Vegetables
The three sister’s trellis patch was the absolute winner. The squash will probably do much better with more frequent attention, especially with the trellis. We were delightfully surprised the corn did so well! We’re excited to do more corn next year. As well, the pole beans and sweet peas were also winners and great return throughout the season. Potatoes were also a big win. The grow bags were great and they grew really well on the rooftop all year (and provided lush greenery all season).
VEGETABLE PLANT NOTES
Bean – Garbanzo
Winnifred’s Garbanzo
Price: $4.00
Source: Salt Spring Seeds
Seed Info
Small brown or fawn coloured chickpea with excellent rich earthy, nutty flavour. Pink flowers. Extremely hardy and dependable cultivar, usually producing over 300 seeds per plant. Sow mid-spring and thin to a foot apart. Rich in protein, calcium, iron and B vitamins. Earliest to mature in 2019.
2022 Planting Notes
Direct sowed at the house garden. Exciting to see the beans actually grow. We ended up neglecting them and not actually harvesting though.
Bean – String
Blue Lake Pole beans
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
3656 – Blue Lake. 55-65 days. 2m tall This stringless green bean has a dedicated following. Exceptional for fresh eating as well as freezing or canning, the vigorous vines produce abundant yields of straight 15-17 cm beans. Far more productive than any bush bean. Direct seed after danger of all frost has passed. Seeds prefer warm temperatures between 15-30 ºC. White-seeded beans typically germinate less well than dark-seeded beans. Planting depth is 3cm and seed spacing is 5-8cm. Pole beans require trellis
2022 Planting Notes
Worked great. Best of all the beans. really wonderful growers, and were happiest when there was trellis (either the metal squash trellis or the sunflower/corn plants acting as a trellis). Great harvest and one of the most prolific plants. Produced beans August – October.
Bean – String
Tricolour Bush Beans
Price: $3.89
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
The Tricolour Bean Blend is our best selling bush bean. It incorporates three varieties of bush beans that will produce purple, gold, and classic green beans. Because of the variety, the harvest window is extended over several weeks. The plants are not huge, so they will work well in larger containers such as half barrels or grow bags. Or try some in raised beds or your organic vegetable garden. Take summer meals to a new level with this novel blend of multi-coloured bush beans. The pods are easy to pick and lovely to look at in the garden.
Matures in 52-60 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)
2022 Planting Notes
Not a fan of bush beans. Maybe it was lack of water, but they didn’t grow as heartily as the pole beans and tended to look sadder than the pole beans.
Beet
Chioggia Guardsmark Organic
Price: $3.69
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
CERTIFIED ORGANIC! Chioggia Guardsmark Organic beet seeds are a striking Italian heirloom variety with light-red, smooth round roots and bright pink and white alternating rings inside. These sweet beets (pronounced kee-OH-jee-ah) are about 5cm (2″) in diameter with mild green leaves and pale red stems. Interestingly, each red ring in the cross section of these beets represents one lunar month of growth. Chioggia Guardsmark organic beet seeds are a staff favourite that add festive colour to any meal. It’s easy to save seeds from this beet variety, but beets are biennial, so they flower and go to seed the spring after you plant them.
Matures in 65 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)
2022 Planting Notes
We got some beets. We pulled them in September and probably should have left them in the ground longer, but we were concerned they might get bug-eeaten. Tasty, but the size of all of them turned out on the small side. Perhaps our soil wasn’t right?
Broccoli
Green Magic Broccoli
Price: $5.39
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Perfect for summer harvests, Green Magic broccoli holds well with improved hybrid bolt resistance. Considered a mid/early variety, it’s also good for fall harvests. The large plants are blue/green with uniform, tightly packed heads, excellent flavour, and strong resistance to foliar powdery mildew. If saving seeds is not the singular goal of the gardening plan, hybrid broccoli varieties will often produce an earlier, more uniform crop with better disease resistance than an open pollinated alternative. Broccoli (and all Brassicas) make a strong case for hybridizing to bring out the best a crop can offer. In all cases, West Coast Seeds includes open pollinated options for those interested in seed saving. Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
2022 Planting Notes
All we got was greenery.
Carrot
Nutri-Red Carrot
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5004 – Nutri-Red Carrot
These flavourful, striking red carrots are meant to be cooked rather than eaten raw. Exceptionally rich in lycopene. The colour actually intensifies when cooked. Slender gourmet carrots to 23cm (9”) in length.
