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Gardening Essentials

Now that the weather finally seems to be clearing up, we thought that we would share some of our favourite gardening tips so that you can be extra prepared for when gardening season rolls around! So whether you’re planning on growing a few herbs or a full-blown garden, we’re sharing some of our favourite foolproof tips to achieving the perfect harvest this year!

Vegetable Gardening 101 – Brit, Team Ambrosia

Growing an outdoor garden has always been on my bucket list! I’ve always thought that it was just the absolute coolest thing to be able to head into the backyard & pick your produce for dinner, but now that I live in a city condo, all of my outdoor gardening dreams have temporarily been put on hold – BUT… that doesn’t mean that I can’t live vicariously through all of YOU and your lovely little gardens.

With Earth Day only a mere few days away, I thought that there was no better time than now to sharpen up those gardening skills & put them to good use. However, if gardening is not necessarily your forte, but you’ve always wanted to give that green thumb a bit of a go… fear not! Because today we’re going to delve into the basic “ins and outs” of gardening essentials!

So let’s put those green thumbs to good use shall we?

Gardening Essentials 101 – What You NEED

The Seeds

This is quite possibly our most obvious essential of the post… the seeds! I mean, what’s a garden without the actual seeds themselves? The answer is nothing.

Here at Ambrosia, we sell Urban Harvest Certified Organic Seeds at both of our locations for all of your growing purposes; carrying everything from herbs to vegetables!!! Why should you buy organic seeds? Well pretty much for the same purposes as buying organic produce! To reduce our direct exposure to potentially harsh chemicals! However, because these seeds are untreated with chemicals, you’re going to have to be a bit more diligent & aware of the seed’s requirements and growing conditions – Side Note: When seeds are treated chemically, this helps to protect them from harsh weather, growing conditions etc & an untreated, organic seed may not be able to survive the same conditions in a home garden as a conventional seed. SO be sure to monitor weather conditions & adjust your gardening accordingly to the directions on the individual Urban Harvest seed packages!

The Fertilizer

Okay so now that we have the seed situation resolved, you’re going to need some food for these little guys to survive! Insert: Natural Fertilizer! Plain and simple, fertilizer is food for plants – you can almost view it as sort of like a multivitamin for them, filling in the gaps that the nutrition from the soil is not able to provide! We therefore need to make sure that the fertilizer is healthy, nutritious… and most importantly… natural! Why buy organic seeds, only to throw conventional fertilizer on the soil right?!

There are so many different options when it comes to fertilizer for plants, and some of the very best alternatives to conventional fertilizers can actually come right from our own foods – AKA Compost!!!

Composting not only provides an excellent source of nutrition for gardens, but it can also help to reduce our waste and garbage by up to 25%! Wowza! Simply use fruits and vegetable peels, cores, shells from eggs & nuts as your compost & allow them to decay into nutrient rich soil that your future vegetables can use as a food source!

The Pots

This “essential” is more for those of you that would like to get a bit of a head start on your gardening game! Pots allow you to begin some of your gardening indoors, and then transport them outdoors when the weather is a tad more favourable! Last year, we demonstrated just how EASY this can be with our compostable compost bin! The compostable compost bin is a leak and odour resistant bin, made from locally recycled materials right here in Canada!

Simply fill 2/3 of your Compostable Compost Bin with gardening soil, place flowers or seeds inside of a hole about 3-4” deep, & cover with soil! Keep them inside for now, but when the weather turns warmer, simply drop these compostable compost bins into your garden & voila – instant garden! You don’t have to worry about the compost bin doing any harm to the soil, because it will simply decompose into nutrient rich, organic matter! Not to mention, this is a totally great activity to help celebrate Earth Day on the 22nd! AND…. The compostable compost bin is on sale until the end of the month!!!

Let us know if you try out any of these tips! And be sure to tag us in your Ambrosia Gardens this year! We would love to see them bloom!