Look before you leap! Check your seed before you plant. Before getting into the topic of saving your own seed, whether it be cereals or legumes or any crop except for canola, I talked to several consultants and seed growers. Their answers were that few growers use all-new seed every year. These few exceptions actually […] Read more
Saving your own crop seed
Don't just assume two- or three-year-old seed, or even last year's seed, will still be viable
More on Prairie vegetables and fruits
Part 6 of a series: Let’s look further at what grows well on the Prairies — and when it doesn’t, why
In previous issues I dealt with potatoes and the cabbage family of garden vegetables, but perhaps I should also take a look at all and any successfully grown Prairie vegetable crops. To do this, I should list all vegetable crops into related categories, as in the table shown here, so we can more clearly plan […] Read more
Alfalfa replant disease and related disorders
Whatever the cause, we can realize it's a problem and try to avoid it
Back in the 1980s I spent a lot of time on alfalfa diseases, particularly the verticillium wilt disease problem that was spreading across the Prairies, particularly in southern Alberta. In a few snow-free and cold Decembers in those years, a lot of damage was done to alfalfa, winterkilling entire fields of three-year-old stands. Even white […] Read more
Fruit growing on Prairie farms
Part 5 of a series on Prairie farm gardens
Fruit growing on the Canadian Prairies is much easier and more rewarding than most people ever imagine. I am an avid fruit grower on my Alberta acreage, growing everything from plums, pears, grapes, apples and cherries to currants and raspberries. You name it, I am growing it. I am familiar with backyard Prairie gardens all […] Read more
Let’s meet the potato family
Part 4 of a series on Prairie farm gardens
The potato is a member of the solanum or Solanaceae family, made up of thousands of wild and cultivated species that range from deadly nightshade to tomatoes. Commonly cultivated in farm gardens are potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and tomatillos. Members of this family also include petunias, lobelias, tobacco and common weeds such as black nightshade […] Read more
Fava beans for Prairie gardens — and fields
Part 3 of a series on Prairie farm gardens
The fava bean (Vicia faba) in Canada is often misunderstood, treated as though it is strictly a southern European or Middle Eastern legume crop. I have even seen the large fava bean type labelled as a Chinese crop. In point of fact, all of Europe grew fava beans. The beans were traditionally classified according to […] Read more
‘Sustainable’ ag systems for Prairie croplands need clearer definition
The word “sustainable” has become one of the most misused words in agricultural information systems. What we have to realize on Canada’s Prairies is that “sustainable” really means farmers maintain the status quo for good, achievable, economic agricultural practices on their cropland. What may be sustainable agricultural systems for Eastern Canada or the north-central United […] Read more
Vegetable crop production on the Prairies
Part 2 of a series on Prairie farm gardens
At the countless farm sites I have visited over almost 50 years from coast to coast in Canada, from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, I have come across outstanding crop growing innovations and excellent crops as well as abject crop failures. To deal logically with the extensive range of crops, I put them, as described previously, […] Read more
Prairie farm gardens
Growing vegetable and fruit crops in Canada: Part 1 of a series
Garden crops from beans to apples have been a passion of mine from my childhood in Wales. On our small 17-acre Welsh farm in southwest Wales, we grew or raised most of the vegetable food that we ate from potatoes to apples as well as milk, eggs, pork and chickens. The mild climate allowed us […] Read more
Manuring cropland can be misunderstood and overdone
Sources of manure and compost
There are some 60,000 cow-calf farms and 20,000 dairy operations in Canada. Cattle numbers are around 12.5 million with more than 40 per cent of this total in Alberta. Alberta also had 90 per cent of the beef feedlots with lesser numbers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. There are 14 million hogs at any time in […] Read more