Posted on October 18th, 2011 by Joel Russ
As everyone realizes, growing plants on soil means that the plants will draw out nutrients from that soil. Some soils start out in fertile condition, offering a high level of essential nutrients – and some don’t. But in any case over time, there will be a draw-down of nutrients – mainly nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, [...]
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Posted on September 29th, 2011 by Joel Russ
We’ve harvested garlic, onions, pears, apples, squash, hot peppers, and a few other things in the last ten days. I’m now getting a jump on some of the autumn work, since I will be away for some of the early part of the season. We’ve got fall leafies growing in the greenhouse. I put in [...]
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Posted on August 12th, 2011 by Joel Russ
Here’s a handy little garden tool that can be made in a home shop. I designed it as an alternative to the common three-fingered small garden claw. Experienced gardeners know a number of tools and pieces of equipment can be valuable for dealing with garden weeds – examples being the rototiller and hoe for the [...]
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Posted on July 8th, 2011 by Joel Russ
Most of us have heard the expression “knee high by the first of July,” referring to a standard for gauging the progress of sweet corn here in Central Kootenay. In the past, usually having simply direct-seeded corn into our garden, we’ve rarely achieved quite that stature in our corn plants by July 1. Nevertheless, most [...]
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Posted on June 26th, 2011 by Joel Russ
The Slocan Valley Garden Tour has taken place for many years, and Lou and I have usually gone on it to enjoy seeing other people’s places. This year, organizers asked us if we’d put our place on the tour – and we decided to try it. Sunday June 19 was the designated date for the [...]
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Posted on May 15th, 2011 by Joel Russ
Mixed cloud and sun the last little while, but pretty consistently sunny the last couple days. Energizing! Our peas are up in a double row. And indoors, with a lot of plants having moved from our grow-light shelves out to the greenhouse, we had room to start two large trays of heritage-corn seeds. And the [...]
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Posted on May 5th, 2011 by Joel Russ
With much satisfaction, and eagerness for the eventual tomato crop, a couple days ago we potted-up our Bonnie Bests and our San Marzanos from their 4-inch pots to gallon ones. These varieties are round-type and paste-type, respectively. They are both indeterminate (vine-type) varieties, which are well-suited to greenhouse nurturance. And that’s where we’ve put them [...]
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Posted on April 26th, 2011 by Joel Russ
Pear buds are quite swollen, and apple buds just a bit behind. I’m glad I’ve got my pruning done. Actually, today I spent time pruning our grape vine – which is not budded-out yet, though in cutting any of the larger vine branchings the vine will bleed a fair bit. No matter, it seems. I’ve [...]
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Posted on April 4th, 2011 by Joel Russ
Brian Minter – a media celeb and one of BC’s great gardening gurus – said recently on CBC Radio that gardening conditions in the province as a whole are running three weeks late. (And his impressions may be skewed by the conditions of the BC Coast!) A lot of Kootenay people are lookin’ hang-dog over [...]
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Posted on March 23rd, 2011 by Joel Russ
Not sure which is the more exciting facet of spring here at the moment… I’ve got young ‘plant starts’ showing themselves, and I’ve also tapped a maple tree and am boiling-down some maple sap as I write this. Well, first of all, very satisfying to see the little sprouts and leaves in our seedling-start trays [...]
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