Week 1 & 2: Slow and steady wins the race

Rome was definitely not built in a day, that much is sure, but with enough patience anything is possible. Even growing your own high yielding urban farm in your backyard or on your balcony.

The first few weeks after planting can be the hardest. With much time and resources invested in planting your seeds and seedlings, waiting for signs of progress can be absolute agony. Alas, after that painful first week of nothing (maybe a few seeds sprouting here and there), you will begin to see the first signs of growth and maturity in your plants.

What to look for

Stiffness

Usually you will begin to see your plants standing straighter and leaves will begin to look more perky and full. This is a solid indication that the plants have survived the transplant to their new medium and that they are beginning to take root. Once you have seen your plants stiffen up they should begin to show signs of new growth (shoots) but if not, don't worry. 

If you are not seeing any signs of stiffening and growth within the first 5-7 days you should check the amount of water you are giving your plants (too much or too little could be affecting the roots ability to take hold). You should also be checking the PH level of your soil... but without testing strips this can be a bit difficult and most store bought soil is within an optimum PH range.

Seeds

Within 5-7 days all of your seeds should have sprouted and should be in various stages of seedling development(this varies based on how much sun and water the seeds are getting, as well as the variety you have planted). Your seeds will always take longer than your seedlings but that goes without saying.  

Next Steps

Once you have reached your second week you should be seeing marked growth and new shoots and leaves appearing on your seedlings. Now depending on who you talk to, you can begin to stake them or you can let them grow freely for another week before moving to this stage. You Should also keep your head on s swivel to catch any bug infestations before they inflict major damage on your immature seedlings.

To stake or not to stake

Personally, I am a fan of letting the little guys mature a little bit before tying them down long term. Like any exercise in gardening and farming, nothing is text book and a lot is left to your own judgement. If you begin seeing your plants drooping or unable to support themselves... probably a good idea to stake them. If you are growing in an intensive, constrained area and your seedling begin to grow into each other's space.. stake them.

Bugs

Make sure you are keeping a keen eye on your plants for any signs of bug infestations. If this happens within the first few weeks this can be absolutely devastating so make sure to check underneath all leaves to ensure that you are catching them as soon as possible. If you do find any infestations try using neem oil (available on Amazon) as a deterrent that wont pollute your crops. If you can't find need oil there are plenty of other solutions out there and a number of home remedies that claim to work wonders (don't quote me on that). Try one until it works!

PSA: Spiders are good for healthy eco systems (which your garden should always be). So, even though they may look creepy, leave them be!

Most importantly be patient for the next few weeks. Don't get down on yourself if you are not seeing the results you dreamed of when you first planted your plot, there are no blueprints for mother nature.

Week 1 (May 28)

Week 2 (June 4)

2018 Season: Trust the process

Method

Due to the success of last years crop, we made some minor but noticeable changes to our setup for this year. We decided to switch out some varieties (zucchini for cauliflower, beans for peas). We have also decided to, once again intensively cultivate every square foot as we did last year to maximize our yield. Haters will say this method causes "crowding out" but if done right this plan can tactic create significantly more yield than traditional line planting methods (used for cultivating large plots).

This method can only really work with intense oversight and diligence on the part of the gardener. Without the luxury of space, each organism is forced to be more efficient and require less space by pruning and training the branches and stems of the plant. This allows you to grow more plants in less space and ideally produce a greater yield/square foot.

Seedlings vs Seeds

We decided to grow most of our varies from seedlings (4 varieties of tomatoes, 4 peppers, herbs) but also decided to grow quite a few from seed (beans, zucchini, spinach, chives).

The benefits of each are numerous, but we decided to go with the one that was more economical and suited to particular situation (I should state that we have a cat who is loving and affectionate but does not vibe well with things growing in windowsills). Thus we made out way to our local nursery and picked up some well developed seedlings, and a few seeds that won't take too long to mature.  

Composting

We made a concerted effort to layer the soil with compost from our kitchen (peels and the like). While we tossed around the idea of intensively using worms, we decided to keep it simple and let Mother Nature do the composting. The compost is made up of all fruit and vegetable scraps as well as eggs shells and compostable fibres from around the kitchen. The result this spring was rich, nutrient compost to be added to last years mix of peat, top soil and sand. The early results have been very encouraging!

