I was suddenly prodded into action last week to get going on fruit tree pruning after I noticed that buds on my peach tree were swelling. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise given the warm winter we have had so far…..So If you can, take advantage of this spell of dry weather to prune fruit trees. Pruning while it is dry avoids spreading diseases, such as European canker or bacterial canker. Do sanitize pruning tools between trees to avoid inadvertently spreading diseases, even if trees don't look diseased and sanitize tools between every cut if you are working on a trees that shows signs of cankers [for photos]. To sanitize, dip tools for a few minutes a solution of 1 part eco-bleach (hydrogen peroxide) or chlorine bleach to 4 parts water or wipe tools with rubbing alcohol; dry and oil pruners afterward to ensure they don’t rust. Pruning fruit trees: This may seem a daunting task, fraught with rules—but don’t worry: Your trees don’t have to be pruned according to professio…

Salt Spring Island, BC Salt Spring Island’s foodways have sustained people for thousands of years. Yet today, the majority of the food consumed on the island is imported. A new two-part public series hosted by the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (SSIFLT) invites the community to explore how this shift occurred — and what the island’s agricultural past can teach us about building a more resilient food future. Hosted as part of SSIFLT’s Root to Bloom Centre, the series brings together leading researchers and local historians to examine the full arc of Salt Spring’s food systems, from Indigenous land stewardship to settler-era farming and beyond. Part One: Indigenous Food Systems Tuesday, January 20 • Salt Spring Centre of Yoga • In person & Zoom The first event features Chris Arnett, historian, archaeologist, and author, who will guide participants through the deep history of Indigenous food systems on Salt Spring Island and throughout the Gulf Islands. Drawin…

Immersive, community-based program prepares new farmers with land access and mentorship Salt Spring Island, BC A new full-time Neighbourhood Farmer Training is launching on Salt Spring Island in 2026, offering emerging farmers a rare opportunity to gain hands-on experience, deepen their skills, and secure land to grow food for their local community. Hosted by Island Natural Growers, the local chapter of Canadian Organic Growers, the training is an immersive, community-rooted program designed to prepare emerging growers to confidently start their own Neighbourhood Farm. The first year of the program runs full-time from April through September 2026. Participants will receive practical, field-based training, mentorship, and direct connections to Salt Spring Island’s food network. In the first year, trainees will be matched with land through established partnerships with local landholders. In the second year of the program, participants will grow food for the communit…

With hardly anything to do in the garden at this time of year, the gardener’s main job is to harvest vegetables when needed—and, of course, to be vigilant in case of cold weather. So far it has been a warm fall, but I think I will lay that extra layer of leaves over my root crops this week. If you are going to be away over the holidays or too busy to worry about the garden, sparing a few minutes to add more mulch now will protect the garden should temperatures start dip below freezing. If you are concerned about yellowing and dying lower leaves on broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprout plants at this time of year, don’t worry! It is normal for the oldest leaves to be dropping now. I just leave them under the plants to add to the mulch protecting the soil. All we really need to be concerned about is making sure these big, top-heavy plants are well enough staked or supported that the stems and roots won’t be damaged by high winds or heavy snow. If younger green leave…

Salt Spring’s farmers are the backbone of our island’s food security — and when emergencies strike, the entire community feels the impact. That’s why the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust is launching an island-wide call to farmers: tell us what you need to stay resilient when things get tough. Whether you’ve weathered storms, droughts, infrastructure breakdowns, or power outages, your experience matters, and the support you identify now will directly shape how our community prepares for future crises. What Do You Need Most in an Emergency? We’re asking farmers across Salt Spring to share: What disrupts your farm operations the most What resources, tools, or supports would make the biggest difference What barriers keep you from fully preparing And what ideas you believe could strengthen our island’s resilience as a whole Tell us about it here. Your voice will directly inform how the Farmland Trust, local partners, and emergency planners can better…

Say “Yes” This Giving Tuesday: Be a Friend of the Farmland Trust I remember the day I laid my newborn son down in a meadow along Beaver Point Road. In that moment I looked at my boy, his tiny chest rising and falling against the great green heart of this island, and I thought, “We’re home.” That sense of belonging — of being rooted in this place — has shaped everything I’ve done since. I’ve spent 25 years here learning how, just as the grand trees of this coastal rainforest are nourished by a shimmering web of mycelium, my humble kitchen table could become the launchpad to organize festivals, start non-profits organizations and grow a network that has spread like dandelion seeds from this tiny island to the mountains of Africa and the bighouse of Bella Bella. No matter where on Earth my work has taken me, I’ve always been sustained by my connection with the forests and fields of Salt Spring — forces that hold the magic power to restore my faith in the possi…

