“As soon as the soil can be worked,” may be a phrase you’ve come across when reading about when to start your vegetable garden in the springtime. It’s a vague phrase about the condition of soil that may have you scratching your head in confusion.

Kale is super versatile. It’s good in salad, soup and smoothies. It’s even delicious when torn into bite sized pieces and baked with olive oil and salt into “chips” (a healthier version of our favorite guilty pleasure) it might even convert a kale “hater” into a… “these aren’t too bad!” Best of all, kale is good for you. It’s known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.

This post is an invitation to THINK about designing your vegetable garden – not a detailed explanation on HOW to design the bed (we’ll get to that next!).

Starting a garden can seem quite daunting for a first- time gardener. You may be asking questions like: What should I grow? How do I grow it? When do I plant it? How do I plant it? There are loads of questions to ask and so much to learn, but gardening shouldn’t be stressful.

When the seed catalogues roll into my mailbox, it’s the hot pepper section that I’m most excited to peruse.

Peppers varieties like cayenne and jalapeños, that are considered somewhat “mild” on the spectrum of hot peppers are what I gravitate toward growing. I like my crops to “work for me” or in other words, are versatile in the kitchen so I can use them in numerous ways. Fresh on pizza? Yep. Dried out and made into chili flakes? Definitely.

Got seeds? Got old seeds?

And wondering if you should plant them this year?

If you grow from seed, you’ll know how easy it is to accumulate packs and packs of seeds.

Do a simple germination test.

After discovering the unparalleled taste of growing your own garlic, you’ll want to grow it and share it with others, season after season. Bonus, it’s easy to grow – all you need is patience.

If you’ve ever found yourself standing at your local garden centre gazing upon rows of seedlings, feeling overwhelmed and not knowing what to buy – this short comprehensive guide is for you.

Plant tomatoes well and the chances of happy plants with a high yield will greatly increase. The tips below can be applied to planting tomatoes in the ground, in a raised bed or into a large container.

Follow and experiment alongside Cindy, who is embarking on a summer long project of planting her first veggie garden from seed.

Peas are one of the first crops you can plant in the spring. They like cool weather. As soon as the soil is workable (meaning, the soil is not frozen and not soaking wet) you can plant. Depending on where you live, that means you can plant peas sometime between mid-February to the end of May.