Interest in food gardening is huge at the moment. Thanks to the 100 Mile Diet, the Slow Food movement, Zero Mile Gardening and an urge for independence in food production, vegetable gardening is the new black.
A quick trip around the local grocery store with its expensive prices for quality grown produce and the abundance of out of season produce delivered here from all over the world bring out our carbon guilt.
People want to eat locally and organically as much as possible so it only makes sense to plant something you can eat.
Last week I attended the fantastic workshop Zero Mile gardening, A Four Season Harvest at Van Dusen Gardens by vegetable diva Linda Beer.
Talk about inspiration and motivation! This woman with her multiple gardens (one of which is several acres on Mayne Island), community gardens, vast array of canning and preserving expertise, four deep freezes, is motivating the masses to grow.
Linda brought home the idea that vegetable gardening can be as simple or as complex as the gardener chooses and that everyone can grow something to eat.
Those of you with small gardens or limited space may be thinking you don't have the room to grow. Data tells us that vegetable gardening across North America is growing significantly but the most interesting tidbit is that 51 per cent of food gardening in the U.S. is now done in containers.
A trip down the seed isle at the nursery offers more varieties of vegetables that can be grown in containers than ever before. From all reports these new seeds produce vegetables that are flavourful and prolific, but also thrive in a contained space and are easy to grow.
It is so easy to get carried away with seed catalogues and in seed racks at the nursery.
My one little piece of advice is to grow what you like to eat, and start with easy growing varieties. Also stagger your seed planting, and repeat planting varieties every few weeks for an extended harvest.
According to Linda, the easiest vegetables to grow at home are bush beans, runner beans, beets, cucumbers, garlic, lettuce, peas, radish and Swiss chard.
It is always a bit of a crapshoot as to when you should plant, but in my garden I recently seeded peas, lettuce, green onion bulbs, radish and spinach. All of these are cool weather crops and are quite reliable in our Squamish gardens.
Before you plant anything - amend your soil. Vegetables are heavy feeders and they need rich soil to produce their best. Try amending with compost, sea soil, or well-rotted leaves.
For those of you growing in containers Linda offers this recipe to create your growing medium. Use two thirds part soil-less mix (you can buy this anywhere here in town and it has good moisture retaining properties), and one third sea soil (you can buy this product locally as well).
Other seeds that can be started outdoors anytime are broad beans, arugula, corn salad, collards, and oriental greens.
