Coleus is often grown as an annual bedding plant or in patio containers to provide a showy splash of vivid colour. Native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia, this shade tolerant plant can also be grown indoors for some extra colour all year round.
Continue ReadingGomphrena, commonly known as Globe Amaranth, belongs to the Amaranth family and are often grown as annual bedding plants.
Continue ReadingCommonly known as Lace Flower, Didiscus is admired for their delicate umbels of tiny, star-shaped flowers that are mildly fragrant.
Continue ReadingThere are plenty of options for seeds that thrive when sown in late summer. The average first frost date for regions like Lower Mainland BC and neighbouring areas (Sunshine Coast, Gulf Islands, coastal Vancouver Island, Puget Sound, Willamette Valley) is around November...
Continue ReadingLove it or hate it, Cilantro can be a tricky yet rewarding crop to grow, especially when you have a continuous supply in the garden. Cilantro is an annual plant, unlike many other perennial herbs, so it needs to be...
Continue ReadingIn milder climates, gardeners can make use of the lengthy winter months through a gardening technique known as overwintering. This method involves planting crops in the summer and fall, then leaving them in the ground to harvest the following spring and summer. These hardy plants either go dormant over the winter or grow very slowly.
Continue ReadingThe Brassica family contains the highest number of food bearing plants in all of the plant families, including Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, collards, cauliflower, and broccoli. All of these plants share the quality of being cold-tolerant. With crop protection, most...
Continue ReadingWho says your garden's bounty has to be a summer-only affair? There's a cornucopia of seeds just waiting to burst into life in July, especially in areas that enjoy milder winters. Many of these varieties will mature into full-grown plants...
Continue ReadingPeas, Pole Beans, Indeterminate Tomatoes and Cucumbers make great vegetables to grow along an arch or trellis. By growing vertically, you’ll get more sun, better air circulation (which also means less chance of disease), and you’ll produce more tomatoes and...
Continue ReadingUnlock The Secrets to Inviting Hummingbirds to Your Garden Let's meet our feathered friends, the Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) and Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna). Typically, the Rufous marks the onset of spring, arriving around mid-March, and stays for a lovely...
Continue ReadingEverybody can grow a salad green garden. Small space gardeners, low-light gardeners, even indoor gardeners can plant seeds to grow a continuous supply of salad through the gardening season. Watch the video below to learn all about growing lettuces and...
Continue ReadingComposting: The Garden's Gift That Keeps on Giving Imagine a process that transforms your kitchen scraps and garden waste into a nutrient-rich, soil-enhancing marvel. Welcome to the world of composting! This eco-friendly practice, deeply rooted in organic and biodynamic gardening,...
Continue ReadingThe Monarch butterfly's fascinating journey and precarious situation has been capturing hearts and headlines recently. If you search "Monarch butterfly" on YouTube, you'll discover a multitude of videos dedicated to preserving this unique species. The Monarch's distinctive migration pattern, spanning...
Continue ReadingLet's face it, traditional lawns can be a real resource hog. They guzzle water, demand constant trimming and generally return very little for your efforts. Plus, they take up space that could be transformed into a verdant food garden, or...
Continue ReadingAbout Stinging Nettle Although maligned in modern times due to its hairy leaves that cause skin irrititations, Stinging Nettle actually has many favourable attributes. It is a nutrient-rich food (cooking neutralizes the stinging) and both the leaves and roots boasts a...
Continue ReadingCorn, beans, and squash have been grown together for centuries in the Americas, and for good reason: they naturally work in concert with each other. Corn provides a growing support for the beans, which in turn provide nitrogen for the...
Continue ReadingOne stalk of cooked broccoli gives you 75mg of vitamin C, 1300 IU of beta carotene, 3g of protein and 5g of dietary fibre with only 40 calories. The crown portion tastes great when cooked or steamed. You can eat...
Continue ReadingEarly this year I was so excited to get a hold of African Violet seeds, I wanted to start growing them right away! However, African Violets need warm temperatures (20°C or higher) for germination, so I needed to wait patiently...
Continue ReadingWater close to the soil, and avoid overhead watering. Place your irrigation near or beneath the soil surface rather than spraying the top of the plant. The plant’s leaves will act as a sun umbrella, reducing evaporation so that more water has an opportunity to soak into the soil. Many plants, like tomatoes and squash, will be at increased risk to diseases like Late Blight and Powdery Mildew if their leaves are frequently soaked by overhead watering.
Continue ReadingGarlic is a perennial member of the onion family, Alliaceae, and is closely related to leeks, onions, shallots, and chives. All of these plants send up hollow, tubular (sometimes flattened) leaves from a bulb that grows below the ground. The leaves are followed by a flower stalk (scape), and then by the flower itself. Garlic may also produce “bulbils” – tiny bulbs that may begin to sprout, on the flower head. All parts of the garlic plant are edible, but the bulb is the most prized and useful in the kitchen.
Continue ReadingPlanting for fall & winter harvests has to start in the summer and fall. Just like we sow summer harvest crops in the late winter and spring – it’s the same concept. Did you know that many crops can be...
Continue ReadingThe Perennial Wildflower Seeds ingredients are listed below. This is the right blend to establish where flowers are needed to come back year after year. Perennial flowers are often drought resistant and very winter hardy, so they can be relied...
Continue ReadingHow do you know when to harvest garlic bulbs and if they have matured to the right point for harvest? Each leaf on the above-ground garlic plant represents one potential papery wrapper around the mature bulb. Having well developed, fully intact...
Continue ReadingAlthough they arrived from Europe, they’re well at home now in BC’s Lower Mainland and many other regions. This lively beetle (Amphimallon majalis) has an annual life cycle that is worth understanding in an attempt to control it. The beetle...
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