Amelia Bellamy-Royds 

Last week was the start of gardening season here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (sort of)

I filled up a bunch of trays (mostly old clear plastic egg cartons) with potting soil last Wednesday, when the outdoor temperatures were close to 10°C. Didn't actually get the seeds into the trays until last Friday. They're now on the shelf in front of the big south-facing window, except for a couple that I've left on the porch to experience a week of day-night thaw-freeze cycles (which help trigger germination in some plants that are native to places with cold winters).

The chrysanthemums were the first seedlings up & at 'em, 4 days after planting. But a week in there are now lots of little growing green things heralding spring.

Outdoors, real winter temperatures are due to return next week (highs in the minus teens, lows in the minus 20s). We're still nearly 2 months from any outdoor gardening — I usually get peas, spinach, and radish seeds into the sunniest garden in late March or early April.

#garden #YEGgarden

Feb 13 at 7:52pmWeb
Show threadAmelia Bellamy-Royds Feb 13

If you've been thinking about starting your own garden, here's what you can start indoors now even in the Canadian prairies:

Flowers that won't mind early spring frosts (I plant them out in pots in late April):

  • violas / pansies (these will be just starting to flower when they go out, 8-10 weeks after starting indoors, and will keep flowering until fall if they never dry out)
  • lobelia (likewise)
  • petunias (make sure they're an open-pollinated variety where you get a decent number of seeds per packet; hybrid ones can be $5-10 for 10-20 seeds!)
  • snapdragons (pay attention to how tall the variety you pick will get, based on where you want to plant them)

Frost-hardy veggies that can benefit from a head start indoors:

  • onions
  • celery
  • parsley

Other slow-growing plants:

  • begonias & coleus (frost-sensitive shady plants, won't go outdoors until the end of May)
  • perennial flowers & herbs (mint & thyme this year)

I'll start faster-growing frost-sensitive veggies in early March, including tomatoes & basil.

Show threadCthulku has movedFeb 13

@AmeliasBrain

I'm trying out growing tomatoes from seed for the first time this year, and this is exactly what I needed to hear. I'm 15 floors up, so I'm a lot more frost resistant than on the ground, so I might start mine a smidge earlier.

These are also pretty slow growing, and a determinant variety, so I might do a couple of starts, to get a staggered harvest.

Show threadAmelia Bellamy-Royds Feb 14

@cthulku Yeah, if you're growing tomatoes in pots on the balcony you can afford to play chicken with last frost, so long as you don't mind bringing them in if we do have some cold nights in late May.

And if you get good southern or western exposure on that balcony, sunny days will definitely warm things up once we get past mid-spring.

Just think about how much space you have for pots indoors when you decide how much to plant & how soon. Mine get transferred to 750mL yogurt tubs by mid-April (~6weeks after planting), and are usually 18-inch above that by the time they go outdoors.

Show threadOlga Lovick (she/her)Feb 13
@AmeliasBrain Man, Edmonton is tropical compared to us. I start seeds in the first week of April. Outdoor gardening not before May.
Show threadAmelia Bellamy-Royds Feb 13

@transitionalaspect It depends on the seeds: how fast they grow & how much frost they can take in spring. (see my follow-up post) This was a bit of a late start for me, sometimes I'll get the smallest seeds in dirt mid-January.

For outdoors, planting time depends on a mix of weather & microclimates around the garden, but the three veggies I mentioned can all take some freezes, so they go in as soon as the ground is thawed. I have enough seeds of those to replant if they do get killed off by an extreme spring cold snap.

Show threadOlga Lovick (she/her)Feb 13

@AmeliasBrain the only things I do from seed are vegetables; everything else is perennials in my garden (or things that self-seed with or without my blessing).

Even removing last year's growth can't happen before late April if I don't want to kill everything that's been overwintering in the litter.

You're just that much more protected by the mountains... Envious.