Alberta Gardening

A fresh Lincoln pea pod still a few days from being ready to harvest.

Welcome to the Alberta Gardening blog.  I started this blog as a means of sharing my first real experiences with growing vegetables and a few fruits in Edmonton, Alberta during the growing season of 2010 so that anyone that might have an interest in growing some of their own food can hopefully get off to a running start while avoiding some of the silly mistakes I made along the way. 

Just a year or so ago - like many people in the new millenium - my knowledge of the production of fruits and vegetables was limited to the belief that a farmer somewhere threw some seeds in dirt and, soon after, they magically appeared in the produce section of a local supermarket.  My only exposure to gardening was the very small garden patch my parents maintained when I was younger and the much larger garden my late grandmother tended.  That was some time ago, however, and the only thing I really remember about those gardens was relentlessly raiding the pea and strawberry patches.

Bush beans and carrots sharing an Earthbox

Last fall, I started taking a stronger interest in gardening for a few reasons.  First off, my wife and I intend on living on an acreage in the near future and no acreage would possibly be complete without a garden.  Secondly, it seems everytime I head to the supermarket the prices of fruits and vegetables have gone up again.  And lastly, a good portion of the produce that I can buy (notwithstanding what comes from decent growers at farmer's markets) tastes like a bundle of wet cardboard by the time it hits the store shelves.  I remember what the peas and strawberries tasted like fresh from my grandmother's garden and the stuff at the supermarket doesn't compare - not even close.

Sweet 100 tomatos getting close to full size

Beyond that, fruit and vegetable gardening has, over time, become something of a lost skill.  And I find that unfortunate as I firmly believe its a skill worth having - whether you have a huge garden or a plant or two.  A quick drive around Edmonton shows that gardening skills for most is limited to the care of a few hardy annual or perennial flowers to add some colour to the front yard.  Pretty - no doubt - but little value beyond those aesthetics.  Having all the produce you can shake a stick at available at your nearest grocery or department store at reasonably affordable prices for so many years combined with the time constraints of modern life has put the kaibosh on the old school veggie garden.  It's certainly understandable yet theirs something to be said for the satisfaction of growing your own healthy food that tastes better and costs less than the stuff at the supermarket.

With all that in mind, I started reading about gardening with every spare moment as the snow began to fall in 2009.  Various books and the internet proved to be full of information - not all of it consistent .. some of it downright contradictory.  But I did ingest alot and, by about February, 2010, was chomping at the bit to grow something.  I did have some challenges to overcome, however.

1) We're currently renting a house.  This backyard of which has no exposed soil and I'd venture a guess that the property owner's wouldn't appreciate me going ballistic on the lawn with a shovel.

2) I'm a career wedding and portrait photographer.  For me, summers are ultra busy.  Sometimes 80 hours a week busy.  Add a wife and two year old daughter into the mix and my down time averages about 7 seconds per day.

3) We live in Edmonton - zone 3 in garden speak.  That means that our growing season - the time between spring and fall frosts - is approximately 12 minutes long.  And thats during a warm year.

Romaine lettuce ready for the salad bowl.

It's now early August of 2010 and so far this summer, we've harvested oodles of peas, about 20 zucchinis, a bunch of carrots, lettuce, chard, potatos, and one tomato (more incoming soon).  Our bean patch has exploded with blooms and small pods, the tomato plants are filled with ripening tomatos, a new pea patch has recently been sowed, a handful of cucumbers are growing slowly and streadily, and the fall looks to be full of a constant supply of lettuce, carrots, chard, kale, and spinach.  All of this with - for the most part - no more than a few minutes a day of tending.

I'm definately not bragging as I've run into numerous problems that I'll chalk up as good learning experiences.  But overall, I'm pretty happy - especially when I see my little girl munching on a carrot fresh out of the soil with the top still attached.  Oh yeah... and I'm back to thinking that peas are more than smushy, tasteless filler in chicken fried rice too.  They actually taste like little sugar candies when you pick them at just the right time.

Fresh Lincoln Peas along with a Black Beauty and Gold Rush Zucchini from the garden 2 weeks ago

If I owe this summer's modest growing successes to anything, it's the discovery of self watering (or sometimes called sub irrigated) containers.  Beyond being time savers where watering is concerned, they take much of the guess work out of gardening.  Building and using them has been a great experience and made me a believer in their potential to grow food darn near anywhere and often better than can be done in the classic in-ground garden.

Working toward a guest appearance on the Little Shop of Horrors sequel, this Sweet 100 tomato plant is now 6 feet tall.

With that said, self watering containers will be the topic of my next post which will be up within a week.

Goodbye for now and good growing!