greenhouse improvement project

This is the new shelving that we've just put into the glass greenhouse where I grow all the shoots, microgreens and late winter/early spring transplants.  Our friend and thoughtful carpenter/builder Tony just finished this job for me last week.
I'm so thrilled to have four levels of sturdy growing space now!

Still to do:  grow lighting installed under the bottom row of shelving where I'll grow some of the transplants I start for the outdoor garden and for market sales.

A few folks have asked if I've decided to stop winter shoot growing because they haven't seen them on the shelves at Happy Tides and Farm Gate since Christmas time.  No!! is the answer, (I love growing them in winter) ....just needed to do this work in the greenhouse and it meant that I couldn't grow for a short time while we reorganized the space.  January seemed like the best time for that.

This is what it looked like before the new setup.  

By the way,  I took the above photo on the day of the winter shoot growing workshop that I mentioned way back in October.  It's the only photo I have of that day.  Seems that once everyone arrived, I was so busy talking that I forgot to snap some more shots.  Ten of us squeezed into the greenhouse to talk about growing pea shoots, sunflower shoots and purple radish shoots.  This photo shows the containers I planted for a couple weeks before workshop day (one a day of each) to show the succession of growth in an unheated greenhouse during the cool season. 

Radish on top shelf, pea shoots on second shelf and sun shoots on bottom.  On the table in front, the pea and sun seeds are soaking in bowls.  Everyone chose one and planted a container to take home.

There wasn't room for everyone who wanted to join in because the greenhouse just isn't big enough  and it was too cold outside to gather out there...so I'll probably have another one of these workshops this spring sometime and if it's warm enough for us to be outside, more people can come.  

So back to the new shelving project:  While I liked the old metal wire shelving, it didn't fill the whole length of the greenhouse wall, it was wobbly,  saggy, not strong enough and not the right width for the trays.

  So it was time to get the space working more efficiently since I'm beginning to need more of it. 

We took out the old tables and shelving and piled everything up on the other side of the room so Tony could get to work.  A good time to wash all the indoor glass too!

Building in progress......there is now space for 325 grow trays and a possibility of 400+ with another couple minor shelving/table additions in the future.  Exciting!  That'll keep me busy...and a couple other people too!

More greenhouse improvement:  In December Tony built this addition onto the back of the greenhouse.

  For the last couple years, I've had a lot of troubles trying to grow pea and sun shoots effectively in the warmer summer months.  The greenhouse gets too hot.  Especially for the pea shoots.  They overheat  and rot and it's just not any fun.  So, first time this happened, I moved them to a growing area I set up outside. Seemed like a reasonable and good idea.  Except that sprouting pea seed is mouse and bird candy and it looked like they were coming from all corners of the island to congregate on my trays and have a feast. What a mess!  Gross.  And heart breaking too...all that work, what a waste!!

So after a couple years of persevering and fussing over the problem,  this is my more determined effort to solve it.  I will outsmart the varmints, once and for all, oh yes I will!  A cooler pea shoot growing screenhouse (other shoots are happy to continue to grow inside) with a skookum foundation and 1/4 inch hardware cloth to keep out the birds and mice.  I hope it works!  fingers crossed.  Thanks Tony for your great work!

A serious concrete foundation to seal the ground from determined varmints.

Taking no shortcuts!

Tony with bags of concrete.

This was a significant investment for my small operation......a real commitment.  But with more and more requests from off-island stores and restaurants for the shoots and microgreens I grow, it seems like a good idea.  It's time to get ready to grow microgreens and shoots more efficiently and expand production!

Getting the frame up.

While regular window screen would be fine to use to keep the birds out, mice can chew right through it at alarming speed.  Hoping this 1/4 inch welded and galvanized steel hardware cloth will do the trick!  The roof can be covered with hoophouse plastic, if I need to keep rain out.

 Still to do: shelving installed in the screenhouse just like inside the greenhouse.  We'll paint and stain the new wood in the summer after the rains have stopped and things dry out.

Here we go!  The first trays of 2012 have been planted a couple days ago.  Since it has been -7 degrees C at the garden overnight, I've sat them on heat mats and covered them up.  

