About the end of February, early March, I begin to get the gardening itch. Seed catalogue emails start to land in my inbox. Some stores already have garden seed displays out front. Its hard to sit and just wait for mother nature to change gears.

So, we like to help things along with some early planning.

The past two years we’ve experimented with various plantings with a view to finding the magic formula that delivers the most abundance in a fairly limited amount of space. With some fine-tuning last season, we were able to create what I’ll call the perpetual salad garden.

 It started with a variety of greens that were ready for first salads by the first week of May.

By late May, we had our first English Cucumbers and a few green peppers, and by late June the first patio tomato’s, providing a colourful finish to a perfect summer salad. Oh, did I mention we live in Victoria. You may need to adjust your calendar to suit your growing zone. I’ve lived in most of them over the years, and even in the coldest zones, always found that it didn’t take long to catch up once the daylight hours and the sunshine kicked in.

Last season, there were also some snap peas and green beans in our plan, but they did not do particularly well, not sure why.

Aside from the peas and beans, we limited ourselves to a tight crop selection because it gave us non-stop salads, all season long, and I do mean all season long. From first greens in first week of May, to last tomato’s, peppers and cucumbers in late October. With the remaining tomato’s we ripened on the kitchen window sill, we actually sliced our last one the first week of November.

We’ll leave out the peas and beans this year and replace by testing some white salad turnips.

We also experimented last season by planting a thornless blackberry. It was just a stick when we put in in the ground in April, but by October we were actually picking a handful of beautiful blackberries, with not a thorn in sight. We really didn’t expect to see anything in the first season, so it was a tasty surprise.

This variety was developed at the Agricultural Experimental Station near Victoria, and I’m told it will grow in any area where blackberries thrive in Western Canada. Check with your local garden centre. It is such a pleasure to pick them without ripping hands and arms on thorns.

This year, we’re going to add a cherry bush. I’d never seen one until last fall, but as they are designed to grow in patio pots, we’ll give it a try and let you know if we’ve tasted a cherry by end of season.

Whether you have lots of open space to grow the garden of your dreams, or limited patio or back garden space to sample nature, now is the right time to check out Westcoast Garden Seeds on display at Nutters Everyday Naturals. And remember, wherever you live, no matter what climate zone you live in, Westcoast Seeds supplies varieties designed to grow best in your region.

We can’t wait to get some seeds started indoors and then we’ll add more direct plantings in-ground as the soil warms up. Come on, lets go check out the garden seeds.