GROWING STRATEGIES
How to make the most of your space
In case you missed it, the starting gun has been fired and the race is on in Canada to get our outdoor food and colour plantings underway as soon as possible. Admittedly, where we reside matters; folks living at higher elevations or in northern locales may need a little more patience. Once nighttime temperatures are consistently 10 C or higher, it’s time to set out acclimatized plants.
In mid-may, there are a few things in our favour, such as longer hours of daylight and warmer soil temperatures. We’re also going to get some spikes of heat that can really push our crops along. A little strategy, however, can make a big difference in terms of overall production. The ideal situation is to have a continuous food supply well into late summer and fall. This is where less is more.
Grow your favourite foods and, unless you’re planning on donating to local food banks, grow just enough to harvest what you will actually eat. This is especially true of the brassica family — broccoli, kale, cabbage and cauliflower. Unless you have a large family, three or four plants, planted every two weeks, is better than having a dozen plants mature all at once. Well-grown tomatoes should produce close to 20 pounds per plant, and zucchini is notorious for pumping out produce like a little machine, as does most summer squash, when only one or two are needed. “Just enough” is a great strategy, and sequential plantings will ensure your production continues well into late summer.
Space is another issue. Today, many of us have limited space, and I’m thrilled when folks turn lawns into gardens. Another huge missed opportunity is not “growing up.” By using more trellises, tripods and even fences all through our gardens, pole beans, peas, cucumbers and indeterminate tomatoes will climb up to where it’s warmer and where the light and air circulation are better. Elevated growing allows us to take full advantage of the most productive areas in our gardens, and don’t be shy about maximizing height. I grow my beans on three-metre tripods made from bamboo stakes. I chuckled one day at seeing a chain-link fence in an old industrial area smothered with squash hanging along its full length.
Trellising, if secured, also works well in large containers. Today, many varieties of veggies and small fruits are bred specifically for container production. Lettuce blends, like Simply Salad City Garden, Patio Snacker cucumbers, dwarf sugar snap peas, all pepper plants, Tumbling Tom and Tumbler tomatoes, bush squash and everbearing strawberries are all suited for containers and larger hanging baskets. They’re also very productive and flavourful.
Perhaps larger-growing plants, such as corn and squash, should be given a new location on the perimeter of your garden, allowing for more high-density planting of smaller crops in the rest of your space.
A note about soils: Everything you grow is dependent on the quality of the soil. Don’t cheap out on your soil because it’s one of the most important assets of any garden.
When buying bulk, make sure you get blended soil that is well suited for both food and flower crops. Straight topsoil can be full of weeds, clay and the like, so check it out before you purchase. For containers and top dressing, use professional soil mixes and add in quality compost, such as mushroom or steer manures, as well as Sea Soil. Use your own compost too, because it’s full of beneficial bacteria.
Creating ideal growing conditions for our plants can also mean creating perfect conditions for attracting disease, insects, rodent and rabbits. The best advice I can give is to do a daily — not once a week — check on all your plants. Small numbers of any pests are easier to control than large infestations. Aphids, for example, can be easily washed off with water. Pesky caterpillars can be kept at bay with floating row covers, such as Reemay cloth.
For the most benefit to your plants, when you water, do it in the morning as the temperature is on the rise. Make sure to keep the foliage dry at night. If you must water in the evening, water only the soil around your plants thoroughly and deeply but not the leaves.
If you need to spray, use organic Safer’s Soap and products such as BTK (Bacillus thuringiensis, a naturally occurring bacterium) as a preventive for larvae. Diatomaceous earth is really the only product still available to control sow bugs and other crawlers. You are your own best pest control — so be vigilant.
Birds also help to control insects, and bird baths are invaluable for attracting a broad range of birds to our gardens.
For all your colour gardening, choose annuals and perennials that attract pollinators. Today, you can buy pollinator seed mixes, but remember, it’s a succession of flowers that will keep bees and other friendly insects coming to your garden.
This year has brought unique challenges, and now our gardens are possibly more important than ever. We have four to five months ahead to make the most of them. So, plant, nurture and enjoy. Let’s get growing!