Your garlic needs a moment

This is the time of year that will make or break your garlic bulb’s growth and it will only take about 3 seconds plus some eating time!

Shown above is a photograph of the garlic flower we need to cut! This curly tail coming out of the top of your garlic is the garlic flower, also called a garlic scape, and it is taking all of the energy of the plant in order to go to seed. We don’t want that, we want to redirect that precious energy to make the bulbs underground grow big and beautiful. At 2 curls you will need to break this off! The best part is that these “garlic scapes” are fresh with green garlic flavour and very delicious to eat. Around this time of year you will notice these for sale all over at local farmers markets! 

Chop these off, eat them fresh or fried. Enjoy!

It’s time to EAT your GREENS!

Things are getting hot out here, this week especially is reaching humidex values of 40 degrees celsius! This means that both you and your garden need to drink lots of water!

Because it is so hot, your spring greens ( ie. lettuce, tatsoi, mizuna, & radish), all will be finishing up their life cycles. Please refer to the video in the title above to get the best tips about how to harvest those loving greens while they are at their best. What’s great about life’s cycle is that once you remove those spring plants this weekend then your summer veggies (ie. aubergine, tomatoes, peppers) can use that free space and nutrition to start producing your summer goods! If your greens have already started flowering, it is important to cut the flower at the base of the stem and Let’s start making those salads!

To learn how to make space for your summer vegetables watch:

Summer plant lovin’ 

As we head into the next summer growing phase, these plants you have growing are high calorie fruit producing plants! This means that they heavily eat a lot of the good stuff that your soil holds in order to live their best life. In order to get the most potential out of these plants you will need to fertilize once in July when the plants need to boost to grow in size and then once again in August when they start to produce flowers to boost the energy for the fruit production.  This is an agricultural essential for getting that healthy and abundant fruit that we want. Here at our Urban Seedling hub, we have stocked up with organic nutrient-rich fertilizers called fish emulsion and algae formula.

Feel free to grab your bikes and come restock when need to! We stock the best for our plant friends. 

Get your summer hoppin’

We have HOPS in the garden center. The hop plant is a vigorous, climbing, herbaceous perennial, usually trained to grow up strings and trellises. They can be used as decorative greenery in your garden, medicinally or as flavoring beer and other beverages as they impart floral, fruity, or citrus flavours and aromas. The two varieties we have in stock at our garden center are the Centennial and Chinook for $20 (tax included) per plant.

Late start? No problem!

We still have tons of plants in the garden center to help you get your garden going for this summer including tomatoes, peppers (hot ones too), aubergines, strawberries and many more. We are will also have a fresh shipment of soil for this weekend so we have all you need to get caught up with the planting season.

EAT your GREENS!

If your summer vegetables (peppers, tomatoes, aubergines, etc…) are in your garden already, they will soon need some extra room to grow. Don’t forget to harvest those leafy greens while they are at their best, and so that your summer veggies can start producing. If your greens have already started flowering, it is important to cut the flower at the base of the stem and Let’s start making those salads!

Learn how to make space for your summer vegetables:

The heat has arrived, let you garden enjoy it.

The good weather has arrived, night temperatures are getting warmer and warmer, summer has officially begun! It’s time to remove your floating coverand let your plants enjoy it!

How to maintain your vegetable garden

It is very important to spend a little time daily or weekly in your garden. The plants are in full growth, which is why it is important to weed your garden, you can do it manually or with a hoe. It is also time to thin your seedlings, for example; your radishes, carrots and beets that you have planted. Every plant needs space and nutrients and any competition prevents them from having access to them properly.

Watering, not to be neglected.

We had a cold and rainy spring, but now that the sun is among us! However, it is important not to forget to water your vegetable garden. To avoid flooding it is very important to touch the soil to check its humidity level before each watering. If it needs water, favour the morning and late evening period, watering in the middle of the day can be lost due to a high evaporation rate and can even create burns on the leaves of plants. You can always opt for automatic irrigation with our irrigation programmer.

New Arrivals in the garden center

For the first time in the history of our garden center, we have received hop plants! In addition, this week marks the official release of summer vegetables. Come visit us in store to see our many varieties and start your summer planting!

Start thinning your root vegetables

For gardeners that planted early, your root vegetables radish, beets and carrots are starting to sprout. Every plant needs enough space to grow and be happy, this means thinning. Thinning means removing the weak looking sprouts and leaving the strongest looking ones. Carrots and radish need 2 inches (5 cm) and beets need 3 inches (7 cm). To help you better thin your root vegetable check out our video and thinning page for a visual aid and tips. 

