SHIFTING ROOTS

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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

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

This Is What Your Urban Garden Can Grow in One Year

October 17, 2017

Think you have too little space in your city backyard to garden?  I’m here to tell you that as long as you have decent light, you don’t.

This year I planted a small garden in my backyard in a designated garden area, amongst my flowers wherever there was space, in pots, and in three raised beds.  That sounds like a lot of space, but it really isn’t.

Here are my results.

Have you ever wondered how much you can really grow in your urban garden? It might be more than you think! I'm sharing the results of growing vegetables in a tiny garden plot, on my patio in pots, and in a few garden boxes. #urbangardening #gardening #growingvegetables #smallspacegardening #citygardening

[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: Uncategorised Tagged: Beans, Beets, beginner gardener, best plants for beginners, canadian gardening, Carrots, Garden, garden harvest, Gardening, harvest 2017, Kale, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, planting, plants, Potatoes, pumpkins, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, summer squash, Tomatoes, urban gardening, Zucchini

Easy and Affordable Halloween Decorating in an Afternoon

October 27, 2016

halloween, decorating, easy, affordable, quick, cheap

Today’s post is the holy grail of lazy decorating: cheap, easy, & quick.  You can easily involve your children in this and it won’t take up more than an afternoon.

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[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

2 Comments
Filed Under: DIY, Fun, Projects, Simple & Easy, Uncategorised Tagged: Affordable, banner, Cheap, crafts, Decorating, DIY, easy, Halloween, Halloween tree, Kids, pumpkins

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

Garden Heros & Casualties

June 27, 2016

image

The first of the garden produce is in!  Most of my lettuce and spinach did not come up, but this butter crunch lettuce really delivered.

[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

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Gardening Tagged: Garden, Lettuce, Peppers, pumpkins, squash, swisschard, Tomatoes, Zucchini

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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

  • How to Grow Eucalyptus for Cut Flowers (Even in a Short Growing Season!)
  • 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

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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Got the seed starting itch? There's some things y Got the seed starting itch?  There's some things you can actually seed start now and you won't end up with crazy leggy seedlings and endless problems.  In fact, these plants require that you start now, and need to be started in zone 3 by the end of February at the absolute latest.⁠
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I've already started some lisianthus and eucalyptus, and am waiting on my seed orders to start some more.⁠
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If you're starting a luffa sponge, make sure you have some sort of eventual plan for the vine.  last year mine went over my fall windows before I was able to take them outdoors.⁠
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P.S. I've actually never started onions from seed, so if anyone wants to chin in about their experience, feel free!
Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year? Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year?  A new post is on the blog to walk you through it.  While in theory eucalyptus is easy to grow, it's challenging in my zone 3 garden for three reasons: ⁠
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➡️It needs a long time to mature⁠
➡️I have a short growing season⁠
➡️I live in a cool climate, and eucalyptus grows better when its warm.⁠
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That said, you can see by this picture that it can be done!!⁠
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Are you growing eucalyptus this year?
Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums up how this last week went, I think it's this one.  Babies crying, trying to stay calm, outwardly looking like it's all under control, but feeling very overwhelmed.⁠
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This post isn't gardening related, so feel free to scroll by if you're here only for the gardening content.⁠
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Thankfully it's January, and I keep reminding myself that the Internet will not break if I don't keep to my self-imposed posting schedule.  But it doesn't make a week full of teething-and-not-sleeping baby any easier. ⁠
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Felicity slept through the night for the first time ever last Monday, then proceeded to punish us with frequent wakings and terrible sleep until Saturday.  And as tough as this is in regular times, in Covid times its extra frustrating because I don't have my village.⁠
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I can't just call up another Mama friend and go for coffee at her house.  I can't take my son out for a Mommy-and-Dominic date because everything he'd want to do isn't really much of an option.  There's no playgroup or play place to just drop in on.  And forget just taking everybody out to get groceries just for a change of scenery.⁠
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I know people have way more serious problems than this, and I hope I don't sound whiny and entitled, it's not my intention.  Please know that I'm very grateful for my family and job and that so far we've been healthy. ⁠
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A lot of you who follow me do so in part because you are also juggling life with very little people through this strange time.  I hope that in occasionally sharing my struggles, it makes you feel better about your struggles. (You're struggling too sometimes. . . right?)
Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth deg Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth degree, do you just wing it, or are you somewhere in-between?⁠
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I tend to plan it all out, and then when I actually get out in the field, so to speak, the plan changes a little bit. ⁠
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If you need a garden planner that's both pretty & practical, my garden planner is available in the ebooks section.  It's only $9 and has lots of upgrades from the previous planner.  Use code CANADA if you're Canadian to account for the exchange.⁠
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P.S. You can see exactly what you're getting in the video--no surprises. ⁠
P.P.S  I get my planner bound and printed at a printing place.  Lots of people just print their own and put the sheets in a binder.
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?⁠
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