Class Assignment 2

So for my Edible Gardening in the City class at George Brown I need to hand in a 1 page report. Rather than writing it out I have decided to type it up here and post it (its gonna get posted here anyways).

Assignment 2: Plant Selection and Cultivation:
Select [an] edible plant you want to grow. Describe the desired organic growing conditions, how & when to start seed, maintenance required and possible insect and disease challenges. Suggest companion plants. Give suggestions for use when mature (one page)

So for my plant I am actually going to select a plant that I picked out last year which is a Gooseberry. I picked this plast last spring since it was suggested as a shade tolerant plant and since my girlfriend (Talia) loves gooseberries; unfortunately I don't know which specific type of gooseberry I have :(. When I picked the plant I didn't really investigate that much but since then I have found that it is actually quite a nice plant for my balcony garden. So without further adue:

Plant: Gooseberry. Part of the Ribes family (as is currents) the scientific name is Ribes uva-crispa (European variety) and Ribes Hirtellum (America). Hardy to zone 3

Organic growing conditions:

• full or partial sun
• fertile soil with good drainage
• Add lots of mulch (5-10 cm) around the plant as it likes cool, moist soil. 
• Plant requires large amounts of potassium and magnesium and low amounts of nitrogen

How & when to start seed:

I have never seen them started from seed so I think they reproduce via underground runners. Instructions I have found all involve growing from a cane (which is how my plant came).

• Plant out in autumn or early spring
• Can tolerate being in a pot that is at least 14 inches tall
• Add compost or well rotted manure to hole
• Plant canes slightly deeper than they were previously growing
• Space plants 3 feet apart (in rows 6 feet apart if growing in rows)
• Prune back to 2 buds to encourage growth
• fruit is produced after the first year

Maintenance Required:

• Additional fertilization is often not required beyond the yearly mulching.
• Remove any "suckers" that grow from the root or stem. Remove suckers from where they attach to the main stem (don't just cut them off at ground level as this will encourage growth)
• a sucker is a shoot that grows from the plant base or below ground. 
• Thin our the fruit on each branch when the berries get to be the size of large peas (0.5 cm) to allow the remaining fruit to grow to full size.
• Birds will eat the buds so you can cover the plant in netting
• Once the blossoms have started you can cover in a thick netting to protect from frost. Make sure to remove the netting during the day to allow insects to pollinate.
• Prune in autumn or winter
• Prune a 1 year old bush to keep the center of the bush open to light and air.
• choose the best 3-4 shoots and cut them back above a bud to a quarter of their length. cut other shoots flush with the stem.
• Prune a 2 year old bush
• choose 6-8 of the strongest shoots. Cut new growth by half if shoot is growing well or by 2/3 if growth is weak. Cut other shoots to one bud from their bases.
• Prune an established bush
• In winter cut back branch leaders of established bushes by half their new growth.
• prune the strongest side shoots to 8cm and the weak ones to 3cm.
• remove weakest shoots
• When fruit is developing net the fruit to prevent birds from eating them
• Leaf margin (edge of leaf) scorching and weak branches are a sign of potassium deficiency
• For a boost to the plant feed with fish emulsion solution or compost tea

Possible Insects and disease challenges:

• Aphids: leaves curled or blistered, often with reddish tinge; shoot tips may be distorted
• Dormant oil in winter
• Wash off with strong water
• Sawfly larva: leaf tissue eaten
• remove by hand
• Magpie moth caterpillars: leaf tissue eaten
• remove caterpillars by hand
• Botryis (fungus): fruits have grey moldy deposits. Leaves often show brownish of black areas.
• Powdery Mildew: white powdery masses on leaves, shoots, fruits; later, masses turn brown, shoots become distorted
• Cut off affected shoots in autumn.

