It's a different story when it comes to vegetable gardening.  In this, I am a relative newbie.  I am learning slowly about seeding, planting dates and spacing.  I am starting over, it seems, to build knowledge about a different aspect of gardening.  

This season, I have felt off balance.  The weeks leading into summer were downright cold.  The ground stayed miserably cold even after the risk of frost had passed.  Peas and beans easily rot in such conditions. Looking increasingly sad, tender vegetable starts were left languishing in pots when they should have been in my raised bed. It seemed planting would go on indefinitely or worse, that summer would never arrive.  

Indeed, in some areas of the north, summer seems to have been cancelled. Gardeners I know in the Timmins area are despairing, having faced at least two frosts and the loss of soon-to-be productive plants.  Sadly, it is now too late in the season to replant.  

This is all very distracting for an inexperienced vegetable gardener.  Each rainy day has me wondering what will I harvest this year? 

Still, I've had more than one salad with fresh arugula.  The carrots and beets are coming along.  The beans and kale – which I transplanted as small seedlings as a hedge against foraging chipmunks and crows – are growing ably.  The zucchini have set their first fruits; so have the cucumbers as they climb up their supports.  

Yes,  there is the green exuberance of hostas, ferns and astilbes to enjoy as a consolation.  Whatever the season's outcome, I will gather experience– if not ripe tomatoes!  I will take what my vegetable garden teaches me.  

I admit it.  I've changed into a vegetable gardener. 

Oh don't get me wrong  – I still love to grow flowering perennials and I couldn't be without my pots of sunny dahlias, petunias and fancy coleus.  But this planting season, the 'Call of the Edibles' was stronger then ever. 

In the garden centre, I found myself gravitating to the vegetable starts;  I kept my ears open for 'giveaway ' vegetable plants from friends and neighbours.  These are all signs of 'The Change'.

I am like many gardeners who are interested in the potential of urban agriculture.  I want to see what can grow in a city yard – given enough sunshine, water and attention.  In June I felt real excitement when I set up my carefully-stored straw bales for another season of this alternative growing method.

Yes, typically you have to replace the bales each season.  Since farmers make straw in the late summer and it's hard to find in the spring, I bought straw bales last fall and covered them with a tarp to keep it dry over winter.

Now, the conditioning process is key to straw bale success,  Once again I followed the regimen of fertilizer inputs to get the bales 'cooking'.  This decomposition within the bales gives off heat and supports great veggie growth. (See the Straw Bale Gardening page) 

But there were challenges. 

It rained and rained.  It stayed cold.  It rained some more.  I wondered if the the fertilizer was just washing out of the bales; I worried that the bales would not heat up properly.  I wondered when I could plant my tomatoes and cucumbers – both heat-loving crops – in the bales. 

Like every gardener, I had to make a call and get those plants in!  I was nervous the bales weren't ready, but when I saw mushrooms on the sides of the bales, I knew all would be well.  As straw bale guru Joel Karsten says, the conditioning always works out in the end.

Here we are a good 3-4 weeks later and the tomatoes are growing tall, setting blossoms and fruit.  They are doing well.

In fact, the weather this season was typical of the cool, protracted spring that climate change has dealt our part of the northern hemisphere.  Planting out comes late in our region.  I have to hope mild fall weather will hold as it has in other years – another feature of our shifting growing conditions.  After all, vine-ripened tomatoes is the goal.

What I've learned this year...
Healthy tomato starts can have a good-sized root mass.  To ease the plant into the bale without damaging those tender roots, I learned you can create a cavity by pulling out some straw, working until you have a generous hole.  I added potting soil and  10-10-10 fertilizer to the hole before planting.  (Thanks to Master Gardener Hazel B for demonstrating this trick.)

Metal fence posts are useful for holding the bale row together and for running additional wire to support tomato plants.  Wire fencing makes a good trellis for cucumbers.

A bale garden is essentially a raised bed.  When we had intense rains and my backyard flooded overnight, my tomato plants were high above the water.  The same wouldn't be true had they been planted in a conventional garden.  I read about this benefit; now I believe it.

So there you have it – Season 2 of the straw bale garden.  So far so good.

Tell me, do you dream of having a greenhouse one day?  What about a greenhouse big enough to start a nursery business?  Fifteen years ago, this was Karen Breukelman's dream.  And while the timing was a surprise, Karen put her love of gardening together with her desire for home-based employment and launched 'My Blooming Business'.

Today, country and city gardeners alike take the drive to Karen's rural greenhouse for a healthy selection of plants.  Karen was a member of the Thunder Bay & District Master Gardeners and she still shares her gardening advice with customers, often showing them how a plant blooms or matures in her own garden.  She knows her plants, especially those that are hardy for our cold climate.

With spring just around the corner, I asked Karen to talk with me about her greenhouse business and her love of gardening. 

The interview follows ...

