Gardening April 3, 2011

It’s April! Beautiful cherry blossom trees, daffodils and crocuses are all blooming and brightening neighbourhoods as it gets warmer. It’s the perfect time to start planting a vegetable garden! Growing your own food is an awesome way to make a difference in your home and community! You’ll be reducing transportation and energy emissions to produce and transport food, as well as wasteful packaging that is used to preserve and store food. In addition, you can save bodies of water from being polluted by not using pesticides and insecticides. You’ll also have a sustainable source of food right in your own backyard.

It may seem that growing food in Vancouver takes a lot of work and money and doesn’t turn out well or produce much food to eat. However, you can actually grow lots of food here! There are several crops, such as potatoes, lettuce, spinach, peas and blueberries, that do amazingly well here and will give you lots of food during the summer. You’ll save money, have fun harvesting food you grew yourself, and help the environment in a huge way by starting this sustainable project!

If you live in an apartment or don’t have much room in your yard, you’ll be surprised how well plants will grow in small containers. You’ll be able to produce lots of foods even in small pots on your deck. Potatoes and other root vegetables, such as carrots, onions, radishes, beets and garlic, grow well in tall pots and small plants, such as lettuce and spinach can grow in small containers. A great way to save lots of packaging, is by growing herbs, such as parsley, basil, chives and rosemary. You can clip off pieces of the plants when you need them and cut all that waste from the small quantities you buy in the grocery store.

Other foods that grow well in Vancouver include peas, beans, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, apples, strawberries and blueberries. You can get a fantastic turn out and produce lots of food, saving you money and making a huge difference! Here are a few ways that you can turn your green garden into an even greener garden:

• If you haven’t already, start a compost to put your food scraps in. Once the materials have turned into dirt, use the dirt from your compost for your garden. Composters make nutrient-filled soil that plants grow well in! (You can get a composter at the Vancouver Transfer Station)
• Install a rain barrel attached to your gutters. It will take rainwater from your gutters and also collect some rain when it comes down. Then you can use the attached hose to water your garden. It’s definitely reusing! (You can get a rain barrel at the Vancouver Transfer Station)
• Grow your plants without pesticides, insecticides or herbicides. Look into earth friendly ways of keeping bugs and weeds away!
• Think about what you’re growing! Choose foods that you know will grow well in your area and that you like to eat.
• Do not plant invasive species in your garden! Invasive species are species that are not native to the country or area you live in. Many people buy invasive trees and flowers because they are exotic and often look pretty. However, these plants do more harm than they seem to! When an invasive plant is planted into a garden, it often quickly becomes the dominant specie. They grow quickly and spread quickly, often killing or choking the plants around them. Some examples of invasive plants and trees are English Holly, periwinkle, lamium, English Ivy and scotch bloom. For more information about invasive species in Canada, visit: http://www.invasivespecies.gc.ca/english/view.asp?x=1.

Either by starting your own giant veggie garden, growing a few herbs in containers or participating in a community garden, you’ll be making a huge difference! So this spring, let’s get planting!

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