Winter is Coming, Plant now!
Even though our yards are parched from the summer heat, it’s time to start thinking about winter, your winter garden, that is. When we moved to the Island in June 2011, we promptly got our vegetable garden started. One month later, we found out that you can grow veggies throughout the winter. We had heard West Coast gardening expert, Linda Gilkeson speak, and learned where to start. We raced to all the garden centres to see what plants were left. THE CONCEPT The whole idea of growing vegetables in winter sounds crazy, especially if you are from the prairies. We were pleasantly...
Read MoreTomayto? Tomawto?
Wouldn’t you agree that there is nothing like a sweet, ripe, home-grown tomato? They are precious to everybody who grows them, whether you have a whole field of them, or just one container on your balcony. Growing tomatoes on Vancouver Island can be a bit tricky, as the nights are cool. Just like peppers and melons, tomatoes like heat. Many people here grow them in their greenhouses and never put them into the ground. We don’t have a greenhouse, so decided to try a new experiment this year. My husband built a ‘hoop house’, out of PVC piping, some left-over plastic sheeting and a...
Read MoreIt’s a Slug Fest!
You’ve seen them. You’ve probably sworn at them. Every gardener’s nemesis, beware the Great Gray Garden Slug – Limax maximus. ‘Slug’ is the common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusk. Have you ever heard of the Society for the Protection and Care of Slugs? NO! When it comes to protecting your valuable vegetable garden, there is no messing around with these guys. It’s all out war! There are many commercial and homemade ways to trap and kill slugs, but to be effective, you can’t use just one of them. If you’re going to annihilate slugs, it’s...
Read MoreGardening is Seedy Work
“The Seed Catalogues are here!” That used to be a special moment when we lived in cold, snowy Alberta. All cozy in our house, we would comb through them and circle beautiful flowers, dog ear the pages, and have sticky notes everywhere. Not anymore. Here on Vancouver Island, we discovered Seedy Saturdays. Instead of flipping through catalogues, we now wander around a huge hall and actually talk to people about their seeds, usually heritage seeds. These events are an incredible education in organic gardening with workshops, displays and seed exchanges, all focused on promoting local...
Read MoreWar and Peace in the Garden
We didn’t buy any fruit or veggies between May and the end of September. Okay, we did pick twenty pounds of strawberries at the organic farm, because you can’t have enough strawberries. Oh, and maybe a few garlic heads because, well, you can never have enough garlic. But honestly, we savoured our own fresh produce for months, and enjoyed giving many care packages to friends and family. We are still picking fresh items and will continue to harvest things throughout the winter. My husband and I moved here just over a year ago with the intention of becoming somewhat self-sustaining. Between...
Read More