February In The Food Garden

Winter on the island has been very mild this year but then along came February, bringing the ‘weather’ with it. For some reason, early February seems to always bring on snow and cold, the harshest of the winter weather.

We got a wee skiff of snow, some minus temperatures, a biting cold breeze, and more wintery woes to come. Luckily, this will soon blow over and we will be outside planting early peas and broad beans into the garden beds.

Jumping Jesus aka Hairy Bittercress. Ugh!

Here are a few things that you can do this month in the garden, greenhouse, or cold frame.

In the yard…

- Prune apple, pear, fig, and other fruit trees. Choose a warm and dry day to prune, rainy day pruning may spread fungal diseases. Spray with Dormant oil/lime sulphur mix (sold as a kit) to smother over-wintering pests and fungal diseases. Spraying now will help reduce pest issues in spring and summer and best of all, you are not harming any of the beneficial insects as they are not yet out.

- Prune roses, cutting them back by 1/3 to promote new branching and more blooms. Spray with the dormant oil mix, as above. Helps to cut back on black spot.

- Weed your pathways and beds now, especially the awful seed-popping Hairy Bittercress that you see in the picture above. This stuff is dreadful and once you have it, you have it. You gotta stay on top of it or it soon takes over everything. How? It has exploding seeds! The plant looks harmless enough, small little rounded leaves, a slender stalk of teeny tiny little white flowers... and then POP! The seeds literally snap off the plant, scattering hundreds of weed seeds everywhere. Hairy Bittercress is one of the earliest weeds to emerge, in our area in springs up in January or February, going from small sprout to seed popping in just 6 weeks.

In the greenhouse/house

- This month we can fertilising our indoor plants, citrus trees, and over wintering annuals again.

- Check your over wintering bulbs (glads, dahlias, begonias...) If you see any that are mouldy, soft or mushy, remove them before they spread the rot to the other bulbs. If you see any that are starting to sprout, it is time to pop them into pots or planters. Transfer them to the garden when all risk of frost is over.

- Cut back your geraniums (pelargoniums) hard now for nice, bushy plants with lots of blooms all summer long. If you do not cut them back, they will end up leggy and less attractive by the time summer comes along.

For more geraniums, take the cutting and pot them up.

Garden Journals

- Jot things down. I personally have been keeping a garden journal for many years, a brand new book each year, with my thoughts and plans for both gardens and greenhouse. This year I printed up my own journals for the greenhouse, which I love so much. They are on lovely kraft paper for that vintage vibe, with drawings done by my super talented baby girl.

- Now is a terrific time to pick up a new journal for the gardening season ahead. Write down all your great ideas, recipes, favourite tomatoes to grow this year, new veggies to trial. Plot out your garden plan, your succession sowing schedule, colour schemes. Draw or paint pictures, cut pics out of magazines and paste them in your journal to inspire you. When you sow, when you harvest, how much you harvest… the ideas for your journaling are endless.  

Start artichokes from seed this month.

Seeds to Start in February

If you are not sure when to start seeds in your area, you will need to know two things. First, when is the last average frost date in your area? Second, when does the seed package say to sow? Check the back of the package for planting directions and timing.

Here on Vancouver island, last frost varies widely. On the south end of the island, it is March 28th, while here on mid-island we go by the April 28th date, a whole month later. Therefore, for us, if the seed package says to start 8 to 12 weeks before last frost, we are good to go. There are not many veggies that are started yet at this time, see the list below.

Veggies

- Peppers, both hot and sweet.
- Lettuce, greens, mustards
- Oriental greens like Boy Choi
- Peas
- Alliums - leeks and onions
- Artichokes

- Asparagus from seed, if you have the patience of a saint. Takes 5 years to go from seed to harvest.

Herbs
- Most all of the hardy, perennial ones ... oregano, parsley, mint, thyme, marjoram, sage.
- Start rosemary and tarragon from cuttings rather than seed.
 
Flowers
- Sweet peas
- Snapdragons
- Pansies and violas
- Petunias
- many, many more

In actuality, the flowers that you can start now, from seed, are much too numerous to mention. Check the back of your packages for start dates. If it says to start them 8 to 12 weeks before the last frost date, you are good to go.

Direct Sow In the garden
- Broad/fava beans (need no frost blankets or covers, just pop them in the ground this month)
- Radishes, spinach, winter lettuces, Oriental greens (start under cover, either low frames or row covers)

Change out your winter pots and planters with some spring colour. Pick up some forced potted bulbs, pansies, violas, primulas, and English Daisies to brighten your front stoop.

