Gardening Tips brought to you by Heeman's!

Looking to revamp your garden this summer? Now is the perfect time to get your yard garden ready! Check out these tips provided by Heeman's for vegetable and container gardening. 

Vegetable Gardening
 

1. Only grow what you want to eat, assume you'll be successful and plan like you'll have a bumper crop!
    
2. Consider the sun, do you get enough? Plants we grow for fruits need lots of sun, plants we grow for roots or shoots can handle less sun.
   • This means tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, etc. need 6+ hours of sun to thrive
   • Plants like herbs, lettuce, spinach, carrots, radish, beets, celery can grow in part sun or more shade than the fruit-producing plants
      
3. Plant for the space you have. If you only have an apartment balcony or small garden plot then select smaller growing plants where possible. Grab a Tidy Treat tomato vs Sweet Million, go for Patio Snacker cucumber vs. English Telegraph or Patio Baby eggplant vs. Millionaire. These are all varieties bred to be compact and cute, perfect for pots or smaller spaces.
    
4. Stagger your planting to smooth the peaks & valleys. Planting your full seed package of peas, beans or lettuce at once will mean your waiting, waiting, have a small harvest, holy cow I have too many, oh my gosh they're all done. Unless you want to take up canning or recruit the neighbourhood kids to pick beans all day for you it's a good idea to stage your planting. Plant 1/3 of your seeds, wait 10-14 days, plant another 1/3rd, then wait another 10-14 days and plant the last 1/3rd. This will smooth our your yield bump and give you a more manageable harvest over 4-6 weeks vs. 1-2 weeks. It's why we grow lots of varieties of berries and cover some up for early harvesting - to take the peak out of the harvest and transfer or spread the sweetness longer :)
    
5. Give them some room. Read the tag, package and follow the spacing. If a tomato plant is only 4" tall and 2" wide now, it won't stay that small. Most tomatoes can get 2-3'+ wide and 5'+ tall. Leaving space for them will make it easier to harvest later.
    
6. Remember, gardening is an art, not science and learning as you go is half the fun of life!
    
7. Remove the flowers, as soon as the form, off of sweet basil to keep the sweet flavour.
    
8. Plant tomatoes sideways (seriously) to get 2-3x more roots and a much stronger and higher-yielding plant!
    

Container Gardening
 

To create your own beautiful patio pot or container for in front of your garage, front door or porch remember to follow this simple 3-step guide.
 

1. Thriller - The showstopper or the cherry on top. This plant adds drama and height. Remember, space occupied = perceived value. Great choices for a thriller include a Majesty Palm, Canna, Tut Grass, Purple Fountain Grass, or a Red or Green Spike.
    
2. Filler- The plants that anchor your container and give it volume and really catch your eye. Great choices for shade include New Guinea Impatiens, Tuber Begonias, Dragon Wing Begonias or Coleus. For sun go for geraniums, petunias, dahlias, sun tolerant coleus, Rio Dipladenia or Dragon Wing Begonias.
    
3. Spiller - These are plants that cascade down the side of your container to give you length and gently transition your eye from the pot to your plants. For shade consider ivy, potato vine or torenia. For sun consider scaevola, million bells, lobularia, potato vine or bacopa.