I have had several questions recently about storing crops so thought it was time to review storage conditions. The closer you can get to the ideal conditions, the longer the food will keep, but even in less than ideal conditions, much of it can be stored fresh for a reasonable time. Food that must be kept dry: onions, garlic, winter squash, sweet potatoes. It is ideal if it is cool (10-15oC/50-60oF), too, but dry storage is most important. The problem is that the really cool storage places most of us have, such as crawl spaces, garden sheds, detached garages, etc. are too damp. While it is hard to find a place in a modern home that is cool, it isn't hard to find dry storage. Insulated, dry basements and insulated attached garages can work (as long as there is no gasoline smell to contaminate the food), but you can also store these crops in the house, in a back bedroom or cupboard. I am surprised how many people tell me they store these crops in the guest bedroom, which mak…

It is the first day of fall and here are some things to do in the garden: Pinch your Brussels sprouts: To force the plants to plump up their sprouts, pinch or cut off the centre top-knot of leaves by the end of September. If your plants are large and already forming nice sprouts, this is optional. If your plants haven't made sprouts yet, then this will make the tiny sprouts grow really quickly. If plants are still quite small (several people have told me they put in late seedlings), you might as well pinch the tips out and see what happens. Brussels sprouts are biennials, which means if they don't make sprouts this fall, they won't make them in the spring either because they will grow flower stalks instead. But the flower sprouts are very tasty and tender, so don't give up on your plants no matter what size they are as there will be something to harvest. Last chance thinning: When I checked my carrots the other day I found some were too crowded and that a flurry of reme…

I had a surprise at the end of July when I found a pear lying on the ground under my tree: it hadn't been knocked off by critters--it was ready to pick! In fact I picked about half the crop of Red and Yellow Bartletts that day, which is about 3 weeks early compared to last year. That reminds me to mention that unlike other tree fruit, pears are of better quality if they ripen off the tree. When they are left on the tree until soft enough to eat they are usually brown in the centre, the flesh is grainy and beginning to spoil in places; when taken off the tree they ripen evenly from the inside out. You can tell when a pear is mature enough to pick if you gently lift it upward and sideways. If the seam where the fruit stem meets the twig pops cleanly apart, the pear is ready to pick. If it just won't pop off or if you have tugged so hard that the twig or stem breaks instead of snapping cleanly at the joint, give the crop more time. While summer pears are mostly ready this month, w…

This week the cooler weather is coinciding nicely with the right timing for sowing Swiss chard, kale, collards, kohlrabi, beets, rutabagas, winter radish/daikon, radicchio and hardy endives for your winter garden. Chard or kale planted earlier in the season will continue all winter, but you might want to sow more now to account for the fact that replacement leaves don't grow in the winter. I plant about 4 times more chard for winter harvests than I use in the summer to ensure a good supply of leaves until growth starts again in March. If you can find good quality started seedlings (e.g., from Chorus Frog farm stand on Salt Spring), transplanting is an option, of course, but if your local supplier is selling sad, yellowing seedlings, skip it. You would be better off sowing seeds directly in the garden--they will quickly outgrow stressed seedlings, which may never recover. With the cooler and maybe a little damper outlook for the next few weeks it should be easier to get seed…

Yes, I know, it is hard to think about next winter but it is time to start seeds of overwintering broccoli and cauliflower for harvest early next year.  And from now on, every couple of weeks for the rest of the summer is another planting 'window' for various crops. I have posted my winter harvest planting chart on my home page so that you can print it out and post it to remind you what to plant. The chart shows sowing dates, which can be either directly in the garden or in seedling flats. Given the difficulty of keeping things cool and watered this summer I am opting for starting more of this year's crops in flats where I can mind them more closely. Or start them in the garden in a small nursery area that you can keep shaded and watered easily. First, broccoli and cauliflower: Start seeds any time from mid-June to the end of the month. If you want to buy seedlings later, I suggest you check with your local nursery or seedling source to find out what varieties they will have…