How and when did you start your greenhouse?
A:  We started in 2001 when we purchased a greenhouse from the old experimental farm.  The opportunity to buy a 22 x 100 foot greenhouse came up by tender.  We put in a very low bid  and found out two days later that we got the greenhouse and that we would have to move it to our farm about a kilometer away.  We had to take it apart like a jigsaw puzzle, reassemble it at our location, and then decide what we would do with it.  So it wasn't a planned thing, it was something that just came along.

At the time we thought maybe we would go into the cut flower business, but the first year we opened to the public [with bedding plants], we also offered plants as a fundraiser for the Thunder Bay Christian school.  A lot of the patrons of the school are in our area.  The fundraiser let people get a taste of what we were growing at a good price.  Then from there it grew and grew. 

also What plants do you grow?
A:  I try to grow all the basics that would have been in your mother's garden and your grandmother's garden ― the geraniums, the petunias, the pansies, the marigolds.  But then I also try to grow things that are new and different and unusual.  I'm trying to be a one-stop shop where people can come and get their basics in the four-packs or full trays and they can also get things that you wouldn't find at a big commercial greenhouse.  I look far and wide for things that are unusual.  

Every year I have a few new things and I bring back the popular things from the years before. 
I try to have the old heirloom varieties ― like the nicotiana that grows six feet tall that you just can't find anymore but people remember their grandparents growing ― and I try to have something that's just coming out on the market.

I grow a lot of vegetables.  More people are interested in growing their own.  We noticed last year that the trend to growing your own vegetables is gaining.  And also canning, people are canning.  For the vegetables, I try to have short-season varieties, things that mature early, like green peppers that will turn red within our season.  Anything I grow is for our region ― Zone 2-3, 3b ― so that people will have success.

What do you find your customers are looking for?
A:  One of the things people are coming for is someone who will take the time to talk to them.  I have a lot of people who come to my greenhouse who don't have a lot of experience with gardening.  I can take the time ― if they come on a quieter day ― to help them choose plants and just help them to understand how to garden better.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in running a greenhouse?
A:  That's a good question.  I think, how all-consuming it is at a certain time of year.  You almost have to brace yourself for it because once it starts, you have to be all in.  Once I start the greenhouse at the beginning of April, it's morning to night that you are thinking about it.  Because we are a family-run business, it's me, my husband Gerald, and our daughter who helps when she can, when she's not in school.  I don't have back up and once I start I can't leave the property for any length of time.  That was what surprised me when we first started.  But it's exciting, it's invigorating, it's lovely work. 

Do you have time to grow a garden for yourself?  What do you have here on the property?
A:  Last year, because it was our transition year and we were moving [from the dairy farm which was sold to a new property and new house], I didn't have any flowerbeds.  I missed it so much!  We didn't even have grass.  I realized how much I missed puttering in the garden.  So at the end of the summer we put in sod and I outlined my beds. 

There is a big oval in front of the house.  I want masses of plants there, for impact.  I want you to be a hundred feet away and say, 'Wow, what's going on over there?'  I'm going for impact from a distance ― that is my plan.  At the end of the house we put in a large perennial bed that's about 9 or 10 feet deep and about 28 feet long.  I haven't started working on that one at all.  I am very excited for this year. 

We are also going to put in a vegetable garden.  I didn't have a vegetable garden last year.  Again, I missed it so much.  You don't even realize how much you appreciate being able to walk out the door and get some lettuce or herbs, right?  It's just so simple. 

When you imagine your garden in the future – say, in five years’ time – what do you envision?
A:  I think, established perennials beds, but still playing with annuals, because I have so many choices in annuals with the greenhouse and lots of fun things that I get to try.  In my flowerbeds I like to try out new plants and see how they do.  I like to test out different things and just play.  The annuals give me that opportunity to mix it up and change it every year.

What kind of garden appeals to you?
A:  I like a crowded garden.  I like a flowerbed that the plants are close enough that you don't see the dirt.  I guess a cottage garden style.  Mixed with stepping stones and old pieces of wood, things you've collected over the years, just things that make it personal.  I like to throw interesting things in that catch you off guard ― little surprises.  But I'm going to have to work on that here yet, and figure out what my surprises will be!

Halloween is long gone, but I still have pumpkins – small sugar pumpkins – that are my garden's last gift. They have stored well since harvest, although I am processing them into soup, puree and freezer bags now to be sure I can enjoy their goodness over winter. 

Sugar pumpkins are meant for cooking and pie-making; their flesh is firm and sweet, not stringy and watery like the jack-o'-lantern pumpkins we carve for the front step for Halloween night.

These little beauties grew more successfully in the straw bale garden than zucchini or Boston marrow.  I had a yield of ten pumpkins from two plants. 

And it was entertaining to watch the vine creep further onto the lawn.  I half expected it to knock on the back door!  Do you remember this picture from Straw Bale Update #4?

Thank goodness for food bloggers and their practical advice on storage of winter squash (which includes pumpkin).  I found some cooking and freezing guidelines that are worth sharing.

