Shifting Roots Garden Review 2019

October 14, 2019

I’ve been meaning to write this post for awhile now, and I’ve been struggling with the words. It probably seems silly, but how do you accurately sum up trying to have a garden with an infant? If I didn’t garden as my job, I would not have taken on anywhere nearly as much as I did this year.

Garden with Dominic (before I had the blog): 3 pots on my deck and a few perennials that I planted later in the season

Garden with Aulaire: 6 new raised beds, cut flower garden, 100 pounds of tomatoes, redoing my container vegetable garden experiment, all. the. things.

The former is probably far more realistic of what a new Mom should try and accomplish in the garden.

I often wondered what kind of example I was sending to other Moms of littles. Was I being inspirational? Or was I just adding to the collective guilt that we as mothers experience about not being able to do everything we want to do and be everything to everyone all at the same time? I tried to be real and share my struggles occasionally.

Many days I got to 5pm and felt so overwhelmed. I had barely accomplished anything in my garden or my business–only the most dire thing that needed doing. Thankfully my baby really likes being outside, so I was at least able to keep up with the evening watering. She is not the greatest or most consistent sleeper, so when she did sleep, I had no choice but to try and do my work for the day even if it was noon and +30 outside. That was the time I had to do the work I needed to do.

Yet, as I look back, I’m amazed at what I was all able to accomplish only by figuratively putting out fires. I didn’t feel good or successful or accomplished at the time, but in hindsight I actually had a lot of successes this year.

So here’s how my garden of 2019 turned out. . . the good, the bad, and the very weedy.

Serious About Seed Starting

I’ve been seed starting for about 5 or 6 years now, but this year I wanted to focus on doing a better job of it. I started the usual peppers and tomatoes, but I also seed started a bunch of annual cut flowers. Overall, it was very successful.

I experimented with using newsprint pots, and was really happy with how they held up over the year. I get asked all the time if the newspaper pots really decompose, and I can tell you with complete confidence after my garden clean up this year that yes, they decompose almost completely if your soil is healthy.

My Most Successful Peppers Yet

I also refined my pepper growing process, and had my most successful pepper crop ever. I was so excited to finally have mastered a vegetable that I previously struggled with for years. To grow your best peppers, read this post.

I grew all of my peppers in containers, and all of them ended up on the small side, but were still a decent size that was great to cook with. I had peppers by mid July and continued to harvest them all summer. While it’s cool to have peppers that early when no one else does, it is a bit too early because I’d rather harvest them closer to when my tomatoes are ready in August. Next year I’ll start them at the end of February instead.

My favourite varieties are Carmen, Candystripe, and Hungarian Wax. The first two are hybrids, so I hope to find similar ones that are heirlooms so I can eventually save more seeds.

Another Garden Expansion

We expanded the main gardening bed last year, and this year we added six more raised beds and a trellis. I was able to make the main growing space into a cut flower garden, and moved all vegetable production to the raised beds-six in the back and four in the front yard. With this amount of growing space I could have probably been self-sufficient in some vegetables, but I thought that flowers would be less maintenance–and I needed to cut corners with a new baby.

I added mulch to all the pathways to help cut down on the weeding I would have to do. The thicker cut pine mulch in front held up all season, but the wood shavings that made up the rest of the path decomposed within 2 months. The cut flower garden had become so wild at that point that I couldn’t even walk on the main pathway.

However, the cut flower garden was my favourite part of the yard. It brought an abundance of pollinators–lots of bees and butterflies. I was able to harvest at least 20 bouquets from it, and I could have made more, but I was scared to cut my flowers when it first started blooming.

Related: The Best Flowers To Plant to Encourage Pollinators

I had big plans for how the 4 raised beds on the side would look. I planned them out to be really colourful and provide me with the prettiest pictures possible. They did not work out as planned. I was constantly fighting with birds who ate everything, and by the time I figured out a solution that actually worked, it was late in the season.

While they didn’t look as I had hoped, they still had their charms. And I finally grew a beautiful cabbage from seed that I started myself!

Year of the Brassicas

On that note, my brassicas were probably the most successful they’ve ever been. Besides this cabbage, I grew and harvested the best broccoli I’ve ever had. I was finally able to start successful broccoli from seed, and the cloth I had over it to protect it from the birds & bugs also kept it from bolting when we had a heat wave.

I paired my broccoli with mini pumpkin plants on each corner of the raised beds. Once the pumpkin plants were more mature, they helped shade out the broccoli so it didn’t bolt as easily and when they were ready to take over the bed, the broccoli was done and could be pulled.