2022 Planting Notes
We got a little bit in our grow bag. They were too densely planted, so by the time we thinned them out, it may have been too late. The outside periphery of the grow bag had the biggest carrots.
Cauliflower
Amazing
Price: $3.89
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
This cauliflower lives up to its name with its amazing holding ability in the garden. Some cauliflower varieties develop heads that are open and exposed to sunlight, but Amazing has large outer wrapper leaves that grow upright, sheltering the head from the sun. As a result, the heads do not need to be harvested with any great urgency and you can pick them as you need them. The plants are medium sized, with domed, tightly packed curds, and they’re not particularly fussy about temperature stress, either cold or hot. If you’ve had trouble in the past growing cauliflower, try some Amazing cauliflower seeds – it’s an excellent choice for cauliflower newbies.
Matures in 75 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)
2022 Planting Notes
All we got was greenery.
Cucumber
Lebanese Cucumber
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
4580 – Lebanese Mid-east Prolific 12-18cm/5-7 in. Excellent flavor whether pickled or fresh. Thin-skinned and never bitter. Our best flavored salad cucumber. Vines bear extremely early and were the most productive in our field variety trials. Adaptable to a variety of climates.
2022 Planting Notes
Nothing.
Cucumber
Suyo Long Cucumber
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
4450 – Suyo long. Ribbed dark green skinned cucumber from northern China. Non-bitter, burpless, crisp and tender fruits grow 25-45cm/10-18″ long and 3cm/1_” in diameter. Almost seedless, trellis for straight fruits. Prolific plants. 60-70 days.
2022 Planting Notes
We got a bunch of these out of our hanging basket. They tasted pretty good and skin was edible. A+
Eggplant
Snowy Eggplant
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5941- Snowy Eggplant. Elegant snow-white eggplant with medium-thick skin and delicate sweet flavor. Snowy’s texture is firmer and meatier than most, holding up well in cooking and handling. Upright, sturdy plants are well adapted to many growing conditions. Another great container variety. Widely adapted Great for containers 7″ fruit
2022 Planting Notes
Failure.
Greens
Lettuce Blend
Price: $4.00
Source: Salt Spring Seeds
Seed Info
A wonderful cut-and-come-again mix of our favourite lettuce varieties. Can be started indoors or direct sown, spring through summer. Our most popular seed packet.
2022 Planting Notes
We got more lettuce at the house garden.
Greens
Butterhead Lettuce
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
We love the flavour and delicate texture of the leaves for lettuce wraps! Buttercrunch butterhead lettuce seeds are a Bibb type lettuce that forms a tight little rosette of soft, dark-green, upward-facing leaves surrounding a tender, pale centre. The small hearts don’t become bitter in hot weather. Later plantings stand well into fall and make good growth in spring cold frames. Buttercrunch lettuce is a good candidate for growing all winter if you can provide cloche or greenhouse protection, or even a simple cold frame. Sow some extra early indoors in February for transplanting to the cold frame in March.
2022 Planting Notes
Nothing.
Onion
Varna Organic Leek
Price: $3.89
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
CERTIFIED ORGANIC! Varna Organic leek seeds produce what may be the ultimate summer leek. It grows so quickly that it can be harvested at the green onion stage for gourmet baby leeks when planted close together. Otherwise, grow this Bulgarian type leek out to full size at 45cm (18″) tall. The highly uniform, flavourful leeks are very cylindrical and quite thick. The dark green leaves are upright and rigid, with good tolerance to leaf diseases. Varna is named after a town (and region) in Bulgaria. Bulgarian type leeks are bred for size and flavour, and Varna lives up to both.
Matures in 60-80 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)
2022 Planting Notes
Harvested in September. Pathetic.
Pea
Super Sugar Snap Peas
Price: $3.89
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
This is an improved Sugar Snap variety. The 8cm (3″) long, fat, dark-green pods are the sweetest of our snap peas. The crunchy pods are excellent for eating cooked or raw. Super Sugar snap pea seeds produce vigorous climbing vines that should be trellised, and will easily grow 2m (6′) or more in good soil. Although Super Sugar Snap is not resistant to the enation virus that sometimes spreads in coastal gardens by mid-summer, it is an excellent candidate for earlier sowing – as early as February in a mild spring. Enjoy the trouble free, easy-to-harvest peas in June and July.