Emily Han, one of the writers at thekitchn.com describes two ways to freeze winter squash.  To prepare raw squash, "peel and cut the squash into chunks of any size; 1-inch cubes are a good size," Emily writes. "Spread the pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the freezer. When completely frozen, transfer the squash to a freezer-safe container with 1/2-inch headspace to allow for food expansion. Frozen chunks may be added directly to stews or into the oven for roasting, or thawed before using."

Emily says to consider the size of the squash or pumpkin when preparing to cook it.  "Depending on the size, cut it in halves, cubes, or slices.  Cook it by roasting, steaming, or boiling.  Remove the skins and mash the squash. When cool, pack it into freezer containers with 1/2-inch headspace – or freeze in ice cube trays or muffin tins and then transfer to a container. The creamy squash puree may be used in lasagnas, soups, dips, and more."

One thing she doesn't mention ... after cutting open the pumpkin, remove the seeds and pulpy membrane before cooking, but do save the seeds.  Roast them too.

The roasting method is the one I like best.  The Kitchn editor Faith Durand says, "Cut the cleaned pumpkin into quarters and place them pumpkin side up, rind down, in a baking dish.  Bake at 350ºF for 45-60 minutes.  Scrape off the flesh and whiz through a food processor until smooth.  After the the pumpkin has been pureed, it will stay good in the fridge for up to three days.  It can also be frozen for several months."

Now could this post be complete without a recipe?  Make this soup with sugar pumpkin or a sweet squash.

Like Halloween, my straw bale garden is long gone.

The bales have broken down as they continue to compost.  Soon they will be a different growing medium – more soil than straw. 

Next year they will form the main input for a more conventional raised garden, but there will be a straw garden too. 

This experiment has made me a convert. 

Now I see why vegetable gardeners are so busy in the fall.  My nutrient-rich straw bale garden supported wonderful fruit production and the tomato harvest has been impressive.  I've been doing the cover-uncover dance against frost for several days, but it's too nerve-wracking when you have tomatoes this lovely.  Yesterday everything came inside, ripe or not.

If these beauties don't ripen, there's always Green Tomato Chutney.  And yes, I have been processing tomatoes along the way.  I'll share a nice tomato salsa recipe in this post, but first, let me tell you a few things I've learned about  growing tomatoes in straw bales.

1. Apply the two-plants-per-bale rule.
Tomatoes need plenty of space. Two healthy plants will easily fill in a single bale.  I was skeptical about this, but I soon discovered that generous spacing is essential for vigorously growing plants!  And it is easier to support and tend tomato plants that are not crowded.  Other vegetables – such as peppers or cucumbers – can be planted more densely.

2. Plan on sturdy supports.
Even large tomato cages pushed into the bales were not enough support.  Over time, the bales slumped and softened.  This decomposition is marvelous as it fed the plants, but my laden tomatoes fell over.  And once down, they were hard to lift and support.  Joel Karsten, the  gardener behind strawbalegardens.com, recommends t-bar fence posts at the end of each bale row and stringing wires down the length of the bales.  Tomatoes – and other climbing vegetables – can be tied to the wires as they grow.  Alternatively, the posts can be used as a sturdy support in conjunction with a tomato cage.  Next year, I will definitely plan on stronger supports.

3.  Monitor moisture.
The bales do an excellent job of absorbing rainfall.  I didn't have to water that often, but I did check the moisture in the bales regularly and gave the plants a deep watering when needed.  From this season's experience, I would say that a straw bale garden stays moist longer than a conventional soil garden.

From Ball Ltd., Made Fresh Recipes
Makes about 6 (16 oz) pints or 12 (8 oz) half pints
Traditional salsa with a zesty kick! Use whatever type of chili peppers your family prefers - and add hot pepper sauce if your tastes are even more daring.

You will need:

• 10 cups chopped cored peeled tomatoes (about 25 medium)
• 5 cups chopped seeded green bell peppers (about 4 large)
• 5 cups chopped onions (about 6 to 8 medium)
• 2-1/2 cups chopped seeded chili peppers, such as hot banana, Hungarian wax, serrano or jalapeño (about 13 medium)
• 1-1/4 cups cider vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp hot pepper sauce, optional

To make a Half Recipe:

• 5 cups chopped cored peeled tomatoes (about 13 medium)
• 2-1/2 cups chopped seeded green bell peppers (about 2 large)
• 2-1/2 cups chopped onions (about 3 to 4 medium)
• 1-1/4 cups chopped seeded chili peppers, such as hot banana, Hungarian wax, serrano or jalapeño (about 7 medium)
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 to 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce, optional

Directions:

1. PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil.  Wash lids in warm soapy water and set bands aside.
2. COMBINE tomatoes, green peppers, onions, chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, cilantro, salt and hot pepper sauce, if using, in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
3. LADLE hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot salsa. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
4. PROCESS both pint and half pint jars in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.