Every week is GREEN week here on Ruxton island. One of the things we do in keeping with our green lifestyle is to grow as much of our own organically grown food as possible.
There are two limitations here which prevent us growing as much as we would like. First is the soil, if you can call it that.
Our small lot is located at the beginning of a spit of land, or more accurately I should say rock, which bears very little soil. In fact, in many places, the underlying rock literally shows through. What little soil there is, happens to be of poor quality for growing veggies and the like.
One of the very first things we did when we got here, was to clear land to build a cabin. This was immediately followed by making room for the veggie garden.
One of the necessities of living here is a wood shed, so that was of high priority. We immediately attached a 3 bay compost box to the woodshed, knowing that we would have to amend the soil as quickly as possible. This has proven to be a godsend.
The second limitation is a lack of water. Currently, we have something in the vicinity of 6,000 gallons of water storage capacity, plus more for fire protection. This 6,000 gallons is stored in two tanks, and is used both for domestic consumption and the garden.
For those of you out there who are used to turning your garden sprinklers on at 300 gallons per hour, you will appreciate just how little this really is. This means that summertime rationing is part of our daily life.
However, we have managed to adapt to our situation and learned to make the best of it. Heavy mulching assists with keeping plant roots cool and water evaporation to a minimum.
We have found that root crops do not do well here, but almost everything else will thrive - given our limitations.
There are a couple of berries which grow naturally here, salal and Oregon grape. Mixed together, they make an awesome jam!
Right before I started writing this, I took a few pictures out in the garden just so you can see how things are doing. I should point out that we had an extreme winter, well, not just here but the whole west coast of north America was unusually cold for an extended period of time.
This delayed almost all of the plants this year. In some cases that is a blessing, others, not so much. Even non-veggie plants were affected.
We have a single apricot tree, which is still quite young. Last year it had about a dozen apricots on it, which the crows very nearly got away with. Fortunately I spotted them landing on the tree and was able to rescue our small crop just in time. This year we have added some tinfoil in the hope of keeping the crows away.
The crop this year looks good so far, more than 200 fruit are ripening. Let's hope the tinfoil does its' job!
Then we have our herb boat. My wife has named it Herbie. Everything around here has a story!
When we first arrived on the island, there was an old dinghy moored out in Herring Bay here. It was completely decrepit and we could never quite understand how it managed to stay afloat. The owner was a very elderly gentleman, who has since passed away.
Several years ago,during one of our winter storms, the ravages of time and tide broke the mooring line on the old dinghy, and it washed up at the head of the bay.
My good wife decided that it would be a great boat to plant herbs in. So after tracking down the owner's wife to ask if she could use the little boat to grow herbs in (yes, gladly) we dragged it up to our property. It was quite unnecessary to drill any drainage holes in the bottom of the boat, they were already there in abundance. It was only the foam inside which was keeping the old gal afloat.
As you can see in the pictures, there are several different herbs growing, and we have a nice steady supply almost year round.
We tried to grow a grape vine. Well, it did finally work, but for the longest time it would not produce any fruit. At least nothing that looked like a real grape. Then a couple of years ago, when we had a wetter than usual summer, we had a bumper crop.
One of those "Aha" moments, it needs lots of water. Even though that is something we have very little of, we manage to give it a drink every day by saving the dishwater and cooking water to feed it with. It takes just a little effort, but seems to be paying off this year.
Other fruits and veggies we grow include two kinds of apples, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, red currants, runner beans, broad beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, leeks, kiwi fruit, carrots, beets and 7 or 8 different kinds of mint.
I have a reputation for brewing the best mint tea on the island. The fact that I am the ONLY person doing that may have something to do with said reputation!
I must admit that even if we lived in the city, we would still garden and do our best to grow as much of our own food as possible. When our garden supply runs out, and we are back on store bought food again we can sure tell the difference! Nothing quite like really fresh goodies picked just minutes before dinner.
Enjoy the photos!
Keith