2022 Planting Notes
Delicious. One of the more prolific plants. Like pole beans, these produced a lot and consistently when trellised properly.
Potato
Clancy Pelleted
Price: $5.99
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Mid-season. Clancy potato seeds represent a novel new way to produce beautiful, nutritious spuds. Fancy Clancy potatoes are a beautiful natural mix of red and rose-gold creamer-size spuds that are ready to harvest 110 days from transplant. Seed is sown just like a tomato or pepper, for transplant into the garden. Once vigorous summer growth starts, just hill up and water like a regular potato plant and look forward to pounds of delicious potatoes. The seeds are pelleted for easy handling.
110 days to maturity. (Hybrid seeds.)
2022 Planting Notes
Pathetic. One itty bity marble sized potato from these. However, our seed potatoes did incredible. Would plan seed potatoes instead of potato seeds.
Squash & Gourd
Butternut Squash
Price: $4.00
Source: Salt Spring Seeds
Seed Info
(C. moschata) Large, pear-shaped squash with tan-yellow skin. Many are 16-20 inches long. Dark orange flesh with fine nutty flavour. Abundant production. Excellent keeper. 95-100 days.
2022 Planting Notes
We got the most out of butternut squash. They like growing in the lawn.
Squash & Gourd
Achocha
Price: $4.00
Source: Small Island Seed Co.
Seed Info
Achocha, also known as Cyclanthera Brachybotrys, is a real gem. When young, it can be eaten fresh like any gherkin, but as it develops, it becomes hollow, and becomes best suited for stuffing and frying. We personally enjoy them most when they’re stuffed. Their flavour is amazing, and they pair well with many different foods and flavours. The fruits grow on far spreading, highly prolific vines that’ll produce a heavy crop until frost. Although they fruit all summer and autumn long, their production truly shines the most when the cucumber plants begin dying off; this really helps to stretch out the growing season. Also, the spines are benign; they feel much like soft rubber, and won’t bother your hands or mouth when eating them. Some people describe the flavour of the fruit to be a combination of cucumber and green pepper. I don’t entirely agree; although it does taste a bit like cucumbers, it definitely has its’ own unique flavour. If you’re looking to diversify your garden and diet, I highly recommend growing this vegetable.
Something to note, there are a few varieties of Cyclanthera out there, and we’ve tried this one, as well as the more common C. Pedata. We find this variety to be far superior as it’s much tastier, and it doesn’t curl open and explode when ripe like a peeling banana. Also, as a fun bonus, the numerous rubber-like spines make this fruit extremely attractive, and can add a gourmet flare to just about any dish.
All Seeds are organic and open pollinated.
2022 Planting Notes
We had a few by the end of the season, but we didn’t eat them. Wouldn’t plan again.
Squash & Gourd
Random CSA Squash
Price: n/a
Source: Harvested – 2021
Seed Info
2022 Planting Notes
Nothing.
Squash & Gourd
Acorn Squash
Price: n/a
Source: Harvest – CSA 2020
Seed Info
2022 Planting Notes
A few good gourds, but then they got bug eaten before we could actually harvest.
Squash & Gourd
Pumpkin
Price: n/a
Source: Harvest – Grocery 2021
Seed Info
2022 Planting Notes
Nothing.
Tomato
Wild Galapagos Tomato
Price: $4.00
Source: Small Island Seed Co.
Seed Info
The Wild Galapagos Island Tomato is a unique, delicious, and productive variety of tomato. These vigorous plants produce an abundance of orange grape sized tomatoes that are quite versatile in the kitchen, but their flavour really shines when roasted in the oven. They’re not of the usual tomato species Lycopersicon Esculentum, but instead they’re classified as Lycopersicon Cheesmanii; this species is endemic to the Galapagos Islands, so their flavour is quite different from most. This is a “must grow” variety for any tomato lover.
The indeterminate plants can use a good support to grow up, but because of their superior disease resistance, they can sprawl on the ground as they please without the risk of disease taking over the plant. They are resistant to blight, fusarium, and blossom end rot. Under ideal growing conditions, these plants can yield hundreds of fruits. They are ideal for roasting, use in salads, or fresh eating right off the vine.
All seeds are organic and open pollinated.
2022 Planting Notes
Nothing.
