Backyard Garden 2009

For the past 3 years we've planted a traditional type of row garden in a 14' x 40' and 20' x 6' sections of our backyard.  When we bought the house from my parents, there was a large ornamental flower bed that we slowly converted to a full vegetable garden.  Not really knowing what we were doing, we started slow, learned along the way and know there's much more to learn. 

This picture is the only one I could find that showed the entire garden.  Even though it's a bit small you can see the rows and the 2 apple trees in the back that we planed last spring.  The large tree in the top left corner will be moved as this year we want to move towards raised garden beds.  We want to go down that road for a few reasons:

Dogs: We have a 3 year old and an 8mth old pair of black labs.  They are great but the little one is a digger and chewer, so this is one of the main reasons for the change.  She already chewed up my raspberry bushes planted last year, which was my fault for putting her out where she could reach them, what was I thinking??  More on my remedies for this later.

Square Foot Gardening: The last few years we basically bought our seeds on a whim without much planning.  This worked out OK, but we didn't space our our plantings and ended up with too much lettuce or cherry tomatoes all at once, not enough potatoes, beans or carrots to carry us into winter, etc...  This year we are going to plan for preserves and follow intensive square foot gardening practices to increase our yields and maximize the space we have.  Also want to try companion planting of mutual beneficial vegetables and flowers.

Extending Growing Season: I've seen a few articles on using 8' pvc pipe and cover to create nice row covers to extend the growing season here in our Great White North when frost comes earlier then we want, so want to test it this year along with possibly experimenting on a few removable "Cold Frame" cover for the beds.

Ease of Management:I've never worked with raised beds before, but from I've read and feedback I've received from others, they are easier to keep up and work on.  Ours will be hemlock, which will match our fence when it goes up.  Everything is at an arms length away and the paths in between give you ample room to move about, also important for the dogs and kids ;o)

Esthetics's:I honestly find raised beds more neat and esthetically pleasing to the eye.  Since my wife is a photographer, we have a few other backyard projects to create good photo ops, which will tie into the beds as well.

I'm still playing with the design and layout, but we can easily go with eight 4' x 12' raised beds in the main area and another two 4' x 8' in the back.  This year we're going to test growing potatoes in a "potato stack" so that will be in addition to the raised beds and another post all together.

Putting money away for this project already and will purchase the hemlock for the raised beds in end of April or start of May depending on how the thaw goes... can't wait and will do a follow up post including pictures ;o)

Sometimes I feel like I have A.D.D.  When I start researching a topic through books and/or online, one thing leads to another, then to another, and before you know it I have 10 new projects on my to-do list.  I always have a notebook with me to try and keep my overzealous  plans in order and in check. 

I am doing research on winter gardening in my climate for next year.  We live in Eastern Canada just north of Maine, so we get cold snaps and lots of snow.  I got started reading a couple books that touch on the subject: "Intensive Gardening Round the Year" and "Solar Gardening", that I picked up from the Library.  I've done research on Cold Frame Gardening which was the route I was going before I stumbled on a few very inspiring YouTube videos about Dome Greenhouses and people actually using them to grow during the winter months in Northern climates and in the mountains.

One of the sites I'm checking out is Growing Spaces.  There are a few kits out there, but I like theirs so far and they have a lot of information available.  Here is their introduction YouTube video:

Here is another great video by PeakMoment that goes through a large 52ft year round growing dome project 6000 ft above sea level in Colorado.  Pretty sweet, but a bit large for my backyard ;o)

I am building or buying a greenhouse this year for sure, and was leaning towards traditional passive solar ones, but now I'm really liking the dome design.  It has a fluid nature to it and the dome design is perfect for our windy winters and snow loads.  I would love to buy a DIY kit, but cost is an issue and shipping is $$.  If I can find a design to piece it together and find some place local to purchase and cut polycarbonate panels, it is doable... dream dream dream ;o)

If anyone is currently winter gardening in a similar climate I would love to see and hear your experiences.

I had the opportunity to watch Les Stroud's documentary called Off The Grid.  It's a great film documenting how Les Stroud, Sue Jamison and their 2 young children bought a 150 acre abandoned 1930's farm land in Northern Ontario and started what a lot of us dream of: living a sustainable life closer to the land.

