Vegetable and Fruit Garden
Purpose
The purpose of these gardens is to display year-round fruit and vegetable gardening techniques
suitable for coastal British Columbia homeowners.Formed in 1998, the Fruit and Vegetable Group is responsible for the maintenance of the following garden areas:
Upper Vegetable Garden - full-sun site, an ideal south slope. The original silty marine clay (Saanichton) soil was modified with sand and leaf mulch. Heavy water requirements in summer.
The Upper Vegetable Garden is located below the Herb Garden. It demonstrates plants and gardening practices that are suitable for a typical urban house lot. A drip irrigation system originally installed proved too maintenance intensive for volunteers, so it was replaced with a system using small spray heads. The windbreak south of the garden features a selected grouping of varied and attractive native plants.
The plants are in raised beds. These beds facilitate proper drainage, which in turn allows the soil to warm quickly in the spring.
Lower Vegetable gardens - full-sun site. Deep bottom soil has been modified with organic matter only. Heavy water requirements in summer.
The Lower Vegetable Garden is located in the meadow below the Takata Garden and shows plants and gardening practices that are suitable for larger acreage gardens. Irrigation is done with a single, impact head sprayer on a riser. The utilitarian windbreak consists of two species of native plants that were selected for their size and low maintenance requirements.
Grimsdick OrchardThis orchard, originally planted in unamended soil in a shady area, became impossible to maintain. In its new location the silty marine clay (Saanichton) soil was modified with sand and leaf mulch before installation. Moderate water requirements only.
The Grimsdick Orchard is located below the “plant sale” area and displays fruits that can be grown in mid-sized gardens. The irrigation system uses pop-up heads mounted on risers.
Plants
Plants in the Upper and Lower Vegetable gardens are popular varieties
started from commercially available seed. If a plant proves to be susceptible to a disease or pest, or does not produce well, other varieties are tried.All plant labels name the type of vegetable and the cultivar. One date on a label shows the time the plant was directly seeded into the garden. When the label has two dates, the first is the date the plant was started inside, and the second is the date it was set into the garden.
Starting from seed gives vegetable growers a much wider range of choices, but does require greenhouse and/or cold frame facilities that are not always available to homeowners.
The varieties of fruit trees, soft fruit bushes, and berry canes in the Grimsdick Orchard are mostly popular easy-to-grow disease-resistant plants.
Maintenance
The vegetable gardens are planted in accordance with a five-year rotation plan that helps reduce the incidence of pests and diseases, and maintains soil health and fertility. Pest control is limited to an iron-based compound for slugs, organic products for insects, and lime sulphur /dormant oil spray for fruit trees. Maintenance activity peaks in the spring and slows in winter, but West Coast vegetable gardening generally requires a steady pace of activity throughout the year.The result is produce that is environmentally friendly but not strictly “organically grown.”
Deer often used to find their way inside the 1.5 km of fence with five gates that surrounds the HCP gardens. Their first dining choice is the lush vegetables, so additional fences have been built around each of the two vegetable gardens. The fences have also been designed to discourage rabbits and geese.