starting your seeds indoors

So, it isn't quite the time of year when you should start your seeds indoors (See seed starting chart information), but it is certainly when people start thinking about it. The following are some basic tips & advice & tools that help you get planning & ready for when it is time to start your favourite seedlings.

BEFORE: A clean slate to start a new season. love it.

AFTER: the fruits of my labour (well future, future fruits...)

Fundamental supplies:

-Labels (i use old vinyl blinds cut-up)

-sharpies

-cell packs (or whatever you are planting in - you can also use egg cartons or other containers with adaquete drainage.)

-PRO-Mix (soil less medium that allows for air flow, and the little seedlings room to push through)

Mix the Pro-Mix with water in a large container, so that seeds are going into nice warm and moist soil. they will be happy immediately. i know i was.

Fill trays with moist soil. create divots for seeds.

place one seed in each little divot.

cover seeds and LABEL. i can't stress this enough. LABEL. LABEL. LABEL.

Also check out this step-by-step video! 

Seedy Sunday- Coming Soon!

Peterborough's Annual Seed Exchange

Seedy Sunday

Sunday March 11th 2-5pm

George St. United Church 

FREE. 

Seedy Sunday is a great place to get inspired for Spring. Come out and get the knowledge, tools and resources you need to get growing this season. There will be vendors selling a huge variety of heirloom seeds, local community offering resources, advice and information, as well as a seed exchange area where participants can trade seeds or purchase some for a donation. The PCGN will be hosting informative garden related workshops.

For more information go to http://urbantomato.blogspot.com or contact urbantomato@gmail.com

Join the Facebook event 

nice to be appreciated!

Received this lovely message on twitter yesterday: @ptbocommgardens Thanks for your great blog - we love using it as a resource for our new Carolina Community Garden ... Ahh, nice to know it is helping out other gardeners.
If there are any resources that could help you get growing, or enhance your gardening experience, let us know.
You too can follow us on twitter!

Seedy Sunday: Seed Exchange Area

Getting pretty excited for Seedy Sunday. Will be packing my seeds for trade & donation this week. I have a lot of seed to distribute .... If you are going to bring seeds along to the exchange area, that is great. Check out the picture above for some more details on how to get prepared. Divide your seed up into smaller amounts (approx. 25) & try to provide as much information as possible on the envelope. Even if you only have a description of the plant, that would be fine as well.
There will be envelopes & pens available on-site if you want to divide up some of your seeds there too.

 

Join the Facebook Event:  or find out more information about the vendors & community groups coming at urbantomato  

Garden Planning Resources: Succession Planting

Succession Planting:

Succession gardening is a second or even a third planting of vegetables in mid- to late-season. By planting crops in succession, continuously throughout the season, gardeners can make optimal use of small spaces, short seasons & get more food out of every garden plot.

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Tips:

1. Consider the length of the growing season in your climate: How many more weeks of good weather do you have?
2. Fast growing vegetables such as radishes, broccoli, spinach and lettuce are good candidates for succession sowing. From these crops choose varieties that are quick to mature. 
3.   Rotate your crops:  Put plants from the same family into different beds from the earlier harvest. 
4.     Allow for early frosts: Choose plants that can be eaten young for succession sowing, like beets and carrots, or those that can take a light frost like lettuce or arugula. 
5.     Some crops do best in early spring or prefer cooler weather (e.g. peas). Once they have started dying back, you can pull out the plants, and make room for another crop. 
6.       Be aware of your space. If you want to have several harvests of a specific vegetable, you can seed them close to an existing row, and then when they are harvested, the second planting will have more room to expand.  

Check out this great booklet from Attra: 
or these helpful sites: Burbs & Bees, Urban Planting calendar, Intensive Vegetable Planting

Garden Planning Resources

Garden Planning Party! Resources: 

There is no wireless internet at George St. United Church, so I won't be able to show you these cool tools tomorrow night, but if you want to play around with them before or after the event, they can really help out with your garden planning!

