For the first time ever, I am trying my hand at vegetable gardening.
When my husband and I lived in Victoria, for years we lived in a series of apartments and condos until we eventually traded up to a full-sized house with a yard. My gardening capabilities in the apartments and condos were largely limited to balcony gardens and potted houseplants. The first year I "gardened" I tried my hand at growing lettuce, spinach and mixed salad greens in containers on my sunny and hot balcony.
When the seeds sprouted, you wouldn't believe the glee. Growing something from seed and having it turn into a close approximation of what the plant should look like is a heady andaddictive feeling. That summer, I learned about the importance of watering and plant neglect and I also discovered what happens to leafy greens during a spate of hot weather with an ineffectual gardener who thinks watering is optional.
Surprising no one but myself, my bolted lettuce and dried-up spinach was not the most auspicious of gardening beginnings.
Then we moved to a beautiful condo that had the smallest and darkest of balconies capable of growing nothing. It did attract a number of frisky brown birds that enjoyed copulating on my balcony, which was like having a Hinter's Wonderland commercial shot off your deck.
Then we moved into our house where I discovered that my gardening ambition was larger than my talent and pocketbook.
I ordered three tonnes of top-notch soil mixed with compost to start my giant flowerbed that surrounded the fence in our modest yard. I then bought about $200 worth of perennials. For anyone not-familiar with gardening, this covered about halfway up one edge of one side of my new garden.
So for the rest of the summer, I tried my best to fill in the caverns, I mean gaps, in my garden a plant or two each paycheque. Needless to say, I spent most of that summer weeding the barren earth.
When we moved back home and found a new house, complete with yard and strange northern beetles, I was determined to go slowly with my gardening and to not bite off more than I could chew. This year, I stole a small garden bed from my mom (with her permission) and we filled it with fantastic compost from the Foothills landfill (so cheap!) mixed with regular old dirt from underneath an old stump in our yard.
Then, with the help of my children, we planted veggie seeds and small starter plants of every variety of purple vegetable
I could find. I am pleased to report that Operation Small Raised Garden Bed is already successful with no less than three sprouted plants.
I can already feel the bolted lettuce coming on.
Good luck with your own gardens this year and, if you can, plant some vegetables too. If you have too much zucchini, trade with your neighbour or donate it to those in need.
Let's grow together, Prince George. If I can do it, so can you.
