Garlic

We set Red Russian Organic Garlic cloves (from West Coast Seeds) last October in the bed which we had harvested bell peppers earlier. Instead of adding compost we dug up the bed, added kitchen waste (no greasy or meaty products) and shredded brown cardboard (which the earthworms love) and covered it with top soil topping it off with coffee grounds from Starbucks. The waste soon would be rich compost in a few months. Seems the Garlic is doing well with the stalks more than a foot tall! After I spotted yellowing of some of the leaves I thought this was due to lack of nutrients and added organic fish emulsion diluted in water. It's doing better now. In between Spinach was sowed. The spinach seedlings have sprouted but they are less than an inch high today!

Transplants,...

Last week I transplanted Beefsteak tomatoes (in umbrella greenhouses in the foreground), bell peppers and hot peppers (in milk can greenhouses). Also transplanted cauliflowers which I bought from a local nursery in Abbotsford. In the umbrella greenhouse in the background is an Indian Cucumber (Keera) which grew real fast after sowing in a peat pellet. So I had no option but to transplant it with protection. These days the temperature is hovering around 10 deg C which is a bit cooler for this time of the year.

more raised beds

Last year we had four raised beds. We added four more this year. We built them in the fall and added kitchen scraps, brown cardboard, shredded paper at the bottom. This would turn into a great 'on site' compost! The hay was added a couple of weeks back to retain the heat and also to prevent weeds. Red Russian Garlic which was planted last fall is doing well. A few days back Pink Cabbage and Broccoli were sown and the milk jugs seen in the picture act as mini greenhouses for them