Companion Planting

This year, with a little bit of experience under our belts, we decided to try out some different techniques (like the square foot beds we wrote on in the last post). We wanted to learn about complementary plants before we planned out what crops to plant where. Companion planting "...assist in the growth of others, be it attracting beneficial insects, naturally regulating pests, repelling harmful insects, providing nutrients, part of a biological pest control program, and in some cases simply a shaded microclimate or climbing support" (Wikipedia).

A little research on the web gave us an idea of what to plant with what and as was mentioned in the last post, the square foot beds would be perfect for mixing crops.


Here are some of the companions you might try:

* Lettuce & Carrots
* Onion & Lettuce
* Peas & Beans
* Cucumber & Beans
* Beans & Carrots
* Beets & Sage



This season, we started out planting some of the above companions.. but Mother Nature sometimes has other plans. As the season has progressed, we have noticed a few beds where our seeds were not germinating. Because of this, we were able to put into practice one of the big lessons we learned last year about growing a garden: If it doesn't grow, move on!

Last year, we ended up with a lot of empty spaces because we kept hoping plants would germinate--if only we gave them time. However, as we have learned, the season in central New Brunswick is short and sweet. When something is not growing, a gardener should get in there and replace it. You could call 2010 the Landless Gardeners' "year of being ruthless"--we give seeds the time they need to germinate but if nothing comes up, we put in a new crop! This type of ruthlessness has meant our companion planting plan has definitely strayed a bit. Perhaps next year when we have learned even more about our soil and sun exposures, we will be able to plan even better.

Square-Foot Gardening...Kind Of

This season, the Landless Gardeners are trying something new! On May 6, 2010 some of the Landless came out to help dig up the Chuge plot and work it into a checker-board of beds. Square foot gardening is a technique dreamed up by Mel Bartholomew that is supposed to help save space, time, money and water! It is most often carried out using raised bed boxes, not in full-out backyard gardening, but we thought we would give it a try this year.

Chuge plot after tilling, but before bed-making

The gardens were tilled before we made the beds and we added our alpaca gold to help amend the soil a bit. Last year, we found our rows to be too narrow, and a lot of our gardening space was taken up by an overabundance of walking lanes--once we were started making the beds this year, we found that dividing up the garden into squares once again creates a lot of space for walking. Next year maybe we'll try two-foot-wide rows to increase planting space, and decrease walking space.

Here's how our square-foot beds turned out

In a nutshell, square foot gardening requires dividing up the space into 4x4 ft beds; those beds are subsequently divided into four 1x1 ft squares (making a smaller checker board within) and planting is done by squares according to how much room the plant needs. For example, 16 beets can be planted in each square foot and one tomato every square foot as well.

The square-foot method is certainly an interesting way to organize the garden! Doing things this way can help diversify the garden a bit by mixing up the plants that grow together instead of having one row of the same thing. Also, because each four foot block is divided into four one-by-one foot spaces, there is a lot of opportunity for companion planting which we planned for this year. Companion planting is the the idea that some plants can benefit others when planted next to, or close to one another.

Rupert, being a good boy and walking along the paths

To learn more about square foot gardening visit http://www.squarefootgardening.com/index.php/About-Square-Foot-Gardening/

The bottom line

Last year, we (the Landless Gardeners) attempted to garden four plots on a $0 budget. Because of all of the wonderful people who gave us support (through offering up land, donating plants and seeds, lending tools and dropping off alpaca gold) a lot of our expenses were covered... but not all. When we needed money to be shelled out, members offered their own support, volunteering their dollars to buy those extra lettuce seeds or the lime we needed to amend the plots. As a group, it may have seemed to be a free summer, but we all recognize the necessary inputs that go into keeping a vegetable garden. Last year--in spurts throughout the summer--we as a group spent more than $200 (without counting labour or counting those generous donations and loans).

This year, we are asking participants to contribute a small fee of $20 simply to cover the costs of keeping a garden. No profits are being made... just good old fashioned responsibility & expense sharing. If at the end of the season, money remains we'll redistribute it equally among members.

And in the name of education, keeping close watch on our expenses this summer will mean a better understanding of what it truly takes (monetarily, anyway) to grow a garden. We'll certainly keep everyone posted on our results.

Grow a Row for the Food Bank!

The Landless Gardeners are planning this season to grow some food to be donated to the Fredericton Food Bank!

Last year we found ourselves on a couple of occasions with more food than we could possibly consume and we asked the question, "Does the Food Bank accept fresh produce from the garden?". Well, friends, the answer is a resounding YES! Just harvest, wash and trim your veggies and drop off at the Fredericton Food Bank or call for pick up!