Tomato
Black Krim
Price: $4.00
Source: Salt Spring Seeds
Seed Info
Vigorous, very productive heirloom from Krim on the Black Sea. Unique looking 6-12oz. fruits have dark greenish/purple/black shoulders. Rich, sweet, juicy and delicious.
2022 Planting Notes
Late to start, but big harvest in September. Would grow again.
Tomato
San Marzano
Price:
Source:
Seed Info
2022 Planting Notes
They produced some tomatoes late in the season which were the size of roma tomatoes.
Corn
Honey Select Corn
Price: $4.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
2022 Planting Notes
What an underdog. We planted just for giggles and turned out to be delicious and great return. Grew also as a great trellis for beans.
Herbs
Basil is fun for making pesto. Other years we’ll be home more to actively use the herbs and maintain them. Since we traveled so much this summer, a lot of our herbs were underused and neglected.
Herb Planting Notes
Basil
Genovese
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Genovese basil seeds are the very best Italian pesto variety of basil. This is the traditional Italian heirloom variety of basil. It has shiny, large, almond-shaped leaves have a more pronounced flavour, and stores well if chopped and frozen in ice cube trays. Pinch growing tips for bushier plants that grow to 60cm (24″) tall. Basil is a heat loving tender annual plant that requires good drainage and ample moisture during hot weather. If flowers develop, either save save the resulting seeds or separate them from the plants and sprinkle over pasta or salads. Basil flowers are highly attractive to honeybees and other wild pollinators.
Basil can be planted as a companion to tomato plants. It is said that basil improves the flavour of tomatoes.
Very best Italian pesto variety
Shiny, large, almond-shaped leaves
Stores well frozen in ice cube trays
Pinch growing tips for a bushier plant
Grows to 60cm (24″) tall
Basil
Dolce Fresca
Price: $3.99
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Sweet and fresh, this picturesque basil won the AAS award for both flavour and form. After harvest, it rebounds to its previous tidy shape. The large leaves of Dolce Fresca are among the nicest Genovese basils we’ve tried. It looks fantastic in patio containers, or just growing in any well drained herb bed. Grow this basil in full sun during the warmest part of the year. Harvest regularly by pinching top-most pair of leaves from each stem. This will encourage bushy, vigorous growth lower on the plants and prolong the harvest window for each plant.
AAS Award Winner
Form meets flavour
Great for containers
Large leaf Genovese type
Chives
Garlic Chives (allium tuberosum)
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
A. tuberosum. This flat-leaf variety of Garlic Chives seeds has a strong garlic flavour and aroma. The white flowers and stalks are used (only a small amount is needed), to add the pungent taste of garlic to salads, vegetables, dumplings, and stir-fries. Popular in Asian cuisine, garlic chives are also known as ku chai in Chinese. While the leaves and flower stems are delicious and useful in the kitchen garlic chives are also very attractive flowering plants. Use this herb as companion plants to repel aphids from flowers or vegetables prone to attack.
Strong garlic flavour and aroma
Powerful flavour
Popular in Asian cuisine
Flat-leaf variety
Add to salads, dumplings and stir-fries
Cilantro / Coriander
Santo Long Standing
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Coriandrum sativum. Cilantro “Santo” is bred to be slow bolting. Direct sow short rows of Santo Long Standing cilantro seeds every other week from spring to late summer for continuous harvest. The mature seeds, better known as coriander, are easy to harvest, and used in many dishes – notably curry powder blends. Keep an eye you your cilantro crop because the flowering process (bolting) is famously quick in this plant. As soon as a central stem appears and the uppermost leaves become frilly, it’s time to harvest the whole plant, roots and all. The roots are useful – check out our Coriander Root Paste recipe. Because of this taproot, cilantro does not transplant well.
If growing for seeds, simply allow the plants to flower. Cilantro flowers are highly attractive to beneficial insects like Syrphid flies, lacewings, and lady beetles. Be warned that if the seeds are not harvested when they are mature, you will have volunteer cilantro plants for years to come.
Cilantro will grow somewhat leggy, but productively in partial shade, and it is quite tolerant of cool temperatures. With the protection of a cloche greenhouse, cilantro will continue growing all winter.
Easy to grow
Mature seeds are coriander
With a bit of cover, it will overwinter
Grows to 50cm (20″)
Grows in partial shade
Cilantro / Coriander
Cilantro / Coriander
Price: n/a
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Seeds harvested from cilantro plant from 2021 garden.
