Ladysmith Go Gardening 2010

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Gardening Plant some veggies

Take a garden tour Produced by

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Go Gardening, Spring 2010 Serving Ladysmith and area since 1908

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Go Gardening is a publication of The Chronicle, a division of Black Press.

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Crofton Spring 2010

Publisher Maurice Donn Duncan

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Editor Allison Vail Cowichan Bay

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4 AN EXPERIMENT Ladysmith plants food instead of flowers.

5 FOOD SECURITY Using community gardens to build relationships and grow food.

6 TAKE A TOUR

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Take time to learn and socialize with other gardeners.

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5 Go Gardening, Spring 2010

Another subterranean-growing veggie, carrots require moist soil as they germinate, but as the plants mature they need less water.

GROW veggies You don’t need an expansive plot of land to grow a garden. Many popular varieties can be grown right in containers or in compact spaces. Here are some easy vegetables to try growing.

Zucchini are an Italian squash variety that appear similar to a cucumber.

Zucchini take about a Peppers come in many varieties. Peppers month to mature and be thrive in soil high in magnesium. Using ready to harvest. They compost and Epsom salt in the soil can help grow on vines and produce achieve the environment peppers desire. large flowers before bearing fruit.

Peas grow inside the pods of legumes.

These plants like moist soil that drains well. Water frequently but make sure the soil doesn’t become flooded if you want peas to flourish.

Tomatoes are actually fruits. But tomatoes can be an integral part of a vegetable garden. Tomatoes can be planted after the soil has thawed and there is no other chance for frost.

They’ll require plenty of sunlight.

Root vegetables like beets and radishes work well in the garden as well. The bright purple color of beets indicates they are full of many essential vitamins and minerals.

Lettuce is another staple and the basis for many salad dishes. Seeds should be planted between 8 and 16 inches apart. Water in the morning instead of at night to prevent disease from developing.

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Ladysmith’s veggie experiment

By Joanna Winter Town of Ladysmith

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adysmith prides itself on being seen as a green community. Last year, town council and staff took green a step further by turning the city hall flower beds into vegetable gardens.

T h e i n t e n t w a s t o s h ow Ladysmith citizens what they can do in their own yards on a relatively small scale and without sacrificing good looks for good food. Homegrown vegetables have more nutrients as they are picked at their peak, and they are better for the environment as they need less fertilizer and, grown close to home,

don’t create carbon emissions through transportation.

The only thing the town did differently at city hall was plant a variety of vegetables instead of flowers. Parks staff — who had not grown vegetables before last year — did not change the shape of the beds, and they did not put in raised beds.

They wanted to keep the look of a flower bed, so they

kept the visual appeal by choosing vegetables with different colours of foliage. Each bed was edged with marigolds, which added colour and served a very practical purpose of keeping the slugs away.

What did the Town learn that might help local novice vegetable gardeners?

The most successful crops were carrots, beets and broccoli.

T h e s e p ro -

duced throughout the season and meant frequent donations to the food bank. The lettuce and spinach were also successful, but produced only a single (large) crop fairly early in the season.

Brussels sprouts did not do well and will not be replanted this year. Peppers produced only a single crop, and took a long time to mature. Tomatoes did fairly well but their east facing location is not ideal as tomatoes need more sun. The herbs — oregano, chives, sage and several varieties of mint — also did well and made excellent teas.

City hall’s flower beds will remain as vegetable gardens.

Carrots and beets will be going in soon, followed by the broccoli, lettuce and spinach. All crops will be donated to the Ladysmith food bank.

How does your garden grow?

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Go Gardening, Spring 2010