Cold Outside, Vegetables Inside

The temperatures dropped this past week, with cold down to -27 degrees C one morning. With the windchill, it was -38 degrees C (-36.4 degrees F). Yeah, that's enough to make your nose hairs freeze, tinkle like icicles against each other, and then break off. At least that's how it makes me feel. Of course, all the vehicles now appear tethered by stiff, kinked extension cords to power outlets, with everyone plugging in their block heaters. Where I grew up in BC, I never know block heaters existed. Oh, the naive climate-innocence of the southern British Columbian!

So on the indoor front, my houseplant-vegetables are growing well. I've had to repot the peppers and tomatoes, because they were getting rootbound. The new pots are 5 inch square or 6 inch (diameter) round. I ran out of potting soil though, so I dug stuff out of the worm compost boxes to fill the bigger pots. There's a few worms living in the pots, but they've never caused damage so far.

The pepper and one tomato (Red Robin) are growing into the light fixtures. Tomatoes can be "height adjusted" though, which is fortunate. If you bury a tomato plant stem, that stem will just grow roots and be happy underground. My rootbound tomato had a few branches dying at the bottom anyways, so I just replanted it deep in its pot and now it's not crowding the light.

Micro Tom tomato:

Gerbera daisy I am attempting to grow from seed:

Tasty salad in a pot: I have decided that the "Baja MI" butterhead lettuce is the best performer of this winter's lettuce. It also has the nicest texture and flavour. I highly recommend it. Last winter, I also had success with a romaine called "Paris cos".

Thanksgiving Bounty in the Basement

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians and to anyone else in the world who also happened to be celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend! We had nice turkey dinner (those pre-stuffed Butterball turkeys are the bee's knees!) followed by a mellow afternoon. Kona, our furry canine was allowed to clean up the giblets and turkey skin, making her a happy dog!

Lettuce and tomato plants under grow lights in the basement:

I purposely deformed this "Heat Wave" chili pepper to fit under my basement grow lights. The resulting shape inspired me to take this photo of the "Semi-cascade style chili pepper". Ha!

It bears fruit too! I realize now that it was unnecessary to have three plants, with each having dozens of blossoms. Maybe I'll try drying the peppers. I don't know what I'd do with all of them.

"Top Girl" orange peppers, not yet to blooming stage:

This is the basement-dwelling group of my ever-expanding collection of Dendrobium nobile "Angel Smile" orchids. My plants keep producing baby plants, which I repot and then give away. On the right is the thriving lemongrass, which is destined for ethnic cooking in my kitchen.

The wedding marigolds in bloom! We got some marigold seedlings as a guest favour at my brother-in-law's wedding in June. They are doing pretty well alongside the pepper plants.

One of my "Micro Tom" miniature tomato plants: this one germinated mid-September and is less than 4 cm tall. I am also trying "Red Robin" miniature tomato plants. Hopefully, I'll have tomatoes in a few months. These ones are growing in 4 inch pots. I'm not sure if I'll need to repot them.

This goes to show that with six shop lights and some shelves, you can eat fresh greens throughout the winter! One of the things I like best about this is that there are no beetles eating your vegetables and no worms crawling out of your salad! It's a pest-free environment.

Hot Pink Petunias and the Lettuce Finale

My basement flowers are starting to bloom, pushing the lettuce and herbs out of the way. The Aladdin Cherry petunias and Profusion Cherry zinnias look lovely. They're both a bright pink, sure to make a garish display in the barrel planters.

For those of you following the vermicomposting lettuce saga...we have reached the end of the experiment. For the last post, on day 23, see this previous entry. The romaine lettuce grown in the pot of worm casting compost is the picture of agricultural success, while the potting soil + fertilizer lettuce ended up pathetically small.

An unforeseen lettuce-challenging hurdle in this 60 day trial was my 2-week absence, during which time resident-lawnmower-man tended (that choice of verb may even be too generous) my plants. Despite my warnings about adequately watering the lettuce, I came back to a batch of tough and bitter lettuce, all except for the "worm" lettuce. Yes, the taste test today confirms that the worm lettuce is sweet and mild while the potting soil lettuce is not. Maybe the worm compost had better moisture-retentive properties, protecting it from stingy watering by a non-plantsperson. Moisture retention reportedly is one of the benefits of adding compost to your soil.