Parsley
Forest Green Parsley
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Plant Forest Green parsley seeds in your organic herb garden. The plants have short, strong stems that support big clusters of highly curled, dark-green leaves. The flavour is distinctly savoury without being bitter. Parsley adds a subtle, but key flavour to a host of Mediterranean dishes. It is widely used in companion planting because its strong scent repels insects like the Asparagus Beetle. Parsley likes asparagus, carrots, chives, corn, onions, and tomatoes. The leaves can be sprinkled on asparagus to repel asparagus beetles, and around roses, to improve their scent. Let some of your parsley go to bloom to attract hover-flies and predatory wasps.
Parsley is a biennial plant that forms a long (edible) tap root. Choose deep pots for container growing.
Matures in 80 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)
Non-bitter flavour
Highly curled dark-green leaves
Attracts beneficial insects
Open-pollinated seeds
Matures in 80 days
Sage
Salvia officinalis
Price: $3.89
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Salvia officinalis. The wonderfully aromatic, silvery-green leaves of sage bring a potent savoury accent to stews, soups, salads, and traditional stuffing. Beneficial insects love this plant and hummingbirds will feed from sage flowers. Direct seed organic sage seeds in early spring and thin to 30cm (12″) apart. Harvest half of the plant before the purple flowers open in June, and dry the leaves in an airy spot away from direct sunlight. After flowering, cut back by a third to get a burst of fresh new leaves.
Wonderfully aromatic, silvery-green leaves
Potent accent to stews and traditional stuffings
Beneficial insects love this plant
Cut back get a burst of fresh leaves
Fruits (Berries & Peppers)
Overall impression is that they are very late producing. For the size of garden we have, they are not worth the space they take up. Sunberries are a possible exception. Bell peppers have never really done well in either garden, even when we bought started ones at the nursery. We’ll just stick to S’s hot chili peppers.
Fruits (Berries & Peppers) Notes
Berry
Berries Golden Pearls
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
Solanum villosum. Very new to the west, this fruit forming shrub has been cultivated for centuries in Africa for its sweet golden berries. The small yellow fruits resemble yellow currants, but they are more closely related to tomatoes. This plant grows well in containers, and begins to produce early in the season, right into autumn if kept well picked. It grows to a height of 90cm (36″). Avoid eating the unripe fruit.
2022 Planting Notes
They produced berries very late int he season. Small amount of berries. Tasted kind of boring (like sunberries). More trouble than they were worth
Berry
Jaltomato berry
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5720 – Jaltomato (Jaltomata procumbens). Dark purple berries looking somewhat like blueberries. White flesh tasting like grape and tomatoes. Eaten fresh, dried or made into jam. Grown in some areas of Mexico. 3 to 4 feet plants. May need staking.
2022 Planting Notes
Some of these grew. There was a lot of seeds. Not awesome to eat raw. Not worth the trouble.
Berry
Litchi Tomato
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5690 – Litchi Tomato Or Morelle De Balbis (S. sisymbriifolium) Large plants grow to 5′, and are covered with thorns, sweet red fruit and large white flowers. Lovely to look at, but be careful with the thorns! We enjoyed the fruit all summer, right from the plant. They’re about the size of a cherry, and taste like a cherry crossed with a tomato. A very pretty and attractive plant that originated in South America, but has been naturalized in many countries. Start plants like you would a tomato.
2022 Planting Notes
They fruited quite a bit, late in the season. They were very sticky (like tomatillos). They tasted okay. The stems were all very very spiky and hazardous when walking around barefoot if a bit had fallen. This made them difficult to harvest because of the prickliness. The taste was not worth the scratches from the thorns. Also, we probably didn’t give them enoguh space. They grow to 5 foot tall and we thought they could grow in a hanging basket vertically downwards. This didn’t happen.
Berry
Miltomato Vallista berry
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5730 – Miltomato Vallisto. Dark purple berries with sweet fruity flavor. Larger fruits (1 cm) than Sunberry. Can be eaten fresh. Make a good jam or pie filling. Highly pigmented. Plants are larger (1 to 1,2 m). Produce well. Full sun. From Mexico.