Meteorologists are warning that the expected El Nino climate pattern this year is going to be a "super El Nino" comparable with the 1997-98 year. For coastal British Columbia, that brings record heat waves in the summer. With unprecedented warm Pacific water now reaching our coast, combined with a strong El Nino, which also brings warm water across the Pacific, gardeners need to be on top of managing for high temperatures. It starts this coming weekend and Environment Canada has issued a weather alert for a prolonged period of hot weather for coastal British Columbia, starting tomorrow and continuing through early next week. Predictions are for 27-31 degrees C (80-90 F), with the higher temperatures further inland. Managing for heat: Garden vegetables are most vulnerable to heat damage at this time of year because plants are still small, with shallow roots and young leaves. Shade young plants and seed bed: Cover small plants, at least for the midday heat for a few days…

With the weather stable, warm (and way too dry), I think we are quite safe putting out celeriac, celery, cucumbers, even melons and sweet basil. The first 2 are easily vernalized by a late cold spell (causing them to go to seed)and the latter 3 are very finicky about the cool, damp conditions often found on the coast at this time of year. In fact, for inland coastal areas, it is forecast to be hot tomorrow so watch out for your tiny seedlings and seedbeds: they will probably need to be shaded them to get them safely through the hot part of the day. And it is time to start mulching plants that are large enough or like cooler soil (such as peas, cabbage, lettuce, onion family). With the very dry spring we have had and this long stretch of sunny, warm weather, mulches to slow water loss and cool the soil will be appreciated by plants. I covered mulches in more detail about this time last year so for more info, see my June 6, 2014 message. Sweet corn: Though we can certainly sow…

hello friends. It is my great delight to present to you a video of great beauty and power. For Salt Springers, I believe it goes a long way to express the more beautifull world our hearts tell us is possible. If ever there was a sacred duty that is not only within our power, but also one that has the capacity to nourish our children, help us become resilient to a changing climate and economy, educate us to the beauty and sacredness of the natural world and bring us together in health and community, it is the saving of seeds. Few people bring home this message and walk the talk more powerfully than our very own Dan Jason. Please enjoy this video and share it widely in your networks... as it is a part of a contest, please give it your vote on the viewing pane and help spread the message of seed saving. START THE VIDEO AND THEN CLICK "VOTE" BUTTON ON VIEWING PANE: http://vimeo.com/51854254 in gratitude r

 Media Release - September 25, 2012 The Capital Regional District (CRD) and PARC Parks and Recreation has partnered with Transition Salt Spring and the Salt Spring Island Agricultural Alliance to provide a permanent home for the popular Bring Your Branches service and the new Fall Leaf Exchange program. “This partnership is another demonstration of how the CRD can provide new services to residents using a combination of existing resources and community volunteers, at no additional cost to taxpayers,” said CRD Director Wayne McIntyre. The last Saturday of every month from October through April, with the exception of December, will see the return of Bring Your Branches. From October to March, Salt Spring Island residents are invited to bring branches and other woody yard waste to Rainbow Road Park behind the swimming pool between 10 am and 2 pm. Access is from Rainbow Road and material must be clean and suitable for chipping, with no invasive species, stumps, stones,…

It's almost that time of year again! Time to fire up your zucchinis for racing at the fall fair. Here's a great video from a couple years back showing all the competition in action.

Its no secret that Salt Spring Island is one of the most progressive local food communities in Canada. The island is home to many of those lovers of life radical enough to labour planting seeds and raising animals to feed and nurture us. Lovers of food and life who grow and labour year after year to feed our today, and our tomorrow and work to help us all appreciate the craft of food grown in relationship with the land. To you these lovers of the seed and the land, we have a special message: The Salt Spring Exchange supports you if you're a local organic grower who wants and needs a market to sell your goods. We support you because local, organic food is at the root of sharing and community building and decoupling our reliance on increasingly complex financial and market systems that routinely fail to serve the needs of our communities. We support you because local, organic food is at the heart of stable local economies. We support you because local, organic food is fu…