SHIFTING ROOTS

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Red Hamburger Relish: The Perfect Topping for Hamburgers and Hotdogs

September 23, 2019

Did anyone else’s grandma make a red hamburger relish?  For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, red relish is sweet and tangy, made with tomatoes, cucumbers, celery & onions.

Despite owning all her recipe books, I could not find the recipe she used.

My initial google searches didn’t turn up many results.  However, once I searched hamburger relish things became more clear.

Red Hamburger relish is sweet sour and zesty! Tastes delicious on hamburgers and sausage, or any other meat. A delicious way to use your garden vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and onions. You'll come back to this easy canning recipe again and again!
[Read more…]
Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

34 Comments
Filed Under: Harvest, Kitchen, Recipes Tagged: Canning, Cucumbers, Onions, Peppers, Preserving, recipe, Red relish, relish, Tomatoes, Zucchini

The 2 Step Solution to Control Powdery Mildew

August 13, 2018

Your garden is doing well and you’re even starting to harvest some vegetables, when all of a sudden you see some weird little white spots on your pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, or zucchini.  You shrug it off, thinking it’s probably no big deal.

A few days later it’s spread to more and more leaves, and those few innocent white dots have overtaken more an more leaves in a white, powdery mess of horror.  You my friend, have an outbreak of powdery mildew.

While you can’t reverse it, I’ll show you the two step process to keep it from spreading further.

Need to get rid of powdery mildew on your squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, or zucchini?  I'll show you the treatment I use on the plants in my garden, and talk a bit about prevention for next time. #gardeningtips #powderymildew #vegetablegardening #vegetablegarden #beginnergardener #gardentips #gardeningtips

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

11 Comments
Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged: august, Cucumbers, disease, fungus, garden tips, powdery mildew, pumpkins, squash, summer, Zucchini

Fresh Summer Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

August 15, 2017

August is a busy month for the home gardener.  The last of the beans and peas need picking.  Raspberries seem to ripen before your eyes.  Canning is in full swing.  Scorching hot days mean constant watering.  Who has time to make lunch?

This summer salad recipe has the best of what's in season in August: raspberries, blueberries, lettuce, and cucumbers. Whip it up for lunch or dinner when you don't want to turn on
[Read more…]
Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

16 Comments
Filed Under: Fruit Season, Get Healthy, Recipes Tagged: august, Cucumbers, feta cheese, fruit, Lettuce, mason jar, Peppers, raspberry, raspberry vinaigrette, salad, summer, summer salad, sunflower seeds, walnuts

Triumphs & Failures in my Garden

August 2, 2016

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The harvest is underway and I’m already thinking about what worked and didn’t work this year.  There were lots of surprises this year: volunteer potatoes (that did really well despite much neglect), barely there greens and beets, peas that didn’t perform, and the wonder that is cylindrical beets.  Here’s my thoughts on what I planted.

Potatoes

Volunteer potatoes cropped up among my squash and pumpkins.  I left them until July, then took them out for an early harvest and to give my other plants the space they now needed.  I would do this again on purpose.  It’s nice to have some dedicated early potatoes you can harvest without guilt.

Beans

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So far I have picked 60 litres of beans.  I probably don’t need quite so many beans next year.  I prefer the yellow to the green, and missed having purple ones.  Even though I purchased bush beans, they still seemed to fall over. . . is that normal?  Should I put up a trellis next year?

Peas

This years crop was small for how much I planted.  I was also late to put up supports.  Some of my peas adjusted and others didn’t.  There was also definitely some creature that got to my late variety peas.  In summary, plant more peas and maybe try some different varieties than this year.

Spinach

Why oh why can I never grow spinach?  Maybe I’ll try to in my smaller garden in the city next year.

Lettuce & Kale

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My new favourite lettuce to grow is butter crunch!  It did the best out of all the varieties we tried.  We learned that we are just not fans of red lettuce.  The kale plants I grew in the city did very well and didn’t get eaten up by bugs this year.  Might be worth it to buy the plants like I did this year.

