It’s That Time of the Year Again… Growing Season!
There are moments in life when we need a little inspiration, a bit of a pick-me-up for the soul and I can say that watching plants grow really does the trick. To me, life is about transformation, keeping busy and creating everyday. With each season, we are delighted with a new flow of energy specific to that period.
As spring settles in, I’m excited to get creative with my vegetable patch, even though living in Alberta presents great gardening challenges. Surprise snowstorms can happen anytime of the year, summer days are hot and dry with little rain and temperatures drop quickly when the sun goes down. And, let’s not forget hail storms, deer, hares and certain insects that can cause serious damage in a short period of time.
Being prepared for the elements and knowing what grows best in your area will guarantee better results. Preparing a garden at home can be a fun and satisfying task. Plus, you don’t need large parcels of land to yield excellent results.
Last summer’s harvest was abundant as I’d meticulously planned my garden ahead of time. I did a bit of research to find out which vegetables pair well together, which prefer partial shade, or direct sunlight. Some veggies need a lot of space, such as cucumber and squash plants, and are not a good choice if your square footage is limited.
I found that romaine lettuce, carrots and onions grow wonderfully together. And therefore, I alternated rows of these three vegetables in one of my garden boxes. The second box contained broccoli, radishes, parsley and peppers. All of these pair well together, however, the broccoli plants took up too much space for the size of my garden boxes, plus they tend to go to seed very quickly if it gets too hot, so I’ve eliminated broccoli this year. The third box, which was partially shaded, contained spinach, swiss chard, kale and cauliflower. These four veggies love cooler temperatures and did well in this box. As with the broccoli, I eliminated cauliflower this year because of the space it requires to grow. I felt that my garden would be much more profitable with smaller sized veggies. The next box housed tomatoes, basil and leek. And the last box was used for cucumbers and spaghetti squash. Unfortunately, ants ate the roots of these plants and by the time I discovered it, we were already in the month of June. I did replant cucumbers and squash, but the season was too advanced to yield abundant results. I did harvest some smaller sized cucumbers, and only one, tiny squash… but it was a real beauty!
This year, I’m trying celery for the first time, although I’m not sure how it’ll turn out as they take about 100 days to mature. Fingers crossed for a long and warm growing season ahead!
Planting your own fruits and vegetables is not only tremendously rewarding, but an extremely healthy choice as you have complete control over what end’s up in your garden’s soil. I like to choose organic matter that doesn’t contain undesirable chemicals, as it gives me peace of mind that I’m serving safe, fresh and delicious vegetables to my family.
To all the gardeners out there, have a happy and fruitful growing season!