Soon, very soon!

Growing Lemons and Limes on Vancouver Island - Winter Care Guide

You can totally grow lemon, orange and lime trees here on the wet, west coast of Canada, both in pots and in the ground.

Our weather here on the west coast tends to be fairly mild in both winter and summer, but we can get snow and we do get cold snaps. Citrus trees do not tolerate freezing temperatures, they must be kept above 0°C. So how then to best protect them during a frosty cold snap?

Contrary to popular belief, the answer is not to bring them indoors for the winter months, unless you have a cool sunroom or 'conservatory'. Citrus do not thrive (and may not survive) indoors, as our homes tend to be much too hot, much too dry, and not near bright enough.

GENERAL WINTER CARE - CITRUS IN POTS

All citrus trees like humidity and cool-ish temps, ideally between 5° - 12°C with 7 to 8 hours of bright light in winter time.

I keep my citrus trees in a greenhouse during the winter months. As the heating is super expensive, I keep it on the low end of the scale, at +5°C from November through till March. They love it, the cool, humid greenhouse keeps them flowering and fruiting all winter long.

When I say that I set it at +5, that means the lowest temperature that it will go to. The temperature in the greenhouse will be higher in the daytime, usually, and on sunny days, of course, but it will not dip lower than +5. Also, even if it were to rise to +30 during the day, it is not the same as +18 inside the house. The greenhouse is always humid and airy, not tightly sealed as our homes. If our homes were moist like the greenhouse, we would have algae and mould growing everywhere.

BUT.. How to over winter lemons, limes, and oranges without a bright sunroom or a heated greenhouse?

Potted up trees are easy to move around from spot to spot, as needed. If your trees are large and the pots are heavy, you will want to consider how best to protect them before placing them in their winter home. While winter temps are above 0°C, leave them outside rather than inside the house … like on the front porch or doorstep, under the eaves, in an unheated hoop house or greenhouse, under some kind of roof or overhang to protect them from the winter rains. They do not like to sit in wet soil.

A shed or garage is not a good idea as it would be too dark, unless you supplement with a grow light. Close to the house on the south or west side to soak up some of the heat from the siding is a great idea.

I cannot find a picture of the home made version of the greenhouse I mention below, but this is very similar. You could buy something like this mini greenhouse, or build one, to put over your citrus tree in winter. Plug in the Christmas lights during cold nights and cold snaps, it will look festive and be perfectly happy in it’s warm little mini greenhouse. Use the greenhouse in spring for your seedlings.

KEEPING CITRUS WARM DURING A COLD SNAP

What to do with your tree if a cold snap threatens?

1. Bring it in - If it is a smaller pot, simply bring it in for the night, or for as long as the cold snap lasts, then pop it back out again when temps are above 3°C. It can go in for the night and out for the day all winter long, if you have the patience for that.

2. Unheated greenhouse or hoop house - Run an extension cord to your greenhouse. Inside the greenhouse have a small heater, or a light stand with a couple of 100 watt lightbulbs in it, or a strand of Christmas lights around each tree. Plug in when night time temps are going to dip lower than 2°C.

3. On the porch, wrapped in Christmas lights. - Wrap your trees in old-fashioned Christmas lights, not LED as they emit no heat. Plug them in during a cold snap and wrap with a frost blanket (white fabric) to retain the heat by the tree.

4. Build a shelter - I know people who have built a 3 sided wood framed little ‘greenhouse’ that fits in snug by the house. They plug in the Christmas lights and fit the little greenhouse around the tree, snug against the wall of the house. The wooden (or pvc) frame is covered with either poly or the white frost fabric. With the protection of the inexpensive ‘greenhouse’ and the lights turned on, the tree will stay cozy and warm without great cost.

If you really feel that you have no options, the most tolerant citrus to bring indoors for the winter are Meyer’s lemons, Calamondin oranges, and kumquats. Keep away from drafty locations, heaters and vents, place in a bright window, in a cool room, on a pebble tray of water, mist often.

This picture is a lemon growing outside in Saanich on southern Vancouver Island. This is Bob Duncan’s lemon tree, of Fruit Trees and More.

