maturity in around 50 days or less, and are cool weather loving plants. Here’s a list of what I’m experimenting with this year.

Kale
Lettuce
Spinach
Pak Choi
Bok Choi
Kohlrabi
Cauliflower
Turnips
Beets
Peas
Beans
Radishes
Garlic

Beans typically do not like cold weather, but I found a variety that produces in 40 days, so it should work in theory. I would have liked to try broccoli, but I couldn’t find a variety with a short enough maturity date that was available in stores when I needed it.

I’ll be planting Garlic a bit later to harvest next summer.

Related: Fall Gardening Chores when you have no time!

What Do You Do When it Freezes?

Where I live in zone 3, it’s important to start watching the weather forecast starting the last week of August, and check it every single day. Whenever there is a risk of frost overnight, I cover my vegetables with old sheets.

You don’t have to worry about them getting crushed, and the sheets should be sufficient until the first hard frost, or when the temperature dips to around -5 Celsius. Kale usually survives until frosts of around -8 to -10 in my experience, but everything else will die or require more intense protection.

This fall I’ll be experimenting with plastic and cloth covers, as well as cold frames. I’ll let you know what works and for how long.

How Long Can You Keep Your Late Season Garden Going?

How long your fall garden lasts will depend on the weather and what methods of protection you give it. In a warmer fall, you can expect your garden to last until late October or early November with minimal protection. However, some years we get a surprise night of -30 Celsius. In that case, I doubt even the most protected cold frame would be able to save your vegetables.

Buttercrunch lettuce in my very first fall garden.

Managing Expectations

Fall gardens do not grow like summer gardens.

Once you pass the first frost of the season and then the Autumnal Equinox, everything will grow at a much slower rate, if at all. I like to think of Autumn gardening as preserving a set of vegetables outdoors for as long as possible.

Related: What You Can Expect in Your Fall Garden

This means that you need to grow vegetables that will get to their full size around the time of the first frost of the season.

Will you try growing a fall garden? Let me know in the comments, and please share your experiences!

Think you can't grow a fall vegetable garden in a short growing season? I'll show you how to extend the gardening season into the fall, even if you live somewhere cold. (I garden in zone 3 in Saskatchewan, Canada!)
#garden #fall #tips #ideas #coldclimate

No Bake Saskatoon Berry Baked Oatmeal

July 18, 2019

Yes, you read this title correctly. How can something be no-bake if the word baked is in the title? Read the story and you’ll see, or skip to the end if you’ve just come for the Saskatoon berry recipe. But I promise that this story has everything to do with the recipe and is actually worth reading.

Delicious saskatoon berry crisp in breakfast casserole form. You can use blueberries instead if you don't have saskatoon. #sasaktoonberry #blueberry #breakfast #crisp

A Craving for Saskatoon Berry Crisp

My family and I had eaten supper at a campground we were at, but the supper was not very filling and every one of us was still hungry. We drove to the nearest city to pick up groceries—frozen pizza, a salad, and ingredients to make a Saskatoon berry crisp.

I was so excited about this crisp because I didn’t think I’d get to pick Saskatoon berries this year, but there ended up being plenty at our campground and my family and I had picked almost 6 cups!

We purchased everything and headed back to the farmhouse where we were spending the night. I was so thankful that we were sleeping at a place where there was a kitchen we could use.

As soon as the kids were settled, the Hermit and I got to work. We preheated the oven, prepped the salad, and I got my crisp ready to go. As the oven was heating up, I thought there was an odd amount of steam coming from it, but I didn’t really think anything of it. Once it was preheated I popped the pizzas in and didn’t think anything more of it.

The pizzas were done and it was time to open the oven. The Hermit checked in and warned me that he didn’t think everything looked right. I opened the oven anyway and a huge cloud of smoke arose. Clearly something was burning in the oven and this was not good.

Related: Saskatoon Berry Pie and No-Bake Saskatoon Berry Cheesecake

The smoke detector started blaring, the babies upstairs started crying, and the Hermit and I started panicking.

Our Air B&B host was a firefighter!!!! Surely we’d get kicked out or get a terrible review.

The Hermit started flapping a dishtowel at the smoke detector and I rushed to open some doors and windows.

