Whitsend Market Garden

Important update as of February 17 2017:

Beau had a very relaxing couple of weeks.

We are back from dog and farm sitting.  We may be reached at our usual phone number

(613) 831-8218

Best time to reach me is after 6 PM.  





If you have received one of our flyers after the first or second payment deadlines, please note that I can adjust the three payment schedule.  We are still looking for about 15 customers for the season, and will be issuing more flyers in the coming weeks. 

Why I use Flyers to find customers:

To keep our doorstep delivery cost efficient, I restrict my customer base to particular neighbourhoods.  This renders print and electronic advertising somewhat ineffective. 

My only on line advert can be found on the website for the Canadian Organic Growers (Ottawa Chapter). 

I use very simple flyers (printed at home on standard print paper) to keep costs down.  I realise most flyers will wind up being recycled, so I do not create extra expense with glossy, professionally cut flyers.

I do not leave flyers if I see a “no flyers please” sign on your mailbox.  If I did not notice your request to this effect, please accept my apologies.

By far, most of our customers have come to us by word of mouth. 

Talk to you soon...

Plenty of work to be done these days.  With warm temperatures on the way, snow removal is the priority right now.  Otherwise, the barn will become a lake.

As well, I need the gravel pad around the barn - my work space - to be clear of snow as early as possible in the spring.

The outdoor nursery (pictured) will have to move over to make room for the ice fridge will take it's place.

The ice fridge is taking shape.

Ideally, the ice would be placed in the top of the fridge (like the household ice boxes our great grand parents used).  This would make the structure a little too top heavy for my liking.

So, I am placing the ice on the most shaded side, and placing a non insulated wall between the ice and the food compartment.









The walls are framed and clad on the face with cedar board.  Each section of will be filled with sawdust for insulation, and then enclosed by fine mesh screen (cheaper than using more wood).

The ice compartment will need to be topped up each winter, so one wall needs to be removable.  I've done this in sections to make that task a little easier.










As these are opened only once a year, I've opted to forgo hinges (which are expensive) and used some dowl rod instead to fasten the wall sections.

A little more bracing, an additional post, and then work on the fridge doors starts.

The next delivery of lumber is not coming for another couple of days.

So it's time to get started on opening up the indoor nursery and getting the heat on...the first round of seeding starts in a week.


Indoor nursery pictures to follow soon...

Sunday February 19 - time to open the nursery for another season.  First task is to take out the shelves and dust them off, and get the "office" in order.

While the shelves are out, all the electronics are checked - grow lights, propagation mats, heater, and fan.  Even he batteries on the 24 hour thermometers get tested.

The only problem is that the fan is slow to start.  A drop of WD 40 the next time I'm here will fix that.






Nothing surprising found, other than a torpid spider.  There'll be food in here soon enough for it.  I'll take all the help I can get.














Now that the nursery is up and running, time to get the first seed trays topped up, hydrated and up to growing temperature.  This will take a day or two.

Then the seeding starts.

In the meantime, back to building the doors on the ice fridge...








Update as of February 22:


The nursery is fully operational.  All of the little details are take care of.

Our indoor nursery.  A cabinet in form, a nursery in function.

The doors and walls are 4 inches thick, to contain sufficient insulation.

I've constructed the doors so that only one or two need be open at any given time, to keep as much heat in as possible while working at a particular shelf.






The lights are set to timers that keep them on at night and off during the day.  Plants need rest time, and I need to reduce peak time power use.

As well, the lights provide a small amount of heat, which in turn means the heater doesn't have to run constantly when the temperature is warm.

To distribute the light evenly, I have added a  layer of reflective bubble wrap insulation.  This keeps the plants from stretching up to the lights and becoming 'leggy', to use a gardeners turn of phrase.







The first round of seeding only requires one shelf with it's independent set of lights (all lights are on in this photo as I was testing them).

Time will be at a premium soon, so I have pre-filled my seed trays and stored them in the nursery to ensure the soil is warm when it is needed.

Soil is a great thermal mass, so if the power should go out, the full trays will moderate the temperature change until the power is restored.






Tomorrow, I'll be filling my first trays with this years crop of onions....