If growing your own vegetables is a favourite pastime, or if you tend to realize too late that you didn鈥檛 plant seeds and start early enough in the season for a proper summer yield, now鈥檚 the time to begin thinking about what鈥檚 going into your garden this year.
Gardening doesn鈥檛 have to be a high-maintenance sport for it to be a rewarding practice, but it does take a little forethought, love and exertion to get it right. Having scaled back from planting plots all over our large, mostly shady backyard, I now know that at this toddler-ridden stage of life I can handle no more than one smallish box garden and a few potted herbs. I have also learned that the success of said garden depends entirely on its distance from the house. No matter how much love, time or money I put into a garden at the start, if it鈥檚 in an inconvenient or out-of-sight location, it will wither from neglect.
So don鈥檛 be seduced by the glossy magazine covers that herald the spring with photos of charming, original plots nestled into all parts of those fairytale gardens. By all means stay inspired 鈥� listen to Brian Minter on C小蓝视频 and nurture seed starts in your kitchen window 鈥� if this mild winter was any indication, we have a long, warm spring and summer ahead of us and that means a long growing season.
The trick is choosing your plants wisely 鈥� both in terms of what can grow here and what you want to eat. Knowing the flower and vegetable varieties that thrive in our climate is half the battle of a successful summer garden. In our forested, sloping Garibaldi Highlands yard, I鈥檝e had great success with kale, cabbage, carrots, mesclun greens, radishes, and zucchini. I cannot grow tomatoes to save my soul but friends up the hill, where it is hotter and the sun unobscured, cannot keep up with the fruit on their fertile vines.
There is no such thing as a perfect Squamish varietal 鈥� the micro-climates in each neighbourhood and yard are important to a garden鈥檚 output so talk to neighbours to find out what grows well and adapt your goals to suit the conditions before you waste money and time on seeds that will not succeed.
Pallet gardens are all the rage, and it makes sense as the structure is so easily adapted to whatever your needs, but be sure to check the wood to ensure it鈥檚 not doused in a flame retardant or other leachable chemicals that can seep into your veggie patch.
