Sumary of 2009 (pumpkins and zucchinis)

I've just posted a new video about what I learned on my first year of actual gardening in the earth. So I might as well share this knowledge here too.

First the pumpkins!
I started them inside the house I think it was in the middle of April. I didn't want the worms to eat my new sprouts so by the time they went in the garden they had a few leaves. The vines grew pretty fast. But by mid June I was starting to despair about the pumpkins actually growing. They had quite a few flowers, both male and female but they kept falling off. I though it was a watering problem...but now that I think of it I just think it was too early and the plant wasn't ready to grow pumpkins. By mid June I self polinated the flowers(it was always rainy and the bees were scarce) and they finally stayed on the vine. I had one pumpkin per plant and they grew really fast and took a LOT of space. Now they are all turning orange and will soon be harvested and brought in the house. They can keep for a long while just at room temperature, if you don't overheat your house. So I will have enough pumpkins for a while.

Now zucchinis!

Well again like the pumpkins I grew them in the house, because of the worms that like sprouts. Like pumpkins they grew fast and easily. They do need a constant moist soil. And you have to watch not to get the leaves wet for long time as they grow mildew pretty easily. With a few plants (6) I had more than I could eat, litterally! They do take some space, the vine doesn't travel as far as a pumpkin but the leaves are pretty big. One plant grew at least 4 feet long and was over 2 feet wide. They started dying down as the nights got colder. But since I build my greenhouses around them they started growing again. I will probably have a few zucchinis before winter =)

So this is mostly what I learned about those two squashes. Next year I'm gonna try some more squashes, buttercup and butternut. So if you have advice on those please do tell. I would really appreciate it =)

Here's the link to my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L-hkzrlq0k

No money day 4

Well today is day four and it's still going ok. Tonite is my Friday night since I'm not working tomorow. And after work I was a little tempted by coffee and fried foods. In the afternoon where I worked the lady had the t.v. on. They kept showing ads for "Tim Hortons" and restaurants. So when I got home I made myself a strong coffee and gathered some more lettuce for a salad. Wich was soooo good! And for the fried food...I made myself fried zucchini slices. They were pretty good especially with my homemade garlic diping sauce. But this post isn't about food. It's more about stepping back. This whole experience is starting to feel like a blessing. Makes me appreciate the smaller things in life. And most importantly working to make what you want. Not to buy but to actually make. For a few months now I was feeling like something wasn't right moneywise. And instead of waiting for me to get accustomed to this, I just stopped everything to do with money. It's harsh but it works. The more time passes the more I see that I had lost this self sufficient feeling I love.

Proud parent feeling

This morning as I went to the garden to take a few pictures of my greenhouses for the previous entry...I couldn't stop taking pictures of my vegetables. And looking at those pictures I felt like I wanted to show the rest of the world what I was able to grow on my own. Almost like a parent getting his flip book out of his wallet to show his kids =) So enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Customize your greenhouse !

So tonight I did was I said I would and built my mini greenhouses around my zucchinis. I did have some trouble building the frames since I was alone but I managed. Now I have no idea if it will do anything. But I did leave two zucchinis outside to see differences. I've read that some gardeners extend their gardening season by having raised beds and putting a small hoop greenhouse when the temperature starts dropping. I will of course try this eventually. but I need more time to get more dirt and planks for the raising of the earth. But hey I'm in my first year! So plenty of time left. Here's a link to the video I made of it on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQe94J-MRRs --UPDATE-- When I took the pictures for this entry I noticed that the inside of the greenhouses were singnifically hotter than the exterior. So I supposed they will help after all =)

Stretching Summer

Where I live, Summer starts ending in September....sadly. But tomorrow I am going to try to stretch my zucchini's life cycle. I'll build some simple mini greehouses over the plants in the garden. Now I have no idea how I'll do this. In fact I still haven't checked if I have plastic left in the garage. But it will be done tomorrow and I will post about it (probably even a video on Youtube). But in the meantime if you want to stretch Summer for your plants. I heard that to avoid freeze, you can simply put plastic over your plants at night.But you need to take it out in the morning or else they will steam during the day. Still some plants that need lots of heat might stop producing as the tempreture drops. I guess we will see if it's the case for my zucchinis =)

The 10 year plan...

Now here comes my devious plan!
Basically, I'm giving myself 10 years (more or less) to become self sufficient. Ten years to be able to grow and raise my own food. I've told my family and a few friends and most of them think of me as crazy for trying this. But it must be doable!
Over the years I intend on transforming my backyard into cultivated 4x4 gardens (squarefoot gardening). I've gesstimated how much food I could grow with just the 10 spaces I have plowed for next year and it should be a large amount. This year was just a tryout. But next year will be more serious. I'll start a few weeks earlier planting seeds indoor and use all the great advice I got from my research online. My hope for this year was to see how good I'd do at gardening a real garden. And I was sucessful...some crop were harvested earlier than most people's. Next year I intend to have enough produce to last me for a part of the winter. Either by storing them in a cold room, freezing or canning. And every year I'll increase the amount of land cultivated. Probably try to work less at my day job and sell some of my excess but still getting my biggest monthly revenues from my 2 basement appartements that I rent. Once the house loan is paid I should be able to have enough money with my rents, and produce sales. Of course combined with all that will be a reducing of the money I spent in unecessaries (cell phones, takeouts, store bought food and such) recycling, and reusing materials. Now you tell me does this sound doable or am I just crazy!!! =)

How it all began.....in 2008

I suppose my first post should be about how this crazy adventure all began.
Well first of all, I've always been weird and stubborn enough not to follow the group. And after a first attempt at growing food on my backyard porch.....something in me strated to.....bloom. I was just a few plants that I started from seed in May. So I didn't get much of a harvest and even then it was a late one. Out of pure curiosity I took a chili pepper tree that had produce two chilis but were treatened by frost indoor. As the weeks passed the pepper tree kept growing and flowering. Winter came and just a few feet from the snow outside it continued to give me peppers. It must have given me at least 250. I know it seems unbelievable but it's true. What was just an experiment turned into a great pleasure and fun. And as i was tending my tree, I started reading on the subject of vegetable production and started planning for a garden the next year. In my second year of growing my own food and after reading more and more I found something called self suficiency. And a lot of people that are actually growing all of their food themselves, sometimes in the middle of huge cities. And here I am now.....more and more on my way to my own self sufficiency. Hope you come along for the ride =).......next I'm gonna let you in on my plan.....for backyard domination!

P.S.: My pepper tree was returned to the earth two weeks ago. but his seedlings still bloom in my garden and he will enrich the dirt of his future generation with his compost.