So today I did what you should do when starting something you have no clue about - ask someone who does. I've been to the gardening store at Broadway and Arbutus many a time before, but I've never built up enough nerve to actually ask any questions. This time I did a complete circular "browse" of the place, pretending I knew what I was looking for, before I got into the thick of things with a nice gentleman who worked there; he helped me get started on the right path. I kept my questions to herbs and vegetables - didn't want to overwhelm the guy, or myself.
He started me off with two pieces of free reading material - the first being a one pager called "starting seeds" produced by the store, and the other a seed catalogue that also includes a bunch of how-to specific to the Pacific Northwest. He gave me the comforting news that I was right on track, a bit early even, for starting my seeds.
While I was there, the head gardener for the city farm and compost demonstration garden happened to be buying something and she mentioned to my answer man that she had meant to drop off fliers for upcoming gardening workshops. I got her card.
Some answers to basic questions...
What sort of containers will I need for the resulting plants?
10-12 inches deep if I want to do carrots, beets and tomatoes, less deep for others - troughs or pots will both do, depending on how far apart I am supposed to plant the seedlings
What sorts of vegetables are the best so as not to get discouraged in my inaugural year?
Beets, peas, carrots, beans, leaf lettuce, zucchini, spinach and cucumbers are all fine from seed; tomatoes are easier from starter plants
What sort of supplies will I need?
Small containers to start my seeds in - it's possible to buy starter kits, but I asked about recycling old containers and he told me small yogurt containers, shallow containers like sour cream, egg cartons and other little things are fine as long as you poke some holes in the bottom for drainage. I didn't get as far as asking about soil and fertilizer. I know I'll have to buy that stuff, so I'll take stock of all the stuff I might have hanging around the house first.
Other interesting piece of information...
He mentioned something about strawberry plants in early March. Guarantee I'll be jumping on that train.
My next steps will be...
Put together a timeline based on the veggies and herbs I'm interested in. Seeing as I'll be gone for 3 or so weeks in March, I'm going to need to plan plant sitters.
Talk to some people. I think I'm going to do the social activity thing for seed planting. I'm going to put a few messages around my building to see if anyone else is interested in getting in on this vegetable garden business.
Take stock of my supplies. I've been hoarding little plastic food containers for months now, ashamed to recycle them when I hadn't reused them yet. I knew there was a purpose to my fanatic collecting.
Look into the city farm gardening workshops. (Update: Looked into it. $100 in March. Not sure what that includes. Might not be around so I'll going to see if anyone else is interested and I'll split the cost to share the resources.)
Clean off my balcony. It looks like poo and I know I can do better.
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