Anyway, I just wanted to invite you to check out my new blog – Cold Climate Abundance. It’s got all of our recent activity, my latest experiments, and more!

Check it out and see what I’ve been up to! coldclimateabundance.ca

You can also visit the website for our farm – Good Roots Orchard.

To get a good view of this fierce little fellow, click the picture to see a larger version. Remember, he’s less than a 1/4 inch! But he looks like a scorpion. In fact, after I did a little research, I found that he is actually a “pseudoscorpion” or a ‘fake scorpion’.He’s in the spider family and despite his fierce looks, is completely harmless to people and their gardens! He is actually good for your garden – he eats other harmful bugs. So if you see this guy or one of his relatives – just wish him well and let him go on his way!

And while I’m showcasing some of the “Bugs of my Garden” – here are a couple more!

This giant beetle was crawling around my garden this summer. I think he’s one of the biggest I’ve seen here – he was about the size of a loonie.

I wish you could see this tiny snail in real life. My 5 year old son picked him up (along with his two friends) and was watching them in his hand.  You can see how small they are by the lines in the palm of my hand. The one with his head out is about 3/8 of an inch.

This snail without a shell (also known as a slug) was personally responsible for putting holes in my bell peppers. I never did like slugs much – but they are interesting to watch!

And finally to wrap it all up, here’s a cabbageworm I found. Again, interesting to watch, but it sure makes a mess of your cabbage and other green things!

This has been a fantastic season for growing fruit. After starting from scratch 5 years ago, my backyard is now producing all kinds of different delicious fruit. One of my personal favorites has been my Pembina Plums. We had about 5 gallons of these amazing plums this year. So juicy and sweet! I don’t think there is a fruit I enjoy more!

Then there are my “Chums” – my Cherry Plums. This is the first year that they have produced, and they are quite a nice little treat.

This variety is the “Manor Chum”. They are greenish-purple on the outside, and deep purple on the inside. Very tasty.

Another highlight for me this year has been my raspberries. My Wyoming Black Raspberry grew like crazy – so much so that I think I’ll have to cut them right down to the ground this fall! They have almost overgrown the north side of my greenhouse! But they sure produce a lot of raspberries! And they are the perfect compliment to my “Fall Gold” Raspberries. These yellow raspberries are so mild! It’s all the flavor of a raspberry without the ‘raspy-ness’!

Of course, my haskaps really started to produce this year. I was amazed at how densely these little berries covered the branches of my little bushes. The kids loved picking these for a little snack. (And I’m excited for when my wife bakes up a batch of haskap berries muffins this winter!

My grapes continue to ripen – I expect to harvest them in a couple of weeks. (My grape syrup from last year has just about run out.)

My muskmelons are getting to be a good size too. (Never heard of muskmelons? Think cantaloupe.) They got a late start, but I think they’ll be big enough for a tasty dessert or breakfast in the next days.

And finally, another fruit that I’ve highly enjoyed has been my cherries. I believe I had three varieties produce this year – hoping for another two to be mature by next year.

So it’s been a pretty great year for fruit. And hopefully next year will be even better! My kiwis have grown like never before (their vines have reached my garage roof), my apricots are coming along nicely, my blueberries are surviving (though not exactly thriving), and my hazelnut tree is slowly making progress. So we shall see what next year brings…

The post Enjoying the “Fruits” of my Labour first appeared on Alberta Home Gardening.]]> https://www.albertahomegardening.com/enjoying-the-fruits-of-my-labour/feed/ 11 https://www.albertahomegardening.com/an-interview-with-anna-her-inexpensive-geodome-greenhouse/ https://www.albertahomegardening.com/an-interview-with-anna-her-inexpensive-geodome-greenhouse/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:07:23 +0000 https://www.albertahomegardening.com/?p=518 Some time ago I was introduced to Anna from northernhomestead.com – a fellow gardening enthusiast from central Alberta. She writes a very interesting blog – and has a most interesting geodome greenhouse. If you’ve never seen a geodome greenhouse before – you’ve got to check this out! Pretty cool, huh? I recently interviewed Anna (via email) about her garden & […]

So if you’ve been looking to build a trellis in your own backyard, let me show you my design:

First of all – my materials list.

• (3) 4 x 4 x 12′
• (1) 4 x 4 x 8′ – (since my one section is under my garage window)
• (17) 2 x 4 x 8′
• (1) 2 x 4 x 12′

The first thing to do was to dig my post holes. I dug 6″ holes about 32″ deep – spaced 4′ apart – about 1′ from my garage wall.

The 12′ posts were too tall to fit beneath my garage eaves (even when planted 32″ deep), so I had to trim a few inches off the tops to fit just under my eaves. I had a window (as you can see in the picture below) that I didn’t want to cover up, so I planned to build that section at half height. Once the posts were in, I backfilled with gravel and tamped them in. You could use concrete if you like, but I think gravel holds it just as well (if it’s well tamped) and it allows the water to drain away from the post so it doesn’t rot.

Once the posts were all trimmed to the proper, level height, I simply attached the 12′ 2 x 4 to the top of the taller sections, and a 4′ section of 2 x 4 for the shorter one.

Next, I ripped the remaining 2x4s in half – giving me 2x2s. (The actual dimensions were 1.5″ by 1.5″)

Then I proceded attach the 2x2s horizontally between my posts. The posts were spaced with 4′ centers, so the actual length of the horizontal pieces was 45″. Underneath each horizontal piece, I attached a short piece (6.5″) to the 4×4 sides to give the proper spacing of 8″ centers. These shorter blocks also provide a ledge to screw the horizontal pieces into.

