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I tried various methods to make my garden plan/map for the previous post. I tried drawing, but I realized quite quickly I don't have the skills to make an eye pleasing map. Next I tried MS Paint and realized I need gridlines. My plants were doing the wave in the rows. Next up I tried this program and quickly realized it wasn't up to snuff, but trudged on. This garden plan/map is not up to scale so the measurements might be a wee bit off. I quickly realized designing and

Spacing vegetables adequately is important due to preventing crowding, diseases, adequate air flow, and support healthy growth. Spacing plants too close together will mean decreased yields. Spacing is also important with container gardening. I often have to tell people putting 3 indeterminate tomato plants in a 24" pot is a very bad idea. Also crowding pots and not allowing air flow means diseases might start happening. Every vegetable plant has it's own requirement. W

Having a plan either in life or in the garden makes things easier. It gets you from point a to point b or point z much easier. It can also minimize surprises, like planting 10 zucchini plants and almost filling your bathroom with zucchinis (for my market garden I only plant 10-15 plants and it's plenty for my markets). So what should you consider when making a garden? Where are you going to plant? Containers, raised beds, or in the ground. Soil. I will go into more deta

An older post from 2021 detailing how I garden and the challenges I face.

Some seed packets have a wealth of information on them and some seed packets are bare bones. What does all the wording and numbers on the seed package mean? The year is when the seeds were packaged. 2020 means it was packaged last year. The yellow box contains information on planting. A tip for planting seeds is to plant two times the width, or diameter, of the seed. For super fine seeds like oregano and thyme I cover with just a dusting of soil. Days to maturity is when

This is an older post from 2021 on what seed companies LP Farm Store use to order from.

This is an older post.

An older post from July 2 2020.

Growing most herbs is quite easy and my favorite blog on herbs is the Herb Gardener and a general gardening site Gardening Know How. It provides information on how to grow herbs and lots of interesting recipes. Basil : it likes full sun and the soil consistently needs to be wet. One way to know if a plant needs water or not is to put your finger in the soil, if the soil feels dry give it a drink of water. Also the leaves can give a lot of information: droopy leaves me

Gardening is very rewarding and with a little research very doable. Gardening can be done in containers, raised beds, or gardens. To have the most success you need to know whether you direct seed the veggie seed or need to start the veggie seed inside. Now not everyone has a grow/plant room set up so buying plants would be the route to go. Some veggies are direct seed or start inside, it's a choice. I start my pumpkin seeds in my greenhouse because of critter pressure (m

Imagine you are sitting in a toasty hot tub and the outside temperature is 0 Celsius or 32 Fahrenheit. What happens when you get out of the hot tub? You're freezing and want to get some place warm. When you buy plants/seedlings from a greenhouse they are used to a tropical and almost perfect environment. They're not used to the cold, direct sunlight or to the wind so you need to gradually introduce them to the these conditions. Somethings to keep in mind: Peppers and toma

A list of mints that LP Farm Store grew in 2020.

Step 1 . Scout out where you want to grow. Do you want to grow on a balcony, raised beds, or right in the ground? What kind of light does the area get? It is very important to note what kind of light the area gets in the morning and afternoon. Vegetable plants generally want full sun. I have grown vegetables on an east facing balcony successful so if you're willing to take a gamble vegetables can be grown without full sun. Step 2 . If growing in containers you need to c

How to grow lavender.

Bees are super important to a garden. There most important role is to help pollinate flowers. Some plants have female and male flowers and these plants rely on bees transferring the pollen. This is a really interesting article on male and female flowers. This is an interesting article on what would happen if all the bees would die off. There are certain flowers that bees, butterflies, and humming birds prefer. Plants such as Milkweed, Bee Balm, Yarrow, and Lavender.

Tomatoes come in a variety of shapes, sizes, weights, tastes, and colors. Some varieties are perfect for salads, others for sandwiches, and others for sauces. Cherry tomatoes are tiny marble sized or slightly bigger tomatoes. They are usually sweet and juicy. Cherries are perfect for snacking, Greek salad, drying, and so much more. Varieties: Sungold, Indigo Cherry, Red Pear. Roma/Paste/Plum these tend to be drier and perfect are for making salsa, sauces, and canning.

Where to buy seeds? Over the years I have bought from many different seed companies.

A post from 2020 talking about the different varieties of garlic.

What growing zone are you in? What are frost dates? Knowing this information can save you money!