GROWING LEMONS OR LIMES OUTDOORS IN WINTER

Sour or acidic citrus, like lemons and limes are hardier, so can be grown in the ground here in our zone 7 and 8 gardens, with protection. Sweeter citrus, like oranges, need to go into pots as they require warmer temps to thrive.

Grow your citrus on the southern or southwestern side of the house, in a sheltered spot. They do not like windy areas, so make sure to not plant in a wind tunnel. Citrus trees do not like wet feet, plant in well draining soil or build a small raised bed for your tree to provide great drainage.

Plant under the eaves or build an overhang, as in the picture above, to protect the tree from our winter rains and to soak up heat from the side of the house. Wrap your tree in Christmas lights, the old fashioned kind, not LED as they emit no heat. Plug in lights during a cold snap and cover with homemade greenhouse as mentioned above for the potted plants, or attach frost blankets to the overhang, secure the bottom with rocks or weights of some kind, thus creating a nice cocoon for your lemon or lime.

For more about general citrus needs and care, please see Part One HERE.

Happy Gardening & Citrus Growing

Growing Lemons & Limes On Vancouver Island - Care Guide

Here on the Pacific North West, we tend to have fairly temperate weather, mild summers and winters. This works well for growing lemons, limes, and other citrus trees both in pots, and for some, even outside in the ground.

GROWING

Sour fruits, like lemons and limes are hardier and can be grown in the ground here in our zone 7 and 8 gardens, with protection, while sweet ones, like oranges, need to go into pots as they require warmer temps to thrive.

GROW IN THE GROUND

To plant in the ground, you need a sheltered area with good, loose, rich soil and great drainage, a raised bed would be even better. Plant on the south or southwest side of the house, under the eaves or an overhang, close beside the house… this is not a tree to plant out in the open. Plant in an area that is sheltered from the winds.

GROW IN POTS

Citrus can be grown in pots quite easily. The best choices for pots are dwarf trees, like Meyers, Eureka, or Lisbon lemons.

All citrus trees prefer clay/terra cotta pots over plastic, or even glazed ceramic ones. While I always knew they liked well draining soil and hated wet feet, I learned about the pots purely by accident. I had two #1 gallon Meyer’s Lemons left on the nursery sales floor one summer. I decided to keep one for myself and so potted it up into a nice clay pot, I have a thing for ornamental trees in clay pots. By the end of the summer, my lemon had more than doubled in size compared to the one still in the black plastic grower pot!

I also had a Blood Orange tree in a lovely glazed pot, it looked nice enough but was not fruiting much nor growing. I soon switched it into a clay pot, and again it made a huge difference in how well the tree looked and produced. It began to thrive. So, plant in clay, they will thank you for it.

SOIL FOR POTS

Citrus do not like wet feet. Always use a good quality bagged potting soil with great either bark chips or perlite to provide good drainage, or both. I use 5 parts Organic HP Pro-Mix (the HP stands for high porosity) mixed with 2 to 3 parts of bagged manure or compost.

CARING FOR YOUR CITRUS

WATERING

Until you get to know your tree well, always check the soil before you water. Citrus prefer to be kept on the dry side to thrive, they do not like to sit in wet soil or poorly draining soil, but nor will they thrive in bone dry soil. Stick your finger into the soil, you want the top inch or two to be dry be before you water again.

How often you water will fluctuate throughout the year. In summer, I water my potted trees quite readily, about every third day. Water thoroughly till water is flowing from the bottom and then go back a few minutes later and do it again. You want the water to really soak into the peat moss based potting mix, not just flow down the sides of the pot. Let the top inch or two dry out before you water again.

In winter, it will depend on where you have your tree, the temps, and amount of sunshine. I grow mine in a heated, but cool (+5°C) , greenhouse on Vancouver island. We tend to have grey days, lots of rain, not so much sunshine. Therefore, I generally only water once every three or four weeks. If you keep the soil too wet, you will lose your leaves and possibly even your tree. Cold and damp is not a good combination. This winter has been a bit sunnier, it seems, and warmer, so I have been watering about every two to three weeks instead. As the days get longer and brighter, water more often.

If you have yours indoors for the winter (more on winter care in part 2), it will likely require water more often in the warmth of the house.

FEEDING

All citrus are very heavy feeders, they need lots and of nitrogen plus good amounts of both potassium and phosphorous to thrive. Apply an organic, slow-release citrus fertiliser for the best results, or if you cannot find a citrus food, use a 12-6-6 (or similar) slow release feed.

