It is the beginning of March, and though it does not look like it outside with all of the snow that’s still on the ground, spring is coming! And now is the time to start planning your outdoor garden, and begin some indoor planting for spring.
It might be a while before we start to see some green grass, but planting inside is something that you can do to help prepare for the garden, and make it feel a little bit like spring inside your house. In particular, you can start growing vegetables for transfer outside later. As Susan Jensen, from Jensen’s Nursery and Garden Centre says, “There are certain vegetables that take a long time to get going, things like tomatoes and peppers…this is the perfect time to start them because they are usually 60 to 70 days for harvest, so you can little bit of a jump on that.”
Susan’s sister Tammy adds, “Lettuce, kale... any of the greens you can grow…I sometimes start them early, and then put them out in a garden area that I can cover, and get a really early crop… I’m harvesting it when I’m just starting to get out into the garden, which is nice.”
Jensen’s Nursery and Garden Centre has a complete seed starting chart, which you can find on their website. The chart has a complete list of what and when the specific seeds types should be planted.
With the amount of snow we have had in Winnipeg this winter, there might be some surprises found in your garden once all the snow is gone. “Once the snow melts, you are going to find things like a lot of broken branches on your shrubs, might have some rabbit or vole damage underneath the snow…that kind of thing, so there might be a lot of pruning, cleaning up and tiding once that snow disappears.”
Over the past two years, because of COVID, people have been concentrating more on growing their own fruits, and vegetables, especially as prices in the stores have been increasing. “I think now with the huge rising food costs, this trend is going to continue, and may even become even larger this year,” says Tammy Jensen.
With the long snowy winter we are coming out of, the idea of planning for a garden seems, like a dream. It can be a reality now, and Jensen’s Nursery and Garden Centre has all of the seeds, tools, and expertise, to ensure that this year flower and vegetable garden will be a massive success!