Your cart is currently empty!
Experimenting with Vegetable Gardening
The marigolds, calendula and alyssum are planted as tomato companion plants. Marigolds attract beneficial insects.
Your cart is currently empty!
Put lettuce stumps in water to watch them grow. You can do this with almost all of your vegetables. Use them for vegetable soup and stock.
Greetings fellow gardeners,
My OSC 2022 seed catalogue has arrived, and it is beautiful. It would seem that the company has updated their catalogue and added many new products. I always like to recommend this catalogue to new vegetable gardeners. For example, they have a package of seeds called the Vegetable Starter Kit. Each of these seeds can be planted directly into the ground with no need to start ahead of time. This is a great offer for new gardeners with a limited space who would like to start growing vegetables.
Winter is here! My perennials are heaving a sigh of relief, grateful to be covered in a fluffy blanket of snow. This amount of snow makes moving about a slow process; it took me quite a while to get to the chickens. The little birds seem happy with the bird feeders, and I am so pleased with the heated bird bath. The too-many cats have been lounging by the wood stove instead of watching the birds and I don’t blame them. I am glad that I left so many seed-heads; I can see little footprints all around the area. As I made it back this morning from feeding the chickens, I stopped to look at the forsythia near my driveway. I got this shrub from my mother who laid a branch from her forsythia on the ground where it rooted. She cut the little stem from the mother shrub, and I planted it near my driveway. Now it stops the snow from drifting, and it is a shelter for many birds as they eat their seeds or await their turn at the feeder.
I checked the seeds that I planted last week and there is no germination so far. It might be too cold for them, so I plugged in the heating mat. As the seeds that I planted are not necessarily able to germinate, I want to give them all the advantages that I can. The Raspberry Royale sage may not do anything at all, but it is fun to try. As well as planting seeds I have been making many pots of vegetable soup (recipe to follow). I use the peelings of the vegetables to make stock and eventually all the bits are fed to the chickens. I have also been putting things like lettuce stumps in water to watch them grow. You can do this with almost all of your vegetables.
For the stock, put all of the peelings, a bay leaf and four cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for half an hour. Salt, pepper, and season to taste. Pour through a sieve into a large mason jar to keep in the fridge for soup. The cooked peelings can be composted.
For the soup, add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to a large pot and sauté the onions and garlic. When the onions have softened add 1 cup of the stock and turn the heat down to low. Add all of the rest of the vegetables and stir well. Add the remaining stock and season to taste. Cover, let the soup simmer for at least an hour, and enjoy. It tastes even better the next day.
The blanket of snow that we received is wonderful for your garden. Enjoy your week. Judith.
(Email: sghorticultural@gmail.com)
The marigolds, calendula and alyssum are planted as tomato companion plants. Marigolds attract beneficial insects.
Discover the rich history and significance of botanical art in capturing plant specimens with accurate drawings. Engage with botanical art enthusiasts and artists.
The black soot formed on the upper leaf surfaces of plants. Sooty mold can be a real problem on garden plants.
Spinosad organic pesticide is effective against many undesirable insects while having little impact on beneficial insects.
Veggie Bites allowed me to share my own trials and tribulations so I could make it easier for other vegetable gardeners.
GardeningCalendar.ca gets some funding from advertisers. If you click on links and advertisements at no cost to you, the site may receive a small commission that helps fund its operation.
© 2025 J&S Calendars Ltd.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.