Also for asparagus, here are a few things I did to get my asparagus bed growing well and giving more sprouts. I've had some good luck with adding some new manure or good rich soil and mulch over the bed each year. I think you already do that for the most part, but they seem to really like that new rich soil and sprout more when I do that. I've also found watering them well every week or two they react well and sprout good when I do that. Another thing I do is let them grow really tall and fern out per se and then they seem to grow a bigger root system and then grow more asparagus. Another thing I've done, was add a few more crowns to my 2x8 bed to fill it out a little more, but that's kind of optional depending if that's something someone needs or wants to do. I also mounded up the dirt a little when I planted the crowns and spread the roots over the mound and then covered them with soil so they were planted on a little hill or mound kind of in the raised bed. One last thing I do, is before the winter or hard freeze comes, I'll chop the tall ferns down and heavily mulch the bed and wait for the spring. After I did those things, my asparagus bed is looking pretty full and sprouting pretty good. With those things said, asparagus is a crop for the patient though as many people know. But once it's established, normally like 2 years or so, then it seems to take less maintenance. I think it's all about those first couple of years of rich soil, mulch, good watering and letting them grow really tall. That has been my experience at least. I also wouldn't worry about the weeds in the bed too much because the asparagus is much stronger, unless its a really invasive one and then you may just have to hand pick the weeds out until they are gone and then continue the heavy mulch. But overall, the asparagus is super strong and should eventually take everything over. Hope that helps you or anyone that may find those things useful. :)

VERY NICE! im right next to ya in new brunswick working on my own garden, its about the same size as this, except i have a large portion of just rows but this year ive finally moved on to creating small beds in and extra space. (i also like the rocks as the border.. im a little cheap right now because of all the other expenses in starting a large garden, so rocks have worked pretty well for me) I've done my best to fight off the garden pests but i dont know how bad ns is but man the deer flies are unreal this year.

@maritimegardening4887

3 күн бұрын

Oh yes the deer flies are just getting started now. I can't be in the garden when they are active.

Regarding cardboard sourcing, a friend of mine just helped her kid move, and I ended up with 3 garbage bags full of broken-down boxes from a liquor store. All she did was walk in and ask if they had any boxes that hadn't been thrown out yet. I'm pretty sure I could also ask our little local independent grocery store and our local independent pharmacy. Mom and pop independent stores are usually pretty good options. A lot of food delivery services like hello fresh also use boxes that aren't plastic coated, and frequently their insulation is just a starch based foam that melts down when wet. But you may have to pull that out of a plastic sleeve. You could ask about that kind of stuff on local facebook groups, community bulletin boards, or just let your neighbors know that you're on the hunt. I'm finding that people like to help others, especially if it's easy, free, and helps themselves (getting rid of what they consider trash). Although if they see what you're doing, they might decide to use it themselves lol.

I get cardboard from the Starbucks by me fairly reliably. I think you mentioned getting coffee grounds from there one time so it wouldn't hurt to ask for boxes too.

Really interesting tour, thanks. It might be worth while checking the underside of your cardboard in your pak choi bed to see if there are any slugs lurking. It's their favourite sleeping spot after a night of feasting on seedlings especially if wet.. And if there aren't any, well you can be more sure it is the rabbits. But if there is one... ! Last year in the rain I was removing around 100 slugs per day from under wet cardboard around my 4 raised beds and it made a difference, but not enough that I can sow seeds and not have them destroyed. even bigger plants are dodgy. What a pain but not so bad as the japanese beetles which now swarm over downtown Halifx and Dartmouth (and have eaten all my azalea buds for this year.) Plus raspberries, grapes etc etc.

why don't you start a new asparagus bed in the bed with the new saskatoons next to the pond?

Great looking garden this year. I have been waiting for my beans to sprout. I wonder if I rushed it. …… dang. I’m out in the middle of B.C. We’ve had lovely warm days. High 20’s but cold nights. 5c this morning 😞

its been cold here in eastern Washington in the US....down into the low 40's and even into the 30's still.....we were fortunate this year to get some free loads of wood chips and some firewood....we're doing the cardboard thing between rows and covering them with the wood chips...it really helps....

