Many newcomers would love to try gardening but don’t know how to start, considering the weather conditions in Canada. Shareba Abdul, a Food and Garden Blogger with In Search Of Yummy-ness, shares some gardening tips for spring.
The first thing gardeners should do when planning their spring gardens is to find out their last frost date, either through a web search or by asking a local garden centre. Your last frost date is relative to where you live. For example, in Vancouver, where the weather is milder, the average last frost date is March 28th. Whereas in parts of Southern Ontario, where the weather tends to be colder, the last frost date is May 28th. This date is an average that helps gardeners know the safest time to start planting outdoors. Baby plants cannot tolerate frost, so planting outdoors before the last frost date might kill your plants.
You can start planting some cold-weather plants, like carrots and radishes, outdoors from seed right after the last frost date. Warm weather plants, like tomatoes and peppers, should be started indoors from seed 6-8 weeks before the last frost, and then transplanted outdoors when overnight temperatures are reliably warm.
While growing from seed can be rewarding, if you want to start your seeds indoors you will need either a very sunny window or a grow light to raise strong healthy seedlings. An easier option is to buy transplants (baby plants) from your local nursery or garden centre, and then plant them outside when the weather is warm enough.
Most garden centres will carry a variety of vegetables, flowers, and herbs that you can choose from. From there, all you need is either garden soil (if you’re planting in garden beds) or container soil (if you’re planting in pots) and you’re ready to start your spring garden!
Happy gardening!
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