These days many of us are living in smaller spaces, which don’t have huge yards for gardens. So, we need to get creative. Everybody is different in what they want to grow and how they want to grow it.
When people want to get started with their own small garden, I ask them a few questions:
Food, flowers or both?
I recommend a bit of both, having flowers brings in pollinators which will help your veggies and fruit produce after blooming.
Some flowers like alyssum will attract bugs that will keep aphids under control.
If just flowers, why not throw in some onions or chives around your roses to help with pests and increase the fragrance of the rose blooms. There are many combinations of plants that are great companions.
What do you like to eat?
Grow what you like to eat, there’s no point growing tomatoes if you don’t like eating them. Kind of self-explanatory.
How much space do you have?
Room on a small deck for a couple planters, Maybe a couple larger containers? Possibly even some raised garden beds?
Can you go vertical? Fences, walls, build trellises.
Here’s an idea of the size of container you need for different types of veggies:
5 Gallon pot – Beans, beets, eggplant, garlic, lettuce, onion, radish. Potatoes, carrots and tomatoes in deeper pots
2 Gallon pot – Cucumber and Peppers.
1 Gallon pot – Most herbs
Most plants you purchase in a garden store will have a tag that will tell you the mature size of that particular plant. This helps with choosing containers and spacing plants in the garden.
How much sunlight does your growing area(s) get?
Ideally you want to have at least 6 hours of sunlight, any less and your very limited in what will grow there.
Is the sunlight direct, is there something that will make shade? Like a tree or shed.
What is your budget?
This will determine if your upcycling plastic buckets, or buying fancy ceramic pots from Italy.
Starting from seed is usually cheaper, you can buy plants in different sizes, bigger usually = more expensive.
This time of year is great for getting deals on non-plant items that are on sale. Even sometimes getting lucky with perennial plants on sale. (these will come back yearly).
How much time do you want to spend planting, maintaining and watering?
Some plants need a little more TLC than others.
Pruning, training, and watering all take time.
If you don’t have a lot of time for watering you may want to set up an irrigation system or get containers with a reservoir for water. In a hot sunny summer, tomatoes in containers may need to be watered twice a day!
How is your soil?
If you’re lucky to have raised garden beds, you’ll want at least 12 inches deep of a good quality garden soil. A good blend of clay (20%), sand (40%) and silt (40%).
Most soil issues can be fixed by adding organic matter.
With containers you’ll want to use a potting soil that is high porosity (drains well).
Definitely don’t use regular garden soil in your containers, it becomes compact and doesn’t drain well enough, unless you add pearlite or vermiculite.
In the end, a lot of gardening is trial and error, what works for someone else may or may not work for you. I definitely recommend joining a gardening group or taking a class.
Here in Squamish we have a wealth of resources, farmers at the market on Saturdays, Squamish CAN, The Squamish Gardeners Club, social media, online plant retailers like West Coast Seeds and the public library for good old books.
Ask your neighbors, ask the staff at the garden centre or nursery you purchase from. I’ve never met a gardener who wouldn’t spend hours talking about gardening!
Gabriella Brass is the president of the Squamish Gardeners Club.