Every time we tried to take the pizza out of the oven the smoke detector blared again!! It was so smoky in the oven that I’d start tearing up and had to try multiple times.

Then the host’s dogs realized the door was open and all the animals started coming in.

We didn’t know what emergency to deal with first–the burning pizza, the howling smoke detector, or the pets in the house.

Related: Saskatoon Berry Mini Pavlovas and Bumbleberry Crisp

When we eventually got everything under control, the Hermit looked at me and said, “You know you can’t cook that crisp in the oven, right?”

I was crushed.

I knew he was right, but I had been waiting for this all day and I didn’t want the Saskatoon berries to go to waste.

Never one to be knocked down so easily, I decided to improvise. (Okay, I pouted a little first.) I transferred the crisp to a microwave safe dish, cooked it for 10 minutes, and hoped for the best.

It was delicious.

I’d been wanting to make baked oatmeal for years, but I wasn’t sure how to get the texture right. This was exactly what I had been imagining.

When I got home, I tried the recipe again, cut back the sugar, served it with milk, and it became the dish you see here. If you’ve ever wished you could eat Saskatoon Berry crisp for breakfast and not feel guilty about all the sugar in it. . . now you can!

Yield: 6-8 Servings

No Bake Saskatoon Berry Baked Oatmeal

An easy breakfast casserole that you can make in the microwave to avoid turning on the oven in July!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

Filling:
4 cups Saskatoon berries or blueberries
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp flour
Crumble:
2 cups large flake oatmeal
1/2 cup salted butter
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
Serve with milk

Instructions

Mix all Filling ingredients in a microwave safe dish. Stir the berries until they are evenly coated with the sugar, flour, and lemon
In a separate dish, mix together the crumble ingredients. I find it is easier to mix with my hands.
Pour the crumble on top of the filling and lightly mix them together
Put the dish in the microwave and cook on high heat for 15 minutes. The time may vary in your microwave depending on its size and strength. The "Baked" oatmeal is done when the berries juices run and the oatmeal is soft.
Serve immediately with milk. The leftovers taste great!

Notes

Only use large flake oatmeal. The texture will be different if you use the quick cooking kind.

The recipe works with frozen berries, but the cooking time may be longer.

The Best Tools to Banish Weeds From Your Garden

July 9, 2019

Everyone hates weeds. Well, almost everyone. There will always be those people who mention how delicious and useful portulaca, plantain, and dandelions are. I get that they can be useful and have their place–but unless things get desperate, you probably won’t see me adding portulaca to my salad. However, that dandelion salve I’ve seen floating around on Pinterest does look kind of interesting. Anyway.

For those of use who hate weeds, we want to get rid of them as fast and efficiently as possible, with a minimal amount of work.

While there’s no get-out-of-jail-free card for weeds in the garden, there are some gardening methods and gardening tools that can make the job easier. I’m listing my favourite ways to remove weeds, as well as a few that my readers swear by.

Weeding your garden doesn't have to be an impossible task. These 8 gardening tools make the chore easy--whether you have a big backyard or a small flower or vegetable garden. #weeding #gardeningtips #tools

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it in my privacy policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Avoid Weeds With the Square Foot Gardening Method

Depending on when you’re reading this, this advice might be useless to you. File this away for next year!! When you space your plants closer together and in a square grid instead of rows, there’s less space for the weeds to grow. Once the vegetables fill out, they will shade the ground, effectively making a living mulch that significantly reduces the number of weeds.

You can read more about the square foot gardening method here. I also have this handy guide on the blog to getting started with square foot gardening, plus four free templates so you know exactly what to plant.

Get 4 Free Square Foot Gardening Templates

Start your square foot garden the easy way!

You'll get 4 4x4 plans for

Salad Garden
Beginner's Garden
Salsa Garden
Kid's Garden

Plus a short 3 day email course of how to get started with square foot gardening.

Use Mulch to Cut Down on Weeding

The best way to get rid of weeds is to make it hard for them to grow in the first place. Once my vegetables have grown to around 4-6 inches, I weed the garden well and place a mulch of grass, leaves, or shredded wood chips around my vegetables.

It may not look pretty, but it keeps out most of the weeds. The ones that do manage to grow are very easy to pull out.

You can read more about the ins and outs of mulch and how to get started in your garden in this post.

