Feed Your Soil

• What you take out (harvest & weeds) must be replaced plus some extra
• Compost, aged manures, leaf mould, liquid seaweed, fish fertilizer, self-made ferments 
• Red wigglers eat veg scraps to create worm castings which are highly nutritious for soil
• Miracle Grow = instant gratification but deteriorates soil health, can do damage to plants, incomplete nutrition for consumers.
• I use Minimal Dig methods, mulch for weed suppression, protect from evaporation and erosion
• To space save, I compost garden scraps in pathways, bonus it draws pests (slugs, pill bugs) which I can capture and remove.

Grow What You Are Going to Eat

• Lettuce, microgreens, spinach, kale (make your personal choices)
• Salad or topping crops, radish, green onions, parsley, cilantro, basil
• Preserved herbs, oregano, rosemary, parsley, sage, (if space available)
• Dry perennial herbs and freeze herb butter, chive blossom vinegar, etc
• Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. turnip, kohlrabi (only if space available because they are high maintenance for yield)
• I plant kale, bok choy, sui choy, Swiss chard because they are prolific and upright plants
• Potatoes, corn, pumpkins, winter squash depends on space available

Grow Vertically 

• Peas, beans, cucumbers, indeterminate tomatoes grown on trellises
• For trellis types, I prefer no plastic, when plants exceed 5’, I prune tops
• Sunflowers can be used as stakes for fall pea crops, plant in row
• 4’ Wire shelves in the garden are great for seed starting, pots of peppers, shading lettuce

Interplanting

• Great space saver, need healthy soil, select groups of upright, roots & greens for guilds
• Dont overcrowd seedlings, but mature leaves can be touching to shade out weeds 
• Close proximity of plants prevents excessive water evaporation
• Diversity helps to promote healthy garden and prevents pest infestations

Companion Planting

• Plants can provide nourishment for each other, enhance growth and/or inhibit pests
• Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash), IMO is only for hot, long growing seasons to be successful
• Three Step-Sisters = popcorn, zucchini/cuke, bush beans are faster to mature
• Bush beans, tomatoes, carrots is one common grouping
• Peas, then Cucumber up the trellis, beets, bush beans below
• Lettuce, onions, peas and there are many other combinations

Succession Planting – What’s going in after you harvest? Be ready!

• When something comes out, add a scoop of compost before something else goes in
• When peas are being harvested, runner bean seedlings go in (plus bean seeds)
• Lettuce, spinach, plant onion sets around mature plants and Swiss Chard seedlings
• Fall & winter crops need to be started between July 1 – Aug 15 to keep the garden producing

Harvest Often, Edit Regularly, Plant Seeds Weekly

• Produce will not get as large as supermarket perfection *Eat sooner rather than later
• Harvest and preserve all year = pesto, lasagna, sauerkraut, kimchi, dehydrate herbs
• Freeze now for canning season = rhubarb, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, berries
• Prune suckers from Indeterminate Tomatoes, not Determinate Tomatoes
• Seedy Saturday all Summer = plant seeds often/weekly (direct sow or in pots)
• Seeds & sprouts canNOT dry out, don’t always blame germination rates
• Mesh trays provide summer sun protection and remind me that I have planted here

Pollination

• Attract pollinators to help your garden production (might as well be useful ones)
• Lavender, calendula, cilantro, basil, chamomile, nasturtium, borage
• Thyme, mint, rosemary, white clover, borage, sage, catmint (large), sunflowers
• Water source with rocks and create other insect habitat

Pest & Disease Protection

• Marigolds are favoured by slugs, and help to deter other pests
• Carrot rust fly, plant above 3’ in a table or trough, plant later in the season
• Learn what a good verses bad pest is, don’t squish everything,
• Screens from windows, A-frame, mesh trays, toiler paper tubes are useful
• Sawdust for slugs, beer/yeast traps, eggshells/epsom salts in grinder
• Tomato Blight – mulch to prevent splashes, cover from rain (Greenhouse or Umbrellas)
• Cinnamon sprinkled on soil to prevent damping-off fungus on seedlings
• Water leaves daily to prevent Powdery Mildew on cucurbits, **I know it is controversial but watering leaves daily on cukes & zucchini during hot & humid season works for me.

Extend Your Growing Season

• Over keen in spring can cause, leggy, weak indoor seedlings
• Heat mat only for peppers, must use grow lighting for best results
• Planting out too early can stunt growth and cause vernalization
• Harden off seedlings over a week for best transplanting results
• Fall is fabulous growing weather for cool-season crops
• Winter harvesting, plant crops from July 1 to August 15
• Fall Garlic, purple sprouting broccoli, fall lettuce, spinach, radish
• Brassicas left in the garden over winter will grow edible shoots in spring
• Protect from cold, night covers & tarps, black buckets of water hold heat
• Black planks along base of plants hold heat (lift to check for slugs)