It’s called “winter gardening”, and it happens when die-hard gardeners and those who simply can’t wait for spring to tend to their gardens even when heavy snow buries the soil and bitter cold winds whip the bare branches of the trees.

They pore over seed catalogs, imagine the layout of their gardens, and create visions in their minds of the lush, healthy vegetables and beautiful flowers that will grow there.  It just goes to show that you don’t need to be outside digging in the soil to be a gardener.  A bit of planning can keep you busy as you wait for the spring to come, and you can even start planting seeds well before the ground thaws.  Here are a few things to keep in mind while planning, as well as a few tips to help you get started with indoor planting.

Things to Consider When Deciding What to Plant:

• Experience level: most vegetables and flowers are easy even for beginners, but some, such as celery, eggplant, peppers, pole beans and head lettuce, are more difficult. Carrots and parsnips may seem like easy choices, but they can be difficult to grow in Regina’s clay soil and require preparation and care.

• Growing season: southern Saskatchewan has a short growing season, often less than 150 days, and only a few months of hot weather. Vegetables such as yams, peppers, melons, gourds, squash, and some varieties of tomatoes need a long, hot growing season to mature. They can still be grown here, but to insure that they survive and produce you may want to start them indoors or buy them as plants.

• Maintenance: some vegetables and flowers require less maintenance than others. A few low-maintenance plants include onions, radishes, chard, tomatoes, bush beans, marigolds, cosmos, and of course, zucchini (put a few seeds in the ground, wait about three months, and you’ll be eating zucchini bread for a year).

• Space: if there are a lot of plants you’d like to grow and space is limited, it may be helpful to list those that are most important to you and make sure they will all fit; less important ones can be added if space is available.

Things to Consider When Planning the Garden Layout:

• Rotation:  Some plants may need to be rotated.  Potato beetles lay eggs in the soil every summer that hatch the following year, so potatoes should be planted in a different place each year to prevent damage from these pests.  Planting vegetables that require a lot of nitrogen, such as corn, in the same place two years in a row can sap nutrients from the soil.  To help replace lost nutrients, plan to put nitrogen fixers like legumes where corn grew the year before.

• Spacing:  Some plants need as much as four feet of space around them, while others need only a few centimeters.  Make sure you leave enough space around each plant and between rows as you plan the layout of your garden.  The Grow Regina website features a link to a garden planning tool (under the “Gardening Tips and Tools” sidebar) that shows you how much space to leave for each plant. 

• Companion Planting:  Some plants, when placed side-by-side, nourish each other and help prevent pests.  A good list of companion plants can be found here: http://www.companionplanting.net/ListofCompanionPlants.html

• Aesthetics: textures, colours, and arrangements can turn a garden space into a work of art.  More information on garden design can be found here:  http://gardening.about.com/od/gardendesign/bb/Design_FAQ.htm

Starting Seeds Indoors:

• Check the instructions on the seed packet to determine the best time for starting the seeds.

• Good seeds to start indoors include tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and leafy greens.

• Seeds usually aren’t available in stores until April or May, so you may want to order from a seed catalogue.  The Grow Regina website has a link, located under the “Gardening Tips and Tools” sidebar, to a list of seed suppliers across Canada and the US from whom you can receive catalogues simply by giving your address and getting on a mailing list.

• Indoor seeds grow best in potting soil, or a combination of equal parts potting soil, vermiculite, and peat.

• You can use recycled containers like coffee cans or egg cartons or you can buy containers, but either way, make sure that there are holes in the bottom where water can drain out.

• If you place your seedlings near a window, make sure they get enough sunlight; some plants need up to 12 hours of light.  It may be helpful to grow seedlings under full spectrum fluorescent lights.

For more information on how to start seeds indoors, check out the following sites: http://gardenline.usask.ca/misc/seeds.html

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenprimer/ss/SeedStarting.htm

Submitted by Jennifer Bobowski

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Dirty Little Secrets.