In addition to the slow release, they will also benefit from a top dressing of manure in spring or early summer, as well as a few doses of a liquid or water soluble feed during the summer months. I also give mine a boost with a nitrogen and iron fertiliser occasionally, the liquid Garden Pro 5-0-0.

POT SIZE AND TRANSPLANTING

Plant your tree in a pot that is just slightly bigger than the root ball, about 2 or 3 inches bigger. You do not want to go too big or the soil will stay too damp and you will get root rot. Up size every second or third year, as the tree grows.

When you get to the size pot that you want to stay at, anywhere from 14” to 20” across, depending on your tree, you can just renew the soil in that same pot and root prune every 3rd year. Lift the tree out of the pot, add fresh, new soil to the bottom. To root prune, just pull off (with your fingers) about 1/3 of the soft feeder roots from the bottom of the root ball. Place your tree back into the pot and fill up the sides with fresh soil. Good to go for another 3 years.

PRUNING

They will benefit from a pruning now and again for shaping and for stronger branching. Always remove suckers from below the graft, they are root stock and will quickly overtake your grafted tree. Remove dead branches, cracked, broken ones.

SUN AND WIND

Citrus will require a good 7 to 8 hours of sunlight, you may need to supplement with additional lighting if you are growing it indoors. They are just fine in a greenhouse, no extra lighting needed, even with our grey winters.

They do not like windy locations. If planted outside, make sure that they are in a sheltered area, away from both summer and winter winds. Place pots out of the wind, they will dry out much faster and may drop their blossoms and fruits, too.

HUMIDITY

They love the humid greenhouse in winter. The problem with our sealed tight houses in winter is that they are too dry and too hot. If, however, you have them indoors or in a sunroom, you can help add humidity by placing them on a pebble tray with water, top up regularly, and mist occasionally.

CURLING LEAVES, BLOSSOM DROP, LEAF DROP…

Curling leaves and leaf drop are usually indicators of too little water. They do not like wet feet but they cannot go too dry either. You will get more fruit and better fruit if you water regularly.

Leaf curl can also be an indicator of too much water. Confusing, I know. Over-watering washes out nutrients so you get yellowing leaves and root rot. Is hard to stop root rot, so always check the soil with your finger before watering. The top inch or two should be dry before you water again.

Blossom drop is very normal. Your plant will generally make lots and lots of flowers. It cannot maintain all of the flowers and so will drop some.

Little baby fruits that turn black or fall off are fruits that did not get proper pollination. Nothing to worry about unless you are losing lots of them. If you want, you can assist your citrus with pollination, in winter, by going from flower to flower with a small paintbrush or a q-tip.

COMMON PESTS

The most common pests that we encounter on citrus around here are soft scale, whitefly, and aphids. You may also get mealy bug or spider mites, but I have never had an issue with either of those.

Soft scale.. see the picture above. To prevent scale, you want to shower off the foliage and the tree with a good strong jet of water every few weeks, especially the under sides of the leaves. It also helps to pop it outside for the spring and summer so that the birds and the beneficial insects can eat the bugs off. Do not place your citrus trees beside a Sweet Bay, should you have one, as they are also prone to scale.

If you end up with scale anyways, you cannot just spray with a soap or oil, you will need to scrub it off as the wee little bug is hiding under that protective shell. Wipe the scale from the leaves with a cloth (they are usually on the undersides) and scrub the trunk and branches with a soft brush and warm, soapy water. They come off quite easily. Rinse off the soap well. I have also heard that baby bum wipes work well for cleaning the leaves.

If you find ants on your tree, you have either aphids or whitefly. Both will secrete a sticky honeydew that the ants farm. To get rid of aphids, spray with a Safer’s product, either Soap, Trounce, or End-All. You will need to reapply several times. I blast my trees with a strong jet of water first to get rid of some of the bugs, then spray with the Safer’s product till dripping, leave on for 15 minutes, give it a shower to remove the soap residue and dead bugs, perhaps lingerers, too.

Whitefly is harder as they fly about and do not wait around to get sprayed, but I use the same method as for the aphids. I never use the yellow sticky strips in summertime as it also attracts and traps bees, beneficial insects, and even birds. Save the sticky strips for monitoring purposes in the winter time.

