Growing Orchard

Changing the pH of the soil is slow business, but the blueberries continue the fight. Enough flowers this spring to feed my hungry face with blueberries this summer! Maybe next year the soil+age of the plants will = surplus available for sale!

Grapes have been unimpressive in my poor soil, but this year their roots finally seem to have established some dominance against the stubborn grass. After two years, we see some top growth. (Grape plants have since been weeded)

The orchard will produce its first grapes!

The lonesome Kiwi survives. Two of her sisters and her mate have died. Without a male, these plants cannot produce fruit.

One of five blueberry varieties in the orchard.

There will be a huge amount of currants coming my way! I am excited to have a crop to harvest. Growing perennials is a game of patience, seeing results is a gift. One of 50+ currant bushes at the orchard...yum!

A few Haskap/honeyberries have already ripened. Unfortunately the 30 plants I planted last spring have produced collectively 8 berries. Here's hoping next spring will prove more rewarding. In the meantime, I have planted a further 25 haskap plants this spring and continue to propagate new plants from cuttings.

Saskatoons ripening in the sun. I purchased two varieties of Saskatoon. Lee 8 (pictured here) is producing fruit on every plant. The Martin variety has not produced a single berry.

Building on Failure

Beds planted, irrigated and sprouting.

Before you can build on your success, you must build on your failures. Here, three rows of beans were planted. As you can see, success does not describe this.

This bed of beans was seeded 2 weeks later, and the 5 rows are growing strong.

In areas of the garden which cannot be planted to vegetables, perennial flowers provide habitat and food to wildlife and insects.

Come see me at the Metcalfe Farmer's market again this week.

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Transporting plants to market when you don't have a truck is tricky, but my Hyundai Accent never fails to get the job done.

Plant Tetris,

Announcement

Eden's Rise is finally in business! This Saturday I will be attending the Metcalfe Farmer's Market selling the following plants:

Strawberries

Rhubarb

Thyme

Winter Savory

Catnip

Mint

Chives

5 varieties of hosta

and more...

I am very excited to see the result of my hard work touch other people's lives. 

To remind you: Eden's Rise is a project with the intention of returning our planet to an Eden-like state of abundance of plant-based foods and habitat for all creatures. One example of how this is being done is in my packaging. Recycled paper pulp baskets will be used for fruit and vegetables during the summer, and all pots that have been used in plant propagation have been donated to me from my community in order to re-use their already existing pots. This way they get another use before going to recycling or landfill and my business does not increase demand for plastic production.

Thank you to the Osgoode community for your generosity, leaving plant pots by my front door throughout the spring. 

Here are some more pictures of the growing vegetable gardens.

First two weeks of May photo album

Row covers assist with germination and protecting young seedlings.

The micro-climate created beneath row cover keeps the soil warmer and holds in more moisture than bare earth.

A daffodil whose stem was snapped by the wind, now flowering on the kitchen table

Rhubarb plants growing in a composted manure and sand mixture, ready for the market.

Plants ready for transplanting, propagated at home.

Red currants are one of the first plants to open their leaves and flower this spring.

Weeding the orchard is quite an undertaking. Why did I plant so many bushes? Why do I continue planting more?

A new addition to the Eden's Rise team, a man and his machete!

The garden slowly takes shape with a few hours of labour per day. And we're barely keeping up.

A spot for the workers to rest with a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Chairs and 'table' needing replacements. Keeping an eye on the roadside during spring cleaning season for hand-me-downs.

Garlic as of first week of May

Biodiversity in small spaces. This two foot wide patch of dirt between the house and the driveway is capable of providing support to many passing insects.

Haskaps

The greenhouse completed, beds being worked.

Rhubarb, a delicious perennial.

Busy Spring Week update

Digging trenches for asparagus

Asparagus gets buried one foot deep, a few inches at a time

New Strawberry patch at Eden's Rise; urban location. A cat has inspected the bed.

Perennial Herb Border just replanted and expanded

Currants succesfully propagated from cuttings
 have survived the Canadian winter!

Herbs divided 

Four more plum trees in Eden's Rise Orchard

Springtime Mascot

Building a greenhouse

15 yards of compost delivered to urban location

Greenhouse 13'x20'

Rotted horse manure compost delivered