2022 Planting Notes
We don’t remember the difference between these and the jaltomato. In any case, wouldn’t grow again
Berry
Sunberry
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5700 – Sunberry. (Solanum Burbankii) Bred in the early 1900s by Luther Burbank, who called it Sunberry and lamented it being renamed Wonderberry by the dealer who purchased and introduced it. Sunberry’s fruits are blue, slightly sweet and slightly larger than a pea. Said by its admirers to rival and even surpass blueberries. Truly historic variety.
2022 Planting Notes
We YOLOd a bunch towards the end of the seed-starting season. The ones that did the best were the ones where we planted several of these in one pot. They produced fruit August – October. Labour intensive to harvest the ripe berries, Not super sweet – so-so when raw, but we’ve been freezing the harvest and we’ll try making jam from it. If we had to do any of the berries again, these would be the ones.
Melon
Minnesota Midget Melon (Cucumis melo)
Price: $4.00
Source: Salt Spring Seeds
Seed Info
Compact, 3-4 foot plants, produce great yields of super tasty mini cantaloupe melons. Measuring, on average, 4″ across fruits are sweet, with smooth orange flesh, and slip from vine when ripe. Excellent for small gardens, even container growing and areas with a short growing season or cool nights! Resistant to fusarium wilt. Introduced in Minnesota in 1948 (60-70days)
2022 Planting Notes
Didn’t grow. Couldn’t get past the seed stage. Used up all seeds over different starting intervals. Nothing took. Sad face.
Melon
Noir de Carmes Melon
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5675 – Noir de Carmes . One of the easiest to grow and most luxurious of all melons. Extremely dark green skin, almost black when immature, ripening to mostly orange mottled with green. Sweet, aromatic, orange flesh. Very productive. Sure to be a best seller at farmers markets and a new family favorite. 75 days.
2022 Planting Notes
Didn’t grow. Couldn’t get past the seed stage. Used up all seeds over different starting intervals. Nothing took. Sad face.
Melon
Butterscotch Melon
Price: n/a
Source: North Vancouver City Library
Seed Info
Caramel honeysuckle flavour, like a charentais
2022 Planting Notes
Didn’t grow. Couldn’t get past the seed stage. Used up all seeds over different starting intervals. Nothing took. Sad face
Rhubarb
Victoria Rhubarb
Price: $3.69
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
The greenish-red stalks of this heirloom variety have a slight flavour of red wine, and are never tough or stringy. Victoria is delicious in pies and cobblers. The stalks are 25-30cm (10-12″) long, under dark green, ruffled leaves. Sow in April, but wait 12-18 months before harvesting. After that, the stalks can be picked as needed from February to April each year. Choose a sunny site, and divide every four years. Rhubarb is perfect for the permaculture vegetable garden that focuses on perennial plants that can be harvested over many years.
2022 Planting Notes
They were runty and stunted. Eventually chucked them in the compost mid-October.
Sweet Pepper
King of the North Sweet Pepper
Price: $4.00
Source: Salt Spring Seeds
Seed Info
Bell type, good producer, rich red colour, very sweet balanced flavour. Use fresh in salads and sandwiches. Flavour winner that thrives in cooler climates. An awesome pepper for gardeners who have trouble getting peppers to mature.
2022 Planting Notes
We have one growing in mid-October that won’t get much bigger. We had one fruit that matured in August, but a slug got to it. I want to try again next year for sure, maybe not with these seeds. May not be the veggie/fruit of choice, as peppers in general are more difficult in thic climate.
Watermelon
Mountain Sweet Watermelon
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
5640 – Mountain sweet. Long, 20-35 pound fruits. Dark-yellow flesh and black seeds. Quite productive. Very high sugar content. This is the yellow fleshed strain of Mountain Sweet which was so popular in the 1840s in markets throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. 95-100 days.
2022 Planting Notes
By mid-October we had one golf ball sized watermelon. When cut in half it was all pitiful
Watermelon
Black Beauty Mini Watermelon
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Wonderful flavour in a personal sized watermelon. Crisp, juicy melons with dark, striped, firm skin over rich red flesh. Black Beauty Mini Watermelon seeds grow nice and compact plants with excellent flavour. Fruits grow 2 to 2.5kg (4-5.5 lbs). Picking watermelons from the vine, when they are at peak ripeness, is really amazing. The fruit is at its maximum sweetness, and the flavour is intense. This is not like store-bought melons at all. To check for maturity, watch the tendril nearest the stem that leads to the fruit. As soon as it withers, the fruit has reached its top ripeness.
