With much warmer weather expected this weekend, it’s an ideal time to begin our vegetable gardens.
I had the pleasure of presenting a vegetable seminar last weekend and it was a good opportunity to review a number of important reminders.
For optimum growth, food gardens should always be planted in the warmest part of your yard — a spot where you will get the most sun, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Using raised beds, filled with good, well-draining soil, will always be more productive because your soil will be both warmer and drier during those spring rainy periods.
Adding lots of organic matter will significantly enhance the fertility and sustainability of your soil. Composted soils are important, but adding manures, like mushroom and steer, as well as kelp and fish meal from products like Sea Soil will make all the difference.
I like to plan my veggie garden as a place for continuous production from now until late fall and even into winter.
It’s important to note that many vegetable plants have early, mid and late varieties. Potatoes, brassicas and tomatoes have varieties which adapt to the various seasonal growing conditions. Early varieties tolerate cool, wet weather and can mature in cooler spring conditions. Mid-season varieties will also tolerate cool, wet conditions but will mature during warm or even hot summer weather. Late varieties are very tolerant of summer heat and will mature nicely in the cool or frosty conditions of late fall. These variables can help you plan your extended production period.
There are so many options today for starting your vegetable garden. Seeds are certainly the number one choice but not the only one. For example, onions, grown from Dutch sets, shallots and multipliers, will grow and mature earlier for a longer harvest.
A lot of folks pre-start many of their earlier plants, like lettuce, brassicas, swiss chard, beets and onions, in cell trays or peat pots and then harden them off in cold frames. These pre-started, cool-hardy plants can now be transplanted into the garden, saving up to two months until harvest time. Many 小蓝视频 growers produce their crops in a similar manner but, of course, on a massive scale and they are now providing garden stores with a great selection of the pre-started plants in small packs, which are more convenient for small space gardens.
Our last frost dates for the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley are expected around mid-April. So, until then, it’s important to have some Remay or insulating cloth on hand to cover early crops when we get a beautiful warm day but a frosty night.
Now is a wonderful time to set out early, cool-hardy vegetables, such as lettuce, onions, early potatoes, spinach, swiss chard and early brassicas. They will adapt well to our spring conditions and will continue to grow and mature, contributing to our home-grown food supply.
When the night time temperatures are consistently in the 10C plus range, our warmth-loving food crops, like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and beans, can be planted out in our gardens, usually in mid to late May.
From the moment you plant or seed your garden, it is important to check your plants daily to observe if they are free of damage from pests. Aphids, caterpillars and leaf miners can appear so quickly and do significant damage if we don’t catch them early. Rabbits, mice and squirrels can chew a lot of vegetables in a short period of time, while diseases, like mildew, can also spoil our greens almost overnight. By checking your plants each day, it’s easy to catch any problems and prevent further damage right away.
Food gardens are an investment in nutrition, great flavour and food security. We need to be highly engaged in the process.
