Greetings from Ontario, Canada (Zone 5a)

Greetings everyone!  I am so glad to join this group!  I've only been gardening for a few years, so I very much consider myself a beginner.  I love SF gardening to maximize the small backyard I have.  

I live in Zone 5a and we have a relatively short gardening season, so I am very much interested in experimenting with trying to extend my gardening season by winter sowing, succession planting, etc... I also want to experiment more with growing vertically as well.  

I love growing cut-and-come-again greens. My son and I have an interest in trying to grow many of the greens from the CDC list of the worlds most nutrient dense vegetables:  (for instance, I've never grown watercress before, but if its the most nutrient dense food, we are going to try it! LOL!) 

EDITED: Since I'm a newbie, I am not allowed to link the list.  But it is a list of the most nutrient dense (Powerhouse fruits and Vegetables) food put forth by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  It is easily searchable via google.  Watercress tops the list, followed by Chinese Cabbage and Chard. 

I look forward to learning from you all! Happy Gardening!  

Blessings, 
GreenThumbMomma

A warm welcome GreenThumbMomma!!!!  Great to see another Canadian join us.

I expect that going forward you will be called GTM.

Feel free to ask questions.  We love to see photos as well.

Welcome, GTM.   I've already learned something from you. I thought kale was the most nutritious food we could grow. I'm off to find that CDC list.

https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/13_0390.htm

I also thought iceberg lettuce would be at the bottom of that list. Wrong Again!   

@countrynaturals wrote:Welcome, GTM.   I've already learned something from you. I thought kale was the most nutritious food we could grow. I'm off to find that CDC list.

https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/13_0390.htm

Me too.

GTM, Welcome to the Forum from Central California!

@countrynaturals wrote:Welcome, GTM.   I've already learned something from you. I thought kale was the most nutritious food we could grow. I'm off to find that CDC list.



I also thought iceberg lettuce would be at the bottom of that list. Wrong Again!   

Yes!  I was so surprised that kale was not at the top of the list!  So I am now adding watercress, bok choy, pak choy, etc  to my list of new things to grow this year! 

And researching which beets have the most greens! LOL!! 

Thank you for linking the list for me! 

And thank you everyone for the very warm welcome!  Most appreciated!

GreenThumbMomma  
from Kelejan, your Canadian Region Host   

Another Ontarian to join the others.  At least you will be in a similar growing zone as Canada is such a large country.  The largest group does seem to be in Ontario, in spite of all the snow that they have.

I wonder, is there anyone in Canada growing stuff outdoors at this time?

Come see us on the CANADIAN REGION thread.

@Kelejan wrote: GreenThumbMomma  
from Kelejan, your Canadian Region Host   

Another Ontarian to join the others.  At least you will be in a similar growing zone as Canada is such a large country.  The largest group does seem to be in Ontario, in spite of all the snow that they have.

I wonder, is there anyone in Canada growing stuff outdoors at this time?

Come see us on the CANADIAN REGION thread.

Thank you for the warm welcome!  I love that there is a board specifically for us Canucks and our wild weather!   You can be sure that I'll be checking out the convo's on that board!

Hi! I'm new here, too. Had to say thanks for this list!! I'm tickled to death that my biggest seed flat I've made is 2 types of chard. Also, that I am all about nutrition and nutrient dense food. One of the main reasons I started growing my own. That and knowing how my food is grown.

@rosetone wrote:Hi! I'm new here, too. Had to say thanks for this list!! I'm tickled to death that my biggest seed flat I've made is 2 types of chard. Also, that I am all about nutrition and nutrient dense food. One of the main reasons I started growing my own. That and knowing how my food is grown.

Hi Rosetone!

I love swiss chard!! I have some growing indoors right now!  Love to meet fellow gardeners who are also interested in nutrient dense foods!  Knowing how your food is grown is priceless, in my opinion!

GTM you are going to have to tell me how you are growing chard indoors.  

Hi GTM. Here's a warm welcome from the (currently) sunny south!

Glad you've joined our party. And I'm off to copy that list as well..... And, yes, I want to know about growing chard inside as well, lol!

@trolleydriver wrote:GTM you are going to have to tell me how you are growing chard indoors.  

This is the first time I'm growing swiss chard indoors -it's an experiment of sorts,   but I figured since they are pretty much foolproof to grow and they transplant well - I'd like to try keeping some in containers indoors. 

Here is a picture.  They are a tiny bit leggy because they were under a T8 which was the wrong Kelvin temperature (I've since swapped it for the proper K temp) but when I transplant them, I'll just bury them a bit, like you would a tomato plant.  I'll wait until they get another set of leaves on them and then I'll transplant.

Hey GTM and Rose tone!

Welcome to the super cool and wonderful land of SFG!!

Hope you guys have read Mel Bartholomew’s All New Square Gardening.  It is a game changer.

We love to hear about your plans...

Geography wise, you will have a region to post to.  But there are many other spots to post!  

Can’t wait to hear your plans!!!  What do you like to eat?  What are you planning?

Hi GTM!
Looks like we have similar interests!

Nutritious vegetables: thanks for sharing that study! If you have trouble getting your napa cabbage to head look into Tokyo Bekana - it's a loose leaf form I was successful with last year. For growing while it's still cold, look into mache. I have mache volunteers under cover in my garden right now! It looks like mache would score around at least 58 using the math the study used (it might be higher, it doesn't look like vitamin K has been measured for that plant.)

Winter sowing: I had some successful direct winter sowing last year with covers. I'm in Pennsylvania rather than Canada, but in a 5b/6a zone. At 10 weeks before last frost I've only sown komatsuna and lettuce seeds outside so far (started plenty of stuff inside already). My weather is still going to be below freezing more often than above for the next week or so. Mustard did well direct winter sowed last year, so that will go out next.

Succession gardening - My advice is take notes! At this point, many of my squares get two plantings every year, like beets after peas, or bush beans after spinach. Sometimes it works better than others. I found the bar graphs in the back of the ANSFG book to be helpful in visualizing which plantings can follow each other, if you like to plan ahead.

Vertical growing: I have trellis netting on bamboo poles for peas, squash, and cukes; metal conduit to hang ropes for growing tomatoes vertically; and I use tall zebra grass stems as part of my pole bean setup.