Germination Determination

Currently, I am in the spring manic phase of seed starting. I am planting far more seeds than I could ever grow, and potting up as many seedlings as I could possibly have room for. Some seeds germinate easier than others. As yet, my Pulsatilla, Cleome, and Campanula carpatica have been a no-go. Currently, they are sitting on the garage window sill in hopes that fluctuating temperatures might help do the trick. The only thing that is growing in these pots so far is moss!

My Saxifraga mix seeds are potted and in a ziploc bag in my fridge until May 1. The package says they need cold stratification to germinate and I've had success with the refrigerator in the past. So far, no guests have noticed the little pots of dirt in baggies in my fridge...

The pretty little green and pink-leafed plants are Coleus Kong Rose. These were fairly expensive seeds, but luckily, all germinated easily.

Of course, it is still rather cool and snowy outdoors, but I am quite proud of my lettuce and herb project. These are growing very well indoors and I uploaded a picture of a basement-grown salad I made last weekend. I didn't grow the cucumbers and tomatoes, but the basil, parsley and lettuce were all homegrown. I do have 3 grape tomato plants under the lights though, and they're going to be planted outdoors in June. Hopefully we'll get to eat vine-ripened tomatoes this year, though that is a real challenge in this climate. Last year, we picked nearly all of them green to save them from the first frost. The season is just too short for tomatoes, unless they get a real head-start.

Lettuce Contest Day 23

Here is an update on the race of the romaine lettuce: Team Red Wiggler (left) is unquestionably winning against the Team Potting Soil (right).
<--Day 23
The results are shocking. Clearly, Team Red Wiggler's compost-fed lettuce is more lush and larger than the feeble romaine grown on potting soil.

Both are being watered occasionally with liquid synthetic fertilizer, to make up for the basic deficiencies of plain potting soil. I am amazed at the difference!
<-- Day 16, for comparison

Race of the Compost Worms

The garage composters are doing well, having had a few problems over the winter. In late 2006, I noticed groups of them attempting a mass exodus from the boxes. This was probably due to a lack of bedding material and excess of worm castings (ie. worm poop). I added some coconut coir and fluffed the boxes up a bit and the worms seem happy now.

Recently, I decided to do a little experiment with the worm castings. I am growing 2 containers of romaine lettuce, with 3 seedlings in each. One container contains pure worm compost end-product (contains worm castings and other decomposed organic material) and the other contains regular potting soil (which possibly may contain some granular fertilizer).

I am treating both containers the same, except that I put the container of worm media outside in -15 weather for a night to kill any remaining worms, just in case they might eat my lettuce roots. The seeds were planted March 3, and as you can see, the worm seedlings (on the left) are winning!!! I think this is a rather ironic endeavor: the garbage remnants of our food become worm food and now the worm excrement is growing my food!

Basement Seedlings

Spring of 2007 is 22 days away! Of course, this doesn't mean much up here where we've had some 54 inches of snow so far this winter and it still sits in heaps along the roads. If we're lucky, I may see little green shoots peeking from beneath the snow towards the end of March. Dwarf irises are always first.


I have started the light garden growing again. Lettuce and various herbs are growing under the lights in my basement. Just like the outdoor experience last year, the dark green Paris Island Cos Romaine lettuce is growing the best of the lettuces. I harvested a few leaves for lunch today. It is a nice break from the nutrient-poor pale pathetic iceberg lettuce at the grocery store. Next on the agenda: starting annual and perennial flower seeds!

Lettuce Lamentations

I made an interesting observation in the vegetable patch the other day. Apparently, the bugs have selective tastes for leafy greens described as "gourmet". At first, I thought all my lettuce was doomed and that I would either have to rely on store-bought lettuce or install high-tech lettuce-protectors.

Pictured: At left is bug-eaten Green Oakleaf or Arugula; at right is Paris Island Cos Lettuce looking perfect!

Now that the lettuce has grown, I wish I was a little more careful in not mixing the seed between the rows. I planted Arugula (technically a type of mustard), Green Oakleaf Lettuce, and Paris Island Cos Lettuce. All were from Richter's Herbs in Ontario. I now see that the Paris Island Cos Lettuce is doing well but one or both of the Oakleaf/Arugula are looking like moth-eaten socks.