Kitchen Garden Designer: 

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KitchenGardenDesigner - This is a really cool site. Free, gives you specifics about the things you want to grow, and how much you should plant

http://www.plangarden.com/main.php?sid=48c526be8ad63086ea619c7b7b423f5c

http://vegetableplanner.vegetable-gardening-online.com/

http://gardenplanner.motherearthnews.com/gardenplanner/gardenplanner.html#

Lots of great resources on this site: - http://www.vegetablegardenplanner.com

(What to plant to feed your family, direct seeding & transplant timing, individual plant specifics,

 http://vegetableplanner.vegetable-gardening-online.com/

Examples of different garden lay-outs: http://www.squidoo.com/VegetableGardenLayout

& More - http://www.squidoo.com/vegetable-garden-plans

http://www.squidoo.com/vegetable-garden-planning

Garden Planning Resources: Companion Planting

Companion Planting Chart

By using companion planting, many gardeners find that they can discourage harmful pests without losing the beneficial allies. Companion planting also helps enhance or supplement naturally occurring nutrients in your soil.

Plant	Good Companion	Bad Companion
Asparagus	Basil, Tansy, Dill	Garlic, Onions, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Sage
Basil	Tomatoes, Asparagus, Parsley
Beans	Carrots, cucumbers, cabbages, lettuce, peas, parsley, spinach, cauliflower	Onions, garlic, fennel, sunflowers, tomatoes
Beets	Onions, lettuce, cabbage	Tall beans
Brussel Sprouts	Nasturtiums
Broccoli		Strawberries
Cabbages	Beans, beets, celery, mint, onions, dill, potatoes, oregano	Strawberries, tomatoes, garlic
Carrots	Peas, radishes, lettuce, chives, onions, leeks, beans, tomatoes	Strawberries, garlic, dill
Cauliflower	Celery, beans, nasturtiums	Strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes
Celery	Tomatoes, dill, beans, leeks, cabbage, cauliflower
Chives	Parsley, carrots, tomatoes
Cucumbers	Potatoes (early crop), beans, celery, lettuce, sweet corn, cabbages, sunflowers, nasturtiums	Basil, cauliflower, potatoes
Dill	Carrots, tomatoes, cabbage
Eggplant	Beans, Peppers, Potatoes, Spinach
Garlic		Peas, beans, cabbages, strawberries
Leeks	Carrots, celery
Lettuce	Carrots, onions, strawberries, cucumbers	Beans, parsley
Mint	cabbages	Parsley
Nasturtiums	Apples, cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli,  brussel sprouts, turnips, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini
Onions	Carrots, beets, lettuce
Parsley	Tomatoes, asparagus, chives
Parsnips	Peas, potatoes, peppers, beans, radishes, garlic	Carrots, celery
Peas	Potatoes,  radishes, carrots, turnips	Onions, shallots, garlic
Potatoes	Peas, beans, cabbage, sweet corn, eggpalnt	Cucumbers (early crop), pumpkins, sunflowers, tomatoes, rosemary
Pumpkins	Sweet corn	Potatoes
Radishes	Lettuce, peas, nasturtiums
Spinach	Strawberries
Squash	Sunflowers
Strawberries	Lettuce, spinach, sage	Cabbage, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, broccoli, garlic
Sunflowers	Squash, cucumber	potatoes
Sweet corn	Beans, potatoes, melons, tomatoes, cucumber squash
Tomatoes	Asparagus, celery, parsley, basil, carrots, chives, garlic, sweet corn	Potatoes, strawberries, dill, cabbage, corn
Turnips	Nasturtiums, peas
Zucchini	Nasturtium

This Thursday!

