I grew this feast – a seasonal course to grow your own vegetables – Week 1

And not just vegetables but nutrient packed gourmet vegetables! I am so lucky that a good friend of mine told me about this program and very excited to finally learn how to properly prepare beds, start seeds, transplant, watch, and of course eat my own freshly harvested vegetables.

The growing part is a miracle in itself and having the privilege to observe nature in its abundance, seeing how the tiniest little critters from worms down to bacteria, fungi, and trace elements in the soil together with pollinators like insects and especially bees make a difference in the results is absolutely fascinating. How healthy soils change the amount of nutrients in the plants and ultimately the amount of nutrients in the food we eat is one of the most interesting topics for me.

And of course the abundance and diversity of plants that opens up if you are not only relying on commercially grown varieties! Food security is another modern tagline but if you live on an island with a population of 870,000 (and growing) that is something to focus on!

Hugely exciting is also the fact that I am part of this transformation of the Land from the very beginning. All there is right now is a greenhouse, a tool shed, and the very first beds.

We are a group of 10 „new farmers“ participating in the program and so far we‘ve had 2 meetings on the land.

The land is the grounds of a former horse racing track in North Saanich, the Sandown Centre, located on the traditional lands of the WSÁNEĆ peoples. The vision is to heal the land and water, to feed the land so it will feed us, to foster a next generation of farmers, and grow community through programs by connecting the public to the land.

So far we have quite some wildlife around and the goal is to incorporate that as well just as restoring the forest, and giving native plants space. At the far end there is a colony of seabirds nesting out in the open, several species of frogs which we can hear clearly, salamanders, garter snaked, and lizards.

A true inspiration and totally worth seeing is a documentary „The biggest little Farm“ which you can find on Netflix.

So far we learned that we have fairly heavy clay soil which doesn’t want to be disturbed too early when it‘s still wet!

The space where we have our experimental gardening plots was tilled for us in late March. I added about 7 wheel barrow loads of aged horse manure to my 4×12 ft bed.

We watered it nicely, direct seeded Easter egg radishes, wasabi radishes, and snap peas and covered it with cut straw for mulching.

We‘ve also started lots of seeds in the greenhouse: cilantro, basil, spinach, sesame, several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and amaranth, just to name a few.

Now we have to give it some time as the nights are still very chilli and the ground needs to warm up more.