First of all thank you to all who are viewing our blog, we hope you find it helpful!

Start giving some thought to what you would like to plant in your garden.  We are always tempted to buy alot of plants and packages of seeds when we arrive at a garden centre however it is better to make your "grocery list" prior to shopping.  Think about trying 2 to 3 new varieties this year so that you can experiment and see how they grow.  When you are buying package seeds, remember the seed packet will last approximately 3 years so don't throw them away if you don't use them all.  Most seed packages will give you instructions on spacing and depth.  We do recommend that you still follow the square foot gardening principles and plant seeds according to the space available in your square foot garden.  We are a big fan of the author Mel Bartholomew who is an expert in square foot gardening.  Visit your local book store or library to read a few of his books.  Square foot gardening allows you to get a greater harvest in far less space.

Stay tuned to our blog next Sunday!

Happy Gardening!

The Green Gourmet Gardens Team

Here are some watering tips for your garden!

Depending upon how much rain we get, we do recommend that you water 2 to 3 times per week.  The soil shouldn't have too much moisture because you could potentially rot the root system of the plants.  A good way to check to see how much moisture is in the soil is by sticking your finger a few centimetres into the soil (not your hand!).  If your finger comes way damp, leave the soil be and if it comes away dry, then water.  Just don't sprinkle your garden with water but soak it.  By soaking it you stimulate deeper root growth.  We recommend watering at night.  Remember that transplants and seeds require more attention to how much water compared to mature plants. 

Happy Gardening!

The Green Gourmet Gardens Team

Time to get growing! April is the month to get excited about growing your own veggies and herbs. The weather forecast in Ontario looks good so here's to a great growing season!

Once you have your raised bed garden from Green Gourmet Gardens, fill with 1/3 compost (for nutrients), 1/3 peat moss (for moisture retention) and 1/3 coarse vermiculite (for moisture retention and aeration) measured by volume and not weight.  The reason why we recommend this mix is because it holds moisture in raised bed gardens. For any existing gardens once you have the mix, every spring add more compost. 

The next step would be to section off your garden into one foot squares.  We use either household string or garden twine to mark off the one foot squares.  The following is an example.

Once your garden is set-up, April is a great month to seed for the following vegetables; lettuce, spinach, green garlic, salad greens, radishes, green onions and peas.  These vegetables can tolerate frost and even a little snow.......and hopefully the snow is gone!  Essentially, they prefer cooler temperatures.

Follow our gardening blogs every Sunday for our garden advice!

We would like to send out a special thank you to all our customers!  We are starting our deliveries this week. 

Happy Gardening!

The Green Gourmet Gardens Team

Gardening is supposed to be fun and trust us it isn't rocket science!  At Green Gourmet Gardens we don't  believe that you have to have a green thumb to garden...you just need a garden.  We build  customized and standard sized raised bed gardens out of western red cedar.  Why cedar?  It lasts longer and it is echo friendly.  They plant 5 trees for every tree that they cut.  Food will taste better when you grow it yourself and think about how much you can save on your grocery bill!  Follow us and we will show you how easy it can be.  Every Sunday we are going to offer advice on raised bed gardening starting on April 15, 2012. Vist our website today to see our raised bed gardens..built any shape or size and we will deliver.

Happy to be gardening!

 The team at Green Gourmet Gardens
  http://www.greengourmetgardens.com/tips.html