Once all the horizontal pieces had gone on, I was ready to attach the vertical pieces – and believe it or not – I was almost done! I told you this was simple!

With the posts perfectly spaced at 4′ centers, these vertical pieces attached every 9″ between the posts. That means that the squares of the grid aren’t perfectly ‘square’, but are 8″ x 9″. I made the length of my vertical pieces so that the ends were about 8″ lower than the lowest horizontal piece. (You will have to measure the total overall height of your trellis to find this measurement.)

And that’s it! Your trellis is ready for grapes, kiwis, and whatever else you can throw at it!

This is my final product! You can see my two grapes starting to leaf out. The kiwis hadn’t yet made their appearance. At first, I thought I had made it too massive for those few little plants, but by the end of the summer, the entire structure was COVERED with vines! I even had to trim them back a couple of times. So I was glad that I had made it as beefy as I did.

You can read this post about my grape harvest!

If you’re planning to build a trellis this next year, feel free to use my design! I’d love to see what you build!

Questions? Comments? Leave ’em below!

I have four different varieties growing in my yard here in central Alberta, but the two varieties that are mature enough to produce are my Valiant Grapes, and my Marechael Foch Grapes. The valiant grapes are larger than the marechael grapes (though still smaller than what you might find in the grocery store) and are packed with flavour! In fact, they are very similar in flavour to the Concord grapes that you buy in the store.

I have them growing on the south side of my garage on a trellis with my Kiwis. (Yes, you heard right… with MY KIWIS.) I’ve found this location to work great for three reasons!

1. They get piles of sun.
2. They are protected from the wind (and they grab a bit of extra warmth from the garage.)
3. They get lots of water since all the rain that falls on the garage roof drips down right in front of them.

The kids love to eat them fresh – though the seed to flesh ratio is pretty high! I enjoy them too, but my wife finds them a bit too tangy for her liking.

However, I’m sure that she’ll enjoy the grape jelly that I made up yesterday. And that was a pretty simply process too.

First, my son and I took our snippers to the grape vines and gathered up about five pounds.

Then we crushed them (stems/seeds/and all) and brought them to a ten minute boil.

Next, we strained out the juice with a cheesecloth, added the sugar and Certo Pectin, and brought that to a boil for another minute.

All that was left after that was to pour it in jars and shortly thereafter, spread it on fresh bread!

And all that to say that it’s really true: Grape growing is not reserved for California or Italy. Not even British Colombia. Grapes can actually grow in Alberta! Try it – I think you’ll like it!

And make sure you click each picture for a larger view – I love the details of the close-up!

This is a bud from my Marechael Grape. Notice the bits of fuzz… That’s awesome! Who knew, right?

Haskap. Borealis, I believe this one is. Again – who knew flower buds were so fuzzy?

This one may be my favorite. It’s from my Brook Gold Plum. (It’s now my desktop background.) Go ahead. You can use it too!

This is another plum. This one is the Pembina plum.

This is a Barberry that I inherited and I’m trying to nurse back to health. I love how their leaves are bunched up in clusters like that.

Crabapple. Big River Flowering Crab to be specific. Love the texture!

Here’s a zoomed out shot of that Brook Gold Plum. I like this one too!

These are the tight little bunches of lilac buds. (But you probably figured that one…)

Not a fruit tree. Actually, not a tree at all, but a Bleeding Heart. I just like them…

Now this is a weird one. This is a Patmore Ash tree. That is some awesome texture and design! I love God’s creativity!

Just a common strawberry. But look close. Notice the fuzzy strands on the edges of the leaf.

This is the Golden Spice Pear. Of all the buds I’ve looked at, this one seems the most… complex.

And finally, this is the beautiful leaf of a blueberry. (You don’t usually see color like that until fall!) So that’s my spring gallery! Whaddya think?

Well, here is what I did this spring: Now this probably isn’t a brand new idea. I’m sure someone has done it before, but its new for me. (And maybe for you too.) I decided to make a mini-greenhouse WITHIN my greenhouse.

It was fantastically easy (it took all of ten minutes to build it) – and completely inexpensive – I simply used materials that were leftover from other projects. Here, let me show you…

I just took six planks (1x6s – about 30 inches long that were leftover from my fence project last fall), and tucked the bottoms inside my planting bed frame. Then I screwed the tops together and attached a long 1×2 (8 ft long) that served as the peak of my greenhouse. It was absolutely simple. Then I just took and threw over some plastic like this…

Then I ran some tests to see just how much of a difference it would make at night. Remember this is with NO additional heat.

On the night of May 2, the overnight temperature got down to 3.1° celsius outside in my garden. The greenhouse was a little warmer, going down only to 4.8° celsius. But inside my mini-greenhouse within my greenhouse, the temperature stayed up at 7.4° celsius. That’s 4.3° warmer than outside with NO extra heat. That might not seem like a large number, but that makes a significant difference in your growing season. That little, inexpensive “greenhouse within a greenhouse” project, according to the weather almanac, could have just added 9 days to my growing season – for FREE!

And of course, if I had wanted to heat that little greenhouse, it would be much cheaper to heat that little space than to heat the whole greenhouse. So maybe I’m over-reacting, but I think this is way cool and will doing this project again next year – nine days earlier!

Click for the full-size picture – but be aware – they are LARGE!