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  Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Harvesting crops from your garden is incredibly rewarding.  After all, it's where you get to enjoy the literal fruits of your labor! If you're lucky enough to reach the harvesting stage in your crop's lifecycle, it's important to know when and how to harvest. Before we dive into different harvesting techniques, let's talk about the term "continuous harvest".  The basis for whether crops are considered to have a continuous harvest comes from their growth habit and reproductive strategy. Examples of crops that can will provide a continuous harvest are lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes.  These are plants that will produce new growth continuously throughout the growing season. Because the growing part of the plant is not removed during the harvesting process, these types of crops allow for multiple harvests throughout the season.  For this reason, these types of crops typically stay in the garden for much longer. On the ...

Photo by  Joshua Lanzarini  on  Unsplash Square foot gardening is a popular gardening method that allows gardeners to maximize their space and grow a variety of plants in a small area. The idea behind this method is to divide your garden into square-foot sections and plant different crops in each section. This method not only saves space but also helps to reduce the amount of water and fertilizer used. In this blog post, we'll explain how to sow seeds outdoors when following a square foot gardening method. Step 1: Plan Your Garden The first step to sowing seeds in a square foot garden is to plan out your garden space. Here are some considerations for this: The types of growing space you have Raised bed, in-ground, containers How the sun moves in your yard throughout the day, and which areas get the most sun.   What types of crops are best suited to your growing space and environment Light levels, wind, season length, soil drainage. What crops you want to grow & w...

Photo by Jael Rodriguez on Unsplash Transplanting seedlings from indoor containers to your garden is like graduation day. Your babies are off to make their own way in the world. However, before you take this step, it's important to ensure that the seedlings are properly acclimatized to the outdoor environment. If you need a refresher on hardening off seedlings, check out our Gardening Guide on Hardening Off Seedlings . If you're ready to transplant, read on to discover how to do this in a way that will help your seedlings thrive in their new digs (sorry, plant pun). Step 1: Choose the right time Transplanting seedlings should be done when the weather is suitable. For most crops, the reason you are starting the seedlings indoors in the first place is because you need to wait until the last frost has passed to transplant them outside. However, some more advanced gardeners may choose to start seeds indoors well into the growing season in order to time their transplant with the...

  Photo by  Zoe Schaeffer  on  Unsplash Hardening off seedlings is an important process that allows young plants to gradually adjust to outdoor conditions before being transplanted into the garden.  If you skip hardening off your seedlings and go straight from indoor to transplanting, you may risk stressing them.  Stressed seedlings can show signs like limp stems, off-color foliage, or even sunburn. Gardening is already an exercise in patience, so why not give your seedlings the best chance at thriving by gradually introducing them to the outdoors?  Note that this process can look different for everyone; some seedlings are more sensitive than others, and all yards have different sun/wind conditions.  Feel free to try this 7-day plan as a starting point, and then adapt it to suit what works best for your environment and what you're growing.  The main idea is: take baby steps.  Your baby plants will thank you. Here is a cheat sheet for our...

Photo by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash Starting seeds indoors is a great way to get a jump start on your garden, especially if you have a limited growing season. Here are our top 15 tips that provide a crash course in seed starting: Know the needs of your seeds : This may sound like a no-brainer, but you should only start seeds indoors if it's already well known that they are suitable for indoor starting. Some plants don't appreciate being transplanted, and others grow so quickly after being sown directly outdoors that the effort to start indoors just isn't worth it, so do your research before you start. The best place to get information is right from the seed supplier, so always read the seed packet. Start the seeds at the right time : Once you know which seeds can start indoors, you then need to understand when to start them.  There is a delicate balance here: you usually want to avoid re-potting the seedling, but at the same time, starting seeds in too large of a pot can...

As we embark on a new growing season, many of us seasoned gardeners are itching to act on our carefully crafted plans.  In the lockdown era where supply chain issues had grocery stores running on empty, interest spiked around the idea of growing your own food. With concerns about the environment, the cost of groceries, and the desire for fresh, healthy produce, many people are beginning to turn to "urban farming" as a way to feed themselves and their families. For many novice gardeners, the process can be overwhelming, especially if you're like me and want to try multiple varieties of the same crop.  How do I coordinate all of the different planting schedules? How much space do I need for all the seeds I purchased? Will there be enough time in the season to get a harvest at all? These questions, if not properly considered, can make or break your growing season. That's where plannt.ca comes in. With this helpful tool, users can easily plan and organize their garden, d...

  "Growing your own food is like printing your own money."  - Ron Finley I love to cook, and I love to eat.  I'm concerned about pesticides, transport emissions, and fair trade.  I also happen to have a background in Lean Manufacturing (how to do anything as efficiently as possible).  Over the years, I found that growing my own food brings all of my passions together and gives me an outlet for experimentation and learning. Every season, I use my backyard garden as a testing ground for different varieties of fruits & veggies that I grow from seed.  My goal is to see how well they perform against each other, with the ultimate goal of finding a handful of crops that will produce reliably in my specific hardiness zone.   When I first started, I created a spreadsheet to track everything.  However, it quickly became a mess due to my love for variety.  I couldn't maintain a live map with so many things changing at once.  There was no t...