Garden Wisdom Blog

Crop rotation is the practice of not growing plants where similar plants grew the previous year. This practice prevents the build up of pests and diseases and optimizes the use of soil nutrients. Plants from different “families” need different amounts of nutrients and their root systems also penetrate the soil to different levels. To simplify, we try to alternate between leaf crops and root crops. Leaf crops tend to be heavy nitrogen feeders with fairly shallow root systems. Root crops usually require more phosphorus and potassium and need deep soils in order to grow properly. Different plant families also prefer...

This is a list of seeds to start in April for south coastal British Columbia and the US Pacific Northwest. Finally it’s April and we are past the last average frost date in the BC Lower Mainland. Because this date is an average, it means that we may still get frost as late as mid-April, so embrace spring with caution. The soil is not yet warm at this time of year, and that is a very important detail to remember. If you plant beet seeds in cold soil, for instance, they may not develop large roots. Seeds like corn and...

Although they arrived from Europe, they’re well at home now in BC’s Lower Mainland and many other regions. This lively beetle (Amphimallon majalis) has an annual life cycle that is worth understanding in an attempt to control it. The beetle spends its childhood and teen years as a grub in the soil, feeding on the roots of grasses, particularly in lawn areas. As an adult, it emerges, mates, and then lays the eggs for a new generation. In the larval stage, the chafer can cause some damage to lawns resulting in brown patches. But because they are so substantial, they...

It is thought that there are over three thousand heirloom tomatoes in cultivation, from the very well known Black Krim to the rather more obscure Sibirskiy Skorospely (Early Siberian). With modern bred open pollinated and hybrid varieties, the number is more like fifteen thousand types. So, how to choose a tomato can seem daunting for the beginner gardener. It’s a subject that experienced tomato growers can grow highly passionate over. Everyone has their favourite types, and all for different reasons. Just about every tomato has its own unique charms, but where does one start? There are several ways to narrow...