Sooty Mould

If you find a black powdery substance on your leaves, fruits, and branches, you have what is called Sooty Mould. This is a fungus that grows on the honeydew secreted by aphids or other bugs. The mould itself is unsightly but is not a big issue, just an indicator of a bug problem. Wash off the soot with warm, soapy water and a cloth or soft scrub brush. Then spray with a Safer’s product, as above, to get rid of the bugs that are making the honeydew.

For information about HOW TO OVER-WINTER YOUR CITRUS, please see Part Two HERE….

Happy Gardening & Citrus Growing!

Food Garden Resolutions in 2019

A brand new year and a brand new start. While I generally make garden resolutions each year, they are not all necessarily made during the first week of January. I often jot them down throughout the year, from season to season… but, now that the holidays are over and my mind has moved on to orders, garden plans, and seed catalogues, it truly does feel like a good time to put those great intentions down on paper.

Do you need to up your garden game this year? Here a few improvements that I resolve to make in my garden and life, maybe you can relate to some of these, as well?

Keeping (even) better notes.

While I have been keeping a garden journal for a decade or so now, I know I need to get a titch more disciplined about it. I occasionally find myself looking back though my journals for information that I did not keep, truly wishing that I had. Here are some of the things that I DO keep notes about …

1. What new plants or ideas I want to trial in the upcoming year, yard and garden changes to make, what to move where, what to plant or add to the perennial landscape.

2. My colour schemes for baskets, pots and planters, food garden, and front yard (oh yes, I usually always start with one, though it usually changes if I have lots of leftover annuals at the greenhouse come the end of the selling season)

3. My kitchen garden layout/plan (for rotation purposes and tweaks to make for better efficacy)

4. What seeds I purchased from which company (so I know who to buy from again, or to avoid, depending on the results)

5. Business ideas… order ideas, customer requests, feedback, workshop ideas, blog ideas, etc…

Beautiful garden journal from martinalenhardt on Instagram.

Here are some ideas of what I want to keep better track of this year… in my lovely new notebooks (which I sell, by the way ; )

1. Keeping Track of Dates… All kinds of dates. I am not nearly as diligent at keeping this information as I wish I had been. Like, for example, the weather and what it is doing each day (imagine how helpful this will be for seeding purposes and making changes). Also, seeding dates… when I sow, transplant, plant out, first fruits, and harvest. Such helpful information for tracking successes and for planning purposes.

2. Yields. I have never bothered to weigh my harvest but think that I should give it a go this year. To be able to make actual comparisons based on numbers rather than my current eyeball method ; ) This should help me weed out some or the less fruitful varieties.

3. Prices. Cost of seeds and supplies to grow your own versus store bought. Is it worth your while to grow that cauliflower or better to buy it? Now, to be completely honest. I don’t really care, not even one iota : ) I would rather grow my own, even if it costs me way more than at the shops. For me, the joy is in the growing. While it may not be as pretty as the ones in the shops, or as big, or whatever … the joy is simply that I grew it from start to finish. Still, I’d kinda like to know whether I saved or splurged.

Edit and Simplify.

This is an annual task for me. I really love to grow food. It is an obsession, a passion, a crazy need to grow more of anything and everything. However, I also know that if not everything I grow is eaten, I am wasting valuable garden space that could be used to grow something more useful… like more tomatoes.

Each winter, I evaluate what we grew the year before, how it fared, did we eat it, did we like it, do we want to grow it again, do we want more or less of it this year… and then I make my list of what seeds to buy. I mean, how many varieties of beans do I really need in the garden? Okay, this resolution is super hard sometimes, as I really want to grow them all ; )

Take stock of your garden. Did you eat all that kale? The heads of cabbage? Could you use that space to grow something else that might be a better use of space?

Grow more winter veggies. Yay, yay, yay!

Thus far, we have only been growing winter veggies in our regular kitchen garden. In hard winters, the bunnies eat our brussels sprouts and kale, the lettuce and celery turn to mush after a hard frost. As we will no longer be using the hoophouse (unheated poly covered greenhouse) to house annual flowers for spring retail, is time to build some raised beds in there.

The beds will house a couple of stone fruit trees, at least one peach and a nectarine, as they are prone to a fungal disease called Peach Leaf Curl in our rainy climate, but there will still be tons of room left over for growing winter greens and stuff. I am super excited about the prospect of more fresh, homegrown foods in winter.

By the way, worry not, I will still be selling annual flowers in spring. They will now be sold only at my weekend markets and the workshops, so will be out on the benches in the main nursery area instead of hidden in the hoophouse.