This year, the Plant a Row Grow a Row campaign is happening in Fredericton! This campaign seeks to encourage folks to grow an extra row of veggies for their loacl food bank. The organizers of Plant a Row Grow a Row Fredericton have teamed up with the Fredericton Food Bank as well as a bunch of greenhouses and nurseries around the city to make the campaign a success. They have transplants and seeds to give away for those who want to grow an extra row and check out their first event coming up in May:

Spring Kick-Off Event

Saturday May 8, 2010

1:00pm-4:00pm

Renaissance College, 811 Charlotte St.

If you would like more information on the Plant a Row Grow a Row campaign, check out the Fredericton chapter blog at http://www.rowrangfred.wordpress.com/ or visit http://www.growarow.org/

...and the planting begins!

Over the winter, the Landless Gardeners were fortunate enough to form a relationship with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/) who are in possession of a beautiful greenhouse. Even more fortunate for us, they were willing to host our seeds for the months leading up to gardening season. Located just a couple of blocks from two of our plots and a beautiful building filled with helpful and enthusiastic folks, the greenhouse at the Conservation Council is the perfect place to start the season... and start the season we did!

Greg, planting far too much broccoli

Yesterday, four of the Landless Gardeners got together at the greenhouse to start some seeds. After some consultation with soem more experienced gardeners and farmers (and a look at the upcoming forecast) we decided to plant just three crops. With the greenhouse being unheated and the weather about to dip again over the next few days we did not want to freeze anything before we even got started. We ended up planting broccoli, green onions, and beets.

Kerri, getting into the green onions!

The beets weren't a necessity since last year we had plenty of luck with growing them straight from seed outdoors however, we're attempting to do more succession planting this year to make foods available at different times throughout the season, so these beets will turn out to be an early crop and we'll plant more from seed in June.

Some of the Landless Gardeners, divying up assignments... our research

team (Bill) working feverishly on the right.

In a week or two, we'll be back in the greenhouse to plant some more seeds. We may even start some lettuce that we can pick straight from the greenhouse! Are any of you planting anything yet?

Greenhouse Vegetable Pollination

We just received a question about greenhouse vegetable growing from Shaun via email. Shaun writes:

I have some questions about gardening in greenhouses... how are vegetable plants fertilized inside a greenhouse? Do you allow bees in the greenhouse? I've only done open plot gardening, and I know from my short experience that you have to have bees to fertilize tomato plants and zucchini and all the rest. These are all flowering plants that require insect pollination. I've been thinking about getting a greenhouse for my backyard, but I'm confused about the pollination issue.

Great question! For us, this isn't really an issue because our plants are only started in a greenhouse and then moved outdoors. But here's what you need to know:

Things like tomatoes and peppers are self-pollinating and therefore, only need to be gently shaken regularly to get the pollen moving(immitating the wind for example). Things like lettuce and beans will figure things out on their own without any intervention. Lettuce is just leaves, so unless you are looking to save seeds, just let them be.


Other veggies, however, such as zucchini, squash, cucumbers (which have male and female flowers) need a little bit more attention. One method is "painting" pollen from the male flower onto the female flower (or vice versa). You should note however, that there are some self-pollinating cucumber verieties to be found out there. They are often bred for use specifically in greenhouses. But like you mentioned, it is possible to use insects in your greenhouse by sinply leaving a door open (if you've got a door and a window you might even be able to make a cross-breeze and to get that wind in there). This might, however, have the potential of letting unwanted insects in so be careful!

Happy planting!

Winter = Memories of Summer

Although you wouldn't expect such bright and fresh photos to appear on a cold January day in Fredericton, we thought it about time to really show off our harvest and talk a little bit about preserving. It is, after all, the time of year when the canned goods really come in handy.

Back in August, the gardens were overloaded with vegetables and a couple of the Landless Gardeners decided to take a good walk through the greenery on one of Fredericton's hottest days of 2009 to try and rescue some of the wilting veggies. It wasn't long before our basket began to over flow:



Most of the veggies were divided up to be used in the coming days for fresh salads and other yummie meals but we decided to do a little canning as well! Although the kitchen was hot with boiling and sterilizing jars, we managed to still "beet" the heat outside. Can you guess what we were preserving...?



Canning beets is a beautiful and messy process that not only leaves you with a long-lasting sense of accomplishment on the inside, the evidence can be found written all over your paws! The red root vegetable's deep colour will sick around for days after you've been canning... a medal of honour. The beets were boiled with some vinegar and scooped into our sterilized jars to seal and cool.



Now it is winter and that day of canning seems like a million years ago but all of the wonder of last summer's hard work can still be found within those few jars of bright red beets in the pantry.