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 : )

sunflower shoots

Altho' they're wonderful to have all year 'round, I can't think of a better time of year than January and February to be growing sunflower shoot greens! And if you grow pea shoots too, a salad of a mix of the two is.....well, I can't think of a more delicious home-grown fresh winter-time salad. Easily grown indoors in the depths of winter, in very little space and takes very little time from planting to plate. Amazing.

A friend of mine calls these "Sunnys" . Here they are in a grow tray on a sunny day, reaching for the sunshine. Seeing them do this makes me want to call them Sunnys too.

A sea of Sunnys in their grow trays. On a not-so-Sunny day. Almost ready to harvest! Sunflower shoot greens are chock full of goodness. Lots of protein, iron and calcium. Vitamins A, B, C and E. And more good stuff that I can't remember right now. They're so uniquely delicious and quite lovely to look at on a dinner plate too.

If you're interested in growing some of these and you haven't tried it yet, start with a pot or tray you have, fill it with potting soil and enough sunflower seed to cover the top of the soil. Soak your seed first (for a day) and when you plant it, cover the seed with just a little bit of soil (you should still be able to see the seed on top of the soil) to help settle it in and keep the seed moist. They'll start sending out little white roots and before you know it, the greens will appear!

If you live on Mayne Island and are interested, contact me about bulk seed for sunny growing.

Here are some bags I harvested today to take to Happy Tides. If you're not growing these right now, there will be lots available there for purchase tomorrow and Saturday...and through February too!

Our supper tonight: bangers and mash with a gigantic pile of pea shoot and sunflower shoot greens. Yum!

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!