The onions in this raised bed were also the biggest I’ve ever grown on this property too. My onions rarely ever do more than double their puny set size, but these ones grew to a size similar to the grocery store.

A Better Vegetable Container Garden

Last year I was disappointed that I had to give up on my vegetable container garden on my deck. It was a great experiment and I had big plans for it, but I was just too sick to keep up with the watering.

This year I was finally able to realize my vision. . .

I successfully grew kale, beans, peppers, tomatoes, mini spaghetti squash, various herbs, marigolds, zinnias, and snapdragons.

It was a terrible year for beans, cucumbers, and zucchini. We had a cold spring, everything was very slow to start, and then we didn’t have enough really hot days to make up for it. I hope to try them again next year and grow a more successful crop.

As many mornings as possible I came out and sat on the deck right on this spot. I distinctly remember one morning sitting here, looking around the yard, and thinking that this was a place I actually wanted to be. Seems simple, but 4 years ago when we bought the property, it was an overgrown blank slate that only had a bunch of peony bushes and a cute little garden shed going for it.

Now, its a beautiful (although a bit weedy) oasis that I enjoy spending time in and inviting friends to sit in.

How Much Can You Grow in a Non-Traditional Urban Garden?

At the beginning of the season, I was very worried about how much I could grow this year. I had the space, but I didn’t know how much I could realistically do with baby. I even got a share in a CSA, because I was worried that I would kill all my vegetables and have nothing to photograph.

I needn’t have worried. Despite barely being able to keep up with it all, I still had a decent harvest.

This isn’t quite everything I harvested, but its pretty close. Just add another 80 pounds of tomatoes I forgot to photograph.

That said, this growing season was one of the latest that I can remember. It ended up being 4-6 weeks behind where it should have been, depending on the vegetable. The cool weather meant I could finally grow radishes, broccoli, and cabbage, but my beans, cucumbers, and zucchini really suffered. The zucchini situation was so bad that I only harvested 3 zucchinis. Lie–I harvested a fourth, but it was so pockmarked that I just threw it in the compost.

Must Grow Plants for 2020 and What Will Not Make the Cut

I like to try new things every year, and 2019 was no exception. My choices are going to be a little different than the average gardener, because I’m gardening for both what me and my family like to eat, plus what I’d like to write about for next year and topics I think will be popular. I came across a lot of new favourites, but there’s a few losers I don’t think are worth your time.

Must-Plant

Prizehead Lettuce. In every experiment I tried growing different varieties of lettuce, Prizehead was the only lettuce that always grew. It’s as dependable and tasty as Buttercrunch (my standby), but has a beautiful red/green colour.
Snapdragons. If you want a cut flower garden, snapdragons are a must-have. They look great in the vase, are easy to start from seed, and are widely available in garden centres if you don’t have the space to start your own. Just look for the Rocket or Madame Butterfly varieties. The cutting varieties grow well in pots (just add a tomato cage).
Strawflowers. Strawflowers are the cut flower that just keeps on giving. They last a long time, are easy to collect seeds from, and the more you cut them the more they bloom. I saved lots of seeds and I’ll be purchasing more colours this year.
Small Wonder Spaghetti Squash. It wasn’t the greatest year for squash, but I was happy to get three personal-sized squashes from my plant in a large pot.
Sunset Orange Paste Tomatoes. These tomatoes just keep on giving and giving. I harvested at least 5 48-cup bowls of them over the course of the summer, and I could have harvested more. Once they are ripe they are slow to rot, and stay firm for a long time. I don’t like raw tomatoes, but all the tomato-loving-people in my life say that the taste is excellent.
Carmen peppers. This was the year that I got really good at growing peppers, and the Carmen variety was my favourite, right up there with Hungarian Wax. Next year I will give them more space so I can get even larger peppers.
Calendula. I’m not sure why I never grew calendula before, but I will never have a garden without it from this year forward. It’s easy to start from seed or direct sowing, you can harvest them from July to after the first frost, and they are super easy to seed save from. I saved a lot of seeds this year, and I’m planning on buying more varieties.

Curious where I get my seeds? Here are 20+ Seed Companies I Recommend for Your Different Gardening Needs.

Not Worth The Hype

Please remember that this is just my opinion. If you love something listed here, you should still grow it!!

