Selecting Seed

Selecting Garden Seed

Bernie Dinter, Horticulturist and owner of Dinter’s Nursery

January is the month gardeners spend indoors reflecting and dreaming on what has succeeded in the garden and can do better this year. Stormy winter nights are great for reading books or going online to research plants and projects. A well thought out concept has the best chance of success.

Seed catalogues are readily available through the mail, online or picking up at the Garden Centre with most of them being free and loaded with practical advice. West Coast Seeds has one of the best for local information and varieties suitable for our coastal conditions. Especially useful is the BC Planting Chart on when to seed, plant and harvest crops. With careful planning one should be able to harvest something from the garden most months of the year. With the anticipated raise in food costs, a productive garden will give you some food independence. By mid-January seed racks will be on display and mail order companies starting to ship. Shopping early guarantees you supply as seed has been known to run out with the surging interest in gardening during COVID times. Seed will keep if you purchase it all at once but have a plan as to when and where it will be planted. The seed packages will have lots of helpful information to guide you. Some seeds like peas and broad bean can be planted directly outside in cool soil. Others are best started indoors for a head start such as early lettuce and other greens. Tomatoes, the most popular vegetable is best started indoors for setting out when the warm weather has arrived. A general rule is to seed 6 weeks before planting outside but this will vary by how quickly the plants grows and how large you want it grown before setting out. When selecting seed, pick what you like to eat, may not be commonly found in the grocery store or is just fresher from your garden. Seed packages can contain a lot of seed. Do not seed the whole package or you will be overwhelmed with it all being ready at once. Carrots and lettuce can be seeded for several crops throughout the season or the seed saved for the next season if kept in a cool dark place.

Keep notes on the variety and timing so you can duplicate your successes but remember Mother Nature may throw off you best made plans with late frosts, heatwaves, droughts and floods, all things we have experienced lately. Gardeners have learned to be resilient and will always have enough success to keep them excited about next year.

NURSERY OPENING

January 17, 2022 Open every day 9-5

Seeds from West Coast Seeds and Pacifi c Northwest plus selected local seed companies

Pick up your free West Coast Seed catalog with lots of how-to advice

Seed starting supplies: soils, trays, lights, heat mats and more

Tropical and indoor plants

Limited fruit trees available with a full selection by mid-February

Serving local gardeners since 1973 www.dinternursery.ca 250 748-2023

5km South of Duncan on Hwy 1

New logo and branding but still owned by the Dinter family.