Friday, August 5, 2016

Vegetable Gardening: The First of the Season

The First Veggies of the Season!


I'm pretty pleased with the results, so far, of my new veggie garden and want to show off some of the beautiful bounty I've harvested. I feel like a proud mamma!

Summer Squash, Green Pepper & Cabbage
Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

Indigo Fireball Tomatoes, Zucchini, Carrots & Cucumber


Two Ginormous Cucumbers!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Vegetable Gardening: A Video Update


This past May, I started revamping my yard. To start with, I put in a new vegetable garden. It is a decent size, about 20’ x 6’.

Last fall, I started with a 6’ x 10’ section, using what I guess you could call, a cold mulch method. First, I lay old cardboard over the grass. Next, a layer of compost went over the cardboard, then leaves, then more compost, and kept layering until the bed was about 4” high. I threw in a few vegetable scraps too. Then I let it brew over the winter. In the spring I added some triple mix. The soil is very nice and rich.

In the spring I wanted to enlarge it, as well as start a new flower garden bed. This time, I hired a couple of young guys who are students that run their own landscape business. Very impressive young men! They took out the grass, tilled and then shovelled in four cubic yards of triple mix for me. Then some mulch.

Below are videos of the fruits of my labour, so to speak, to date.  Already I’ve harvested many radishes, a few tomatoes, a cabbage and some zucchini.

I am particularly thrilled about my Three Sisters planting, although something ate my bean seedlings in one patch. 

Vegetable Garden Part 1, July 18, 2016


Vegetable Garden Part 2


Thursday, April 28, 2016

How to Start a New Garden Where Grass Is Growing

From my last post, you know that I want to put some new gardens into my currently all grass backyard. According to the landscape designer's calculations, I will need 21 cubic yards of garden soil to do the entire garden! I can't image moving all that that dirt into the yard by myself. I'm sure hiring a pro to do it will cost a fortune.

grassy area 2

grassy area 1
This is what I'm faced with now. Blah.
Need a new patio & deck too but that's for another day.

After mulling it over for a few months, I decided I needed to look for a student to do the work. So I looked online and found a young person in my area willing to do the hard labour. He gave a great price too. Mind you, I have decided to do only half the garden this year, so the cost will not be as much.

New Garden Plan A

The City suggested that I:
  1. Mow the grass very short
  2. Put a layer of 5-6 sheets of newspaper over the area
  3. Pile on the soil until a depth of 6"
  4. Cover all the soil with 3" of mulch
  5. Dig a 3" trench all around
New Garden Plan B

My hired student will also be removing the grass. So, Plan B is:
  1. Remove grass
  2. Rent tiller for about $80 and till Earth
  3. Mix in approximately 3" depth of new garden soil
  4. Dig 3" trench around new bed
Less soil will mean less cost!

 I think it's doable!

If you are looking for a more intensive way to create a garden where there is grass you may want to check out this article.



Monday, April 25, 2016

A Fusion Garden

At last, Spring is here! As mentioned in a previous post, after removing our pool, the backyard is a sea of green grass, 

While looking for garden ideas, I came across something called, "Fusion Landscaping".  Fusion landscaping, or gardens, make use of indigenous perennial plants and bushes. These types of plants require less water and less maintenance than something more exotic.

The City of Mississauga offers a free plan for homeowners, of which I took advantage. Two people came to our house, and after consulting with me, came up with this lovely plan.


To put the garden in, they recommend:
  1. Mowing existing grass very short
  2. Layer newspaper over the grass, 5 - 6 sheets
  3. Add 6" or soil
  4. Add 3" mulch

We have a very large lot! I estimated that to do just half the plan I'd need about 10 cubic yards of earth! The next hurdle that daunted me was how to get the earth into the backyard.

Stay tuned ...

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