This is the time of year many are starting their seeds indoors, and there are many growing mediums available. Some swear by ordinary garden soil, straight compost or the compressed pellets of peat or coconut coir – though I hear many in my local gardening groups with a definite hate on for the pellets!! Then there’s potting soil and seed starting mixes.
What to choose? Let a soil scientist explain!
I currently have two different brands of seed starting mix, because those were the ones available at the time I was there to buy them. So far, I don’t see any difference between them.
Another gardening video from Gardening in Canada, about whether you need light to start seeds or not.
Considering the differences between our big aquarium greenhouse and the little one, light is definitely an issue. Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to invest in lights – especially not full spectrum lights or red grow lights – right now. The bright LED shop lights I was able to get at Costco, however, do seem to be helping a lot, once the trays move out of the aquarium greenhouses.
When it comes to deciding what seeds to start indoors, and when, your frost dates are more important than your zone. Gardening in Canada talks about what to start now, whatever zone you are in.
We’ve got our onions,shallots, eggplants and hot peppers started (even though the hot peppers are supposed to be a short season variety). Next up, I have herbs to start.
We don’t have luffa seeds to try this year; I will buy more to try again next year. I’m debating whether I want to try any gourds this year. I’m not sure how many beds we will have access to this year. I think I should skip them this year and focus more of the edibles than things I am growing for crafting purposes.
What about you? If you have a garden, what are you trying – or skipping – this year?
Here’s another great video from Gardening in Canada. With so many people looking to garden to feed themselves, because grocery prices are getting so high, it helps to know what’s actually cheaper to grow!
There are, of course, always outliers. With the dry beans, for example. It may be cheaper to buy them at the store, but you can grow varieties that you won’t find in stores at all. Similar for things like potatoes, which don’t even make her list. For example, there’s not much point growing your basic white, red, or yellow potatoes that are common in stores. For the space they need, you could grow other more cost-effective vegetables instead. But there are many varieties of potatoes you’ll never see in a grocery store, or if you do, they are much more expensive “gourmet” items.
But then, a novice gardener looking to save on the grocery budget probably wouldn’t be after special varieties. That’s the time to focus on tried and true varieties that will grow in their area, not experiment. We are fortunate to have lots of space to convert into garden beds. Most people don’t have that.
I still say it’s good to grow at least one thing, just for fun!
Welcome to my second “Recommended” series. Here, you’ll find various sites and channels that I’ve been enjoying and wanted to share with you. With so many people currently looking to find ways to be more self sufficient or prepared for emergencies, that will be the focus for most of these, but I’ll also be adding a few that are just plain fun. Please feel free to leave a comment or make your own recommendation. I hope you enjoy these!
Here’s one for the Canadians, and other cold climate gardeners!
In the last few years, I’ve been spending a lot of time researching what sorts of food producing perennials we can grow in our climate zone. One of the things I soon noticed was that a lot of the hardiest varieties of fruits and berries that I was looking at were developed by the University of Saskatchewan. There are a lot of good things coming out of the University of Saskatchewan!
Well, it turns out that the UofS also has good scientists coming out of it, too!
Gardening in Canada started out as only a YouTube channel by a soil scientist. The channel was started in 2016, with just a few videos put out in the first three years, and then a break of no videos at all until the spring of 2020. From then on, videos started getting posted a lot more often, and the channel really took off. Clearly, there were a lot of people out there who were eager to learn more about gardening from the perspective of a soil scientist! Before long, a website was also started, with all sorts of resources available. If you visit the channel’s About page, you’ll also find links to her Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest sites. You’ll also find her on Rumble and Odysee.
With so many people suddenly feeling the need to get into gardening, but not having a lot of funds, I figured I’d start with this video.
Start a productive garden for next to nothing? Yup. It can be done! Pretty much the only thing actual cash spent would be going for is the seeds, and she even has ways to get those for free, too.
Want more information on how to start a cold climate garden? Here ya go.
One of the things I appreciate about this resource is that, being in Saskatchewan, she’s in zone 3, just as I am. But are zones all that important? Here, she explains why they are – and why they aren’t!
Interesting to learn that being in a Canadian zone 3, we’d be considered zone 4 in the US.
There are a HUGE number of topics covering, talking about things like beneficial soil fungus and microbes, starting seeds indoors, the safety of using cardboard as a mulch, and so much more. This next video is why we scarified our gourd seeds when starting them indoors this year, and I think it made a huge difference compared to last year, when we had such troubles with germination.
She even goes into some Canadian gardening history.
How the government handled Victory Gardens in Canada was very different than in the US or the UK! I have to admit to being thrown over the fact that people needed government permission just to teach others how to garden!
Another thing I love about her videos is that, when she talks about the science of things, she is straight up about it, even when it might not be particularly popular. Like this video about glyphosate.
I’m hanging on to this one for the next time I find myself in a debate with someone who has been badly misinformed about the substance.
She even dares tackle GMOs.
Another topic that a lot of people are misinformed about.
She also challenges some of the more common “hacks” out there.
Even if you’re not in a cold climate, I have no doubt you’ll find something useful and informative you can use. Gardening in Canada is just overflowing with excellent, science based information and I highly, highly recommend it!
The Re-Farmer 