When It’s Time to Weed, Do It When The Ground Is Wet

If you’ve got a garden full of weeds to clear, you can make the job easier by weeding the day after a rain, when the ground is not saturated, but still moist. The weeds will pull out easily, and you can save yourself a lot of frustration.

Now, on to the tools!!

The Garden Claw

In my overgrown, weedy mess of a backyard, this is my tool of choice. My Garden Claw is straight out of the 90’s, but this one will work just as well.

The Garden Claw was with me when I was clearing out densely overgrown perennials and weeds, and it was especially good at popping out ferns. I’ve even worked my small vegetable garden for the spring with it. It’s also handy for working up the soil in my raised beds and mixing in compost and manure.

These days, my flower beds aren’t quite so overgrown. The Garden Claw makes quick work of the first weeding session in early spring, when most of my preferred perennials are not up and I’m trying to get rid of all the creeping bellflower.

I probably sound like an infomercial, but I love the Garden Claw that much. Get yours here, you won’t be sorry.

Handheld Dandelion Weeder

This dandelion weeder was left in our garden shed by the previous home owners and I’m so glad they left it. It’s great for getting the root of your weed (or nonsense perennial). I also find it helpful for weeding when the ground is compacted or really dry. If you’re tired of ripping the weed off by the leaves and never getting to the root of the problem, this is the weeding tool for you.

My Favourite Gardening Gloves

These are my favourite type of gardening gloves for a couple of reasons. First, I have wide and thick hands, which are hard to fit in women’s gardening gloves, but don’t fit quite right in men’s either. These gloves are stretchy, so I can finally have a decent fit.

Secondly, the silicon coating grips weeds well and prevents nicks and cuts. This means that I can still pull out the root even if the weed is a bit wet, and that I don’t have to be overly careful picking thistles.

Finally, I find that cotton gloves are easily ruined. These gloves last multiple gardening seasons for the backyard gardener. They don’t get holes easily and they aren’t ruined after coming in contact with mud.

Pick up a pair here.

Hoes with a Loop

I have never personally used this weeding tool, but I have lots of readers who swear by it. Here’s the big version for large gardens…

and the handheld version…

The handheld version is best for small urban gardens or when you need to weed around other plants in a tight space.

Best for Removing Weeds From Your Lawn

If you need to remove weeds from your lawn without killing your back, this is the tool you need. The Tacklife Weeder gets down all the way to the root. There is a bit of a learning curve in using it, but once you get it, it goes really fast.

I don’t recommend this weeder if your lawn is overrun with weeds. Even though I try not to use chemicals, I will use them in my lawn if the weeds are ridiculous. I’ve found that if you need to use chemicals, you only need to do so for one year. After that the weeds will have decreased enough that this tool can do the job.

Rototiller for Large Gardens

If you’re on an acreage, the rototiller is your friend. These days it’s more popular to lay down landscaping fabric and plant in pre-cut holes. While this is efficient and something you should absolutely strive toward, you may not have time to set that up in all of the space you have.

Until then, a rototiller is the best way to get rid of a wide swath of weeds in a hurry.

I probably wouldn’t order a rototiller off of Amazon, but I’ll still post a link so you can get an idea of what things cost. Go local with this one and see a dealer or pick up something second hand.

I’ve also used a rototiller hand tool like this one for a larger city garden that’s been planted in rows, and it works really well.

A Word About Chemicals

Organic gardening methods are ideal, especially in the vegetable garden, but sometimes the weeds reach a tipping point where it’s just impossible to get control over them.

For example, you might have a larger garden space that has been neglected and covered in weeds and grass.

If the space is small enough, you can smother the area with newspaper or cardboard, let it overwinter, plant potatoes the year after, and garden as usual the year after that.

But sometimes it’s just not possible or the space is simply too large.

In this case, you might consider using chemicals for one season, just to get a handle on the weeds. Once the weeds are dead and it’s safe to enter the area, rototill, garden as usual, and use organic weeding methods from then on.

This is what I use to get rid of weeds in the vegetable garden. . .what do you use? Tell me about your favourite tools and if you think I’m missing something that needs to be on this list.

25 Drought Tolerant Native Plants for the Prairies

July 2, 2019

Gardening in a drought is no fun. Sure, if you have access to city or well water, you can keep everything living. But nothing will really thrive. As gardeners, we like to be conscious of our footprint on the environment and save water where we can.