Cucamelons. Cucamelons are very trendy in gardening circles and I was unimpressed. They are easy to start from seed, but very difficult to harden off–which is a problem in zone 3 because our growing season isn’t long enough to direct seed. I didn’t have a good harvest, and I’m just not a fan of the lemony-cucumber taste.
Poppies. I like poppies. I’m not a poppy-hater. But I was disappointed with how many poppies bloomed for the amount of seeds I put out and with their very short vase life. However, I will try them again, as I think they will be worth it if I give them better growing conditions.
Watermelon. To be fair, this was not a good growing year for watermelon, and maybe I just haven’t found the right variety for me yet. The watermelon I planted got a few small melons, but it dropped all of them a few days after they set. The year before I was more successful, but my watermelon crossed with my butternut squash and I was too grossed out to see if it was edible. If anyone has any suggestions on varieties or what went wrong, I’d love to hear them in the comments.
Cantaloupe. Another fail two years in a row. I know that they’re super delicious home grown (as compared to the grocery store) and I guess I’m just going to have to up my game next year.
Eggplant. Looking at this list, I’m pretty sure everything that’s on it is largely due to the cool year. But I planted an eggplant and all I got was one skinny little eggplant that a slug beat me to. I was extremely disappointed.

Increasing my Seed Saving

One of my big goals for this year was to save more seeds. I can easily spend $400 every year on just seeds, which is so much and I don’t even have that much space.

My seed saving setup isn’t fancy–just a bunch of milk jug bottoms in an unheated shed. But I found that it was surprisingly easy–just make sure the birds can’t get at your sunflower seed heads!!

I share everything I learned in an easy to read guide that’s meant for visual learners. No more guessing if you’re doing it right from a description. Check it out here.

Like this? My seed saving guide is full of pictures exactly like this one.

The Best Trick for Gardening with a Baby

If you know you’ll be gardening with a baby this summer, make sure to plant some edible flowers like violas or nasturtiums. Every time I went out to the garden, I would rip off a few nasturtiums to let her play with and destroy. Then if she put them in her mouth, she couldn’t hurt herself. Once the harvest started, I would give her scarlet runner beans, baby pumpkins, cucumbers, and larger tomatoes to play with.

You know your baby best, so please don’t give your baby anything you think he or she could choke on! At the beginning of the season when she didn’t put things in her mouth the flower trick worked great. By the end of the season it was too much of a choking hazard so I stopped doing it.

That said, vegetables make wonderful toys, and Aulaire seemed to prefer them to actual baby toys that I brought outside for her.

So that was the year in the garden that was. I hope you enjoyed my little update and found something useful in it. Almost everyday I share my garden updates on Instagram and Facebook. I hope you’ll follow me there and share your own gardening struggles and successes.

Want to see how my garden has progressed over the years? Here’s some of my past garden updates:

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

October 9, 2019

I’ll admit it, I’m pretty basic. I love everything pumpkin spice and I’m not afraid to say so. Weekends in October pretty much require that you consume as much of the stuff as possible.

In that spirit, I give you the recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing.

Take them to a potluck, I promise they’ll go fast.

Aaaah! These Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting are every basic girl's dream fall dessert recipe! It's the best, easy, from scratch recipe for Halloween or thanksgiving. I dare you not to lick the icing of these muffins!! #pumpkin #pumpkinspice #icing #frosting #creamcheese #cupcakes #muffins #easy #best #recipe #dessert #Thanksgiving #Halloween

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How to Grow Garlic in Zone 3 (and other cold climates)

October 7, 2019

Garlic is an easy to plant vegetable that’s perfect for beginners. The catch? If you want to eat garlic this July, you need to plant it this October. Unlike most vegetables, garlic should be planted in the fall instead of spring. But don’t worry, the process is really simple! I’ll show you what you need to know to decide each year when the best time to plant garlic is, where to get garlic, and how to plant it in a zone 3 garden (or other cold climates) so it grows in the Spring.

The garlic growing advice I’m giving is best suited to zone 3b in Saskatchewan, but should be relevant for most other zones as well.

When is the right time to Plant Garlic?

Garlic can be planted anytime after the first fall frost. Where I live in Saskatchewan, that tends to be around September 15th. Check your area’s first fall frost date and adjust accordingly.

However, just because the first frost happens, doesn’t mean that the weather is going to stay cold! A week or two of unusually high temperatures can signal garlic that its time to start growing–which you definitely don’t want. It can be a bit tricky to find that magic window of cold weather-but-the-ground-isn’t-frozen.