Companion Plants:

• Basil
• Tomatoes
• Fuchsias
• Broad beans

Usage: Gooseberry Jam

Ingredients:

1. As many fresh gooseberries as you can collect (weigh them)
2. 300 g sugar for ever 400 g of gooseberries
3. 1/2 cup water
4. extra sugar to taste

Directions:

1. Add the gooseberries and water in a bot and bring to a boil.
2. Add sugar and dissolve.
3. Boil hard for about 5 minutes or until mixture thickens to your desired consistency
4. add extra sugar to taste if your gooseberries are very tart

children of the corn

So yesterday I went and had a look at my corn to see if it was type to transplant it... it definatly was. I was not expecting the roots to grow this fast but they grew right through the pot in no time.

of the 6 that I planted only 3 came up :( but that is ok. I planted another 3 to see if they will come up and I potted them into larger containers. hopefully they will live happily there for another month or so.

gardening class

So my edible gardening class started 2 weeks ago so I thought I would give a recap on that.

1) Edible Gardening in the City

So far the class has been good. A lot of the information I already know from reading books and the likes but occasionally I come across an interesting fact that I didn't know about like a large garden bed is easier to keep moist than small pots. This explains why I always have trouble with water in the summer. We also went over what is ment on seed packs when they stay things like "as soon as the soil is warm/dry enough"

The reason for these sayings is that every place has a last expected frost date (May 9 for Toronto) and so a specific date cant always be given. I have included "translation table" on common phrases

" as soon as the soil is dry/warm enough to work" - this is usually mid April in Toronto
"when the soil has begun to warm up" - mid May
"when all danger of frost has passed" - early June
"mid summer for a fall harvest" - first of August

I have already had my first assignment which was:

Describe your existing growing conditions. (soil type, sun and wind exposure, micro-climates and challenges) What amendments and improvements are needed?

This was due at the beginning of our second class and here is what I prepared:

Soil type: potting soil and black earth. Because all of my garden plants are in pots I had to buy all of my dirt last year from the store :(
 -> soil has good moisture retention, holds together when squeezed
-> lacks nutrients as it is reused from last year.
-> primarily missing phosphorus based on purplish tinge of seedlings. I used The Organic Gardeners Handbook to come to this conclusion along with the fact that most of the plants I grew last year were tomatoes and they are phosphorus loving plants from the Google searches I have done.
-> for amendments I have Better world organic fertilizer as well as what worm compost I can scoop from my worm bin. The Better World fertilizer is a cool fertilizer made from beetle larva and is classified as a 2-2-2 fertilizer. I am also thinking of dropping by the local Starbucks for used coffee grounds to add to the tomato plants as I have read (on the internet) that coffee makes a really good mulch for tomatoes (good source of nitrogen)
-> the other thing that I am thinking of doing is to gorilla garden some comfry or other fertilizer plant in the planters around our apartment. The planters are rarely tended so I figured if I snuck some in no one would notice and since they aren't edible directly I don't have to worry about people stealing them.

Exposure: Thankfully I live in a south facing apartment but it  is fairly high up (20th floor).
-> from the pictures I have posted in the past you may have noticed that I have some challenges when it comes to light. First I have a concrete barrier at the end of the balcony that blocks a lot of light. Last year I tried putting the plants on a shelf to raise them up but then I have to deal more with the wind that is up there. The sides of my balcony are a frosted glass so while they get better light its still not directly. On top of all of this I also have to deal with the shadow of the balcony above us which is the bane of my garden.
I even did a diagram to try and figure out how much of the balcony had full sun exposure. I did it in pencil so hopefully this picture will be visible.

So as you can see I don't have a huge amount of space that gets direct sun. only 84 cm of width in June

Challenges: My biggest challenges will be the high level of wind that I get on the balcony, especially for the plants that are tall like the grapefruit tree. Last year the top 20 cm ended up getting completely stripped on leaves due to the high winds.
    Other challengers are the lack of water due to the balcony above me so I have to spend a lot of time watering the plants in the morning. I also have some concerns regarding the lack of pollinators since we are so high up and I don't remember seeing a large number of insects up this high.

Amendments: as I stated earlier I will be amending the soil with fertilizer, worm compost and perhaps coffee. Added to that I will be getting some bone meal to help replace the missing phosphorus.