Progress

I will be making weekly progress reports, complete with photos for your viewing pleasure! 

My journey with Urban Farming

I was pretty lucky to get started with gardening or "farming" as young as I did. Growing up just outside of Johannesburg in South Africa, keeping a vegetable garden was a common thing (much like many part of the world). What struck me, even as a kid, was the scale and effort people put into growing food at home vs what I have been accustomed to since moving to Canada.

I will point to the fact that we, and those in my immediate neighbourhood, had full time gardeners or grounds crews who took care of most of the watering and weeding. South Africa also has a longer and gentler growing season than the one we have in the great white north. Still, I was given the opportunity to see "back yard local" food production on a scale that would be totally out of place in North America. 

Fast forward 15 years, I now live in a Condo in the downtown of one of North America's largest and most densely populated cities. While I love everything about the city and the abundance that it offers, I still feel the urge to be attached to something natural. Fortunately enough I have an oversized balcony with tons of room for light and a girlfriend who, like me, grew up with a childhood filled with gardening memories. 

So we decided to make use of the sunniest spot on our balcony to create a small scale "urban farm".

Out first step was building a 180L planter from scratch. To do so I enlisted the help of my brother (out on a trip from Vancouver for the week) to help me.

We searched on Kijiji and found free pallets available at a local warehouse, bought a saw (already had the hammer and nails) and built this bad boy from scratch (60' x' 20' x 40' x 20')
(see photos below).

May 2017:

Shown planted: Tomatoes (4 varieties), Peppers (4 varieties), peas, cauliflower, cucumber (from seed), Herbs (cilantro, oregano, english thyme, basil).

August 2017:

Y

Results: Overall, 2017 was a mixed bag. We ended up getting a great yield with our strategy to intensively cultivate every square foot of the planters (which neither of us had tried before). But it was so different than being able to cultivate in a wide open space such a back yard. We definitely bought less peppers and tomatoes from the supermarket but some of our crops, like the cauliflowers, failed to materialize (note for 2018).  

We certainly learned a lot about planting in small spaces, like which plants could be planted closely together to maximize our small cultivation plot, and how much sun and shade and water each spot in the planter gets. And these are all things we have carried over into our latest iteration of the garden. 

  

To Eat Local

Eating local may not be the cure for all the worlds sufferings, but it may just be the way forward for our industrialized and extremely fragile food supply. All it requires is some minor sacrifices and concerted effort on the part of you, the consumer.

The very idea of eating local is an idea as old as agriculture itself. Before the grand industrialization and commoditization of agriculture, people ate the foods they could grow themselves or could trade for easily. Contrasted to today when many consumers eat and drink products that may have a complicated, global trotting supply chains that are often fraught with inefficiencies.

The answer for some purists may be grass roots movements like moving to agricultural communes or even turning your entire backyard or a public space into "urban farms". But for the majority of the population, eating local can take the form of buying branded or unbranded produce and groceries carrying the label "locally produced".

But what constitutes "local"?

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 includes a definition, with "locally" and "regionally" grouped together and defined as:

‘‘(I) the locality or region in which the final product is marketed, so that the total distance that the product is transported is less than 400 miles from the origin of the product; or
‘‘(II) the State in which the product is produced.

This is the definition most widely recognized by fundamentalists and moderate level consumers, but that does not stop companies from labelling produce and other items incorrectly in supermarkets as well as local produce shops.

Now for most of us, the rigidity of this definition varies based on the availability and access that we have. Not everyone has the time to trek across town to a local famers market , or lives in a city where there is a delivery service for local produce and meat. Not to mention, most of us can't afford to source everything we eat from these places all the time.

For me personally, what matters is having an understanding of how and where my food is coming from. I am far from a fundamentalist (I love a good Costco run), but I am starting to understand the importance of transitioning my cooking to incorporate locally sourced ingredients and relying less on the agricultural industrial complex.

A great watch!