As the frost recedes, the possibilities in our gardens expand. Around March 28, gardeners along the south coastal regions of British Columbia witness the last average frost date. This pivotal time signals a period of preparation and anticipation for the...
Continue ReadingEven though February brings chilly weather, it's a great time to get a head start on your garden by sowing seeds indoors. This early planting allows your seedlings to develop well in time for spring, providing them with a solid...
Continue ReadingWest Coast Seeds has conducted significant research into the companion planting guidelines and has defined the best possible results and reasons for each of our recommendations in our companion planting chart, below are a few thoughtful suggestions for you while planning your garden this year.
Continue ReadingPlanting asparagus seeds is an exercise in patience, but one of the most rewarding of all garden tasks. Asparagus seeds germinate slowly, and the crowns take three seasons before they can handle being harvested. However the grower’s patience is generously rewarded by early season harvests of asparagus with a flavour not to be found on store shelves anywhere. You will wish you had planted a bigger asparagus bed!
Continue ReadingThe weather outdoors is cold and gloomy. Here on the coast it is altogether wet — the ground is sodden and squishy. Elsewhere, the first blankets of snow are falling, and the ground is freezing hard. Only the most spirited...
Continue ReadingThe holidays are over but the weather outside is still pretty frightful. Here on the coast it is altogether wet — the ground is sodden and squishy. Elsewhere, snow is falling, and the ground is freezing hard. Only the most spirited...
Continue ReadingAsparagus crowns are live goods that have been freshly harvested from the soil. Like seed potatoes and hops rhizomes, they have only recently been dug from the soil, and are in a state of dormancy. This dormancy is broken in response to temperature, day length, and available moisture.
Continue ReadingThis is a list of seeds to start in April for south coastal British Columbia and the US Pacific Northwest. Finally it’s April and we are past the last average frost date in the BC Lower Mainland. Because this date...
Continue ReadingAsparagus (Asparagus officinalis) Asparagus has very few close botanical relatives in its own family, Asparagaceae. The name “asparagus” simply comes from the Latin botanical title, with its roots in Greek and the original Persian, asparag, meaning “shoots.” The asparagus we...
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