Matures in 80 days. (Hybrid seeds)
2022 Planting Notes
Didn’t grow. Couldn’t get past the seed stage. Used up all seeds over different starting intervals. Nothing took.
Flowers
We tried a bunch of flowers. Some did better than others. One thing we constantly underestimated is how much space marigolds take one they begin to take hold. Same goes for many other flowers in general. Nasturtiums as well were crowded out by many other things. This was a result of our impatience and just throwing seeds everywhere and hoping for the best after a pathetic start due to cold and rain persisting well into the summer.
Flower Plant Notes
Edelweiss
Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum)
Price: $4.00
Source: Salt Spring Seeds
Seed Info
This famous alpine plant with its soft grey, wooly flowers has some amazing medicinal properties. Used as a tea to treat respiratory conditions and digestive upset, it is high in bioflavenoids, helps to strengthen the capillaries and is used to treat varicose veins and other vascular problems. Easy to grow in any sunny location.
2022 Planting Notes
It never worked. We planted this multiple times throughout the season and none of the seeds really took. This was a long shot, and I was skeptical to begin with, because edelweiss is a protect alpine flower famous in Switzerland. The idea that we could just grow it in a planter in Vancouver was iffy to begin with.
Calendula
Calendula
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
6080 – Calendula: calendula officinalis. Annual. Uses: culinary medicinal cosmetic teaplant (Pot Marigold) Flower petals give delicate flavour and strong colour to salads, omelettes and cheese, and is used as a saffron substitute for rice. Invaluable in first-aid skin lotions and ointments.
2022 Planting Notes
We started a bunch, the greenery took but it was a rough start. The ones that did grow were in the veggie patch in the house garden. Would try again though, as these are beautiful and they’re pollinator plants.
St. Johnswort
St. Johnswort
Price: $3.50
Source: Greta’s Family Garden
Seed Info
6600 – St. Johnswort Hypericum perforatum Perennial. Noted for its calming effect; valuable for nervous disorders such as insomnia, depression and bedwetting. The oil has remarkable soothing and healing action when rubbed into painful joints and strained muscles. Bright yellow flowers. Active constituent is hypericin.
2022 Planting Notes
We can’t even remember if this grew and if so, where it did. Clearly memorable.
Echinacea
Echinacea Purple Coneflower
Price: $4.00
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Quantity: 20 seeds
Echinecea Purpurea aka purple coneflower is a must have perennial plant for any home garden, because they are both versatile, and beautiful. These plants are great for attracting beneficial pollinators, and it’s roots and seeds are very useful for supporting the immune system. Traditionally, the roots and seeds are used as a remedy for the cold and flu, and it makes for quite an effective remedy when taken as the signs of the first symptoms set in. When planted in an ideal location, these plants can grow to be 3 feet tall.
All seeds are organic and open pollinated.
2022 Planting Notes
We planted the seeds. But nothing came of it.
Echinacea
Echinacea
Price: n/a
Source: North Vancouver Seed Library
Seed Info
From Delta, BC (WCS), 2020
Tall flowers popular for fighting colds & flu
2022 Planting Notes
We planted the seeds. But nothing came of it.
Viola
Johnny Jump Up Viola
Price: n/a
Source: North Vancouver Seed Library
Seed Info
From Delta, BC (WCS), 2020
Purple & yellow. Start indoors in early spring.
2022 Planting Notes
Slow start, but a bunch of these popped up finally during the heat waves in July. Beautiful color and delicate flowers. Would do again.
Marigolds
Brocade
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Tagetes patula. Brocade Marigold seeds produce brilliant 5cm (2″) wide flowers in gold to mahogany atop 30-38cm (12-15″) plants. This is a medium height marigold that works well in large containers. Grow in full sun and deadhead regularly to enjoy flowers from May to heavy frost. The plants are drought resistant, so a good candidate for xeriscaping. The flower petals are edible, and can be dried and ground to use as a replacement for saffron. The essential oils of this marigold have apparent anti-fungal properties, and have been used to fight fungal infections on plants. Brocade is a cultivar of T. patula, which is native to the highlands of central Mexico. It’s a very easy flower to grow from seed.