Greg, as to your garden perimeter, I like your idea about cardboard and wood chips. To increase the effectiveness of the cardboard and wood chip barrier, use several layers of cardboard. And, consider putting the cardboard barrier on the outside of your fence. The greater the barrier the better it should work. In my garden, I am fighting the mint plants. With several layers of cardboard and four to six feet of barrier, I can keep the mint out of my garden beds, so far! Mint is one tough plant (weed)!

Do you watch Canadian Permaculture Legacy? Thinking plants added to pond.

Definitely bindweed. Every bit of root will sprout. It’s taken me years to remove it from my garden by pulling the tops often and going after the brittle white roots in the fall and spring.

Asparagus frustrated me too, it takes a few days before we get enough to feed us.

Throw a bush or tree in the triangle bed?

For the pond have you considered cattails ? Thanks for the tour. The bumble bees are loving my haskaps this year, I really like how fast they fill out in spring too.

@maritimegardening4887

Ай бұрын

I've threw seeds in last year but they didn't take

@79PoisonBreaker

Ай бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 They are in most ditches near me easy to dig up, I never even thought about seeds lol

Black flies!!! grrrr. Little damn vampires.

I didn't see sunchokes; did you stop growing them? You have several videos about them, and I've just started them this year so I was hoping to keep getting advice about them :)

@maritimegardening4887

28 күн бұрын

They're not really up yet that's all

Great tour Greg!

I had my first asparagus from the garden last evening. Yummm. I find that some of my asparagus don't break ground before mid-June. I'm assuming it is because I'm growing two varieties and one is a late variety. Mary Washington and Viking.

I mowed my lawn for the first time this week. I collected some of the clippings to mulch my garlic beds. My lovage looks as healthy as yours, I pretty much ignore it. I lost a few herbs this winter and I’ve had to replace them. Otherwise, I see seeds germinating in my beds, crossing my fingers. Tomato plants are hardening off. Waiting to direct-sow beans, cucumbers, summer squash. Bring on the summer.

@maritimegardening4887

Ай бұрын

Another season is upon us sir!

Hey Greg with Maritime Gardening. Regarding your pokchoi bed, or any new direct seed bed or transplant bed, I've been experimenting with adding a few tablespoons of wood ash on top of the ground around the perimeter of my transplants or diect seeds when I plant them. I've been doing it with my tomato transplants recently and also some pumpkin seeds. It seems to be working well and can be used around any new type of transplant or direct seed. I just keep a bucket of wood ash now and use a little around each transplant or direct seed each time I plant. It seems to stop the small bugs and stuff from wanting to chew up my transplants or direct seedlings. It even seems to prevent snail damage as well. The little bugs and snails seem to not like the dry wood ash and seems to keep them away long enough for the transplant to establish. I'm still experimenting with this method although it seems promising. I just thought I would comment and share that with you or anyone having problems with rollie pollies, snails and other similar bugs. I've had the same issue with some of my transplants over the years and I may have possibly found a good method to save some transplants. It just keeps them away from the transplants long enough to let the transplant or seed establish and grow. Rollie pollies, snails and such mainly like wet areas and new vegetation or any mulch or old vegetables laying around so mainly I try to clear a small area of any mulch or old plant matter and then add the woodash around the transplant or direct seed when I plant it. You can even add a tablespoon of woodash every few days until the transplant or direct seed is big enough, but normally one or two applications has been working for me. After I feel the transplant or direct seed is strong enough and growing, then I'll add some mulch around the plant like grass clippings or whatever. Wood ash is also a good fertilizer in small amounts at a time. This experiment is for those small bugs though, so if you're having issues with rabbits as well I'm not sure this would work for them, although who knows maybe it would. I think starting the pokchoi or similar things from transplants can help too sometimes, like you mentioned. Sometimes with those types of small seeds, I'll still start them outside when the time is right, but I will start them on a table or something in the garden off of the ground in little cell trays of sorts and then transplant them out when they're big enough or a few inches tall. I don't start everything as transplants but the smaller more delicate seeds, I've had success with the transplant method. After that, if I feel a transplant is delicate or is a special plant I really like, I will follow the wood ash method mentioned above for the transplant. I really don't put wood ash around everything, really just the things I know may have an issue and want to save per se. Hope that helps. Keep up the cool videos. :)

