Northern Gardening
Whether you are growing to feed your family, growing to add some fresh veggies or just dabbling in patio vegetables, Gardening here in Zone 2b/3 is both possible and productive. Some plants and techniques lend themselves perfectly for growing here in the North of Ontario.
So if you are just looking for something simple to plant and grow, or want a full sized sustenance garden, feel free to peruse the sections and send me questions.
Dont forget to check out the foraging section as well, as there are alot of edible plants that grow here, even considered as weeds.
Gardening Shortcut Links
Frost Dates and growing season
Converting a garden box to a mini greenhouse
Making a Garden Box
Planting Calculator
Garden Designer - Excel
Square Foot Gardening Primer
Growing Vertical - Trellises
Square Foot Gardening
Information and resources for square foot gardening here in NW Ontario.
Excel Garden Planner
An excel worksheet I developed to help plan and track my square foot gardening.
North Hardy Plants
Not all plants will grow here, but a lot will.
Square Foot Gardening
Square foot gardening in raised beds allows for a relatively maintenance free garden. It also provides that extra growing time so essential here in NW Ontario. Square foot gardening is demonstrated throughout the gardening section as it is the way I grow my gardens.
Advantages to Square Foot Gardening
Less water
Less weeds
Heats up faster
Looser soils/less tilling
High productivity, small area
About Garden Planning
Laying out your garden and pre-planning what to plant is best accomplished over the winter months. It gives you escape from the north winds, allows for ordering of seeds and allows you to put some time and effort into laying out your garden.
Since I use the square foot gardening method, I have created a garden planner using Microsoft excel. It allows you layout your garden using the cells in excel, then based on what plants you choose it will calculate planting/harvest times, potential yields, how many seeds you will need and more.
The Garden planner is provided as is, I can and will answer questions on using it and I have made videos on using it. I am hoping to have a full updated version ready for 2019 planning season.
