Garden Wisdom Blog — category: Garden Resources

In our relatively short growing season, we need to grow most food crops in a fairly intense way. We need to select crops that mature quickly. Some crops, like mescluns and salad greens grow so fast that we can take several harvests in a single season. Other plants, like pumpkins, use most of the growing season to produce masses of foliage, and then bloom and form fruits as autumn approaches. Whatever the case, the plants we cultivate in our food gardens take nutrients from the soil and energy of the sun in order to perform. Many crops require full sun...

The wildflower seeds in our Knee High Meadow Blend produce a waist-high field of brilliantly coloured flowers that bloom over a very long period from spring to fall. This blend is best for areas that will be protected from foot traffic, and it will lure hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators to the area. Planted less densely, this blend works just as well in containers and raised beds. African Daisy (Dimorphoteca sinuata) Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila elegans) Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) Blue Flax (Linum perenne) California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) Candytuft (Iberis umbellata) Catchfly (Silene armeria) Chinese Forget-Me-Not (Cynoglossum...

Plant Hardiness Zones offer general guidance to the kinds of plants that will succeed in your area. The warmer your climate, the higher the number of the Zone you live in. Zones assume that all plants are receiving adequate water. The accuracy of zone coding can be substantially distorted by a lack of water. Zones are also affected by altitude, soil aeration, light, day length, air movement, surrounding structures, and soil pH. Microclimates like English Bay in Vancouver can provide enough protection to grow palm trees. However, neighbours on a hilly street in North Vancouver may find themselves in different...

Known since ancient Greece and Rome, the modern cabbage is a descendant of wild mustard. The Roman statesman Cato the Elder wrote of its medicinal properties, “It is the cabbage which surpasses all other vegetables.” The seventeenth century English physician and botanist Nicholas Culpeper recommended using cabbage to treat hoarseness, snake bites, kidney stones, liver disease, consumption, eye troubles, cankers, swelling, and other maladies. But this wealth of benefits is not without its drawbacks, as Culpeper points out: I know not what metal their bodies were made of; this I am sure, Cabbages are extremely windy, whether you take them...