Les Stroud is probably better known for the TV series Survivorman where he spends 7 days marooned and surviving in various hostile locations throughout the world.  He filmed this documentary between seasons when he and his family decided to take the leap into this great adventure. 

I like the documentary because of its personal approach.  If you follow Survivorman you will see it follows the same format of narration and self interview.  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised that it is not a be all end all film of latest technology stuffed with technical data and crap.  It's really a story of how and ordinary family can accomplish living a more simple life, off-grid and without a deep pocket book.  How the move affects different aspects of their lives and the overall pros and cons of this lifestyle change.  One of my favorite parts of the film is how they go over their concerns with how the move will affect their children.  Being a father myself, I could relate to their struggles of trying to have the best of both worlds: Urban activities and Rural lifestyle.

I would recommend this great documentary to anyone wanted to see an overview of what it would take to rebuild a homestead and live off-grid.  You can only fit in so much  in an hour and 10 minutes so it's an overview not a step by step blueprint, however there is a ton of great information packed in.  I watched it 3 times and still goign through notes of things to research myself. 

I would love to see a follow-up to this film where there is more detail in the rain water harvesting System and well, update on the new cabin, update on the integrated solar/wind system such as how they calculated their electrical consumption to size the system and how close they are to their numbers analysing their actual use... but most of all it would be great just to have an update on how the family is adapting to the move ;o)

If your interested, you can purchase a copy of the full documentary or if you're lucky you can catch it in 2 one-hour series from Canada's OLN (Outdoor Life Network) or and affiliate.

Gardeners of all levels can benefit from composting and creating that "Gardener's Black Gold".  There are many different methods of composting and although most of us know we throw in green waste such as garden clippings and kitchen scraps with brown waste like fallen leaves in a pile then we get nice compost, do we really know how composting works?  There are many different methods for composting and each have their pros and cons, however the process of decomposition is the same for each method at the core.

Decomposition of organic material is a natural occurrence.  When leaves and plant life fall to the ground in the forest, teams of micro organisms break down the plant material into smaller and smaller components until the end result is nutrient full material called humus aka compost.  The humus returns the nutrients back to the soil for other living plants and trees until they die off and the cycle continues.  This is the natural cycle we want to escalate by creating the ideal "meal plan" and environment for these micro organisms.

As soon as you start your compost pile, millions of bacteria and fungi start the process.  They break down the material feeding on the carbon for energy and nitrogen to build protein in order to multiply.  All this work creates heat and the pile will heat up.  As the compost heap heats up, the bacteria and fungi that started the process will begin to die off.  This is a good thing because each stage of decomposers work within specific temperature ranges and when they die off they become food for the next stage of decomposers and so on until the job is done.

Bacteria that start the process are called Psychrophilic bacteria and are most active about the 13°C (55°F).  They do function below this temperature but in increasignly slower rates until the freezing mark at which point decomposition pretty much ceases.  The Psychrophilic bacteria are there to do the prep work and get the pile up to temp.

The next stage kicks in with Mesophilic bacteria.  Mesophilic bacteria does most of the composting work between 8°C and 50°C (46-120°F).  These guys produce acids, carbon dioxide and more heat until they create an environment they can't live in and die off for the next stage of bacteria.

At this stage, Thermophile bacteria comes in and feeds furthering the decomposition process.  This is the last stage in bacteria and fungi process.  The ideal temperature at this stage is 50°C-90°C (120-194°F).  The Thermophile will work at the pile until there is no more material left for them to break down, at which point the heap temperature will start to drop and the maturation stage starts.

The maturation stage is what we can see visually when we turn the compost pile.  We see larger organisms like worms, ants, centipedes, millipedes, etc...  Once the pile is completely broke down where you can no longer recognize any organic material and the compost has a nice earth smell to it, it's finished and ready for the garden.

It's worth noting that the stages above are in perfect composting conditions.  Our backyard compost heaps will rarely get to the high end Thermophile stage.  This is why it's not recommended to compost diseased plants, dairy products, oils or animal materials, which require a constant temperature of approx 60°C (140°F).   Even without reaching these temperatures, our backyard heaps will break down nicely, just take a bit longer.  Our job is to help speed up the process by giving it exactly what it needs Oxygen, Organic Material and Water.