They're sprouting now and they'll be fine 'til it warms up a bit in a couple days.  So look for pea shoots and sunflower shoots back on the shelves first week of February!

growing shoots!

A shipment of pea and sunflower seed for shoot growing arrived last week.  So I've filled up my seed bins once again and we're all ready for the winter-time growing season. 

A couple of the sunflower seed bins.

I love the feeling of abundance and well-being I get when I look at all the full bins.  No matter what happens, we'll be sure to have fresh salad greens all winter long!

These are some sunflower and pea seed soaking in their soaking bowls, almost ready to plant in their grow trays.  I soak the correct  amount of seed for one production tray in each bowl.

It really feels so good to grow our own nutritious greens in the winter-time. 

Did you know that 50g of pea shoots contains about 40% of our recommended daily amount of Vitamin C?!!  That's very easily gobbled up in one lunch time salad. The bags I package up for Farm Gate Store and Happy Tides here on Mayne Island are 100g.  So a salad for 2 made with the shoots in those bags gives 2 people a great Vit C boost! They also contain loads of Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin B6 and Folate.  Lots of fiber, calcium and protein too as well as Chlorophyl, Iron,  Amino Acids....the list goes on.  

Sunflower shoots are also valuable morsels of concentrated nutrition.  Vitamins A, B, C and E, Amino Acids, Protein, Calcium, Chlorophyll, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Phosphorous, Potassium, Zinc.....

So after a few years of growing these for us and after a couple years of growing for the stores and  farmer's market in our community, I'm feeling happy about the idea of getting together with some interested folks to share some ideas about how I do it.  So many people have been asking.  So many people want to grow their own.

My friend Kit created this sweet ad and flyer for me and it'll be in the November MayneLiner community magazine to help me get the word out.  I'll print some flyers for island bulletin boards too.  I'm so excited to see how this goes.  I wonder if anyone'll want to come!  

A bowl full of pea shoots topped with sunflower shoots...a light dressing is all you need, but sometimes I like to add some crumbled feta, gomashio.....dried cranberries are good with it too.  The simple ideas are endless.

Yummmmmy.  This is what it's all about : )

pea shoot season

The last couple weeks have brought us ideally mild winter pea shoot growing conditions in the unheated greenhouse and the greens are doing very well! Creating beautiful green peashooty goodness fills much of my day these days....

Look at these healthy, juicy stems happily standing tall in their grow tray!

It seems everyone's craving some freshly harvested and locally grown spring green fare at this time of year so I have lots of pea shoot grow trays on the go right now.

Lots of cutting and bagging....and still looking for a good solution to all those plastic bags.....

A new batch on their way to Happy Tides Health Foods this morning. If you're on Mayne Island and you're not growing your own pea shoots, it looks like there's going to be a good supply at Happy Tides this week and next week too so head on over and get 'em while you can!

Two trays after they've been harvested. I'm often asked by folks who are interested in growing pea shoots what I do with the used soil after I've cut the shoots. Below is a photo of one of my grow tray compost piles. I have a few of them around the garden, in spots where I want to develop a new growing bed. The soil becomes a thick mass of pea roots. Because the pea seed will continue producing shoots, new pea shoots grow up in the pile. Since I'm doing production growing, I need to keep it as simple and efficient as possible by just using the first cutting. I think of the second growth that happens in the pile as a nitrogen rich green manure crop that kind of creates that closed circle idea, in it's own unique pea shoot growing kind of way. These new growing areas are going to be beautiful, rich mounds of soil next year.

When you're growing smaller amounts for home use, the used soil is great to put on any home compost pile. It's probably a good idea to break up the mass of roots a bit to help it compost faster. You can also wait for the second growth and harvest it too before you compost the roots.