Social Media…

I am pretty new to Instagram, still on the learning curve. However, I vow to use my cell phone more for taking pictures rather than the camera this year, especially in summer. I really find myself liking Instagram, checking out all those fantastic gardens everywhere. It’s like going on a garden tour every day!

Those are my garden resolutions for 2019, ones that I know I will actually keep. The personal improvement ones are pretty hit and miss after a few weeks or months, but the garden ones are super fun and easy to keep.

How about you? Have you resolved to up your garden game this year? Here are some more ideas that you may wish to try…

1. Join a garden club, hang out with like minded peeps.

2. Attend a garden workshop, learn something new.

3. Become more water wise, most garden issues are caused by over-watering.

4. Plant more flowers for the birds and the bees, buy from bee-safe growers.

5. Visit the farmer’s markets more often, buy locally grown.

6. Don't start seeding too early, the seed packet will tell you when to sow.

7. Grow more food, less lawn.

8. Try something new, a new veggie or a new variety, shake things up.

9. Grow up! Use trellises, arbours, tuteurs , teepees, pergolas.

10. Walk about your gardens for 10 minutes a day to smell the roses (or herbs) and nip bugs and diseases in the bud, so to speak. Catch problems early.

    Happy Gardening

Workshops and More at Olde Thyme

This is Part 2 of what will be offered at the former Nitty Gritty, now called the Olde Thyme Food Garden (Market Greenhouse).To see Part 1, please check here.

We have really great WORKSHOPS here at Olde Thyme. Two kinds... informative, teaching workshops and fun, creative ones.  

The Teaching workshops … Based on organic, sustainable, poly-culture, no-dig gardening practices to help you grow great foods and have happy, healthy, productive food gardens. These workshops are affordable, practical, informative, and a whole lot of fun. The Garden Shop is not large, so workshops are small groups of 8 to 12 people, keeping it comfortable and enjoyable for all. Questions, thoughts, ideas, experiences are bandied about, shared amongst us. Workshops vary in length of time, from two hour sessions to all day ones, or even all weekend.  

The Creative workshops …. Make your own hanging baskets, planters, pots, sometimes even birdhouses ; ) These workshops are super fun and popular! You can bring your own planter, basket, pot, or you buy one from me when you get here to the greenhouse. Then, choose the plants that you wish to use from all of the great flowers and trailers here at the greenhouse. The flowers are from a local grower who is bee-friendly, no neonicitinoids are used on any of her plants, ever! Choose your own colour scheme! And, as I aim to please and am super flexible, if you know what colours you want ahead of time, just message me and I will make sure that those colours are here in a grand selection of plants.

if you can dream it, I can help you create it. Book a personal planting party!

Custom workshops. For any groups that want to get together to do either a tutorial type workshop together, or a DIY one. Groups must consist of 6 or more people and will be customized to whatever you wish to make them be. Want to do up a whole bunch of wedding planters and baskets with your wedding party? Want to have a fun outing day or evening with your co-workers? Your best friends? Your sister-wives? Your church group? Anything goes. If you can imagine it, I can make it happen for you.

The kitchen garden at dusk. You can absolutely do this, too.

I also offer coaching and mentoring sessions that are at your home, in your own yard, to help you decide what to grow, how to grow, where to grow, how to get started…

Perhaps you have taken some of the workshops but still are not sure where to place the garden in your yard, or you’re getting bogged down by the details and just not sure how to proceed. That is where I come in.

I will help you use your space in the best way possible and help you create the garden of your dreams.

Both mentoring and coaching sessions are perfect for either seasoned or new gardeners, are all about helping you become a better, more skilled, knowledgeable, and confident gardener. 

Coaching sessions are like the full meal deal. They are longer, we discuss everything that you need or want to know from start to finish. I will show you where to put your garden, how to set it up, how to feed, water, care for your garden, when to start seeds or plants, all season gardening advice, everything. I provide you with both verbal and written plans to make your garden dreams come true. All email correspondence about your garden is free of charge.

Mentoring sessions are 60 minutes long. During that time, you can ask as many questions as you want and we can also get dirty together in the garden while I show you how to tackle what needs doing. Can be a combination of planning, planting, doing, and talking. I provide you with the information, you take your own notes. 

For more information about coaching or mentoring, please go to my webpage here.

Hope to see you at a workshop soon : )

Happy Garden Dreaming and Planning