Just a reminder that this Thursday Feb. 23rd, we will be hosting a Garden Planning Party! Come on out to talk with other community gardeners, share ideas, pick up tips, dream of Spring, and start planning your garden for this upcoming season! See you there. RSVP to pcgn@greenup.on.ca

Starting Your Seeds Indoors

It's almost getting to that time of year, when you can get into the greenhouse (or sunny window) and get your hands in the dirt!! Check out this great chart at ww.yougrowgirl.com for a great summary of when to start your seeds. Note that the last frost date in Peterborough region is often May 24th.
http://www.yougrowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/ygg_seedstartingchart.pdf 

 

Also check out this step-by-step how to video on starting your seeds indoors! 

Basic Vegetable Gardening Tips

basictipsveg -

Getting Gardeners Involved.

Another great video. It overviews how to go about getting a community garden group started. Emphasizes the importance of letting the gardeners determine the direction that the garden will take, identifying roles & responsibilities, communication is key!, identifying and utilizing talents within the group, and always including the idea that is about both community and garden.

Why start a community garden?

Good overview of why it can be a great idea to start a community garden, different reasons why a community might want a garden (& why it is key to listen to unique community needs) and the many benefits that come from starting a community garden

Good ideas

This makes me smile. I would be tempted to add a small lip at the bottom so that it can also be used to transport flats!

Seedy Sunday!

 

Contact us for more information or check out: http://urbantomato.blogspot.com/search/label/seedy%20sunday%202012 

February Newsletter

february2012 -

Garden Planning Party: Existing Garden(ers)

 

Are you part of a local community garden? Looking for a chance to meet with other local community gardeners, share ideas, and get inspired for Spring?

Join us on Thursday Feb. 23rd from 7-9pm at George St. United Church (534 George St. N) 

The PCGN will provide tools to help you go about planning your garden for Spring. Talking to fellow gardeners can provide need ideas, knowledge and inspiration. 

The PCGN will provide you with some garden planning tools & resources, insights on potential funding sources, information on places you can donate excess produce to help increase community food security, and we will have some coffee, snacks, and DOOR PRIZES available. 

We would also like your help in inspiring the growth of other community gardens throughout the region! 

Plan your garden, and then go & get your seeds at Seedy Sunday! 

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact us!

Thanks. Peterborough Community Garden Network

More Than A Roof - YWCA

You can support the YWCA's More than A Roof Campaign 

& WIN a deluxe shed for your community garden! 

Here's How:

 Make a donation or purchase a ticket Feb. 10th-14th at the

More Than A Roof display at Lansdowne Place.  

Planning for Planting

An easy to read chart on companion planting, and natural pest management. Can help you plan what seeds you want to buy for the upcoming season & how they can happily work together! Found at http://www.farmerspal.com

Seed Germination Testing

February is a great time of year pour yourself a warm cup of coffee or tea and sort through all of your seeds from seasons past. Take stock. What do you  have left? What do you need to order more of? In order to test how well your seeds will do this season (especially if they are more than one year old) is to perform a germination test. Below  is a how to video, but here are some quick steps as well:

1) Moisten one towel and arrange your seed on the sheet. If the seed is large (peas, beans, corn), apply another moist towel on top and roll the 2 sheets together into a tube. 

2) Once rolled, the paper towel should be placed inside a plastic bag or Ziploc to keep it from drying out.
3) Finally, place the plastic bag in a warm spot (e.g. on top of the fridge).

4) Check to see if the seed has germinated (sprouted) Most seeds will germinate within 5-7 days.

5) The percentage of seed that germinates will give you a good idea of how much seed will grow in your garden
6) You may want to transplant the little sprouts to pots, so that germinated seed doesn't go to waste!

Memories of harvest season

 These photos bring me fond memories of the season past, and get me excited to plant my little tomato seeds next month, heading towards harvest again! Ahh the cycle of growing food

#PeeterTweeter awards

We are nominated in the 'Local Foodie' category for #peetertweeter awards!
Follow us @Ptbocommgardens and head to the wolf website to vote!