Planting fruiting vegetables

Starting next week temperatures will be above 10 degrees at night, this means that we can start planting fruiting vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Plants will be available for sale in our garden centre starting next week. Fruiting vegetables should be planted one per square foot. Click here For tips on transplanting your fruiting vegetables into the garden 

Visit our garden centre

If you have not started your garden yet, don’t worry!  Our garden centre is open all weekend 10- 4pm including this holiday Monday from 10-4pm. Come in and consult with our garden centre experts for all your gardening needs. We can help you select all your plant and seeds to get you started gardening.

Urban Agriculture Month continues!

Coming up for Urban Agriculture Month in the Grand Potager: Come and discover how to grow ethnic and rare plants, the mysteries of hops, urbanbeekeeping and learn how to make a successful garden in a low light situation!

 May 22nd – Low-light Gardening: Making it work! with Urban Homestead Montreal – Autosuffisance urbaine Montréal

 May 23rd – Culture du houblon urbain with Montréal Houblonnière and Botaphyte 

 May 26th – Les abeilles et l’apiculture en ville with Rucher Reine Noire

 May 29th – La culture des légumes ethniques et rares with Hamidou Horticulture

Frost in the forecast! Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

The temperatures are warming slowly but surely but there is still a potential for frosty nights coming up this week. If you have already planted your leafy greens and root vegetables, don’t worry. You can simply tuck them up under a floating row cover to keep the frost from getting to your plants. The row cover will also protect your garden from weed seeds and animals. Row covers let 85% of the sunlight through it so you can leave it over you plants for a week or so.

Planting and transplanting your early vegetables.

Our leafy greens and root vegetable seedlings are ready! You can come find them and lots of other helpful gardening materials and supplies at our garden center. It is also a good time to start thinking of sowing your root vegetable seeds in your garden and transplanting any leafy greens you may have started inside. If you need a little help with this process you can visit our blog for useful tips, come to one of our upcoming workshops with Tereska, or sign up for a garden coaching session with one of our experts.

It’s Urban Agriculture Month!

May is urban agriculture Month at Grand Potager!  A variety of activities are available in the greenhouses. Depending on the events, you can discover mushroom growing in the city as well as learn how to create, plant and maintain your first vegetable garden. Take advantage of the expertise of urbanagriculture specialists during workshops and training sessions!

Seedlings and fruit at the Garden Centre!

The season is finally launched!

We’re planting leafy and root vegetables outside as of today!

We are very happy to announce that leafy vegetables, herbs, edible flowersand even fruit trees and shrubs have finally arrived. The temperature is getting warmer, so you can even start planting them right away to maximize your season. To learn more about early planting, read our article Gardening with the seasons.

Gardening Festival Cultiver Verdun this weekend!

This Saturday May 4th and Sunday May 5th there will be a huge sale of seeds, seedlings, vegetable plants and trees, herbs, flowers and fruits
It’s at Camp Ethel on the roof of the Ethel parking lot – pedestrian access between the Palco and La vie en rose on Wellington!
This Sunday we are giving a free conference on vegetable gardening in urbanareas from 1:15 pm to 2 pm. Come and see us, for the purchase of plants, fertilizers, crop pots and much more!
Special visit – workshop 12:15 Saturday from the Horticulteur extrême Albert Mondor! 

Changes on the horizon

We want to orient ourselves to better respond to your requests. Please take 3 minutes to complete this survey to help us get to know you better and your gardening habits. You could win a $100 gift certificate for our products or services.
Thank you very much. It is very much appreciated!

Seedling care tips

We suggest starting your leafy-greens and fruiting vegetables at the end of March. By now your seedlings should have come up and start showing their true leaves. Make sure that you do not have them covered! Remove any domes or plastic and let that air circulate! This will greatly reduce chances of molds or diseases. If you have planted in cell trays, or have planted many seeds in one pot, it is time to transplant your seedlings.

Each plant needs it’s own pot to grow in! Leafy-greens like lettuce, kale or spinach should each have a 3″ pot, and fruiting-vegetables like tomatoes, peppers or eggplants should each have a 4″ pot to grow in. We like Cowpots, because they degrade easily so can be planted directly garden. Once the true leaves show up, you should water once per week with Kelp Fertilizer to keep seedlings growing well!

If you haven’t started any seedlings at home – not to worry! We start all of our 85 varieties of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers! The cold hardy vegetables will be ready for purchase at our Garden Centre by the end of April.

100 degrès conference 

at the Verdun Greenhouses

To build more resilient communities, we must support the links between citizens, community organizations, businesses and the neighbourhood or borough. This is exactly the mission of the Grand Potager: Centre for UrbanAgriculture. During this conference, Tereska Gesing share the dreams that led to the development of this inspiring project and will reveal her vision of the future.

Following the conference, join the guided tour and discover this thriving urban agriculture hub that brings members of the Montreal community closer together!

Earth Day Easter Egg Hunt!