The various stages obviously don't happen all at the same time within the entire compost heap.  Heat will build up from the core of the heap and propagate outwards, but we speed up the process by turning the pile about once a week.  Turning the pile adds oxygen and distributes the heat throughout the pile evening out the decomposition process.  It's also important while turning to verify the moister of the pile.  Rule of thumb is it should be as most as a wet sponge.  If it's too dry it slow down the process and if it's too wet it will invite anaerobe bacteria which causes a smelly compost pile.  If it's too dry just water it down and check it again the following week when you turn it.  If you live in an area that gets a lot of rain it would be beneficial to have your compost pile up off the ground, like a pallet bin propped up on cinder blocks.  This will ensure proper draining and a tarp on top of the pile will stop it from getting too wet.

Composting is one of those things that can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.  For me, I started small with a home made pallet bin, but as my experience is growing, I'm going to build a 3 bin so I can create more compost easily.  You don't have to be fancy, you just have to start ;o)

Courtesy of TheEnergyDetective.com

A while back I wrote a post called Help Reduce Electrical Bill Consumption.   That post focused on using electricity monitoring devices to help identify waste/phantom loads, reduce overall consumption and have a method to monitor daily electricity usage.  Since that article i bought the TED 1001 unit and have been using it for the past 6 months.  Here is a follow-up review and what I think of it.

Install instructions are very easy to follow and I had it wired within a half hour.  If you are not comfortable with opening up the electrical panel, please contact a licensed electrician.  The unit comes with a Transmitter and Gateway.  Follow their simple install instructions.  Paraphrasing the install: connect the MTU clip-ons to the electrical mains that feed the electricity to your electrical panel the wire the Transmitter (MTU) to the breaker and you're done.The MTU sends the data through the existing electrical wiring of the home.  The Gateway/receiver will receive the packets once a second through any electrical outlet in the home.  This was one of my favorite features cause I wanted the receiver to be flexible in location, but not have to fumble with batteries.  To me this is a great feature.

Once I had the receiver plugged in and receiving data, it took about 10mins using the instructions to configure for my utilities 2 tiered billing system.  Again the menu driven setup and instructions are very well detailed and easy to follow.

Next I installed Footprints data logging software and connected the Gateway to my computer via USB.  Software has 2 parts: TED Watcher and TED Viewer.  The TED Watcher is a low real-estate, neat little screen you can run on the desktop that simply displays the current kW or $$ or CO2 usage and does not interfere with desktop usage.  The TED Viewer is the visual interface used to display a live dashboard containing Present Readings, Real-Time KW Usage and Recordings (TED Footprints Screenshots).  I can describe them here, but pictures are worth a thousand words so check out the screenshots.

I would have to estimate that since installing our unit, we have reduced our overall energy consumption by at least 10% so far.  It's hard to gauge since we were heating with Heat pump and E.Furnace but now 100% wood so although our monthly power bills have gone down by a good sum, I don't have enough historical data to say how much was saved by monitoring TED, setting up the Load Profile and then making changes to drop phantom loads and use larger appliances more efficiently.

Courtesy of Greentelecomlive.com

Since I bought the 1001 unit, The Energy Detective has released the new 5000 series unit.  As much as I love my 1001 unit, I think I'm already going to upgrade to their 5000 Series which has all the same features of  my 1001 unit plus:

• Works with Google PowerMeter
• Realtime energy monitoring via Internet or mobile device, not just local computer like Footprints
• Wireless PDA looking display with rechargeable batteries and charging cradle
• Optional Wind/Solar package
• Net-Metering capable
• Can be used with Home Automation Systems

The options I love the most with the new unit is the wireless rechargeable display and the fact that the Gateway, when connected to your wireless router, is available through your favorite browser.  Right now I have a dedicated computer that is physically attached to my 1001 gateway, which is great, but it would be awesome to use any computer in the house or with a few firewall changes on my router, be able to view my stats from anywhere I have Internet access. 

In conclusion to this long post, I would recommend the TED to anyone, and I do to anyone who will listen.  You WILL save money just by being consious of your consumption and even more as you fine tune your usage.  Cost will depend on what model/options you want, the number of electrical panels you want to monitor and if you want the footprints display... worth every penny spent so far for me.  I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who is using TED or any other electrical monitoring product....cheers!