Is it motivation season yet?

Two of my lovely ladies

Last year my gardens were a disaster. Not kind of bad, not slightly sub par, but a complete disaster. So sue me, I'd just had a baby and kneeling in the dirt was the last thing on my mind. This year I'm hoping to redeem myself...if I can just find the motivation. Looking at photos of my hydrangeas is slightly helpful; although caring for "the ladies" isn't the problem. My tangled wildflower (now mostly weeds) garden is, along with my veggie garden, which was no more than the domain of several rogue cherry tomato plants (weeds all on their own if you ask me).

Perhaps I'll turn to Pinterest and  photos of bountiful square foot gardens for motivation...assuming my attention isn't stolen by photos of luscious chocolate dessert and opulent tablescapes.

Vegetable Garden Planner review

The unseasonably warm weather here in the GTA has really kicked my thoughts of  vegetable gardening into overdrive. Definitely a good sign, because it means that last year's first steps into veggie gardening weren't a phase. As I'd mentioned in my last post, we'll be creating two square foot gardens this year, rather than one, with the new vegetable garden dedicated to salad ingredients. I'm still unsure about everything that's going into this salad garden, aside from some leaf lettuce, spinach and now cilantro (thanks to BD for the suggestion!); however, one thing I am sure about is that I need to start planning.  

This year veggie garden planning means finding a good online vegetable garden planner.  While there are lots of printable grids and vegetable garden planning Excel templates, there aren't many options when it comes to finding an online vegetable garden planner. My first search mission has lead me to three possible options.  Overall, all of the vegetable garden planners are very easy to use. They're completely online, there's nothing to download and all are fairly printer friendly, should you wish to have a hard copy of your vegetable garden planner. Each of the three displays plants in the square foot garden format. Meaning, four heads of leafs lettuce per square, 1 tomato plant, 9 spinach plants, and so on. I am a square foot gardener, so this is exactly the type of vegetable garden planner I was looking for. Now, on to my discoveries: 

Eat Close to Home  

I dream of salad garden

While the weather outside is truly frightful, what with the extreme cold alert going on in the city and mile high snow banks on every corner, I can't help but turn my thoughts to just a few months in the future when I'll be putting in this year's square foot gardens ...that's right, gardens, this year there will be two veggie gardens and one triangle shaped raised garden in the corner for flowers.

With the second square foot garden going in this year, we've decided to make it a dedicated salad garden. So everything that goes into our salads (with the exception of cherry tomatoes ...more about last year's tomato-zilla at another time) will be coming out of this garden. Now it's just a matter of figuring out exactly what will be going in.

I suppose the most obvious choice is romaine.

In my opinion, every good salad needs the crisp sweetness of romaine as a base.In fact, we'll probably stagger plant two to three squares of romaine, using Mel Bartholomew's 4 heads per square foot recommendation.We'll probably also plant some spinach and possibly a box of green onions. That however leaves several boxes empty in my salad-specific square foot garden. Admittedly, I'm a plain salad kind of girl, but as I discovered with my first square foot garden last year, if I grow it I'll eat it. So I'd like to experiment with some additions to my salad bowl this year. It's just a matter of what.


If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. So what else should go into my square foot salad garden?

Confessions of a reformed veggie hater

For the better part of my 30 and change years on this planet I have been an unrepentant hater of vegetables. Of course, like most veggie haters, I had a few tolerable selections -corn (actually a grain -i know), carrots, some lettuce. There may have been a couple of veggie phases that introduced a few more things, but for the most part I just didn't enjoy the veggies.

Then, a little something happened that started the change and then most recently something else pretty much turned me all the way. So here's the secret -
Doing it yourself makes it better.

I'm not sure why, but it works.

Change #1 - I think the change initially started when I began to take a more active interest in cooking. As I began experimenting and wanting to put more cohesive meals together I would of course come face to face with the need for veggie sides or the addition of veggies to soups, stews or pastas. So, I would look at all of the ingredients around the vegetables and choose recipes based upon those flavors, knowing that they would infuse the then offending veggie with tastes that I already enjoyed. Here are a couple of examples of recipes from Allrecipes.com that have helped bring me around to the leafier side of eating:

Italian Sausage Soup
Veggies involved - Carrots, zucchini, spinach, tomatoes
Helpful flavors - spicy turkey sausage and a lot of garlic

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower
Veggies involved - Cauliflower
Helpful flavors - garlic, Parmesan cheese


*Note: yes, I know many of the above are technically fruits

Change #2 -Now this was a biggy. This latest change has lead me to enjoy what I would consider to be some very "extreme veggies" like swiss chard and beet greens. It all began with a little book called Square Foot Gardening. When I started my garden, I planted a square of chard and a square of beets for my mom. Her first little harvest of chard did not interest me in the least, as she had tried for years to get me to eat the stuff. I hated it as a child, of course. However, a little something changed with the second harvest of chard and several bunches of beet greens. I think I may have felt compelled to taste it because it was a day when I was fixing dinner, with the greens as a side.

If you cook it, you have to taste it right?

So, after the application of some olive oil, garlic, a bit of onion, s&p and some judicious sauteing I brought a small forkful to my lips and ...holy moley! Delicioso! I loved it, and I have no idea why.

I can now list several veggies that I greatly enjoy. Chard, spinach, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots...the list goes on. So, I genuinely think that getting involved with veggies is key. Plant a garden. Source some recipes filled with flavors you already love and experiment. It makes a huge difference.

A garden full of memories

As a brand new gardener, it can be a real challenge trying to figure out just what to put in the ground, which makes walking into a garden center both an awe-inspiring and overwhelming experience.

I had already identified my zone and figured out how much sun/shade I had in both front and back gardens. I also knew that really I wanted to put some perennials in, with only a small patch for annuals. Annuals are easy, because you can change your mind year after year, and throw a few containers in to shake things up. Perennials however, are a commitment.

Speaking of commitment ...as I stood in Vandermere's Garden Center, staring at row after row of plants not yet in bloom, trying to figure out what I wanted to devote my years to, it struck me that planting these perennials could be symbolic of another commitment I had just made months before. I would plant my wedding flowers -hydrangeas!


I picked up one Niko Blue and one Masja for the backyard and then two more Niko Blues for the front. And as I put each one into the ground, I said a little prayer over them, acknowledging that they were a symbol of my marriage and that I would nurture them for years to come. I would delight in them in good weather and keep them safe through storms. I would fight to keep them healthy even during the coldest winter storms, knowing all the while that they will be better for it come springtime.

The fact that Niko Blue hydrangeas bloom out of old wood from the previous year is so wonderfully poetic. It's like a symbol of hope and of promise.

I would suggest to any new bride and homeowner that planting the flowers used in your wedding (if possible in your zone) can become more than just a gardening experience, but something beautiful that can be shared with generations to come.

*Yep, that's one of my Niko Blue hydrangeas. The lack of acidity in my soil has resulted in what looks more like Niko pink. LOL. I may play around with the soil composition in the backyard next year to try and get that Niiko to turn blue.

Mel Bartholomew - Introducing Square Foot Gardening

So many industrious Domestinistas relish the idea of growing their own vegetables, but simply cannot abide the thought of weekends spent kneeling in dirt under the hot hot sun ...not to mention what that might do to a fresh mani.

That's where Square Foot Gardening comes in. SFG is a a gardening system developed by Mel Bartholomew. Gardens are built in raised 4x4 foot boxes and greatly reduce the time and effort required in traditional row gardening. Have a peek at the video and prepare to be inspired!