A fun thing I like to do at home from time to time, is grow the shoots in decorative pots and use them as table centerpieces....especially in the winter time! Beautiful, inspiring decor (especially for a gardener) and you can eat it too : )

spring greens

I've been so busy with spring garden work that I haven't been here for quite a while. Lots of growing and harvesting of spring greens going on in Christina's Garden these days! Thanks so much to everyone for appreciating all my efforts...I'm so happy to know you're all enjoying the spring salad greens I'm producing. It makes me feel so good that y'all love them so much! Here are some photos for those of you who've asked.....
A big trug full of baby spinach leaves destined for sale at Happy Tides Health Foods on Mayne Island. Waiting to be rinsed, weighed and bagged.

Me picking all those leaves in the hoophouse. A tedious job after a while. What a beautiful spring day it was!



Pea shoots growing in trays of SeaSoil potting mix in the seed starting greenhouse about a month ago. Some ready for harvest and some just seeded.


Cut, weighed and bagged, ready for delivery to Happy Tides.

Seeded a month ago, the spring lettuce mix and baby arugula is looking great. I'm now beginning to harvest the whole baby plants, microgreen style.





Best food ever. left to right: baby spinach leaves, baby arugula plants, baby lettuce plants.

Sunflower shoots growing in a tray of SeaSoil potting mix and below, some cut and mounded on a plate. Beautiful, tasty, very nutritious. Here's some interesting info I found online about sunflower shoots

That's all for now, gotta get to my work outside!

an indoor winter pea shoot garden

We've been enjoying delicious peashoot salads for the last 3 weeks. It has been a mild winter here on Mayne Island so we have lots of delicious greens and other veggies for eating still growing outside in the garden but there's just something about that fresh green new growth taste that is such a luxury and joy at this time of year. And for folks who live in snowier climes, it's really a treat!
Below is a photo of the first harvest of peashoots mixed with outdoor winter spinach. What a delicious wintertime salad, yum!!

I've been growing these decorative pots for the past 3 winters and almost everyone who sees them on my table wants to grow them too! They're really fun and easy to do.

So here's how I do it:

I begin by measuring how many peas I need to cover whatever pot I choose to use for growing. I then soak the pea seed in a bowl of water for about a day, making sure the water is covering all the peas by an inch or so because as they soak, they'll absorb alot of the water and I don't want them to dry out.

Once the peas have soaked, I fill the container with potting soil, making sure to leave quite a bit of space between the top of the soil and the top of the pot. This is because as the peas send out roots and greens, they'll expand and fill the space and if there's not enough of it, they'll pop out of the pot. That's what happened to me the first time I did this and it was very disappointing!

I water the soil to get it nice and moist and settle it into the pot. Then, I layer the pea seed on top so I can't see any soil through the peas. This is why it's important to measure how many peas I'll need for the pot I choose to use before I soak the seed. I don't want to waste any extra soaked seed and I also want to make sure I have enough to cover the soil nicely....

Then, I cover the seed with a very light layer of potting soil, just enough to keep the peas moist. Most of the time, I can still see some of the peas on top, they don't have to be completely covered. Also, I like to use a potting soil that's certified organic so I know there aren't any synthetic fertilizers or moisteners added to the mix that my food is growing in....something to think about....in this photo I'm using SeaSoil potting mix. I give it one last watering with a fine sprinkle from a watering can or my mister bottle works really well too.....I sit the pot in a plastic tray to catch water that drains.....I continue to water the top with a mister bottle to keep it moist (about twice a day) and I also keep the bottom tray filled with water...it'll wick up into the soil in the pot and soon I begin to see roots coming out of the bottom of the pot!.....and I wait and watch.....

The peas 4 days after they've been planted into their container....little white roots and bits of green appearing....exciting! See how they're expanding and filling up the top of the pot too.

6 days after planting in the pot....I think we're going to have a crop!!

Tadaaaa!! Ready for harvest.....8 days after planting, 9 days after soaking. The timing will vary depending on the temperature of the room....this container sat on the table very close to the warm woodstove so it grew quite quickly.....after the first cutting, I continue to water the pot and the peas will send out new shoots again!....and sometimes even a third time...by the third time though, I've noticed that they're not quite as tender and juicy as the first 2 cuttings...

Delicious and nutritious! I read somewhere that pea shoots are packed full of Vitamin C, Folic Acid and Vitamin A.