Keys to gardening success | Vancouver Sun

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We’re all anxious to add colour and beauty to our outdoor living spaces, as well as to enjoy fresh produce from our food gardens, but getting the timing right makes all the difference. It really doesn’t matter that a friend or neighbour has plants already growing outside.  For all your time, labour, energy and money spent to produce colour and food, what matters most is realizing the maximum return on your investment.

There are several key things to consider. First: Is your garden ready? The old adage — success is 10 per cent inspiration and 90 per cent perspiration — is so true when it comes to gardening. The quality of your soil is the most important factor, and improving its viability may require some perspiration. For optimum plant performance and minimizing pest issues, open, porous, well-draining soil, that also has good moisture retention during the summer heat, is essential.

Today, the operative word is “regenerative” gardening, meaning we put more organics back into our soils than we take away. In part, it involves using fir or hemlock sawdust or bark mulch to open up heavy clay soils, allowing more air and oxygen in and around the roots and better drainage. It also means working in more organic matter, such as good-quality compost and manures, to boost the level of beneficial bacteria and microorganisms and to attract more worms. Adding red wiggler worms is one of the best ways to enrich and regenerate our soils.

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As for acidity or alkalinity levels, it is critical that your soil registers in the 5 to 8 range on the pH scale. An application of lime will help adjust a soil’s pH profile. Raised beds, or at least eight- to 10-inch-high berms are also important because they will keep your soil warmer by six to eight degrees Celsius. By doing this prep work, your plants can go out a little earlier, and their growth will be amazing.

It’s also vital to understand that there are cool-season plants and heat-loving plants. Cool-season plants perform well in the cold but tend to decline or finish when the weather really warms up from June through August. Violas, pansies, nemesias, allysums, lobelias, bacopas, snapdragons, stocks and dianthus all do well in early spring but fade in sustained heat. The same is true for vegetables. Onions, peas, spinach, beets, Asian greens and leeks can be planted now that “daytime” temperatures are consistently 10 degrees C or somewhat higher, but they will decline in hot temperatures.

Heat-loving annuals, like petunias, begonias, impatiens, marigolds, zinnias and gazanias need constant “nighttime” temperatures of 10C or higher to get off to a good start. Once established, however, they will all perform beautifully until frost. It is surprising how much better warmth-loving vegetables will do with higher night temperatures. Even the germination rate of seeds increases dramatically with warmer nights. From beans and carrots to squash, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, you’ll be delighted to see significantly improved germination. The brassica family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts, unlike many other vegetable families, is adaptable to both cool and heat situations.

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There are four seasons for most brassicas. For example, cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli varieties are bred to develop in cool, eight to 10C temperatures, while mid-season varieties perform best in warmer temperatures and finish nicely in hot summer weather. Fall varieties are great to plant out in the heat and harvest in the cooler autumn. Then there are the winter varieties that can be planted in early September to overwinter, with a little protection, and be harvested in late February or March. Brussels sprouts are both a fall and winter harvest vegetable and should ideally be planted in early to mid June. It’s important to plant the right varieties of brassicas at the right time for their optimum performance.

It makes me a little crazy that so many tomatoes, peppers and even cucumbers are being sold and purchased already. Planted outside in our current April weather, all heat-loving plants will go under stress and will be set back. If you have a small greenhouse or cold frame and wish to grow them on to a larger size before setting them out in May, well, that’s quite a different story and doing so may actually give you a head start.

Despite our eagerness to colour up our flower beds and to begin our food gardens, the wisdom of being patient will pay huge dividends. Every day we get a minute or two more light and as the sun works its way back to the centre of our sky, extra warmth comes with it. As a result, the longer we wait, especially for heat-loving plants, the more quickly they will become established, and the faster they will grow.

As long as your soil has been properly prepared, now is a perfect time for all cool food crops and early blooming perennials to be planted out. Perennial vegetables, like rhubarb, and small fruits can be successfully planted now. With so much that can be planted now for colour and food, you’ll be kept busy until May when it’s time for the heat-lovers to go out.