Are you looking for something to do Easter Monday? On April 22, celebrate Earth Day as a family at the Grand Potager. Activities for children from 10:00am to 2:00pm to learn about growing your own fruits and vegetables and caring for our planet earth

11:00 easter egg hunt in the vegetable gardens.
For children 0 to 10 years old please.

Start your seeds indoors

Late March is a great time to start both leafy greens and fruiting vegetables ahead of time. For those of you who want to try your hand at starting seeds at home this year, check out this handy guide and video for tips! We also will be covering seed starting at our workshop next weekend. Starting your own seeds gives you access to all sorts of interesting varieties of vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers that you might have a hard time finding in stores.

Volunteering opportunities

This year we are launching a weekly ‘Saturdays in the Greenhouse’ program during the Grand Potager Urban Agriculture month of May! On our volunteer page there is a form to fill out to get on our volunteering list, and scheduling program to book a day and a time you would like to come in. It’s a great way to get your hands dirty and learn more about growing your own food!

Earth day Easter Egg hunt!

The stars are aligning and this year April 22nd is both Easter Mondayand  Earth Day! To celebrate, we are offering fun activities for the whole family in line with growing food and protecting the planet and at 11AM we will even have an easter egg hunt in and around our vegetable gardens! Free event. See you there!
Monday April 22nd 10AM – 2PM at the Verdun Greenhouses!

We’ve opened booking for this season!

Our prebooking is started! For our existing clients: To benefit from our Early Bird Special and get 10% off of your Vegetable Garden Replant service,  get in touch for an estimate right away. To qualify for the discount, you will need to get us your deposit by April 1st.

New Vegetable Gardens and other services

For new clients, now is a great time to contact us for to build a new vegetable garden or for Horticultural and Landscaping services. Our garden centre will be open as of April 1st if you would like to come and get materials to build your garden yourself.

Workshops! Learn to garden

With the spring fast approaching, it’s time to dust of your gardening gear and start planning what you want to grow this season. If you are feeling like you could use some tips and tricks, or are a beginner and don’t know where to start, fear not! This Saturday at 1pm is the first of our 10$ intensive vegetable gardening workshops. Its a 1 hour crash course on who to make your garden beautiful, actually productive and easy to maintain. You can sign up by clicking on the link above. See you there!
Saturday March 2nd 1pm 7000 boul. Lasalle, Verdun Quebec H4H 2T1

Verdun Seedy Saturday

If you missed the Seedy Weekend at the Planetarium, or if there are some seeds you still need to get, come and see the wonderful local seed producers Quebec has to offer at our Verdun Seedy Saturday. There will be free workshops every half hour on gardening related topics starting at 11am. Check out the Facebook event for a list of vendors, workshop schedule, and details on the kids corner. While you are there please share the event and invite your friends!
Saturday March 9th 10am-3pm 7000 boul. Lasalle, Verdun  H4H 2T1

Planting with the seasons

To maximize the harvest in small spaces in Montreal, we suggest planting three times during the year. The first time as soon as you have a reliable 3 degrees at night with cold hardy vegetables like leafy greens and root vegetables, the second time once you have a reliable 10 degrees at night with the warm-loving fruiting-vegetables and the third time at the end of August to fill in the empty spaces in the garden and take advantage of the end of the season. If you would like more information and an example garden plan take a look at our article on Making your garden plan in our Help! (how to garden) section of our website.

Help! (How to garden)

Our 2019 vegetable gardening workshop calendar is out! The workshops offered by Urban Seedling are back for a 3rd edition! The first workshop is Saturday March 2nd, 2019.

Take advantage of workshops specifically dedicated to growing vegetables in the city with our 1 hour classes led by myself Tereska Gesing, founder of UrbanSeedling and a professional specialized in urban agriculture! With these workshops, I will guide you through the different steps of creating a vegetable garden, the best way to overcome the obstacles to gardening in the city and will cover the particularities of Montreal’s growing season.

Fêtes des semences at the Planétarium

This weekend! Come see us in our booth at the Montreal Seedy Saturday weekend. Catch my Vegetable gardening workshop for free at 9:30 tomorrow, or 4pm Sunday

There will be local seed producers with hundreds of varieties of seeds will be on hand: horseradish, tomatoes of all colours and shapes, asparagus, hot peppers. Food biodiversity begins in our gardens and plates.

Cultiver Montréal

Big news in Urban Agriculture! We are super excited to be a part of this growing movement.

On November 30th, 2018, a major event for urban agriculture in Quebec was held, the founding meeting of the brand new organization “Cultiver Montréal”, whose main mission is to support, encourage and contribute to the development of all forms of agriculture in the Greater Montreal area by: bringing together and coordinating local actors; sharing information and resources; promoting and raising awareness; and political advocacy.