Etobicoke Microgreenery

Lemon balm, shallots, sorrel, chervil and tarragon are making their entrance. This is very French, and, fittingly, my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking is supposed to arrive today.

This year's first salad - Lamb's lettuce It's a very hardy salad that largely ignores winter.

We've trimmed a crabapple tree and a viburnum shrub in the back yard last weekend, and I've kept the trimmings in a vase at home. They are getting ready to bloom now.

My daughter and I sowed a few radishes and lettuces in a patio container a few days ago. We have growth!

And we have winter thyme in the first bottle, sown on February 15th!

Drafting note cards with a quote attributed to Audrey Hepburn. Which one do you think looks best?

Jumping on the winter sowing bandwagon. This is a technique where you make a cut around a plastic jug, leaving a bit of a hinge, make drainage holes, fill it halfway up with soil, sow your seeds, water and put it outside. The seeds will go through cycles of freezing and thawing, mimicking overwintering conditions for self-seeding plants and grow when the time is right, producing healthy, tough seedlings. I can get behind the theory of using natural light and I love Clamato, so I will be putting out these bottles and overloading on sodium over the next couple of months to try this.

A question on everyone's mind right now - "when should I start my seeds?" Here I will try to give my best answer in two ways - the first version going straight to the point today and the second meandering one tomorrow with all the reasoning behind the dates. Keep in mind, when you see pictures of new seedlings all over Facebook - some of these gardeners are seasoned pros with decades of experience and a heated greenhouse. Some live in Texas. Some are new to this gardening thi...ng and jumped the gun by 2 months - they just don't know it yet. You have time. A lot of the times the tortoise will win the race, but the hares just can't help themselves. If you live in Toronto, Ontario, here are decent dates for starting some familiar crops indoors. If you are up North, say, in Barrie - a week or two later would be a reasonable adjustment. - Sweet and hot peppers, eggplants - March 1st - Tomatoes - March 14th - Cucumbers, Melons, Watermelons, Pumpkins, Squash - start a couple indoors on April 11th, sow the rest directly into the garden beds on May 15th - Kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, lettuce, spinach - start indoors around March 21st if you really want to, but, honestly, just throw some seeds into the ground outdoors when the snow melts. They will catch up to the indoor starts and even overtake them. - Dill, parsley, cilantro - March 1st, but, really, just sow outdoors. - Carrots, radishes - don't start indoors, they do not transplant well. Sow directly into the ground when it thaws. And then there is a bit of theory behind the timelines listed above. Seed starting time depends primarily on three things: the average last frost date in your area (May 4th in Toronto), the length of the growing season of the plant and the plant's ability to tolerate freezing temperatures. There are also a million secondary considerations - do you have grow lights? a greenhouse? is it heated? how accepting is your family when the kitchen turns into a tomato jungle? Do you even like broccoli? etc. More on that tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Now that my sweet peppers decided to sprout, the first patio greenhouse is officially in operation. It's a lovely 17.2 degrees Celsius inside and the windowsill herbs are enjoying the great outdoors today.

Well, this was quick! In only 10 days my pre-soaked Chocolate Beauty peppers have germinated. The Incredible Seed Company seeds.