How to plant a vegetable garden in Quebec

Location

Choose a location for your garden that is protected from prevailing winds and away from mature trees. Ideally, choose a north-south orientation and a spot that receives at least six to eight hours of direct sun daily.  

Take care of your soil

To start your garden, turn over the soil well below the surface and amend it with fertilizers to improve its texture and provide nutrients. You can test your soil to find out what kind of fertilizer it needs: pick up a test kit at your local garden store or send the soil out to a lab. Most of the time you just need to loosen the soil without turning it before adding your fertilizer. The whole purpose of amending your soil is to maintain its biological activity, which is what makes it fertile.

Make smart vegetable and placement choices

Position the tallest plants to the north so they don’t block the sun for the shorter ones. If this is your first garden, your best bet is to pick easy-to-grow veggies like lettuce, beans, carrots, radishes, beets, and cucumbers.t. And high-yield plants like tomatoes.

Get the most out of your plants

There are a variety of techniques for optimizing yield, preventing deficiencies, and warding off pests and disease. The first year, fertilize your soil with rich compost, and plant vegetables that require a lot of nutrients. The next year, plant the same plot with moderately demanding crops, such as leafy greens. The third year, you’ll want to do peas, beans, or root vegetables, which don’t require a ton of nutrients. Or you could use the intercropping technique, where you plant fast-growing vegetables like radishes, arugula, or spinach in between rows of slow-growing vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, or cucumbers. The fast growers will have time to develop before their slower neighbors grow big enough to get in their way. A final technique you could try is succession planting, where you sow fast-growing vegetables every two to four weeks for continuous harvesting all season long.

Start your seeds indoors

To save money and harvest sooner, start your own seedlings. The right time to start seeds indoors depends on the vegetable and ranges from early March to late April. For example, start onions, parsley, and leeks in early March; eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes in late March; and Swiss chard, broccoli, and lettuce in mid-April. First, fill each cell in the starter tray with moist seed-starter potting mix, leaving one or two centimetres of space at the top, and level the surface, tamping gently. Distribute the seeds according to the manufacturer’s directions. Cover with a thin layer of soil and press to ensure the seeds adhere to the soil mixture. Water by immersing the base of the container in water. Place the entire tray in a warm (21–24°C), moist location until the seeds sprout. To maintain constant humidity, place a clear plastic dome over the tray. Once the seeds have germinated, remove the dome, set the tray near a south- or west-facing window, and lower the temperature a few degrees. If you don’t have enough natural light, use fluorescent grow lights, says Alain Paquette from CAA-Quebec Residential Advisory Services.

Yes, you can grow a vegetable garden on your balcony!

Virtually all vegetables—tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, beans—can be grown in pots if they receive at least six hours of sunlight. If your space is shadier, look for less-demanding plants like lettuce. Opt for compact or dwarf varieties as well. Most herbs are also easy to grow in pots. Some of the easiest are rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, parsley, chives, oregano, and basil. Choose good-size planters (at least 25cm) with drainage holes. That way the roots will have enough room to develop. Container gardens require regular watering, especially during hot weather. And finally, don’t forget that spacing between plants depends on their size at maturity. Make sure you follow the recommended distances.

Bad soil? Try a raised bed garden

Raised beds are ideal if your soil is poor, packed, and doesn’t drain well, or if your ground is sloped and difficult to work. One benefit is that the soil warms up and dries out quickly in the spring, so you can plant sooner. But this type of garden does require a lot of watering during hot periods. The recommended height for raised bed walls is 15 to 45cm, with a minimum of 15 to 30cm of soil for good drainage and proper root development. 

Tanks to: The Montreal Botanical Garden