Time to think of all the things we can do to make our gardens better

Opinion: You may have underutilized growing space in your garden, so a remodel might be in the cards for 2023.

Grow ‘pollinator plants’ that will bloom in sequence throughout the year and you’ll help our local wildlife populations thrive. Minter Country Garden

It’s Christmas Eve — a time to celebrate and be grateful for the good things in our lives. It’s also a great time to reflect back on the past year and the ever-increasing importance of our gardens, as well as to ponder some of the upcoming challenges we need to address.

On Christmas Day 2021, it began to snow, and the cold weather persisted well into late February. During that time, we lost a number of tender plants, a considerable segment of the rose population and far too many container plants. Outdoor palm trees also took a beating, and many didn’t survive. It’s nature’s way of telling us it’s great to grow tender and exotic plants, but we need to have a plan to overwinter them, now that we’re experiencing greater weather extremes.

Being more aware of these environmental issues and becoming more vigilant and more innovative are three keys to protecting our plants. Simple, yet attractive frameworks, protective poly, N-Sulate cloth, heat tapes and having some mulch on hand are, for the most part, quick fixes that can be hugely effective in saving so many of our plants.

Last spring was the coolest and wettest on record, and typical spring weather didn’t show up until the end of May. Far too many seeds were started too early, and because of the cool, wet weather, never actually made it in the garden. The reality is that new weather patterns are changing the way we garden and the timing of our plantings. I follow my instincts, and I’ve always found that a later start in spring is better and safer.

Greenhouses are a great way of keeping your plants in a holding pattern, but a simple, old-fashioned cold frame is, by far, your very best garden friend. Even as a temporary measure, a cold frame, set against the south or west side of your home or garage, can make all the difference. A 24-inch-high cold frame, measuring four-feet-by-eight-feet, and with a roll-up top that is angled so water runs off, is ideal for properly hardening off your plants during the day and can be one of your best weather allies. It will protect your plants from frost and heavy rains, while at the same time acclimatizing them. Many folks are now using cold frames very successfully as growing areas for early, potted, leafy vegetables.

Persimmons are a joy to harvest in late fall and grow quite well in the Lower Mainland. Minter Country Garden

Little tricks, like using raised beds, or at least berming up your soil beds by eight to 10 inches, will not only provide better drainage, but will also help warm your soil more quickly.

With ever-rising food costs, we all need to find ways of being more self-sufficient in our gardens. Innovative gardening is the way of the future. I’ll always remember my trips to Wisley Gardens in England, where every fruit tree and small fruit was espaliered on a trellis.

These gardens were an excellent example of so little space, yet so much fruit production. From apples, pears, plums, cherries and peaches to raspberries, currants, blueberries and thornless blackberries, everything, including strawberries and cranberries, as well as perennial vegetables, like rhubarb, horseradish and Jerusalem artichokes, was confined to a trellis support. They all looked great and were easy to care for. Using fences as supports is a smart way to grow both small fruit and fruit trees.

As long as you can find an area with sunshine from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., you can grow almost anything. Even exotics, like Asian persimmons, goumi berries and jujube fruits, do well here and add great diversity to our food selection, and many of these foods can be harvested in the first year.

Our long, wet springs are also a reminder that we need to grow varieties of fruits that do well in our damp climate and ones that tolerate related disease issues.

The caretakers of Gwynne Vaughan Park in Chilliwack have winterizing down to an art. Dried leaves topped with poly, enclosed in a mesh frame, is a tried-and-true way of protecting Musa basjoo bananas. Minter Country Garden

As we get closer to the new year, it’s time to start thinking about seeds for our gardens. Some old, traditional varieties should probably give way to new, shorter season types and ones that are more heat-tolerant. I tend to focus on new vegetable varieties that have better flavour, produce longer and are more pest-resistant. I also select varieties that don’t bolt in rapidly changing weather.

With avian disease affecting so many birds, we all need to be more aware of growing plants that will provide natural food and protection for birds. Berried plants, like thorny pyracanthas and rugosa roses, are ideal habitat plants. Winter-flowering camellias and mahonias are producers of food and nectar for hummingbirds. The serious mosquito problem last summer, particularly in the Fraser River basin, is reason enough to think about creating a more bird-friendly garden.

Although asleep right now, our perennial gardens could be far more pollinator friendly from late winter right through fall. There are so many new flowering shrubs that bloom in sequence and will keep that pollen and nectar flowing all summer. Many new shrub roses, too, are hardier, more disease-resistant and more continuous-flowering. All these would make welcome additions to our gardens.

You may have underutilized growing space in your garden, so a remodel might also be in the cards for 2023. Now is a great time to start spring planning to make your garden not only more enjoyable, but also more environmentally sensitive and, ultimately, more productive in future.

As we move into the new year, it’s time to think of all the things we can do to make our environment, our wildlife and our planet better. Our gardens can be a part of that change.

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