Onions

The variety I grew tasted wonderful, but had some huge greens for a very small bulb.  Maybe try a different kind next year.

Swiss Chard

I didn’t get a lot of swiss chard, but I used old seed so I wasn’t that surprised.  What I did get was lovely.  I’ll definitely plant this next year.

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Beets

None of my circular beets came up.  I have no idea what I did wrong.  A few of the cylindrical beets came up and they were good.  I will plant these again because they are much easier to harvest.

Carrots & Parsnips

My carrot crop was quite sparse this year, but on the bright side, I didn’t have to thin out anything.  None of my parsnips came up.

Herbs

Only my dill came up strong.  The basil came up much later, but ended up doing quite well.  I will try growing some indoors over the winter and hopefully do better.

Peppers

Small but mighty!!  Only 4 out of 12 plants survived,  but each of them have 3 little peppers

Tomatoes

The tomatoes had a rough start, but are looking much better now.  Hopefully I’ll get enough to make spaghetti sauce.

Cucumbers

So far the cucumbers are beyond disappointing.  I collected 5 so far and they are half yellow.  Maybe they aren’t getting enough water?

Zucchini

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Good old zucchini, you can always depend on it to produce.  Both my yellow and green varieties did very well.

Pumpkins

Not really sure if these are going to produce.  The plant looks okay, but I don’t see any pumpkins beginning.  Maybe its too early in the season?  Maybe I was supposed to pollinate them?  I tried, but I had 4 male flowers and no females.

Spaghetti Squash

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Just look at the beautiful spaghetti squash! Please ignore my weeds.

I’m very excited about my squash!  So far there are 3 nice sized ones on the vine and it looks like more to come.  However, I’m not really sure when to pick them.  Do I wait until they turn yellow, or do I pick them now and they’ll turn yellow as they cure?  Tell me if you know!

How is your garden growing?  If you have any solutions to my gardening problems, please let me know!!

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

1 Comment
Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers, Gardening, Herbs, Onions, Parsnips, Peppers, Potatoes, pumpkins, squash, Tomatoes, Zucchini

Planting my Garden: Year One

May 13, 2016

PLANNING MY-2

In my last post I talked about our not-so-great outdoor space at the house.  The garden space left much to be admired, so I made a plan B and am gardening at my mother-in-law’s acreage.  There is a ton of space, so I’m lucky enough to be able to plant the garden of my dreams.  Possibly nightmares come September.

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

8 Comments
Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: Bare Foot Gardening, Beans, Beets, Carrots, Companion Planting, Cucumbers, Flowers, Gardening, Lettuce, Marigolds, Onions, Outdoors, Parsnips, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Spinach, Sweet Peas, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Zinnias, Zucchini

Grow roots with us

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

P.S. First time gardener? You'll want to download the quick start gardening guide below!

Recent Posts

  • 26 Best Flowers to Grow for Dried Flower Arrangements
  • 17 Perennial Flowers That Love Shade
  • How to Design a Cut Flower Garden in Raised Beds
  • How to Start a Cut Flower Garden
  • How to Make Watercolour Decorated Sugar Cookies