One of the most confusing thing with growing plants is where to plant them so that they will actually thrive, grow, and produce. If you look at plant tags most will state if the plant likes full sun, part sun, part shade, or shade. It is important to know what kind of light requirements your yard, balcony, or deck has and what kind of light it gets in spring vs summer vs fall. Putting a shade loving plant in an area where it will receive 14+ hours of sun will doom the plan

Flowers are so versatile. They add colors to gardens and they add colors to our homes through bouquets. Flowers can also add color to beverages, food, and desserts. There are many edible flowers and the bonus is there are a lot of them that grow well in containers so you get double the benefits: color outside and color on your food. When choosing flowers to eat make sure they are edible and that they haven't been sprayed with chemicals. Make sure to give the flowers a go

An older post from 2020 detailed the complicated process of ordering seeds for my 3 acre plus garden and patch.

At LP Farm Store a variety of winter squash is grown. This is an older post from 2019. New squashes have been added in 2025.

I grow many different varieties of tomatoes. Romas, slicers, heirlooms, and cherries. Romas are meatier and less juicy. They are used for canning, making juice, and sauces. I grow red, pink, black/purple, yellow, orange, green, and speckled/striped. Tomatoes are one of the best veggies. There is so much you can do with them: tomato sandwiches, greek salads, tomato sauce, eat them raw with salt and pepper, and ........................ Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fru

An older post from 2019 giving an July update on how the gardening is growing.

This is an older post from 2019 detailing what kind of flowers I grow and future plans.

Sweet Corn and tomatoes are two of my favorite veggies. I also love Ornamental corn. My dad loves telling children that he hand paints each kernel. In Manitoba sweet corn is ready in August and Ornamental corn is ready in September. There are a few different types of corn: sweet dent flint popcorn flour pod Dent corn is what is found in fields and is used for animal feed, is a base for high-fructose corn syrup, and other things. Flint corn is often referred to as Indian C

Really, I don't cook and no I'm not starving and yes I do know how to cook. So than the question is why don't I cook? Cooking for one is not fun and having 5 cats makes cooking difficult. So what do you eat? In summer time I love Greek salad, nuked potatoes, eating raw corn on the cob, and toasted tomato sandwiches. In winter time pizza is a go to. Having a garden and loving to cook means the meals you can make is endless. If you don't have a garden, but love cooking ch

I grow very few radishes and no rutabaga. The reason I grow radishes is to mark my carrot rows. Carrots grow incredibly slow and radishes grow incredibly fast so it shows me where my row is. I found radishes to be spicy, I'm not a fan of overly spicy or heat. All Recipes apparently has over 100 recipes for radishes! The rutabaga, swede, or neep is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip. The roots are eaten in a variety of ways, and

I sometimes get asked what's the difference between a pumpkin and a winter squash? I really don't have a answer to that question. They both belong to the Cucurbita family and than they branch off into other families. All pumpkins are winter squash: mature fruit of certain species in the genus Cucurbita. Subspecies include pepo, moschata, argyrosperma, and maxima. Quite confusing so I just say a pumpkin is a squash! I grow approximately 60 different varieties of pumpkin

This is an older post from 2019 describing how I garden, which is chaos gardening.

I grow many different types of potatoes. To grow potatoes one needs seed potatoes which can be bought at big box stores, greenhouses, or in Canada Eagle Seed Potatoes . Norlad: Early red skinned, white on the inside potatoes. Yukon Gold: Yellow skin and flesh. Russet: starchy, netted brown skin, and white on the inside. Russian Blue: Blue on the outside and inside. Amarosa: fingerling potato with a smooth bright red skin, and deep red flesh. Linzer Delikatess: they have ye

I love growing hot peppers, but I don't like eating hot peppers! The hottest pepper is the Carolina Reaper at 1.5-2.2 million scoville units. Pepper spray has 5.3 million scoville units. When looking at the scoville scale you'll find that peppers tend to vary in their heat units. My theory is because of the ripeness factor and if you eat the seeds or not. I sell Carolina Reapers, but I make sure I warn people that it's a risky endeavor. On the tamer side is sweet bell p

I grow 3 types of onions: red, yellow (sweet Spanish), and white. Onions tend to be a staple that everyone uses in cooking. Personally I dislike onions and if I find them in my food I will pick them out. Though I do love onion rings, mmm. Common onions are normally available in three colour varieties. Yellow onions, are full-flavoured and are the onions of choice for everyday use, with many cultivars bred specifically to demonstrate this sweetness. Yellow onions turn a ric

The veggie from space aka the alien veggie! kohl·​ra·​bi | \ kōl-ˈrä-bē (Call rah bee). Its unique name is derived from the German word for cabbage (kohl) and turnip (rabi). I love this veggie, it's cool looking and tastes good. One way to eat it is like an apple. The peel is not edible so you need to peel it, which can be a pain. So cut the kohlrabi into 4s or 8s and eat like an apple slice, just don't eat the peel. Some people like sprinkling a little salt and/or pep

This is an older post from 2019 on cutworms and ways on combatting them.