One of the best ways to do this is to plant native plants. Once established, these perennial flowers and bushes will help beautify your yard and be able to withstand a drought year. Plus, they are generally very low maintenance–win win!

Be Responsible, Don’t Remove Native Plants From Their Habitat

When I say native plants, I am going to be talking about mostly domesticated varieties that are available in garden centres. Please DO NOT scour country side ditches and transplant native plants to your home. It may seem like you’re helping an endangered species by giving it a controlled environment, but you’re actually hurting it.

Native plants need the specific ecosystem they are in to thrive. Your garden is not that ecosystem. Plus, you’ve just taken away a future source of seeds for that plant from the area.

Finally, removing native plants is illegal and there are steep fines. Ladyslippers and Prairie lilies are gorgeous, but are really best enjoyed in their native Prairie habitat.

Finally you can have a drought tolerant, low maintenance landscape in your yard...if you plant these native perennial flowers and shrubs. Help save water and have a beautiful yard at the same time. #nativeplants #zone3 #perennials #flowers

Where Do I Buy Native Plants?

The varieties I’m suggesting today should be available for purchase at most local greenhouses, or by mail order. However, if you’d like to go further into the world of native plants, your local Native Plant Society will likely have a list of places you can responsibly order seeds from. Here are links to the native plant groups in the three Prairie Provinces.

Do Drought Tolerant Plants Need To Be Watered?

In short, yes. Like any other bush or perennial, your plants need to be watered every day (unless it’s raining or the ground is saturated) the first year until they are more established. I personally would water them in the second year as well, especially if the weather is abnormally dry or hot.

After the third year, your native plants should require very little care.

Easy to Grow, Low Maintenance Native Plants for the Prairies

One last disclaimer–this list is intended for a beginner gardener in the Prairie Provinces or even the Mid-West of the United States. I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and my list is best suited for this area.

I’ve strived to pick plants that are readily available and drought tolerant. This means, they may not be the exact native variety, but a naturalized one. I hope you find this list with pictures helpful!

If you would like to go further in your native plants journey, I urge you to see the sites I’ve suggested above. Is there a plant you feel should be on this list? Let me know in the comments!

Edible Fruit Trees

Saskatoon Berry

Chokecherry

Buffalo Berry

Sand Cherry

Highbush Cranberry

Hazlenut

Shrubs

Dogwood

Prickly Rose

Showy Mountain Ash

There are lots of beautiful native shrubs, but unfortunately, it is not so easy to find stock photography of them. Please see this website for plenty of shrub options with pictures. I think the Mountain Maple and Smooth Sumac would also be beautiful options.

Flowering Perennials

Sage

Wild Blue Flax

Coneflower

Crocus

Gaillardia

Wild Columbine

Related: 5 Reasons to landscape with native plants

Aster

Goldenrod

Yarrow

Hyssop

Liatrus

Black Eyed Susan

Scarlet Mallow

Grasses

There are many beautiful grasses you can grow to add winter interest and movement to your garden. It is suggested that you grow at least one cool season and one warm season variety. Click here to read more and discover different varieties.

Vines

Wild Hops

Virginia Creeper

Virginia creeper can become invasive, so plant with caution!

Which one of these resilient plants will you plant? Or will you create a whole flower garden with them?

A Few Wins Along The Way: June 2019 Garden Tour

June 23, 2019

Last time I wrote about the state of my garden, almost everything seemed like a huge struggle. We were experiencing the driest Spring on record, and all the plants were struggling big time. Now that we’ve finally gotten some rain, things are turning around and hopefully the rest of the season will go much smoother!

For today’s garden tour, I want to share with you some of my successes, as I’ve conquered growing two vegetables that previously alluded me. And our yard is really starting to take shape!! After four years of working on it, it’s exciting to see it finally come together. So grab a coffee, sit back, and come and see my garden. . .

Vegetables Of Success

Broccoli

Two years ago I grew one (yes only one) successful head of broccoli. And I forgot to take a picture of it!! This year, my broccoli game is looking strong. I started these from seed, and made this cover with hoola hoops to keep the bugs and the birds away. For once I’ve also gotten my act together and put mulch around my vegetables. It seems to be making a difference.

