Spring Garden Inspiration
“People often ask me what one thing I would recommend to restore relationship between land and people. My answer is almost always “Plant a garden.” It’s good for the health of the earth, and good for the health of the people.”
Looking to get started growing vegetables, flowers or herbs this spring?
There are many beautiful benefits to gardening, even outside of the harvest you receive. It can be relaxing, rewarding, and will fill you with joy, lessons and laughter. Dirt under your fingernails, sun on your face and a basket of fresh goodies in exchange for the time and love you’ve put in. A real love-love situation, and an amazing way to reconnect with where our food comes from and how it grows!
I have experienced a wide variety of mental health benefits from this way of life, and want to share the journey with you, in hopes that it inspires something within yourself to learn something new!
Below I have included my top 4 tips on how to get started in the garden this spring, a few common mistakes to avoid, and some amazing resources to continue your learning adventure, provide support, and get you excited about growing! Let’s dive in!
1. Find the sunshine!
Whether you have a big backyard, a small raised bed in a community garden, or a tiny patio space, you can grow your own herbs, vegetables or flowers just about anywhere you can find a patch of sunshine; and the more sun, the better! Plants need a lot of love from the sun to grow and produce for you.
Spend the next few days observing your potential garden space for sunlight. Do you have sun all day long? Do you get partial shade? This will change as we get closer to summer, and again in to fall, but will help give you a rough idea on your choices next up in step two.
2. Choose your seeds!
Now is the fun part! It’s time to choose the things that will grow well in your space that you’re most excited about harvesting in the spring and summer months.
Do you love juicy tomatoes right off the vine? Or do you prefer mint for your mojitos? Do you love having fresh cut flowers on the table, or would you prefer peas, cucumbers and fresh salad greens?
If you are still unsure what to grow, or what does best in your location, I recommend looking up your growing zone for some inspiration. For us here in Vancouver, BC, we’re in zone 8b, and we have loads of options to choose from, for all types of spaces.
Growing food from seed is a very cost effective way to start your garden; a whole pack of seeds will cost about the same amount as one starter plant from your local nursery. Plus, it is so much fun, and so rewarding to grow your plants right from seed and watch them sprout up from the soil, growing into a big beautiful plant before your eyes. Magic!
My preference is to grow non-GMO + organic seeds, as they have not been sprayed with harmful pesticides. Here are two of my favourite local companies here in Canada that I support each year and highly recommend:
West Coast Seeds
https://www.westcoastseeds.com
Salt Spring Seeds:
https://www.saltspringseeds.com
3. Give your seeds a happy home in healthy soil!
You want to make sure you are giving those chosen seeds the best chance at life, in nutrient rich soil. If you are starting out from scratch, you will want to get yourself a load of healthy soil from your local nursery or soil depot.
If you are amending a bed or pot from growing in previous years, you want to make sure to top up with some fresh compost to add nutrients back into the soil for the season ahead. Last year I topped my beds with Sea Soil from my local nursery and it was great - nice, rich soil to top up the nutrients for my plants to thrive in.
This year I am giving Mind & Soil’s worm casting mix a go, sowing seeds both indoors under a grow light, and in the backyard. So far, I am very impressed with the success of germination with this seedling mix! Already lots of happy plant babies!
If you would like to give this soil a shot, head over to visit Jordan at Mind & Soil where you can purchase his seedling mix and also discover some excellent resources to continue your learning journey and discover the mental health benefits of gardening! His happy hours are a blast!
4. Make a garden game plan!
Now that you’ve got your seeds, and your soil is boosted up and ready to go, you can make your garden game plan for the year, and get those seeds in the dirt!
Each seed packet will have details about spacing, light requirements, planting timelines etc. (if not, a quick google will do the trick.)
I would recommend getting yourself a notebook to sketch out your space, plan where things are going, and record timelines for everything you’re growing. This is especially key if you are tight on space! You can maximize smaller growing areas by planning an early season crop, like salad greens, to follow with a later season crop, like cucumbers or zucchini to replace in their space when it is too hot for them to grow. This way you will always have something fresh to harvest right from your garden.
Once you have your seeds planted, make sure to keep them watered daily so they have the best chance at germination. With a little care and attention, they’ll be popping up and bringing you joy in no time!
A few things I wish i would have known when I started my garden
•Keep an eye on those seeds package details - not everything is ready to be planted right now at the start of spring! Plants like cucumbers and zucchini, for example, need much warmer soil before they will thrive, while plants like salad greens prefer the cooler weather in spring.
•If that mojito mint sounded tempting, make sure it gets its own container, and never plant it in a garden bed - it will have a free-for-all, and yes I definitely learned this the hard way. Mint is prolific and will spread like crazy, taking over any space it can sink its roots into, and will take nutrients and production away from the surrounding plants.
•For my patio gardeners: when choosing your pots and containers, ensure there is always a drainage hole in the bottom. If a pot does not have this, it will prevent water from draining properly and you will risk your plants getting root rot. (This goes for house plants, too!). Pop a tray underneath to catch the water and protect your patio, or find pots that have them built in.
•Certain plants will grow happily in containers in your smaller spaces. Try growing herbs, greens, and cherry tomatoes. Other plants, like root vegetables, are better off planted right in the ground, or in a raised bed.
Above all else, have fun with it!
Growing your own food is a beautiful opportunity to reconnect with the earth, and remember where our food comes from. It is a truly special feeling to be able to nourish yourself and your loved ones, and there isn’t much more deeply rewarding than going out to your backyard, patio, or window sill to pick a gift from the earth to enjoy - no grocery store bought produce ever compares! Now get out there and give it a shot!
“Something essential happens in a vegetable garden. It’s a place where if you can’t say “I love you” out loud, you can say it in seeds. And the land will reciprocate, in beans.”
Leave a comment or any questions below and let me know what you’re planning to grow this season!
I can’t wait to see what you create!!
xo, Ashley