Raised Food: May 2020

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

A new season begins

Compared to last year, we are about 3-4 weeks behind this year. Our brassicas are tiny, and everything else is just starting out. Aside from the fact that we had a two-week Polar Vortex that cooled down Ottawa to unseasonal lows, I also started my seedlings from seed for the first time this year. And as I was not organized early enough, I started them rather late. So we'll see what happens this year with the cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli - they are still newborns right now, and if the weather stays hot then they might never have a proper chance to grow into their best selves, since their ideal environment is a long, cool spring. Ditto for the spinach. But spring is a great time because hope still lives on. Maybe it will all work out fine!

This year I am trying out a few new crops that I am excited about. First, brussels sprouts. We've grown to love these, so I'm going to try growing them this year. I've planted four green and two purple brussels sprouts. They are in large planters in a part-sun part-shade location, and I've got high hopes for these.

Next, corn. The seedlings are already 'hatched' in my outdoor tupperware 'greenhouse', waiting to be planted when the temperatures are right. I'm devoting one whole raised bed to corn this year, first time. Excited but also worried - will the squirrels pick these clean?

Also, okra. I tried to grow it once before, but only managed to get a handful of pods before the fall. This year I'll try again, with five okra plants that I grew from seed.

Finally, I'm planning to grow butternut squash for the first time this year. It will have a separate raised bed in the front yard. The seedlings are huge so I am very interested to see how giant the plant will be!

To protect all the new seedlings, I have rented my daughter's stuffed snowy owl (yes, she is a little entrepreneur and is charging me a daily fee for use of her toy), and attached it to a bamboo pole with garden wire. I move it around the garden each day, so it doesn't stay in the same spot too long. It has kept out squirrels for four days now, so I count that as a huge success. The rabbit stayed away for the first three days, but this morning I caught him eating muscari for breakfast right under the owl's watchful stare. Later I discovered that he had also snacked on a collard green and a Romaine lettuce. Ah well.