Mark Cullen’s Veggie Garden Primer Tips

Canadians have fewer diversions in late winter: swimming, boating, fishing and, yes gardening, are distant memories. It is difficult to even remember what warm sunshine feels like, never mind get outdoors and absorb some vitamin D.

Oh for those spring time diversions!!

If mid-winter blahs are a concern to you, I am here to give you hope. Useful diversions are as close as your local garden centre, hardware store and even online. Read on!

This brings me to food; the kind of food that you grow in your garden. We are in ‘prime’ seed buying season. Now is the time to get into your local garden centre or hardware store and look over the fresh seeds on the racks. Check out what is new and plan on starting some of your seeds early, indoors.

I order many of my vegetable seeds by ‘mail’, even though you can do this very easily over the internet.

Some of my favourite online seed suppliers are:

Veseys Seeds in P.E.I. (www.veseys.com)

Dominion Seeds in Ontario (www.dominion-seed-house.com)

Ontario Seed (www.oscseeds.com)

Stokes Seeds in Niagara (www.stokeseeds.com)

Early’s Seeds in Saskatoon (www.earlysgarden.com)

and of course the granddaddy of them all, McFayden Seeds in Brandon Manitoba (www.mcfayden.com)

Some seed buying tips:

Assuming that you are a ‘home gardener’ and not a commercial producer, avoid the varieties that are recommended for production purposes. You are looking for freshness and flavour, above all. Of course, if you want to grow some squash to save for months into the winter, by all means look for that quality in the variety that you choose.

Some of my favourite vegetable varieties include:

• Snap beans – ‘Provider’ - Veseys
• Pea – Sugar Sprint (new) - McFayden
• Runner Bean – Scarlet Runner – everywhere – great for a fast fence, screen, garden tee-pee and the beans are o.k. too, when picked young.
• Radish - Sparkler – high in vitamin C: easy to grow – get the kids involved in this one!  McFayden
• Tomato - Brandywine – a favourite ‘heirloom’ variety.  Produces 2 lb fruit in 75 days.  Everywhere that heirlooms are sold.
• Tomato - Early Canadian Beef.  A small beefsteak (7 to 10 ounces) that produces early, 75 days.  McFayden
• Carrots – I always buy ‘coated seed’: it is easier to sow and requires less ‘thinning’ than non-coated varieties.  For me, the coating has been the difference between success and failure some years!

Keep in mind that now is the time for planning your veggie garden AND acquiring seeds – but it is too early to start vegetable seeds indoors. Early as it may be for vegetable seed starting, it is not too early to start some herbs indoors from seed. Go to www.richters.com for the best selection of online herb seeds on the continent.

Via Mark Cullen

Basil

I like to have some basil on the go all of the time: It is useful indoors for cooking even before you plant it out in the garden come May. Keep some growing on your kitchen window sill where it is handy when making soups, pasta sauce, etc.

Some basil facts, courtesy the Horticultural Therapy association of Canada (www.chta.ca) with special thanks to Yvonne Snyder:

Basil is a symbol for ‘Love and good wishes’ Sacred to the Hindu tradition, considered an aphrodisiac in Italy (what isn’t?).

Look for a wide selection of varieties: lemon, dark opal, bush type, ornamental and of course many culinary types.

Cultivation: Best started from seed and transplanted outdoors in late May or early June, when the soil has warmed.

Harvesting: Serve fresh. Can be dried or stored in olive oil, but the flavour is not as intense when preserved.

Uses: Culinary: makes great pesto, use in culinary vinegars, ‘cooked in’ with tomatoes.  A good companion with garlic.

Household: place potted plants on window sills to deter flies.

Folk Medicine: An infused tea can aid digestion, many uses in aromatherapy.

Mark Cullen appears on Canada AM every Wednesday morning at 8:40.  He is spokesperson for Home Hardware Lawn and Garden.  Sign up for his free monthly newsletter at www.markcullen.com.