Simple Cold Frame

While walking around the back of our yard, I found this old window which I thought would be perfect for a cold frame. 10 minutes later, I had set up some bricks to frame the window, threw a little compost into it and... voila!

It was a little bit cold, as it was only March 19th but I decided that I would take a chance and plant into it. As a new gardener in Ontario, I don't know much about when it is too early to start the seeds. A few people told me mid-March was too early even for a cold frame - but I've heard of people growing year round in ON, in unheated greenhouses (I have no idea how that is possible) but if that works, then March should be fine.

And it is!

This picture was taken this morning! It seems as though one row didn't come up but the red mustard, mixed lettuce and spinach have done just fine. Obviously their growth has been a bit slow if they're only this far along but in all fairness, the week after I planted, it turned back to winter, full of snow, ice and frozen ground for at least half the week.

In the world of gardening, I truly believe that experimenting produces all kinds of results you weren't expecting and that usually the 'rules' are meant more as general guidelines.... and as a result hopefully we'll end up with greens weeks ahead of the game!

The Greenhouse is Heating Up

We built a greenhouse about a month ago which has been great for our seedlings!

We're lucky to have a landlord that is happy to have us tearing up the sod and putting in a garden. We've got big plans for the backyard which are coming along slowly but surely and will hopefully be ready when we want to start planting out in the yard.

Our lasagna-gardened (heart-shaped) bed

So far we've been lasagna gardening (aka compost mulching) which basically means creating a compost pile in the spot where you want to garden so that it breaks down right in place. We're doing this because part of our back yard seems pretty compacted back fill - not exactly the best garden material but I'm hoping that our combination of sod, leaves, coffee grinds, compost and paper bags will be enough for our plants to grow. The other consideration is that normally it works best if one 'lasagna gardens' in the fall so that the pile has the whole winter to break down. We didn't have the materials to do that so we just did it last weekend. Everything is an experiment!

Tomatoes are up!

Already 7 Months in the City!

Its been 7 months here in the city and I've thought about setting up this blog a number of times. I see it as a way to keep track of day-to-day life here in Toronto; our experimentations in the kitchen, garden and life in general; and as well to keep friends and family up-to-date on the latest happenings.