Row covers are one of those simple, but impossible-seeming gardening tasks. Where do you get row covers? What if they don’t exactly fit my plants? My row cover DIY fixes all that. Here’s how to make it.

A DIY row cover made from hoola hoops and white cloth to keep out the birds, in a raised bed garden.

Radishes

I have never been able to grow a successful radish. They always bolted, or I would pick them and there would be just a tiny root. Here are my radishes this year:

They’re not crazy big, but they look like an actual radish and I’ll call it a win. I have a few more that I didn’t pick yet, so hopefully those will be bigger.

Watermelon

This watermelon was a serious struggle-melon. My Mother-in-law gave me a pack of seeds that a friend of hers had saved. She trusted me to start some for us and be successful with them.

I started 12, only 3 came up, one died immediately, and it was down to 2. With much trepidation I started hardening them off. Only this one made it.

Yellow watermelon seedling in a zone 3 garden in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Hopefully I’ve kept all the squash far enough away from it so it doesn’t cross. Last year I accidentally crossed a watermelon and a butternut squash. It’s still in my kitchen, but I don’t have the heart to eat it.

Spinach

Spinach is another crop that I’ve grown, maybe gotten a few leaves off of, and then it bolted. I never had enough for a salad. Not this year!!

The trick? Covering it.

I had to cover it with white garden fabric because the birds would have eaten everything. But that plus a cool spring made for a successful harvest.

Peppers

I can not get over these peppers. I will probably be bragging about these peppers for seasons to come (unless something horrible happens before they ripen). I’ve never had peppers this big in June ever. They’re actually so loaded that they’re falling over and I have to stake them.

Square Foot Gardening & Companion Planting

Last year I made the switch to square foot gardening and I haven’t looked back. I’m particularly proud of how this bed turned out.

A square foot gardening plan that actually works in real life! Cosmos, peppers, marigolds, beets, spinach, and nasturtiums make a lovely pairing in this raised bed vegetable garden in zone 3. #raisedbed #squarefootgarden #vegetables

One of my goals this year was to incorporate more flowers with my vegetables and it’s been really successful. I love how it looks and hopefully the plants are being helped too. I’ve definitely noticed an uptick in the amount of bees in our yard. Here’s a list of flowers to plant to help encourage the bees in your yard.

Tomatoes and basil are good companion plants, and I’ve finally managed to grow some nice tomatoes, mulch them, and add a layer of basil around the edge. I started some herbs from seed and planted them outdoors, and I’m pleased to say they are actually working!!

Tomatoes grown with mulch and basil around them. Good companion planting! #tomatoes #vegetable #garden

Finally, a Beautiful Backyard

Folks, my backyard is finally looking like a place you want to hang out in. First, there’s the patio container vegetable garden. . .

A patio container vegetable garden decorated with blue and white accents. #backyard #patio

Find out how to get the look here.

Then there’s this perennial bed that is finally looking like something that isn’t completely weed riddled and is actually intentional (and with mulch!!). . .

This more established perennial garden is full of fuchsia peonies, delphiniums, lilies, liatris, and annual cosmos for added colour. #flowers #perennials

Then there’s, dare I say it, and actual vignette?!?

Struggling with birds eating all your strawberries? Putting them in a bird cage is both beautiful and practical. #strawberries #whimsical #gardenart

Don’t laugh too hard at that one. My gardens have always been pretty utilitarian, so doing something decorative, like my Mom, or Joanna from Gingham Gardens would do, feels a bit foreign.

But I really like it. And I can not wait to share this strawberry growing hack with you. So far it’s working well and I’m starting to win the constant war with the birds.

Also, can we talk about these yellow irises!?!?

Gorgeous yellow irises grown in my backyard perennial bed in zone 3. #iris #perennials #flowers

I got these irises in exchange for some ferns, and I feel like I got the better end of the deal. I don’t remember the name of the reader who traded me, but I hope your ferns are doing as well as these irises, and I absolutely love them!!

Finally, the Hermit has built me a trellis and it really adds to the main garden space. I still have to paint it blue, but I think it will be beautiful–especially when the scarlet runner beans come up and take over!

A raised bed garden with a trellis for beans.

What was your favourite part of the tour? How are your vegetables doing this year?