By Chris Hart

One of the many things that this past year has taught me, is that there is no such thing as a simple trip to the grocery store anymore. Whether you’re strategically booking a pick-up time, or waiting in a long line, it has become quite the ordeal. While a full pantry can cut down on trips for certain products, the need for fresh produce will always bring you back. With spring just around the corner, a vegetable garden may just be the perfect solution (it’s a hobby that comes with food!).

I started my first garden a few years ago as a way to use up a small patch of soil in my backyard. Since then, it has grown quite a bit, not just in size, but in variety and procedures. I went from buying random seedlings from the store, to systematically planting different plants and seeds throughout the spring and summer. While my early advancement as a gardener came from trial and error, and Google searches, a lot of my recent growth came with joining Ground Culture’s garden club. Not only did they deliver seeds to my door, they also provided detailed information on when and how to plant and care for different types of vegetables and plants.

When preparing to write a gardening article for the spring Egret, I found myself using a lot of their material as research. So, I decided to cut out the middle man, and I reached out to Brandi and Vanessa of Ground Culture to see if they could provide our members with some information on transforming your own yard into “a lush space that is both productive and beautiful.” I wanted to know about what grows well in our area, as well as any potential benefits that a vegetable garden might have on our environment (besides just providing “us” with food). Their responses are italicized.

  • What are the main things people need to consider when starting up a garden?

It’s all about the soil.

Growing healthy plants begins by growing healthy soil. Learning these basic concepts will help you understand the complex underworkings of what lies (alive!) beneath our feet. Whether you are growing annual vegetable plants in a kitchen garden, or ornamental perennials throughout a landscape, following these principles will help you build healthy soil over time:

Add organic matter. Adding organic matter to your garden adds nutrients to the soil, improves the physical structure, helps with moisture retention, and creates habitat for insects, bacteria, and the microscopic workhorses below the surface. Compost, aged manure, and shredded leaf litter are all examples of organic matter that can be added to your garden which will feed this beautifully intricate food web. Spread 2-3 inches of locally sourced compost to your preexisting garden each spring and use your fallen leaves to cover the soil at the end of the growing season.

Practice low or no dig. Soil is teaming with life made up of microbes, bacteria, fungi, worms, etc. These living organisms create complex systems in the soil, while breaking down organic matter and releasing plant nutrients. When we disturb the soil, we disrupt these systems. When we dig as minimally as possible and build fertility on top of the soil through compost application, mulching, etc., we are allowing the living soil to do its thing (and hey, it’s a great excuse to skip the back breaking work of turning over or tilling your soil each spring). 

Keep it covered. To maintain a healthy soil structure, avoid leaving your soil bare. Mulch the top layer and around your plants with wood chips, compost, straw, or shredded leaves. This practice will help keep the weeds down and the moisture in.

  • How do you know/decide which vegetables will grow best in your garden?

Growing food isn’t just limited to your vegetable garden! You can incorporate all sorts of edible plants into your landscape, and in places you might not expect. 

Vegetable Gardens: The most obvious way to grow your own food is to plant annual vegetables either in-ground or in raised beds. If you have well-draining soil that is rich in organic matter, you might want to consider in-ground beds. If you have poor soils or accessibility requirements, you might opt for raised beds. For sunny locations, try growing heat loving crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, or zucchini. For shadier gardens, you can get away with growing leafy crops like lettuce and spinach, and root crops like radishes, beets, and carrots. 

Perennial Food Plants: Perennial plants come back year after year. You can incorporate edible perennial plants into your existing landscape, or swap out ornamental shrubs and trees for food producing species. A few great examples of incorporating perennials into your existing landscape is to plant a berry hedge along a fence, a row of asparagus along a ditch, or a few rhubarb plants amongst your ornamental plants; the edible plants will blend in beautifully with the ornamental ones, as edible plants also offer lush foliage and beautiful flowers. You can also consider swapping out an unhealthy or undesired tree or shrub with a native food bearing species that will feed both you and the local wildlife. Elderberry, Serviceberry, and Pawpaw are a few of our favourites. 

Maximizing growing space in urban Walkerville with raised beds. Design and installation by Ground Culture. Photo by Brandi Bechard
  • What are some tips to get the most out of my garden?

Grow flowers! Incorporating flowers into your garden should be synonymous with growing food and increasing the ecological value of your yard. Not only are they attractive (and sometimes edible!), they also attract both pollinators and beneficial insects. Flowering plants provide a habitat for pollinating insects, such as bees, butterflies, beetles, ants, moths, and wasps. A diversity of these species will help to pollinate all of your fruiting crops, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, and squash. Attracting beneficial insects to the garden is helpful because they have predatory and parasitic behaviours that control many common garden pests. This type of natural pest management encourages us to think about the importance of native ecosystems by reintroducing perennial wildflowers and grasses into our landscapes. Planting an array of flower shapes, colours, and bloom times will help attract a diversity of insect and wildlife species throughout the growing season.

Stick to natural practices. Avoid the use of chemicals or synthetic pesticides and herbicides in your yard. These products are harmful to the environment as they can pollute waterways, poison the native wildlife, and make plants dangerous to consume by you or your pets. By following ecological practices like natural pest management, manual weeding, mulching, and planting lots of biodiversity, you can create a well-balanced, self-sustaining backyard habitat that welcomes all forms of life. 

Growing food in raised beds. Design and installation by Ground Culture. Photo by Brandi Bechard

So, if you’re looking to reduce your time spent in grocery stores, and spend more time enjoying (and helping) the natural beauty of your yard, an edible garden seems like the way to go. I’d like to thank Brandi Bechard and Vanessa Carducci of Ground Culture for taking the time answer my questions and provide our members with some useful information. For more tips, check them out @ground.culture.gardens on social media.