Mid-April 2015
Food Gardening with Mark
In This Issue

 

Mark's

Gardening Connections

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Thank You!

 

"Change the way that you look at something and the thing itself changes." A quantum physics principle, courtesy Sally Melville, knitting professional. 

 

Thank you for your valuable feedback on our first ever 'Food Newsletter'.  Your comments have been helpful and (in some cases) inspiring.

 

Thank you for your support of my Ride to Conquer Cancer in support of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.  You have helped us raise over $2,800 and the amount is growing every day (as more people read their newsletter, I suppose?).  

When you donate $25 or more I will send you a copy of my book Lawn and Garden Secrets, a 100 page tome that is perfect 'pick and put down' reading as you wade into the gardening season.   

To donate please click HERE and be sure to e mail my assistant Brenda with your address so that she can send you the book.  And if you would prefer a copy of the biography that I just finished writing, 'Extra Ordinary' the Hugh Beaty story, I would be pleased to send it instead.

Donate over $50 and I will send you 4 packets of Mark's Choice vegetable seeds along with the book of your choice. 


 

Remember that April is Cancer Awareness Month - time to wear a daffodil and give some fresh ones away....

 

And thank goodness it is spring... at least here in my zone 5 garden in Ontario... I hope that spring has sprung where you are.  However, through reliable sources I hear that the Maritimes is still under some of the white stuff but the prairies and West coast are ahead of schedule.  Curious.  

Contests 
  

Thank you for entering my 'Signs of Spring' contest. 

 

The photos that you sent in are exceptional. 

 

For a lift be sure to check them out on my Facebook page

 

(photo by Kathleen Hamstra)
 

Recipes 

We received many (over two hundred) recipes from readers in response to our request in the Food Newsletter last month. 

 

This is not going to go away...


 

EVERY month we are looking for contributions from you, dear readers, that will help all of us enjoy the fruits of our food growing labour.  See details below.  

There will be 10 winners plus a grand prize winner.   Biggest winner is me as I get to eat my way between writing gigs...

Veggies Now

 

I started my tomato seeds this week.  I recommend that you do so also.  To determine precisely when you should sow count back 6 to 8 weeks from your last frost date.... Got it?  There is your 2 week window for seed sowing.


 

Tomatoes are lumped in with a raft of other vegetables that are started from seed using the same math.  Peppers, bunching onions, leeks, salad greens, mesclun mix, leaf lettuce, spinach, gassy veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Swiss chard.

 

Seeds that can be sown directly in the soil as soon as the frost is out of the ground (and the soil is dry enough to walk on) include carrots, onion sets, peas, brassicas like broccoli and cabbage (though, I have better luck starting these from seed now). 

 

Watch the video.

Cold Frames

  


 

If you want to take full advantage of the free energy of the sun, then build yourself a cold frame (like I did). 


 


 

 

   

 

Or buy one. (Home Hardware item# 5121-130)


 


 

There are many derivations available on the market, some are small, light aluminum framed units and others wooden. 


 

I discovered these wonderful solid redwood cold frames at Canada Blooms.  Check them out!  

 


 


 

Cold frames are mini-green houses (so, they are really 'hot' frames) that are used to start seeds early and harden off seedlings before they are planted later in spring.  They are worth their weight in gold, if you use them to full advantage.  Check out Niki Jabbour's book The Year Round Vegetable Gardener - an excellent resource for starting your own cold frame.

 

If a cold frame is not an option for you, a south or west facing window does the job. Or just inside of a pair of sliding doors where everyone in the house can trip over them when they enter/exit.  This is a helpful reminder that seedlings need water from time to time.  

Row Covers 

Last year we introduced a new 'row cover' at Home Hardware in the Mark's Choice line up.  

It is 5' x 12' of 'remay' (similar to the interfacing used in dress making, not that I know a lot about that) and it is amazing stuff.  


 

The white fabric that you stretch over young seedings in your garden filters rain water, protects seedings from frost and wind damage, allows the sun to filter in and prevents a wide variety of insects from finding your valuable product at a young and tender age.   The kit includes sturdy plastic frames to hold the fabric above the foliage of the seedlings. 

Home Hardware Item# 5093-190

Dormant Spray 

Do you have fruit trees and berry bushes?  Now is the time to apply dormant spray.  This package of two liquids contains a bottle of dormant oil, a highly refined mineral oil that smothers overwintering insect egg casings and lime sulphur, an effective fungicide.  Both are environmentally responsible products. 

 

Apply dormant spray when evening temperatures are reliably above zero, there is no rain in the forecast for 24 hours and before the flower buds pop.  There is your two week window again!  Funny how that keeps coming up. 

 

This stuff really works, is inexpensive and can dramatically reduce insect and disease problems down the road this season.    Home Hardware sells a dormant spray for about $20 a kit. 

 

Before you hear from me again (May 1st) I will have picked my first asparagus and pulled my rhubarb. 

 

Can't wait. 

 

Remember to plant fruit trees and berry bushes in the next 4 weeks. 

 

Greenfully yours,

 

Mark

 

Merchant of tomorrow's best meals, by way of your garden.


