Indoor Plant Light

To help fill the new expanded garden space we decided to upgrade the desk lamp grow light so we can start more seedlings indoors. Last year I attempted to start some brassicas without artificial light, but even though they sat at a south facing window it was not enough. The plants grew tall and spindly and fell over and entangled with each other, making separation fatal for some. According to some more experienced gardeners I also started them too early which was part of the problem (early April). Fortunately many survived the transplanting and produced a bountiful harvest.

This four foot Shoplight from Canadian Tire ($25) should help the plants get a better start. I installed two 40W "plant & aquarium" wide spectrum bulbs (~$6 each).

The lettuce and cilantro planted last December really perked up under the new light, with larger and more numerous leaves, especially the lettuce. The large green pillar behind is a Yellow Plumeria, a souvenir from family, bought in Kauai but native to Mexico, Central America & Venezuala. So far it hasn't done much, but likely slow growing in the less than ideal untropical conditions.

I started some Prairie Pride Tomatoes, North Star Sweet Bell Peppers & Southport White Globe Onions on March 7. This is a relatively early start for tomatoes, the plan being to stagger some plantings to spread out the harvest over the summer. I was lazy and didn't bother disinfecting the planter (not even sure if possible without destroying these flimsy disposable type seedling starters), so we'll see how much that effects things. Two cells (peppers) did not germinate, but everything else did within a week or so.

2007 in Review - July

The following posts are a true "blog" in the sense that they are a "web-log" of the past year of gardening (i.e. electronic garden journal), mostly for my personal reference since I forget easily what we planted in previous years and for any others who may be interested. 2007 was our second year at the house, we didn't take many photos in 2006 since we didn't have much garden space at that time.

Spaghetti Squash (Cucurbita pepo) which grew out of the compost from seeds of the discarded innards of a Spaghetti Squash which we bought from Co-op that we ate during winter (ate the squash, composted the innards, not vice versa). The squash's parent was grown in Mexico, so we were surprised to see it grow here! The flowers made great salad or stir fry additions. For the latter you can batter and fry. It did grow some squash, though they were mostly small and did not ripen completely before the first major frosts at the end of August and early September, but we still ate them anyway. In the end we harvested more flowers than squash! The flowers kept popping up every couple of days all summer.

Smooth Brome (Bromus ramosus ssp. racemosus) in the back alley. We are thinking to try planting some raspberries here.

Unknown Mystery Flower that came with the property. Any guesses?

Potatoes (store-bought from Co-op), we didn't eat them in time so into the garden they went. A struggling paper birch (Betula papyrifera) behind dying a slow death due to my destruction of it's roots in the above garden expansion.


Mystery flowers, peppers, and spaghetti squash attacking the baby stroller.


Spinach (left), rhubarb and snow peas climbing in the back.


New garden expansion, ready for next year.

Front flower bed with several donations from family.

Left to right:

"Silver King Sage" or Artemesia ludoviciana

Common Yarrow or Achillea millefolium (native to Alberta)
"The Pearl" or Achillea ptarmica (aka Sneezewort)

The Purple one is "Clustered Bellflower" or Calmpanula glomerata

I'd like to plant more plants native to the Alberta prairies, so far only Common Yarrow is native, though even that is likely a hybrid subspecies derivation from the actual native Yarrow. For now we are planting veggies in the back and flowers and shrubs in the front.