Week three of the EDTC 300 learning project, and this week I am very thankful for my learning community! Emily Mooney shared one of the best resources, and one that I have already learned so much from! Emily shared her friend Kristen’s gardening blog called Shifting Roots which is a beginner gardeners dream! Not only is the blog beautifully aesthetic and easy to use, it is Saskatchewan specific and tailored to zone 3, which is where I am! Through this learning project, I am learning that I much prefer websites, written posts, and pictures compared to videos when it comes to online learning. Having all of the information at your fingertips, while also thoughtfully organized makes the learning process seem more manageable as you can digest the information at your own pace, instead of trying to listen, record, and keep track of all the information shared in a video. Going into this project I thought I would be utilizing online resources like YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok, however, my preferred resources have all been print. The only downside of using mainly online print resources is the presence of advertisements throughout blogs and websites. Advertisements can be very creative and sometimes blend into the website/blog so it can be tough to discern the difference between an ad and relevant content.

Following the steps outlined on Shifting Roots, I am feeling good about where I am in the gardening process. This past week I have top-dressed my soil with compost, and re-tilled my garden to mix it all in. I have learned that in order to harvest any tomatoes or peppers, I am too late to start them from seeds and instead have purchased plants. An important tip I learned for any pre-started plants is that you will need to harden them off (put them outside during the day and take them in at night) for about a week before you plant them. Other things I am completing in preparation for planting my garden include soaking my pea seeds, preparing my seeding potatoes, and purchasing some garden tools like trellises and cages for my tomatoes and peppers. I learned that peas require a lot of moisture before they will germinate, so soaking them gives them a bit of a head start. As for my seed potatoes, I have cut the larger ones into chunks that have at least two eyes per chunk. Cutting up your seed potatoes helps you make the most of the seeds you have and maximize your crop. I plan on letting my cut seed potatoes dry out for a day or two before I plant them to protect them from rotting in the cool, moist soil.

As for actually planting my garden, many Saskatchewan gardeners do a big plant May Long Weekend as this is when the last frost has often passed. I have checked the weather forecasts and think I am officially in the clear and should be good to plant all of my vegetables. I have mapped out my garden and where I plan to plant my seeds/plants. Each plant has different requirements for spacing and depth planted, luckily the Almanac website has all of this information available for every vegetable I will be planting. These growing guides are very accessible, easy to use, and have all the information a gardener could need all in one place! Once planted all that will be left is watering, fertilizing as suggested, weeding, hoping for some sunny days, and enjoying the fruits, or should I say vegetables, of my labour!

It is officially week two of the EDTC300 learning projects, and my journey learning how to garden! The weather has been quite wet recently, which is awesome, but at the same time has delayed me getting into my garden. With that however, I have been able to spend even more time growing my knowledge, researching, and learning!

This week I have been utilizing online resources to grow my knowledge. The Almanac website has definitely been the most helpful resource I have stumbled upon thus far. This website has an entire gardening section which outlines a planting calendar, frost dates, growing guides, pests & diseases, garden tips by month, and general gardening advice. All of the resources are quite thorough and provide information that is location and climate specific. This webpage even goes into depth on how to plant the seeds, the recommended varieties, how the plant grows, how to harvest, how to store the vegetable, and even how to cook the vegetables. I’ll break down some of the key things I have learned thus far:

• Location of the garden is important! Luckily my garden plot was already established in a spot that gets lots of sun and limited wind. With that said, the plot is quite large, so when it comes time to plant I likely will not utilize the whole space…. leaving room to grow! Maybe in future years I will brave planting the entire garden, but for my first planting season, I want to keep things manageable.
• The top 10 easiest vegetables to grow are: lettuce, green beans, radishes, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, beets, carrots, spinach, and peas. Luckily, all of the seeds I have purchased are in this list!
• When it comes time to plant, it is important to leave paths every four feet or so that allow access to the plants to weed and harvest. This is definitely something I will be keeping in mind when it comes time to plant.
• Other things that I have been learning, but won’t get into the full details here, are how to prepare and improve soil quality for planting. I have already weeded and rototilled my garden which helps, but it is suggested to keep an eye on the soil pH, which directly impacts nutrition and soil fertility.

My goals moving forward are to officially get my garden planted! The soil is still quite damp and too wet to plant the seeds. And unfortunately, looking at the upcoming weather forecast, I don’t think I will get to planting this upcoming weekend. As soon as the soil is ready for planting though, I am planning on rototilling it once more to stir up the dirt and then top-dress it with compost or well-rotted manure and get to work!

Over the course of this spring semester, I am going to be attempting to grow my personal knowledge about gardening. This past winter I moved into my house which came with a large garden plot in the backyard. While excited that I may be able to attempt to grow some fresh produce, I knew that it would require a lot of knowledge… knowledge that I currently lack.

Growing up my mom always had a big garden full of flowers, vegetables, and fruit. On our family acreage, my grandma basically had her own grocery store worth of produce due to her enormous garden. There was nothing better than eating peas or carrots fresh from the ground! Previously, I have only ever been a consumer of the produce grown, and never had an impact on the process of growth. I am excited to change that!

As I’ve gotten older my interest in plants has begun to grow. I have a collection of indoor plants, which I have been partially successful at keeping alive. Unfortunately, I have been known to kill an indoor plant or two…oops! Therefore, I feel like a garden is a natural progression from indoor plants, which is why I am excited to put energy into learning all I can about gardening! Currently, I know that plants need water, soil, and sun to grow; and that is essentially where my knowledge ends. Luckily, with the use of technology information is at our fingertips. Social media applications are full of groups, users, and individuals sharing their knowledge on countless areas of expertise. I personally am planning on utilizing Tik Tok, YouTube, Google, and Facebook for my research. This specific Facebook group is Saskatchewan specific so I am hopeful it will have location specific tips and tricks. #Gardening on both Instagram and Tik Tok also produce endless informative content. YouTube videos such as this Gardening 101 video discuss how to start a garden for beginners. In addition to technology, I will also be supplementing my learning with face-to-face resources. Both my mom and grandma are encyclopedias when it comes to gardening!

In preparation for this learning project, I have already bought the seeds of the veggies I would like to grow and I have also rototilled my garden. At the recommendation of many, I have also already started my tomato and pepper seeds by planting them in soil indoors to ensure they have enough time to grow. However, they have not yet sprouted which makes me believe I may be better off purchasing a tomato plant and pepper plant that have already developed. My next steps for this learning project include educating myself on the sun and water requirements for each plant, learning when and how to best plant the seeds, and perhaps buying some plants that have already been established and will only need to be transplanted into my garden.  

Stay tuned for both my own and my plants growth over the next few weeks!