How To Grow a Generation of Asparagus:
 

1. Buy quality, 2 year old roots from a reliable supplier.

2.  Dig a trench 30 cm deep (a foot) by 30 cm wide.

3.  Dig in 20 kg of composted manure for each metre of trench.  Just turn it into the soil gently.

4.  Plant asparagus roots with the crown of each root only a centimetre or so below the surface of the soil.

As the roots sprout (and they will, within a couple of weeks) slowly add compost-enriched soil to the trench.  Make sure that the soil is weed free (pull out any perennial roots of twitch grass: enemy #1).

Within 4 to 6 weeks you will have finished back-filling the trench.

5.  Keep the bed weed free and do not cut/pick any of the asparagus shoots for three years (not a typo - 3 years).


 

As these young shoots mature into full grown adults they will spread their roots and grow new rhizomes below the surface of the soil. 

In the fourth year pick/pull asparagus being sure to cut a few centimetres below the surface of the soil, where it is most tender.  Cut it while it is young for 2 weeks in the 4th year, 3 weeks the 5th year and up to a month in the 6th year.  With patience you will enjoy fresh asparagus for up to 25 years (a generation)!

 

Here is a link to more detail.

 

The secret: quality soil in the first place, an annual covering of compost 3 cm thick each spring and keeping the planting weed free, always. 

Recipe Contest 

We're giving away Mark's Choice vegetable seeds and Harrowsmith Gardening Digests.


 

Last month I asked for your favourite rhubarb and/or asparagus recipe.  The response was incredible.  I received more than 200 recipes and they all look delicious.


 

10 winners received 4 packets of Mark's Choice vegetable seeds ($8 value) and a copy of the Harrowsmith Gardening Digest.


 

Last Month's Winners:

Jean Copeland

Rhene Hanson

Greta Roberts

Darlene Davis

Nancy Timmons

Barbara Harrison

Marilyn Matheson

Peggy Pavlin

Carol Macaulay

Aleida Howard


 

This month, I'm asking you to submit your favourite recipe featuring homegrown herbs.  The more herbs, the better.  Submit your favourite rhubarb and/or asparagus recipe for a chance to win. Email your recipe to [email protected].


 

If your recipe is chosen to appear in the Mid-May issue of Food Gardening With Mark, you will receive 8 packets of seeds and a copy of the Harrowsmith Gardening Digest.


 

Plus, there are 10 winners of 4-packs of my garden seeds.  Winners chosen randomly.  

Favourite Rhubarb Recipe
From mid-March contest entries

ROSY RHUBARB SQUARES  

-submitted by Christine Johnston


 

3 cups diced rhubarb (preferably fresh but can use frozen)

 1 (3oz.) pkg. strawberry flavored jello

 1 cup all-purpose flour

 2 tablespoons sugar

 2 teaspoons baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/4 cup shortening

 1/4 cup milk

 1 egg, beaten

 1/2 cup sugar

 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

 1/4 cup butter


 

Combine rhubarb and strawberry gelatin;  mix well, and set aside.

Combine flour through salt: cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk and egg, mixing until smooth. Press mixture evenly into bottom and 3/4 inch up sides of a greased and floured 9-inch square baking pan, using the back of a floured spoon. Spread rhubarb mixture evenly over top, and set aside.

 Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup flour; cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over rhubarb mixture; bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Cut into squares.


 

(Christine received 8 packets of Mark's Choice vegetables seeds & a copy of the Harrowsmith Gardening Digest)

Photo Contest Winner 

 

Last month I asked you to email a photo of a Mark's Choice product (at home or in your local Home Hardware store). 

All entries received 3 packs of Mark's Choice vegetable seeds.

 

The grand prize winner received $200 in Mark's Choice garden tools, accessories & signed gardening books. Winner, Darlene Maillet, submitted this photo she took at the Annapolis Home Hardware store (a Mark Cullen Approved Garden Centre).  Congratulations Darlene!

Product of the Month

Mark's Choice Pollen Bee Hut 


Increasing the population of gentle natured, solitary bees that are incredible pollinators will help increase your garden harvest and also supplement the stressed honeybee. Raising gentle spring or summer bees requires very little time. Once you set up a BeeHut house filled with EasyTear tubes your bees pretty much take care of themselves.

Home Hardware # 5454-327

Leafcutter bee tubes # 5454-327

Mason bee tubes # 5454-326

New Video Series

 

I am thrilled to announce the launch of my 6-part video series with the Toronto Star

 

Under the title 'Start Your Garden', you will find 6 How-To videos on thestar.com.

 

Check out:

1. Water Conservation in the Garden

2. Attracting Pollinators to your Garden

3. Proper Soil Preparation

4. Container Growing

5. Growing Herbs in Containers

6. Recipe for the Greenest Lawn on the Block

 

Link to my Video Series.

 

After you watch the videos, let me know what you think!  Email your comments to [email protected].  I will send you 4 packets of Mark's Choice vegetables seeds (as a Thank You for your feedback).

I will also select 5 random winners to receive a copy of the Harrowsmith Gardening Digest.