FIELD JOURNAL

Our log of experiences and experiments growing our own food.

Since 2014 we have been growing food on borrowed land in the city. Some of it we sell and some of it we eat. These are the stories of our experiences along the way. Use the search bar on the right to look for posts in the blog that match your interests. For more specific information about our growing methods and record keeping, check out the educational opportunities on our Grow With Us page.

Soil Blocking FAQ: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Without Plastic

I started using soil blocks back in 2014. At that time, I was sick of sorting through the large pile of different sized plastic trays...

Feb 2812 min read

Garden Bed Layout: Zones, Sizing, and Orientation

Winter has given me plenty of time away from growing to sort out the garden plans at our new site , and starting from scratch here has...

Jan 289 min read

4 Steps to Happier Gardening

It's that time of year again when we all tend to get excited about fresh starts and maybe even declare a few new year's resolutions, so...

Dec 30, 20249 min read

Why We're Moving to the Country to Start a Market Garden (Again)

So, we're moving, if you haven't already heard. We're not going far, but the move is going to make a huge difference to our growing...

Nov 23, 20249 min read

Staying Ahead of the Game at Harvest Time

At some point, every vegetable gardener will have the experience of walking out into their garden and realizing that they have a ton of...

Oct 1, 20247 min read

How to Prune and Stake Zucchini Plants

There are two common complaints I hear from gardeners about their zucchini plants. One is that their zucchini plants just produce...

Aug 31, 20248 min read

Growing Vegetables with Custom Weed Barriers

All gardeners will eventually learn that exposed soil in a garden causes problems. It invites weeds, it loses moisture quickly, and it...

Jul 31, 20247 min read

Flower Forecasting

It doesn't take long after planting for our kids to start asking "When do we get to pick [insert tasty crop here]?" I can usually give...

Jul 3, 20244 min read

9 Crops We're Growing That Don't Need Cold Storage

If a cold storage room is on your wish list but you haven't quite got around to making it happen yet, you may be heading into the...

May 30, 202410 min read

Why bother to pot up your vegetable seedlings?

Any brief foray into the world of vegetable seed starting will soon reveal a task known as "potting up". This is the act of...

Apr 24, 20247 min read

Planning a Rainwater Irrigation System

Our vegetable production has five annual costs: seeds, potting mix, electricity, compost, and water. The greatest of these is water. ...

Mar 26, 20248 min read

Kid-Friendly Crop Selection

If you are just about to start a garden with your kids, and you begin by strolling through the seed aisle at your local garden centre...

Mar 1, 20249 min read

How do you find the time?

This is a question comes up often when people see the size of our vegetable gardens or when they learn that we're even taking the time to...

Feb 1, 202410 min read

10 Lessons from the Vegetable Garden: Part 4

A year in the garden never fails to teach me something new, so I'm taking some time this month to highlight 10 of the lessons learned...

Dec 30, 202315 min read

Can low tunnels extend your garden season into winter?

When people find out that we use tunnels to extend our growing season, it doesn't take long before they ask about growing vegetables in...

Nov 30, 202310 min read

Breaking the Rules of Crop Rotation

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you ignored all of the crop rotation advice out there? The majority of advice on this...

Oct 28, 20235 min read

How to Upgrade to a Walk-in Cooler for FREE

When I tell people that we just throw our vegetables into our walk-in cooler at any time of the year, they either get excited and ask...

Sep 30, 20235 min read

Take a Walk Through Our Homestead Garden

Every once in a while it occurs to me that I haven't showed much of our garden plots lately, so let's change that this month. After all,...

Aug 31, 20236 min read

What's Wrong With My Plants?

This is the big question every vegetable grower must face at some point because I can guarantee that EVERYTHING will not go perfectly...

Jul 31, 20235 min read

Crop Rotation When it Matters

One of the more confusing experiences for new vegetable growers is the bombardment of crop rotation expectations from various sources. A...

Jun 28, 20236 min read