YORKTON - It seemed a long time coming, but optimism for the gardening season is now here! The snow at Easter dampened even the most hopeful spirits, but every gardener is smiling now!
Are you looking for a garden plot for this growing season? The Community Peace Garden has one plot available. If you are interested in this space, please call Warren at 782-3249.
The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their next meeting on Wednesday, May 18 at 7PM at the Yorkton Public Library. Please use the back door. This evening will be the Iron Gardener Event! Great fun!
Everyone can garden. Yes, everyone. Age doesn’t matter, gardening real-estate available doesn’t matter. (Although if you want a garden plot, just call Warren!) The idea that a garden is not a garden if it isn’t half an acre is an old idea that is, thankfully, “composted”! A garden can be as big or as small as the space that we have available to us, and it may or may not even be in the ground!
We are all familiar with the traditional garden plot, handy if we have one in our yards, because the ‘groundwork’ is already there, just waiting to be tilled and planted. But there’s a new twist on an old theme! If your yard has more flower-bed space then ‘garden’ space, many gardeners now mix in veggies with the flowers! Various lettuces make an outstanding edging plant for a flower border. Herbs mixed in among flowers add interesting colors and textures and attract bees. And a lush tomato plant looks beautiful among the flowers! Potatoes make a good filler at the back of a border. Yes, there’s always something new under the sun!
Raised beds are a great choice for many reasons. They look very neat and tidy and can be made in any height to suit you. The width is usually about three or four feet so that we can reach the middle of the bed easily from either side, for weeding, watering or harvesting without needing to actually step into the bed. Because the plants are raised, they get more heat during the day, and this might even make the growing season just a little bit longer! It is much easier to weed a raised bed than a traditional garden, and the same goes for watering, too. And for anyone who has back problems, knee problems, or issues with overall mobility, a raised garden is the perfect solution.
Let’s not forget containers! When it comes to containers, gardeners have spoken, and seed growers have listened! There are now so many kinds of vegetables that are described in the seed catalogues as “perfect for containers”. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? We’ve chatted about the convenience of herb gardens planted in containers; we all know how well tomatoes do in containers. But guess what, so do onions, carrots (in a deeper container), bush-type cucumbers, peas, peppers of all kinds, even potatoes if you have a big enough container. So, for gardeners who have their garden on a balcony or deck or just on the doorstep, chances are very good that you can grow your veggie favorites in a container, even mixed in with flowers! They do well because they are ‘raised’ and absorb heat during the day; we can move them around to follow the sun; and they are water efficient (but we have to be sure to check them regularly because they will dry out more quickly.)
Thank you to our friends at Yorkton This Week for their wonderful work each and every week. Gardeners, see what coming up with the hort society at www.yorktonhort.ca Have a great week!
