video

Seeds to start in March

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What better thing to do when winter is asserting itself, is watch gardening videos?

Gardening in Canada has put out another excellent video for us short-season gardeners. Here, she talks about the seeds we should start now, or can get away with starting now if we do it right, and which she would advise against starting until April.

I believe she lives a bit further North that we do, but her last frost date is earlier than mine, so she can actually start seeds about a week two earlier than me.

I appreciate that she says that no one knows your garden in your area better than you, and to take that into account when deciding what to start. Everyone has their different soil conditions, microclimates and other factors that will affect how things grow – and what will grow at all! I also like that she recommends new gardeners take advantage of the wealth of knowledge among people in the comments section. You’re bound to find someone living in your part of the world that can answer them far better than she can, living where she does.

I suspect I’m going to be sharing her videos here regularly over the next while!

The Re-Farmer

Wise Words

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Sometimes, I tease myself, watching gardening or homesteading videos by people who live in wildly different climates than I do. The things they can grow, when we’re still months away from being able to plant even cold hardy crops leave me pining!

Of course, there is always something to learn, even if much of the other stuff doesn’t apply to us.

Homestead Heart is one of these video channels that I find inspiring and informative. Some things apply, no matter where you live or what your growing season is like! This is one of them.

She makes some awesome points. When things were shutting down and grocery stores were empty, it really shook people up. So many people started talking about growing their own food, or stocking up seeds for the next time something goes wrong, and the stores are empty again. As much as I absolutely support people doing this, it was rather dismaying to see so many people excitedly sharing “how to” videos produced by content mills that were absolutely fake. At best, the information was useless. At worse, it was dangerous.

So if you’re among those looking into growing your own food, now or in the future, this is someone who tells it like it is, flat out, with no holds barred. She’s awesome!

The Re-Farmer

Raised bed considerations

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For us, building our raised beds is a matter of using what materials we can get without having to buy anything. We’re scrounging and salvaging whatever we can.

If, however, you are in a position to actually purchase raised beds, there are a lot of options, kits and companies out there to choose from.

Gardening in Canada covers some of the things to think about – and a few things I didn’t think about at all, since they’re pretty irrelevant to our situation. This video is well worth a watch.

After we’ve built more of our raised beds, I think I might do a video about them. Everyone has their own very individual situations to consider. Perhaps it might be useful to people if I go through my thought processes as to why we made the choices we did, and apply that process to their own situation.

What do you think? Should I make such a video?

The Re-Farmer

Why use seed starting mix?

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This is the time of year many are starting their seeds indoors, and there are many growing mediums available. Some swear by ordinary garden soil, straight compost or the compressed pellets of peat or coconut coir – though I hear many in my local gardening groups with a definite hate on for the pellets!! Then there’s potting soil and seed starting mixes.

What to choose? Let a soil scientist explain!

I currently have two different brands of seed starting mix, because those were the ones available at the time I was there to buy them. So far, I don’t see any difference between them.

Into the light

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Another gardening video from Gardening in Canada, about whether you need light to start seeds or not.

Considering the differences between our big aquarium greenhouse and the little one, light is definitely an issue. Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to invest in lights – especially not full spectrum lights or red grow lights – right now. The bright LED shop lights I was able to get at Costco, however, do seem to be helping a lot, once the trays move out of the aquarium greenhouses.

The Re-Farmer

G.I.C. video: seeds to start in February

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When it comes to deciding what seeds to start indoors, and when, your frost dates are more important than your zone. Gardening in Canada talks about what to start now, whatever zone you are in.

We’ve got our onions,shallots, eggplants and hot peppers started (even though the hot peppers are supposed to be a short season variety). Next up, I have herbs to start.

We don’t have luffa seeds to try this year; I will buy more to try again next year. I’m debating whether I want to try any gourds this year. I’m not sure how many beds we will have access to this year. I think I should skip them this year and focus more of the edibles than things I am growing for crafting purposes.

What about you? If you have a garden, what are you trying – or skipping – this year?

The Re-Farmer

A good one for beginner gardeners

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Here’s another great video from Gardening in Canada. With so many people looking to garden to feed themselves, because grocery prices are getting so high, it helps to know what’s actually cheaper to grow!

There are, of course, always outliers. With the dry beans, for example. It may be cheaper to buy them at the store, but you can grow varieties that you won’t find in stores at all. Similar for things like potatoes, which don’t even make her list. For example, there’s not much point growing your basic white, red, or yellow potatoes that are common in stores. For the space they need, you could grow other more cost-effective vegetables instead. But there are many varieties of potatoes you’ll never see in a grocery store, or if you do, they are much more expensive “gourmet” items.

But then, a novice gardener looking to save on the grocery budget probably wouldn’t be after special varieties. That’s the time to focus on tried and true varieties that will grow in their area, not experiment. We are fortunate to have lots of space to convert into garden beds. Most people don’t have that.

I still say it’s good to grow at least one thing, just for fun!

The Re-Farmer

Staying home today!

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I’m going to enjoy not going anywhere today. 😁

A good day for gardening videos, like this one.

We still have not been able to start seeds indoors. I need access to the aquarium greenhouse, but we’ve got too much shoved in front of it that we don’t know where else to put. Like an armchair that needs repair. It will probably have to get moved to the storage house, but there’s too much snow in the way to carry something like that.

We really need to get those onions started soon, though!

The Re-Farmer

Because it’s January

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The perfect time to plan your garden.

This is for the Zone 3 gardeners, with a shorter growing season.

One of the perks of growing your own food is being able to grow varieties that aren’t available at the grocery store.

The Re-Farmer