Category: Gardening Information

At our store, we are asked by customers frequently “do I really need a grow light?” If you want to keep growing your small veggies, lettuce, and herbs indoors over the winter, the answer is yes!

The reason why we need lights is the quality and number of hours of sunlight that we get at this time of year in the northern hemisphere won’t cut it for your plants. Indoors, the lumens (amount of light) are a fraction of what your plants would get outdoors in the summer. If you just put them on a windowsill, they’ll stretch their stems looking for light and become leggy.

A grow light is like a little sun for your home. The sun produces electromagnetic radiation, some of which is visible to us as colours. This is what plants use for photosynthesis.

What kind of bulb do I need?

Compact fluorescents

It really depends on what you want to grow. For seedlings, cool crops (like lettuce), microgreens, wheatgrass, and herbs, get a full spectrum compact fluorescent bulb, such as the one pictured to the right. It produces light by bouncing gas off of the metal powder inside the bulb. This sort of bulb is great for beginners and will provide enough lumens for these crops. These bulbs are cool and efficient, but the bulbs need to be replaced periodically (about every 6 months).

High-Intensity Lights

If you want to continue growing your greenhouse crops indoors (such as your tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, peas, beans, etc) you’ll need a higher intensity light. The light from compact fluorescent bulbs won’t be able to penetrate the leaf canopy (the light stops at the first leaf it encounters). The high-intensity lights can penetrate the canopy like real sunlight. They work by shooting high-voltage electricity into the bulb, making the gas spark. This means they run hotter than the compact florescent bulbs as well, so you’ll need additional venting, cooling fans, and ducting. They also require ballasts to control the power source in addition to the bulb and fixture.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)

These bulbs produce a yellow-reddish light that’s ideal for mature flowering plants. Young plants do require light from the cool/blue end of the spectrum, so HPS lights are mainly used to supplement  the natural light in a greenhouse or area which receives some natural light.

Metal Halide (MH)

MH bulbs produce a more balanced blue-ish light, and are used generally when the lamp will be the only source of light for the growing area.

Light-Emitting Diodes (LED)

These bulbs convert electricity to light and run at a lower voltage than the HPS and MH bulbs.  This technology is not yet mature and not readily available to retail consumers. We are in the process of comparing the LEDs to other forms of lighting and so do not carry them in our store yet.

 How much light will I get from each lamp?

Having grow lights near young seedlings (4-6″ away) prevents the stems from elongating, so the plants develop strong stems. The lights need to be this close because of the inverse-square law of light. If your lights need to be farther away because of how you are using your space, you’ll need stronger bulbs. In general, plan to place the lower wattage systems 12-24″ away from the plants,  the medium wattage 12-36″, and the high wattage 18-48″.

When you are shopping for lights, the package will tell you how many lumens the bulb emits. For reference, the lumens on a clear summer day will be about 20,000, and about 100,000 under full direct sun at noon. For comparison, a bright office will be about 500 lumens. This should really drive home the need for lights in the winter.

How long do I run the lights?

This is where you open up your trusty search engine and do some research. Your plants will react to the hours of light and temperature provided as if it were actually that time of year outdoors. For example, warm temperatures, long days and short nights will cause lettuce to bolt, but tomatoes and peppers will love those conditions. Expect to run your lights for at least 10 hours per day.

Do I need anything else?

Other accessories you might use are timers, circulating fans, ducting, and reflectors to bounce the light back towards the plants.

Garlic is a member of the allium family, originating in the Caucasus Mountains. They can be either Ophios (hard-necked garlics and Sativum (soft-necked garlics).

Softneck

These varieties are more rounded, and their stalks are soft and flexible for braiding.

“Regular”
The “regular” garlic at Garden Retreat is the soft necked garlic that you have probably bought at the grocery store. The 1-2″ bulbs are small and white in colour.

“Elephant”
Soft necked and similar to the grocery store variety, very large bulbs.

Hardneck
Hardneck varieties do not have a stalk flexible enough for braiding. They have an extremely firm neck protruding an inch or two from the top of the bulb. Hardnecks send out “scapes”, small green stalks that eventually produce more bulbs of garlic. They take energy away from the plant, so most gardeners will cut them off and use them in the kitchen.

“Mexican Purple”
Hardneck and extremely flavourful.

“Red”
Hardneck red, strong flavour.

“German Hardneck”
These bulbs are about 2″ in diameter, hardnecked.

How to Grow Garlic

• * Break the bulb into cloves when planting, and leave at least some of the “basal plate” (where the roots develop from) for each clove. Space the plants 4-8 inches apart.
• * Garlic likes evenly moist,well drained soil. Too much moisture leads to mold, and too little leads to small bulbs.
• * A few weeks before harvesting, stop watering your garlic when the tops begin to turn brown and dry out. This is usually a sign that the bulbs are almost ready to harvest. Pull up a few bulbs and check that the wrappers are still papery and the bulb has not split open.
• * After harvesting, hang your garlic in a protected area with good ventilation (add a small fan if the area lacks adequate air flow), so air can reach each surface of the bulb. Allow two weeks for drying.
• * The bulbs can be stored indoors at cool room temperature (15 degrees) for several months.

September 5, 2013

With September already here and the leaves starting to change it feels like summer came and went too quickly! Have you consider extending the growing season with a cold frame? They are a very useful thing for gardeners to have on hand as they can also help start seedlings earlier than the area permits. They can also help protect tender plants well into the fall and you can even force bulbs in them during the winter months, such as tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and crocuses.

There are lots of options on the construction of cold frames — whether you salvage old window tops or use polycarbonate — the most important key is to consider the height to suit the needs of your plants. For durability I would suggest you use 1 x 8 cedar boards. There is also an array of kits (such as this one) out there if you do not have the required materials.

Once you have decided on your materials, you have to consider placement of your cold frame as there are certain factors that are critical to successful use. Make sure to place your cold frame in a well-drained area that will not get flooded. Also make sure to orient the frame so the window faces south, this will protect it from easterly and westerly winds and help capture good light levels. It’s always nice to have them situated near a water source to save yourself some work. Consider painting the inside of the frame white or silver to help reflect more light on to the plants but don’t treat the wood as you don’t want to poison your plants. You may even want to consider burying a heating cable to extend the season even more! Keep in mind that on really cold nights you will need to consider increasing the insulation around you cold frame with blankets, old carpet, straw, leaves, newspaper or even snow. This in mind also consider on the warmer days ventilation will be necessary.

Here is a list of veggies and herbs to prolong in the fall season.

Plant, Height, frost tender notes

Basil, 30-60cm, frost tender

Beets, 30cm, tolerates light frost

Carrots, 30cm, tolerate light frost

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussel sprouts, 30-75cm, tolerate light frost

Eggplant, 60cm, frost tender

Onion seedlings, 30cm, tolerate light frost

Peas, 90cm-2m, tolerate light frost

Peppers, 60cm, frost tender

Radishes, 30cm, tolerate light frost

Salad greens, 30cm, tolerate light frost

Tomatoes, 60cm to 2.5m, frost tender