Tag: Vancouver
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Growing Cucumbers Twice in Vancouver — Timing, Yield Cycles, and Early Establishment
Cucumbers are often treated as a single-season crop. In Vancouver, they don’t have to be. What follows is based on my own experience growing cucumbers in Vancouver over several seasons not controlled research. The goal is not to maximize production, but to stabilize yields across a short and variable growing season. Timing: Two Plantings, With…
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The Inside Story
Heartwood, regardless of its romantic name, is dead wood. It’s that stuff we make two-by-fours out of.We age a tree by counting its annual growth rings in both sapwood and heartwood.
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Colours As We Fall into Winter
Let’s look at just one of the ways we see nature: through its colours and nature’s progress through fall into winter.
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Spring Seminar 2026
Small things count, whether it’s filling in cracks and crannies, tucking vegetables into a compact corner, taking the time to look and listen differently, tending the microscopic fungi and bacteria in your soil, or choosing a non-invasive plant. This year’s speakers will show you how these small things add up to create beauty and cultivate…
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Garden and Worm Bin Composting Workshop at Riley Park Community Garden
The members’ workshop was very informative with hands-on demonstrations. Angela, the Master Composter, gave a detailed explanation of the workings of the three bin system. We played a fun picture trivia card game to determine what can, cannot or may not be appropriate for the compost bin. Debbie explained the workings of a two…
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My first Master Gardener Clinic
A hilarious account from one of our 🌱VMG students Mothers’ Day… and I was slated to work with Doreen M. at Maple Leaf Gardens in Lynn Valley. I arrived, breathless, as there was no parking as far as the eye can see – and I had to risk my life and limb sprinting across Lynn Valley Road. Doreen…
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🌱Become a Vancouver Master Gardener
Join us! From hobby gardeners to garden designers and landscape professionals, our Master Gardener Training students receive science-based education with instructors from local universities and colleges, growers, ministry specialists, and experienced professionals.
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Ancient and Well-Known Trees in Southwest Vancouver Island
The best laid plans of mice and men and women go awry. And so it was when I booked an AirBnB for me and my son Alun to stay so we could hike in Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park and also see Big Lonely Doug, the single Douglas-fir left to stand among a valley of very…
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A Pruning Tale
Lots of tips and takeaways in this post. This winter’s crop of Vancouver Master Gardener sprouts was awarded an extra trellis: training in the form of a two-hour session on pruning with Laurelle Oldford-Down. Out we trekked to Art’s Nursery, armed with pruners, loppers, gloves and rain gear. Thank heavens for the rain gear: “when…
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Spring is Here
Two and a half weeks ago, we were trying to get through cold and snowy days. This was Lost Lagoon on February 11. A few days later, I saw this gorgeous witch-hazel shrub that doesn’t give two hoots for the snow. And why should it, if its roots are warm, several inches down? Wanting to…