2022 Planting Notes
We started them very poorly (started them when it was still wet and cold and left them to the elements). Enough of them finally took and by July they looked like they were going to survive. Nothing happened until mid-late August and then August-September was their peak where the blooms took off. Grew on our roof with more greenery and needed a fair bit of pruning. In the house garden, they looked almost leggy with lots of small flowers but little in the way of leaves.
Zinneas
Sanguinea Cupcake
Price: $3.89
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Zinnia elegans. Scores of 5cm (2″) wide, blood-red flowers appear high atop medium-green plants that grow to 75cm (30″) tall. The stems are strong and upright, and ideal as cut flowers. Each time they are cut, the stem divides to produce even more flowers. As they open, the flowers are instantly recognizable as Zinnias, but then they unfold and ruffle from the centre outward to take on the distinctive cupcake look of the ‘Scabiosaflora’ series. Direct sow Sanguinea Cupcake Zinnia seeds in loamy soil in full sun, and enjoy the seemingly endless cut flowers from early summer into September.
Annual.
Height to 75cm (30″)
Great cut flowers
Easy to grow
2022 Planting Notes
They didn’t work this year. We don’t remember why…
Hollyhocks
Black Watchman – Heirloom
Price: $3.25
Source: Renee’s Garden
Seed Info
(Alcea rosea)
This beautiful heirloom variety, grown by Thomas Jefferson at his Monticello estate, has been carefully reselected for us by the best Dutch seedsmen for classic form and rich color. The big 3 to 4 inch hibiscus-like blossoms have satiny petals in a wonderful deep dark maroon that shades to pure black. Black Watchman’s blooms unfurl slowly on sturdy tall 5 to 7 foot stalks and make a singular and striking garden display, setting off all the other flowers around them.
2022 Planting Notes
Last year and this year they started very well and after transplant they withered away and disappeared.
Dianthis
Dianthis Sweet William
Price: n/a
Source: Self-seeded
Seed Info
2022 Planting Notes
They did really well almost all year. They self-seeded in a random pot that we left out all winter. We think the original came from an assortment of flowers in a planter that we got for the wedding. We saved a bunch of seeds from them and would definitely grow them again next year.
Catchfly
Catchfly Sweet William
Price: n/a
Source: Self-seeded
Seed Info
2022 Planting Notes
It randomly started growing on one of the planters on our roof. It was one of the first things to start growing this year (~May). By early summer it had lots of beautiful pink flowers and it grew into a fairly large bush full of flowers. Saved lots of seeds. Will plant again.
Nasturtiums
Empress of India Nasturtiums
Price: $3.89
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
This old heirloom variety has stunning crimson flowers that rise above cascading, deep green leaves for hanging baskets or planters. Empress of India nasturtium seeds produce flowers that make a striking contrast that never fails to attract attention. This variety matures to heights of 30cm (12″). Nasturtiums are fairly tough plants and quite drought tolerant, so they make a good candidate for xeriscaping. The edible flowers produced by this nasturtium are so intensely bright red that they look amazing in salads. Save some of the fresh seeds produced by your nasturtiums for pickling. They make excellent capers. Try planting some seeds as microgreens for their powerful, peppery kick.
2022 Planting Notes
They were a cute little pop of color in the garden. The leaves resembled water lily leaves. We direct sowed these and they were slow to start, but were flowering July – September. Would sow again.
Sunflowers
Velvet Queen Sunflowers
Price: $3.29
Source: West Coast Seeds
Seed Info
Helianthus annuus. Rich copper red petals are highlighted with golden yellow around a nearly black central disc. Plant Velvet Queen sunflower seeds for 1.5m (5′) tall plants with simply gorgeous blooms around 13cm (5″) wide. This variety looks its best when contrasted with some bright yellow sunflowers in a border or raised bed. Be sure the soil is warm at planting time, and freely draining throughout the season. Velvet Queen is an early flowering type, so try planting at two to three week intervals instead of all at once. The bloom period will be longer this way, and the flowers are just right for cutting and bringing indoors.
2022 Planting Notes
We direct sowed them this year and last. They did really well in our wooden planter boxes. They flowered throughout August and September and were a great trellis for the beans and peas. The flowers were pretty but they turned really fast (they were really beautiful for only about a week). This variety did not produce any edible seeds. We used up all the seeds, so next year we’ll buy another variety with edible seeds