Just a reminder, gardeners: the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their next regular meeting on Wednesday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m. ay SIGN on North Street. Special guest speaker will be Carol Miller from Windthorst telling us everything we need to know about “How To Grow Sprouts All Year Round”.
Also, the Spring Plant and Bulb Sale will be on Friday, May 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Parkland Mall. This is a one day sale, and your chance to choose from a nice selection of plants at great prices. I always suggest that it is better to come to the sale sooner rather than later for best selection! We have our regular shoppers who know this, and they are there first thing when the sale starts at 9:30! We are always so pleased to see them, and we look forward to seeing all of you at the sale! If you are starting landscaping in a new yard, or need to replenish some gaps in an established garden, you’ll find some lovely plants to work with at the sale! That’s Friday, May 29.
I read an article that talked about gardening trends, and one of them is called “foodscaping”. It was new to me, so I did some homework and learned that foodscaping is incorporating edible plants into decorative plantings. The picture with one article showed orange and red nasturtiums in a border, then a squash plant, and herbs planted in small red and orange flower pots set right in front. The display had a huge pop of color, and best of all, contained plants that could be eaten; this is a great idea for gardeners who have limited space. I especially loved the idea of the squash plant, because the large leaves made the planting look very lush and tropical.
For those who choose container gardening, foodscaping is ideal! There is no reason why the containers have to be limited to just flowers. Mix in herbs with your flowers. If you have a nice large container, why not mix something like a tomato, basil, and bocopa trailing over the side? Why not! Last year, after we finished planting our onions, there were a handful of bulbs left in the bag. Rather than make a very short row in the garden, I just pushed them in here and there into our containers. The results were very cool: not only did the foliage look very interesting when the onions came up, but the onions were very handy when we needed an onion or two for cooking! Rather than go out to the garden to get onions, we could just stand on the back step!
There is no gardening law that says veggies have to be planted in long rows in a garden. Many vegetables do very well in containers: tomatoes, peppers, bush cucumbers, onions, squash, lettuce, spinach, herbs, and even celery. If you’re adventurous, why not even put in a cabbage plant in a large container? The main thing you have to keep in mind with foodscaping (mixing vegetables in with flowers) is to make sure that all the plants have similar sun and water requirements. And also keep in mind to allow enough room for everybody in the container!
There is also no gardening law that says you have to do it the same way as everyone else has been doing if before. Gardening is like an art form, wide open for your own creativity! If you have an idea to try, try it! If it doesn’t work, don’t bother with it again. But if it does, good for you! Keep going, gardener!
Isn’t this time of year wonderful? Such fun! Have a great week and have fun with your planting!