@phyconinga

Ай бұрын

I also have been fed up with the snails and slugs in my garden and sought to find a solution. Since I heat my house with wood I always have lots of ash so I've started sprinkling it around all the plants they go after. It works! But I think too much is also bad for some plants. But I'm going to keep doing this.

@maritimegardening4887

Ай бұрын

too much will raise the pH of the soil and inhibit plant growth - wood ash has a pH of about 11

@ProofGardens

Ай бұрын

@maritimegardening4887 Yea too much will, but not a little, which is the idea. The whole point was to save plants or seedlings, and some of the work done to plant them. Raising the ph with a little wood ash around each plant to save them is minor in the scheme of things. The amount suggested, with the size of bed you have is negligible. I wouldn't discount trying the idea because of a tablespoon of wood ash around a few plants. I mean you mentioned yourself that you added and mixed lime into your soil in one of your beds which could be way more alkaline than a few tablespoons of wood ash to prevent losing plants or seedlings. Again, just a suggestion.

Bindweed! it's growing up all around our chicken yard/orchard fence. It's awful. I've heard the best solution is burning but that's not an option for us as the fence has wooden posts.

Great tour. So excited for you to try some Saskatoons this year. Glad to see the blooms coming on them. I’m glad you were able to take some shoots from beside the main plant. When you go to make your jam sometimes I mix Saskatoons and blueberries or sometimes use some apple in my jam. I love the flavour of Saskatoons but they do have bigger seeds. Anyway enjoy.

@maritimegardening4887

Ай бұрын

Can't wait!

Nice garden tour. Do you plant your potatoes in soil or straw?

@maritimegardening4887

12 күн бұрын

I put them about 6" deep then mulch with whatever I have. This year it's leaves - some years it's straw/hay

I like the new look, its refreshing!

A great garden! I'm a new gardener - is the fence there to keep deer out? If you didn't have the fence, would you lose your crops? Thanks R

@maritimegardening4887

8 күн бұрын

The fence is there for deer, rabbits, porcupine, racoons - etc. I'd lose a lot of things if the fence wasn't there :)

@rogerkenworthy6380

8 күн бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 Thanks and now I know my first task! All the best and I've sub to your very informative channel. R

When you say last time for strawberries in that spot, are the plants old or will they transplant?

@maritimegardening4887

Ай бұрын

They are old and done

Does the added sand help to keep slugs down? I heard they do not like sand. (Maybe they do like sand and they were trolling some gardening sites masquerading as "helpful advice???)"

@maritimegardening4887

Ай бұрын

The sand does nothing :)

@ProofGardens

Ай бұрын

@gregbluefinstudios4658 Adding sand definitely does something, but really need to have the sand around the plant or source. Not a whole bunch per se, but some sand is definitely effective in areas to reduce bug pressure. For example, one of the main points in one of MGs videos was to add sand in his pathways to reduce ticks etc, so sand definitely has a purpose for several things

I thought Asparagus would be easy. Planted 10 and i get very little because they don't seem to over winter

@ProofGardens

Ай бұрын

Hey @grantraynard, I added a comment to the main video section with some things I did to get my asparagus bed growing. It is a challenging one to grow. It's probably taken me 2 or 3 years to get it well established. As mentioned in my main comment, I could suggest keep adding good soil, a heavy mulch in the winter and water well every couple of weeks. Also a key thing I found was to let them grow really tall the first year or so. Even though you want to pick them, letting them grow tall encourages more roots and more asparagus. I had to also add a few more asparagus crowns to my bed to fill it out more as I mentioned as well. Hope that helps and good luck. :)

The weed looks like bindweed