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Are you gardening in containers this year? When y Are you gardening in containers this year?  When you're shopping for vegetable seeds, look for varieties that have names with words like patio, tiny, small, etc.  While lots of vegetable varieties will do fine in a container, you'll have an easier time with ones that are specifically bred for that situation.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I'm living the pepper dream in this photo. While I'm living the pepper dream in this photo.  While these ones are a bit on the small side, who doesn't want ripe peppers in July in zone 3?!?! ⁠
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Over the years I've gotten better at growing peppers, and I promise I'll spill my secrets in February when it's actually time to start them.  Until then, get yourself all or one of my four favourite varieties: ⁠
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🌶️Carmen⁠
🌶️Escamillo⁠
🌶️Candy Stripe⁠
🌶️Hungarian Hot Wax⁠
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately? It Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately?  It's so easy to get completely overwhelmed, especially if you're new to gardening.  Why are there so many varieties of everything and which ones do I choose?⁠
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Here's how I try to narrow it down.⁠
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🌤️ Short growing season like me?  Try and prioritize varieties that have short dates to maturity.⁠
🥗 What do you or your family actually eat?  While I think you should always try a couple of new things, there's no sense in planting a giant garden filled with vegetables that you're not going to cook with. ⁠
🥒 Do you care whether your vegetables are heirlooms or hybrids?  Heirlooms are the kind that have been around for 50+ years and you can save seeds from.  Believe it or not, this year we're prioritizing hybrids for some of our garden.  The Hermit @mgsraney is obsessed with production this year, so anything that's going in "his" greenhouse better be able to produce a lot.  I'm using more heirlooms in my "glamour garden" as we call it, because I want things that are pretty and I can save seeds from.⁠
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What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
Last week we started thinking about our plans for Last week we started thinking about our plans for cut flower gardening, now this week we start thinking about plans for our vegetable gardens.  Unlike cut flowers, there's not as many vegetables that need to be started ridiculously early.  However, it's still fun to plan and dream and get your thoughts sorted.⁠
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I'm curious--what size of garden do you have to work with?  Are you on an acreage or farm, city backyard, or do you have a couple of pots on an apartment patio?⁠
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As for me, I have quite a mix.  I have my container garden on my backyard deck, the small cut flower garden in my yard, then vegetables in raised beds.  We also garden at my Mother-in-law's acreage, so there's a giant garden over there where we're figuring out how to grow food on a larger scale.  Then finally, sometimes my Mom grows things for me in her garden if I'm nervous that I'll ruin them in my own garden--call it a backup garden if you will.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about the best flowers to plant in a cut flower garden.  There's so many options, these 5 that I talked about all week don't even come close.  If you need more help creating a small cut flower garden, I created this plan intended for a raised bed (but you can plant it in-ground too.⁠
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Head over to my insta links page on my profile, and you'll see the button to click on that will take you directly to it.⁠
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#cutflowergarden #cutflowers #raisedbedgarden #raisedbedgardening  #growyourown #greenthumb #raisedbeds #urbangarden #urbanfarm #squarefootgardening #slowflowers
Hey friends! There's a lot of new faces in this l Hey friends!  There's a lot of new faces in this little corner of IG, so I wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Kristen and I'm the gardener & content creator behind Shifting Roots.  I'm wife to @mgsraney and mom to 3 kids, ages 8, 23 months and 7 months.  Needless to say, our house is BUSY.  I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, SK, so if I can grow it in my short growing season and cold temperatures, you probably can too.⁠
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Here's a few fun facts, can you relate to any of these?⁠
🍅I don't like raw tomatoes, but I grow a ton of them because I like tomato sauce.⁠
💐I probably sound like every flower is my favourite flower, but my two favourites are peonies and zinnias.⁠
🌈I can't pick a favourite colour--I love so many of them in different circumstances.  If you force me to choose, I think I've got it narrowed down to coral and turquoise, but even then I still want to throw in yellow, emerald green, fuchsia. . . ⁠
🖤Even though I love colour to the moon and back, you'll often find me wearing black and white in real life, because it's just easier and I don't have to think about it going together.
When you think of rudbeckia, do you think of those When you think of rudbeckia, do you think of those maybe-slightly-boring flowers with yellow petals and a brown centre? (Please don't come at me with your pitchforks if that's your favourite flower!!)⁠
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Rudbeckias, like these orange and burgundy ones, can be so much more!  Pair them with sunflowers & amaranth for an especially striking late summer bouquet.⁠
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🤞I'll have amaranth and sunflowers this year to play around with.⁠
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Need help planning the cut flower garden of your dreams?  It doesn't have to be complicated.  Grab your copy of Cut Flowers Made Simple and have pails of flowers like this one at your fingertips.⁠
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See my link in bio and click on the ebooks button.
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