I’ve heard of gardeners having success planting garlic anywhere from early September to late October. Most gardeners in my area seem to favour planting anytime from October 1st-15th. If you’re from another area, try to plant your garlic 2-4 weeks after the first frost date.

What is the best Spacing for Garlic?

Garlic should be planted 3-4 inches deep, 5-6 inches apart. Even though the garlic bulb is small, the stalk and leaves get quite large.

How to Prepare the Soil for Garlic

Before you plant your garlic bulbs, remove any plant matter that was there, add some compost, and lightly mix the soil (if you’re planting in a small area) or rototill if you’re gardening in a large garden. Those of you who use no-till methods can plant directly into the ground.

In zone 3 and other cold climates, cover the area with a 2 or 3 inch thick layer of leaves. If you’re worried about keeping the leaves in place before the snow flies, put a net over the leaves (like the kind you’d use to keep birds out of your berries) and stake it down or weigh it down with rocks or bricks at the edges.

Related: 6 Ways to Store Carrots all Winter Long

Where do I buy Garlic bulbs?

In Canada, you can order garlic online from larger seed companies like Veseys and T&T Seeds. There are a couple of niche growers around the country, such as

Sask Garlic in Saskatchewan
Le Petit Mas in Quebec
Boundary Garlic Farm, Salt Spring Seeds & Norwegian Creek Farm in British Columbia
John Boy Farm in Manitoba
Twin Brothers Garlic in Alberta

Local garden centres that are open year round usually also stock garlic, and sometimes you can also purchase bulbs at your local farmer’s market.

Garlic goes on sale at the beginning of September and often sells out quickly–especially if you are purchasing from niche growers who specialize in unique varieties. If you are reading this in October, most varieties will be sold out by now, but the larger seed companies and possibly your local garden centre will still have some.

After you buy garlic cloves once, you can easily set aside the largest bulbs in your harvest for your own seed.

Plant garlic with the pointy end up and the other end down.

How to Plant Garlic

Once you have your garlic bulbs, separate them into individual cloves.
Plant the cloves with the pointed side up in a hole that’s approximately 3-4 inches deep, and spaced 6 inches away from another garlic clove
Cover the garlic with soil and cover that soil with 2-3 inches of dried leaves or grass clippings for insulation. This step is probably not necessary in warmer areas, but it’s a good idea in zone 3.
Secure the leaves by layering a sheet of landscape fabric or bird netting overtop. This step is not necessary, and the fabric should be removed in spring. The fabric or netting keeps the leaves from blowing away before it has snowed for the year.
In the Spring, remove the leaves once the garlic starts poking through with green shoots.

Related: How to Harvest Onions so they’ll last until Spring

Should I Plant Hardneck or Softneck Garlic?

You can plant either kind of garlic, but there are a few things to consider. Hardneck garlic is best suited for Northern climates (such as my zone 3 garden!) and will generally do best in the Northern United States and Canada. The purple striped and rocambole varieties are especially hardy.

Softneck garlic tends to be better suited to warmer climates and generally has a longer shelf life. These rules are not hard and fast, as there have been gardeners who successfully grow soft neck varieties in a northern climate and hardneck varieties in a southern climate.

However, only hardneck garlic produces garlic scapes–a flowery growth that must be removed and can be used in cooking. I find garlic scapes have a beautiful garlic flavour and I love adding them to eggs, soups, and any recipe that calls for garlic or onions.

What is the Best Variety of Garlic to Plant?

There is no one-best-variety of garlic to plant. Read through the seed catalogues description of each variety to see if you think it would be a good fit for you and your family. Each variety will have its own benefits, such as long storage life, larger bulbs, stronger flavour, or milder flavour. Or you might be silly like me and buy the Music variety simply because its called music and that’s a big part of your life. To each their own.

If you buy locally or from a seed seller who lives in your geographic region, they will likely only offer varieties that work for your area.

Buying from a big box store is risky, as they are more likely to sell something that might not work where you live. (This is more of a concern for those of us in lesser populated areas in zone 2 and zone 3. You can probably take your chances if you live in a large metropolitan area in zone 5, 6, or 7.)

Will you plant garlic this fall?

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October 1, 2019

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Ten Fall Garden Chores to Do Now For an Easier Spring

October 1, 2019

Buy Soil and Mulch for Next Year

If your local garden centre has any dirt or mulch left, now is the time to get it on sale. Don’t worry if you can’t put it in your garden just yet. Those bags will keep until spring.

