A Cochrane resident and avid gardener is hosting a pair of virtual vegetable gardening workshops in partnership with Rocky View County (RVC) on Feb. 16 and 23, to help prepare residents for the upcoming growing season.
Workshop coordinator Andrea Blonsky, who is also the chair of the Cochrane Community Gardens Society, said the two separate workshops will cover a variety of topics. The first will include vegetable-growing basics, and the second instructs residents on what to do with the yearly harvest.
“With all the bounty at the end of the year – other than throwing an abundance of zucchini on your neighbour’s doorstep, what do you do with it all?” she said, with a laugh.
The Feb. 16 workshop will also help residents navigate the different challenges of each growing season with regards to their location in the county.
“We often will start our course by asking the participants what side of Highway II they live,” she said. “Because there’s different growing conditions as you get closer to the mountains, there’s bigger challenges. We have fewer frost-free days as you go west and as you get into the foothills area, an abundance of wind.”
She added the course will begin with a discussion on how to extend the growing season and maximize one’s ability to grow and contend with soil quality. It will also cover topics such as early-planting, seedling know-how, and more.
In addition, the course will equip green thumbs with the know-how to create physical structures and environments in their garden to protect their seedlings and crops from threatening weather conditions such as frost, wind, and hail.
“Around here, frost is always a risk for us,” she said. “The joke is, if you get a frost around summer solstice at the end of June, is that your last frost of the spring, or your first frost of the fall?”
She added topics covered also include information on what the appropriate and ideal crops are for each growing season and location within the county, including various planting methods.
The course will also help residents learn what is required to make their garden space more amenable to plant growth to meet the challenges of both temperature and soil quality.
As to why residents should attend either workshop, Blonsky said there are various benefits to growing your own food, including a more fresh taste and better value for money.
“The taste of what you produce is incomparable to anything that you can buy elsewhere,” she said. “By the time you get them, whether in a grocery store or in a farmers' market, it’s not the same quality and it doesn’t have the same nutritional content of what you pick fresh from your garden.
“You’ve got the benefit of taste, of knowing what your food source is – you know that it’s not going to be unnecessarily sprayed with herbicides or pesticides [and] you control that growing process.”
She added there is also a cost advantage to growing your own vegetables, which is an important consideration for many people as food costs run high due to inflation this year.
“It gives you that sense of security ongoing to deal with whatever it is that the world may offer you at any point in time in the way of challenge,” she said. “I am still eating potatoes from cold storage that we harvested in the fall.
“My freezer is full of vegetables that we own, berries and fruit that we have frozen that we will benefit from through the whole year – it’s a food security from quality and quantity perspective and it’s a great means by which to engage with those around you."
Following the initial presentation, the Feb. 23 workshop provides the techniques with which gardeners can properly save their harvest, whether it be cold storage, dehydrating, freezing, pickling, or syrup methods.
“The process is one that is constantly evolving because you’re always learning,” Blonsky said. “There’s always something new to learn.”
A lawyer by day, Blonsky said her love of gardening stems from her love of cooking and enjoying good food, adding it is a “self-fulfilling process,” that is nurturing to her mind, body, and soul.
She said regardless of the amount of space one has, they too can get their hands diggin' in the dirt, whether on an acre of land or on their apartment balcony.
“Whether it be from very small scale to very large scale, if you are a beginner gardener, we’re going to cover the basics,” she said. “And if you’re an experienced gardener, we’re going to share the different varieties that we’ve discovered – that's always a fun exchange.
“So, regardless of your background, goals, or experience, the course has a wealth of new information or tiny little tidbit jewels that you may want to incorporate into your growing this year.”
Laura Poile, agricultural services offer at RVC, said any residents are welcome to attend the workshops, which will be held virtually over Zoom.
Poile added that like all workshops offered by the County, they hope to educate residents on a timely topic of interest, adding the veggie workshop has always been a popular choice for those who want to grow their own food, regardless of how big their garden plot is.
To register for either workshop, visit RVC’s website at rockyview.ca/events
