BC Living
How to Support BC Wineries Now
Embark on Culinary Adventures: 5 Must-Try Solo Dining Experiences Around BC
You Gotta Try this in April 2024
4 Tips on Balancing a Nutritious Diet with a Side of Indulgence
Choosing Connection: A BC Family Day Pledge to Prioritize Presence Over Plans
Embracing Plant-Based Living this Veganuary and Beyond
Inviting the Steller’s Jay to Your Garden
6 Budget-friendly Holiday Decor Pieces
Dream Home: $8 Million for a Modern Surprise
Protected: Spring into Fun in Kamloops: The Best Events in the City
Travel Light, Travel Right: Minimalist Packing Tips for Solo Explorers
A Solo Traveller’s Guide to Cozy Accommodations
Melodies and Museums: Solo-Friendly Entertainment for the Independent Traveller
Arts Club Theatre Company Celebrates 60 Years
Films and TV Series that Inspire Solo Travel
8 Gadgets and Gear for Your Solo Adventures
A Solo Traveller’s Guide to Souvenir Hunting in BC
Sḵwálwen Botanicals – Changing the Face of Skincare
Q: I would like to grow my own vegetables, I have the land, but I do not have much know how!. My first concern is the climate – pretty warm in the summer, and very cold in the winter. Also, not sure if the altitude effects growth too.
My second concern are the animals – I am going to have to build a high fence as I have deer constantly in the garden, but I am guessing there are other ‘critters’ I should be aware of?
I would like to know what I could try growing, and when I should first plant anything, perhaps there is a book that could be recommended as I will be starting from scratch!
The easiest way to learn what grows well in your region is to join a local gardening club or group. Here you will meet others who grow food, who can tell you how the seasons and microclimates work, and are a good source of seeds, plants and local knowledge for supplies, etc.
It’s not as complicated as you think. Subscribe to a quality gardening magazine and start reading books on the subject you need to learn about. Everything you need to know is on the internet, at the end of a google search. (www.google.ca) Begin at the beginning by growing the soil before growing the food. You need an efficient composting system to do this. Grow what your family most likes to eat. Experimenting is half the fun, and that’s also how you learn.
Grow culinary and medicinal herbs, edible flowers and small fruits and berries in association with your vegetables. Consider planting a small fruit orchard and introducing some livestock, such as chickens into the garden. You can preserve your summer /fall excess and enjoy this for winter meals, along with storage vegetables such as winter squash, onions, yams, apples, longkeeper tomatoes etc..
Plant a year-round garden by growing winter vegetables under cloches for extra protection if necessary. There are many hardy brassicas, kales, and leeks, some varieities of which will winter through in your region. Plant root vegetables that can be dug up throughout winter from under a protective mulch, such as Sunroots (Jerusalem artuchokes), celeriac, parsnips and ‘Winterkeeper’ beets (good for greens too!).
After 20 years of growing food everything, I learned is in the pages of my book A Year On The Garden Path – A 52-week organic gardening guide. It may not be written specifically for your region, but it is packed with practical information, useful to gardeners anywhere, at any level. I am writing my next book now, which you can blog along weekly with on this very website here: Carolyn’s Organic Victory Garden. The book will be entitled The Organic Victory Garden- a 52-week guide to greater self sufficiency’.
Good luck and do enjoy growing the best food you can possibly eat!