First radish

The first radish of the season was not particularly impressive. The flowering chives however were quite pretty.

Starting to see some growth

Spring was slowly starting to warm up and finally some of the more sensitive vegetables were planted. This year the goal was to do companion planting such that no bare earth would be visible.

In the largest container was a cherry tomato, super chili, nasturtiums, and sugar snap peas. The next container over was a set of Leeks, all protected by some oat grass as a sacrificial plant for large predators.

Recent additions to the garden also include: red Pontiac potatoes in three containers, a raspberry, a Mayer lemon tree, and a set of green onions from seedlings to replace the failed ones from seeds.

Outdoor planting

Ever impatient, the seedlings were transplanted outside probably far too soon. Soda bottles cut and in half were used as simple cloches but they didn't really, and the eggplants died a lingering death.

Overwintering were: chives, tyme, Strawberries, rosemary, mint, late blueberry

New to the garden were: garlic from bulbs, josta berries, red currant, early blueberry, and radishs, carrots and beets from seeds.

Starting the garden

This year we tried starting a number of plants from seeds. The start of the season planting went well, most of the seeds germinated. We had a very warm February (the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were jokingly called the Summer Olympics), which convinced us to get an early start on the garden. The remainder of the spring was cold and wet. Unfortunately none of the transplants actually worked (mostly due to the weather, but in part due to large orange pests).


Starting plants: Spaghetti squash, green onion, parsley, eggplant, earth cherry, radish

Garden planning

This year's garden was planned heavily using an exceptional book focused on exactly the type of garden we were designing. the book is called the bountiful container and is linked on the right hand side. This book helped us plan the best mix of fruits, vegetables and edible flowers for our garden.

Our garden space is a south facing patio approximately 3' x 12', with morning sun blocked by a wall on one side and an evening sun blocked by a tree and building on the other. Given our constraints we needed to maximize the produce generated both in volume and in taste.