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Planning for next year’s garden: 5 ways to make it a great year
I know, I know, it seems too early…But I had my copy of the Westcoast Seeds Gardening Guide dog-eared and was ready to order my seeds last month! I can’t be the only one… Whether you’re a long-time gardener or a first-time grower, getting ahead of planning and organizing in the fall and winter months can lead to a fantastic garden in the coming year… Which means that now is the perfect time to start planning! So as I’m going through these steps myself, I thought I’d share what I consider each year to prepare for the coming season. 1. Reflecting on past years’ gardens Before diving into planning for…
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Gardening While Renting: The Beginning of the End
I haven’t had a chance to write up a balcony garden update for this season yet and now I am faced with dismantling it all and bringing an end to my balcony garden. I have mixed feelings about this, but when you are gardening while renting, sometimes you just don’t have a choice in the matter! Balcony Garden Update: Faced with taking it all apart Gardening while renting has come with a lot of challenges and this latest one seems like the final straw. I live in an older wood framed building where the property managers have become concerned with the stability of our balconies. Because of this, there have…
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Backyard garden: Spring 2024 update
This year my backyard garden is going to look a little different. In past years I’ve focused on growing vegetables, with various levels of success. But last year I so enjoyed going to properties with cut flower gardens and decided I wanted to try it for myself! There’s something so calming and uplifting about a bright bunch of flowers and I’m hoping to be successful enough to have lots of flowers to share. I had already been rolling this idea around in my mind, and then saw a post not long ago about how store-bought flowers can be less than optimal for the environment. I had never thought about it…
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Backyard garden: 2023 season update
As the seasons (abruptly, here on the southwest coast of BC!) change, it’s a good time to look back on the gardening season that was. As it’s all too easy to forget the nuances of the year, it’s helpful to make notes about what worked, what didn’t, and what could be changed up for next year! All in all I’d have to say it was a pretty good year, see below for highlights! Read along about past years here. Best thing made with garden produce (so far) Have you ever heard of a tomato mill or strainer? I hadn’t until a couple of years ago but then I discovered this…
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My 2023 Balcony Garden Update
I mentioned earlier this year that I hadn’t been planning on having a garden this year, but I’m so glad I changed my mind and went ahead with planting a few things. My garden isn’t very elaborate or productive, but it’s so satisfying to see things grow. You can check out how I started my garden in my 2023 Balcony Garden Post. What I’ve been growing in my balcony garden This year I went simple with my garden and tried to use up the seeds that I had from last year. I didn’t want to make a huge investment of money this year because last year’s garden didn’t produce enough…
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How I’m Starting my Balcony Garden this Year
I wasn’t planning on gardening this year because of how poorly my balcony garden grew last year, but since I had a large number of seeds left over, I decided to give it another go. This year, I’m setting my expectations lower and am simply going to hope for the best. Troublemaking Stellar Jays My gardening journey started out with a bit of an obstacle to overcome. Last year I had these super sweet and cute Stellar Jays visiting my balcony, so I was excited to see some jays come back this year. Having birds come and visit my balcony garden has been a huge source of joy this last…
