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These instructions will help you plan your garden, making a cloche greenhouse configuration, choose your covering material and pipe frame. Then they will help you set up your greenhouse and make the very best use of it for great gardening...
Continue ReadingThe plight of the Monarch butterfly has been a big news item in recent times. Just look up “monarch butterfly” on Youtube, and you’ll find scores of videos aimed at Monarch conservation. The Monarch is unusual due to its remarkable...
Continue ReadingFood miles measure the literal distance in mileage between the producer and the consumer. They’re used to demonstrate the relative carbon footprints of conventionally farmed and imported groceries. This isn’t an effort to make consumers feel guilty. It’s about better...
Continue ReadingOne of the amazing opportunities facing all gardeners and farmers is planting for wildlife — or, at least, growing food with biodiversity in mind. Organic gardeners understand that soil health is inherently dependent on robust biodiversity in the soil. Earthworms,...
Continue ReadingOkay – now for the fun stuff. Seed balls (sometimes called seed bombs), are simple balls of clay and soil that contain seeds. They can be placed or tossed into their growing spot, and the clay/soil mix provides the seeds...
Continue ReadingAt West Coast Seeds we are huge fans of school gardens. Nothing beats seeing a class of happy, engaged kids learning about how soil works, and how to grow food from seed. The match seems so natural, and yet school...
Continue ReadingWhile recreational field turf has its uses, most urban and suburban lawn leaves the Earth with a net loss. Space that could be used for growing food or feeding pollinators is dedicated instead to demanding, non-native grasses. Lawn grass is...
Continue ReadingParsnip (Pastinaca sativa) As a member of the family Apiaciae, the parsnip counts among its close cousins the carrot, parsley, dill, fennel, cilantro, and celery. All of these bear tall umbels of flowers, but like the carrot, parsnip is biennial,...
Continue ReadingParsley (Petroselinum crispum) Both the curly leaf form (P. crispum) and the Italian flat-leaf form (P. crispum var. neapolitanum) of this useful herb are members of the carrot family Apiaceae, and share a close botanical relationship to their cousin the...
Continue ReadingLeeks (Allium ampeloprasum, var. porrum, syn. A. porrum) This member of the Allium family is thought to have been in cultivation since the 2nd century BC, from ancient Egypt to Mesopotamia. The Romans believed that eating leeks imparted a sonorous...
Continue ReadingCress (Lepidium sativum) & Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) Cress (sometimes called garden cress, garden pepper cress, pepperwort, or pepper grass) is a leafy annual herb from the Brassica family. It is harvested when immature, around one to two weeks after germination,...
Continue ReadingIt’s already the middle of March, 2017, and spring seems hesitant to start this year. Despite the rain (and melted snow), we know that fairer weather is coming. So we’re building twenty raised beds in between the big red barn...
Continue ReadingAbout Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea Botrytis group) Modern cauliflower has been grown since the 15th century, and it was grown almost exclusively in Italy until the 16th century when it gradually migrated to France and then to American gardens 100 years...
Continue ReadingChives (Allium schoenoprasum) Chives have been in cultivation since at least the Middle Ages in Europe, and there are references to their use in ancient Rome, but primarily as a medicinal herb. They were used to treat sunburn and sore...
Continue ReadingNot so much an official trial, as an effort to grow out each of our sweet peas for comparative study. We grew out fifteen varieties among the other flowers and vegetables at our Kirkland House demonstration garden here in Ladner...
Continue ReadingAfter years of promoting Community Supported Agriculture, I finally broke down and joined a CSA program at one of the local organic farms. What a great decision it was, too! Back in February we signed up for a “small” farm...
Continue ReadingIt's always news when a new book comes out by BC gardening icon Linda Gilkeson, Ph.D. This is no exception. In a follow up to her (frankly incredible) book Resilient Gardens 2016, Gilkeson describes in great detail the keys to...
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