I find it helpful to store a bag of dirt, fertilizer, and my small pots downstairs so they are ready when it’s time to start my seeds in the spring. No trekking outside to the garden shed in minus 40 for this girl!! Not that I’ve done that before, or anything.

Trim Down Perennial Plants

If you’re short on time, you can save this chore for spring. At the very least, pull out all of the plants in your pots and add them to your compost pile.

Related: How to Harvest and Store Onions

Mark Perennial Locations & Take Pictures

There is nothing worse in your gardening life than planting something new, only to realize its inches away from an established plant that’s going to overshadow it. This is especially important if you’ve moved into a new home with an established yard.

Related: Gardener’s Worst Nightmares: 28 Perennials You’ll Regret Planting

Take in Bulbs for Overwintering

Dahlias, calla lilies, and gladiolas all need to come inside for the winter. Unless you’re in USDA hardiness zone 8 or higher.

To store, dig up the bulbs and remove all dirt. store them in a cool, dry place like a basement or crawl space. Anywhere that won’t get below zero degrees. Check your bulbs periodically over the winter and throw away any that are starting to rot.

Fall is here but gardening doesn’t stop as soon as Autumn begins!! Here's some good tips for beginners on what do with vegetables, perennial flowers, and annual flowers now, so that you’ll have an easier Spring. Who wouldn't want to enjoy these gladiolus bulbs again? #gardening #tips #beginners #fall #autumn #garden #vegetables #perennials#chores #tasks #gladiolus #bulbs

Transplant Perennials and Plant Spring Bulbs

Now is the time to transplant peonies, astilbes, bleeding hearts, Irises, day lilies, lily of the valley, and asiatic lilies. All of these flowers can be transplanted in spring, but you’ll have a better first year of establishment if you do it in the fall.

Make sure your newly transplanted perennial gets lots of water until the snow falls.

Head over to your local garden centre for spring bulbs like daffodils, hyacinth, tulips, and allium. Planting in spring is too late because these bulbs need the cool winter to flower.. For zones 9 and 10, you may need to dig up these bulbs and store them in a fridge over the winter.

Related: 53 Most Loved Perennials You Need to Plant

Cover Tender Shrubs

I live in a climate where no one wraps their shrubs for the winter. However, I know in other parts of North America this is standard practice. Here’s an old but good video showing how to wrap trees:

Winterize Your Strawberries

Strawberries are hardy to zone 2, but they require some extra care and attention in the fall to make sure they return in the Spring. Here’s what to do to make sure your strawberries don’t die.

Harvest tender vegetables before the first frost

Tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, and peppers all need to be picked before the first frost, even if they are not ripe. Check the weather forecast daily. Some years I’ve had to harvest everything as early as September 3rd, and this year I was able to wait until September 19th. (The average first frost is September 15th in my area.)

Here’s a handy chart for Canadian and American frost dates.

If the daily low gets to just above freezing and you live in the country or are worried about the temperature dipping lower than expected, you can cover your plants with old sheets.

P.S. Root vegetables are just fine in the ground during a frost. In fact, carrots taste better after the first hard frost, so leave them in the ground without regret!

P.P.S. For whatever reason, potatoes don’t follow this rule. If you leave them in the ground during a killing frost, the taste will change and they’ll go mushy. Go figure.

Related: How to Harvest and Process Fresh Pumpkin

Don't leave your tomatoes out in the cold! Pick them before the first frost or cover with sheets.Click To Tweet

Make Your Own Compost

I’m not talking about your compost bin. Although if you have one, that is an excellent start. Collect all of the leaves you rake up and leave them outside in garbage bags over the winter. When spring comes, spread them out over your garden and rototill them in for an excellent compost.

Collect Annual Seeds

You can save yourself a large expense next spring if you plant heirloom varieties and learn how to collect your own seeds. Tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, and peppers are all really easy vegetables to start collecting from. As for flowers? Here are 5 of the easiest annual flowers to harvest seeds from. Perfect for the beginner seed saver.

Like saving money? Who doesn’t?! Here are the Fall garden chores that will save you money next Spring.

Is there anything I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments what you do in the fall to make things easier in the spring!

Want updates on how my garden is doing? Follow me on Facebook or Instagram for the latest.

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A huge thank you and shout out to my friend Paige of Blush Beauty and Photography. She had the unenviable task of making an almost 5 months pregnant lady look not-pregnant and feel good about herself. If you’re in Saskatoon and looking for a photographer she is your girl. She is also really amazing with autistic kids, as she was able to get my son to look at the camera for our family pictures.