Early Season

You can of course find organic seeds on our online shop. We usually receive the new seeds of the year around the beginning of February. Here are some Quebec producers, who will provide you with quality seeds and cultivars adapted to our climate. You can also find them in the various seed festivals that take place in March and April in several regions of Quebec.

In Smart Pot, for the first year, we use Myke potting soil, to which we add compost (25 to 50% of the container) and fertilizer at least twice in the season. In the second year and subsequent years, we remove about 25% of the soil and we replace it with compost. If your plants have been sick the year before, remember to practice crop rotation, changing of plant family. You can also, in case of serious damage, completely drain the soil, wash your Smart Pots and fill them with new soil.

In the ground, what amount of compost must I add per square meter? If you are growing in the ground, the required quantity of compost depends a lot of plants you plan to grow, but also of the type of soil you have already. As a rule, most demanding plants (tomatoes, squash, potatoes, etc.) and the poorest or sandy soils require more compost.
Consider adding between 4 and 8 kg per m². Do not bury too deeply: the compost must remain in the top 10 cm of the surface.

Learn about crop rotation in this article from the homesteading blog Morning Chores: Crop Rotation: How to Do It to Keep Your Garden Healthy and Balanced.

To know when and what to plant, inside or outside, there are many seedling calendars, adapted to each region. Learn about your hardiness zone. Here are some useful links:

– For the Montreal area, visit the Espace pour la vie‘s seedling calendar.
– For the Québec City area, see the one made by Craque-Bitume (in French only).
– Jardins de l’Écoumène also publishes a vegetable crops calendar every year (in French only), for hardiness zones 3 to 6. Useful!

For more tips, see Mid-season and Gardening techniques.