Kate's Growing Space
"We’re the first owners of this house and we got it for the back yard space. We started with two garden boxes but expanded to four, and a greenhouse plus a corn/bean patch. I’m planning on pulling more sod up at the end of the season for a new corn patch. I grew up in England and my grandparents had a war garden that they kept until they passed. That’s where I learned to garden and it’s been a big learning curve to learn how to garden in Cochrane’s climate (I did live in Lethbridge for a while. Yet another growing climate!). As for techniques… I think the only ones I use are companion planting and crop rotation and I use those to try to keep the soil healthy and keep pests at bay.
Although the large yard still has lots of grass, we have four 4x8’ garden boxes, a 6x6 greenhouse (made from salvaged windows and wood) and a few other odd patches of garden where I’ve ripped the sod up for more growing room. There’s the corn patch, and a raised bed with fruit trees, asparagus, strawberries and flowers.
This year the only plants I purchased were rosemary seedlings from the greenhouse in town. Everything else I was able to start from seed which has been a challenge and a delight to do. We’ve been able to grow enough carrots and onions to last us a year, and last year had spaghetti squash and pumpkins that lasted us well into winter.
For regenerative practices, it’s been a journey of learning that I feel as though I are barely began. I have started a compost but it’s been neglected. I have the garden beds set up for crop rotation and am learning about nitrogen fixers for soil. I companion plant where possible. We do have several large rain barrels which I use as much as possible, but we also have a sprinkler system. We do not use weed killers in the garden or any pesticides."
"We’re the first owners of this house and we got it for the back yard space. We started with two garden boxes but expanded to four, and a greenhouse plus a corn/bean patch. I’m planning on pulling more sod up at the end of the season for a new corn patch. I grew up in England and my grandparents had a war garden that they kept until they passed. That’s where I learned to garden and it’s been a big learning curve to learn how to garden in Cochrane’s climate (I did live in Lethbridge for a while. Yet another growing climate!). As for techniques… I think the only ones I use are companion planting and crop rotation and I use those to try to keep the soil healthy and keep pests at bay.
Although the large yard still has lots of grass, we have four 4x8’ garden boxes, a 6x6 greenhouse (made from salvaged windows and wood) and a few other odd patches of garden where I’ve ripped the sod up for more growing room. There’s the corn patch, and a raised bed with fruit trees, asparagus, strawberries and flowers.
This year the only plants I purchased were rosemary seedlings from the greenhouse in town. Everything else I was able to start from seed which has been a challenge and a delight to do. We’ve been able to grow enough carrots and onions to last us a year, and last year had spaghetti squash and pumpkins that lasted us well into winter.
For regenerative practices, it’s been a journey of learning that I feel as though I are barely began. I have started a compost but it’s been neglected. I have the garden beds set up for crop rotation and am learning about nitrogen fixers for soil. I companion plant where possible. We do have several large rain barrels which I use as much as possible, but we also have a sprinkler system. We do not use weed killers in the garden or any pesticides."
