Gardening is a year-round activity for our family. Although many people traditionally think of growing food as a spring-time pursuit, the reality is that, in our mild hometown of Vancouver, vegetables can be harvested almost year-round. Cold weather improves the flavour of many crops. It sweetens carrots and reduces the summertime bitterness of spicy greens…
Seeds you can plant in September
Can you feel it? The chill in the mornings, the breeze in the air. Fall is on its way. Vancouver has experienced its first serious rain in what has been one of our hottest, driest summers on record. I, for one, am rejoicing. Rain means that my family and I don’t have to spend hours…
What to plant in August: 2015 edition
It’s the height of summer. In our garden, things are doing surprisingly well, despite the severe drought and Stage 3 watering restrictions Vancouver currently faces. I credit our rich soil for that. It soaks up water like a sponge with just the minimal hand-watering we’ve been doing every few days. Yesterday, I tried giving a…
How to harvest vegetables and save water
This past weekend, Vancouver had its first rain in a long time. I’ve never been so excited for cloudy skies. But we’re not out of the woods with B.C.’s drought yet. Vancouver has recently entered stage 3 watering restrictions, a step up from the stage 2 restrictions we faced earlier this summer. Now, only hand-watering…
June 2015: what to plant
I’ve been away from my garden for two and a half weeks, and it’s tearing me apart. Late spring is prime time in the garden and here I am, missing key planting dates. Don’t get me wrong — life is great. It’s just been really busy.
DIY Wine box planters
Wooden wine boxes are free from my local liquor store, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to get. They’re only available for a short time each year, usually in the fall, when the year’s Bordeaux wines are released. And there are usually only a few stores in Vancouver that carry fine Bordeaux in crates, meaning…
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