A Seed of Truth

Early spring is a pretty boring time in this house.  We look forlornly at our gardens and frozen ground and know, that even on beautiful sunny days of positive temperatures, we can’t plant until that magical weekend in May in fear that everything will freeze and die.  We have one maple tree that will give us sweet syrup.  It isn’t a sugar maple.  I think it’s a black maple and its syrup is sweet and yummy although not exactly “mapley”.  The tree is getting bigger and bigger, and although spring these days is very inconsistent for getting sap, at least it keeps us busy.  We get about a mason jar full every year.

This year though, things are different. In August last year we built a greenhouse.  When we moved into this house, there was a decrepit shed on a cement pad.  We quickly tore down the shed, but had no idea what to do with the cement pad until a year or so ago.  Now, I know how lucky I am: my husband is a tall, handsome builder, and together with the help of two strapping young boys we were able to get it all done in a week while we were on “vacation”.  We got two massive windows from kijiji, bought a new skylight, sliding door, cedar shakes and a steel roof.  We also had piles and piles of stones from an old pond that we finally got to make use of.

I’ve heard it called a “She Shed” on occasion, but I take exception to that term.  My husband and I spend hours in that greenhouse, planting, repotting, sitting in the sun.  Firstly, the greenhouse is insulated, we used a product called rockwool, which is water resistant and therefore it’s warm and quiet in there.  We also were amazingly lucky with the windows we got from Kijiji….While they are almost as old as I am, they’re not drafty, they open for summer cross breeze and they are beautiful and wooden on the inside.  The inside is also cedar clad on the walls, cedar is good for keeping away bugs and it will never need to be painted or stained.  We also heat the thing…This year we’ll be installing solar panels to provide us with the power, but for now we just have a temporary cord running out there to power the heater and the ceiling fan.

Why the ceiling fan?  Two big reasons.  First is that it strengthens the plants. If there was no breeze in there, the plants would be weak and stringy and not at all prepared to live in outdoor conditions when the weather changes.  Second, the moving air dries out the soil and leaves, so the plants are required to draw in more nutrient rich moisture from the soil and grow a bigger root structure in the process.  Because of the direct sunlight for most of the day, and the constantly warm temperature, we’ve been able to fill the greenhouse with plants that don’t normally survive here and we’ve been able to try out seeds that we never would have attempted before.   We have palms and hibiscus, orchids and potatoes, avocado, peanuts, salad greens, peas and bok choi.  There’s not much we won’t attempt, we’ve even started lemon seeds so the plant will eventually grow in our greenhouse.  We compost everything that doesn’t work and we don’t feel bad about the power that we’re using or the new products we had to purchase for the greenhouse, because we’ve used it all winter long.

Here in Southern Canada, we’re having some pretty wild winters lately.  The polar vortex from climate change is creating WILD swings in temperature and sometimes weeks with little to no sun.  A normal winter will be about -10 C (14 F) with the occasional snowstorm, but the last few years, the temperature can plunge to -30 C (-22 F) wind-chill.  The heater in the greenhouse keeps the plants from freezing at night, but the large windows and the sun create a “vacation” like temperature even in the middle of the winter it can get to more than 25 C in there (80 F).  The overall effect of this space for us is really positive for our mental state, we’ve been basking in Vitamin D while the rest of the country is drudging through a long cold winter.  Again, I know how lucky I am.

There is something so wonderful about watching things grow, a wonder that has been lost to too many.  People think they don’t have a green thumb and they label themselves plant killers, so they give up and don’t try again.  If you don’t think you can handle growing from seed, I get it…We have started our garden with small plants from the plant nursery for the last ten years.  The main things is don’t give up, always try again, and don’t limit yourself to flowers and shrubs, because you’re really missing out on some super nutritious, straight from the garden fruits and vegetables that have a beauty all their own.