With the mild weather this fall, hardy vegetables have continued to do a little more growing—a good thing too, as a couple of my cabbages were rather small (now a much better size) and I missed pinching out the tip of one of my Brussels sprouts plants in early September. When I noticed this in early October and snapped off the growing tip, the plant had not even started forming sprouts, although the plants pruned in September all had full-sized sprouts by then. With the warmish month we have just had, the late-pruned plant now has small sprouts, so there is hope for a crop yet. If you don’t see little sprouts on your plants now, though, it is likely they won’t make them at all—but don’t get rid of the plants. Brussels sprouts plants produce tasty shoots all along the stem in the spring (somewhat like rapini or sprouting broccoli). They do this whether the plants grew proper sprouts or not, so there is still a crop to be had in the spring if you didn’t plant early enough. Just m…

Farmers beginning operations in British Columbia are getting help to plan and grow their agricultural businesses so they can succeed and offer B.C. families fresh and local food. “New and young farmers are the future of agriculture in Canada,” said Heath MacDonald, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “Investments through the New Entrant Farm Business Accelerator Program are helping early-stage B.C. farmers with planning and pursuing new growth opportunities that will support their long-term success.” The New Entrant Farm Business Accelerator Program will be opening for eligible farmers to apply to develop or update a farm business plan and prepare a growth strategy for their farm operations. “B.C. farmers play a key role in our regional food systems, and it is crucial that we support the next generation of farmers so they can continue to feed British Columbians,” said Lana Popham, B.C. Minister of Agriculture and Food. “The program is helping new and young f…

Fortunately for gardeners that might have planted their winter vegetables a bit late, it has been warm and wet enough this fall to stimulate a good burst of growth in root crops, cabbage family plants and leafy greens. Before I left for a trip in mid-September, I gave my cabbages a tug to disrupt their roots a bit in hopes of preventing them from splitting if there was heavy rain while I was away (it seemed there was, indeed, a downpour). This worked for most of the cabbages, but two did split anyway--one of them nearly turning the head inside out. Splitting occurs when plants that have been receiving a moderate or low water supply, suddenly receive a lot of water in a short period of time. The sudden uptake of plenty of water causes the cells in maturing roots and fruit to expand too quickly. At the end of the season splitting is always a risk in this region where dry summers and water scarcity often means that gardens are kept a bit short of water. A heavy rainfall early in t…

Why Salt Spring should be paying attention. Canada's Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on September 24, 2025, halting a federal order to cull more than 400 ostriches at a Kootenay farm after an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) insists that depopulation is essential to stop the virus, while the farm argues that no birds have died since January and that survivors should be retested. The ruling brought a wave of relief to many across the province. Supporters who had camped outside the farm for weeks felt hope that the ostriches might be spared, and the pause also drew attention to the enormous emotional strain placed on families working day and night to protect their animals. For Salt Spring, the story feels closer than it might seem. Avian influenza has already been detected in the region, including a backyard flock in Saanichton last year, and the lessons of the ostrich case speak directly to our island’s small farms and hous…

Many gardeners are handling a big crop of fruit this year due to the mainly dry, sunny weather we had during the spring pollination period. If your crops of pears, apples, plums, etc. are getting out of hand, there are ‘gleaner’ programs in some communities that can arrange to collect surplus fruit (and other crops in some cases) and distribute it to food banks, other charities and those in need. These are really valuable projects for reducing food waste while improving food security for people; some programs also provide helpers to pick the fruit: -On Salt Spring, contact the Farmlands Trust -In the greater Victoria area, contact Lifecycles -In the Comox Valley, contact LUSH Valley These are just a few I know of, and there are certainly others in other communities. And while I am on the topic of fruit surpluses, a reminder that my online food preserving workshop is coming up next weekend. It covers 4 of the easiest, low-tech ways to store food, including frui…

It was a small pile, but it felt momentous to Georg Janssen. Last September, Salt Spring’s new community composter had just produced, for the first time, a small amount of composted material from what four weeks earlier had been offal (the remains of butchered animal carcasses). “I was very happy,” recalls Janssen who is managing the composter project as a member of the Salt Spring Abattoir Society board. Although he has only been involved with the project for a few years, he knew that the small pile represented a lengthy community effort to turn organic waste on the island into local compost. A year later, about 20 tonnes of waste annually from the abattoir is being fed into the composter located in a facility at the Burgoyne Valley Community Farm. There are a couple of key bylaw changes that need to happen before the composter is able to ramp up further and meet a goal of turning 60 tonnes of organic waste–not just animal waste but also restaurant and other waste–…

Yikes! Every time I check the weather, the forecast high temperatures for the next few days gets higher and lasts longer so here is a quick reminder to shade seedbeds, young plants, Brassica/cabbage family plants, peas—and be on top of irrigation. Plants, such as carrots, being grown under insect netting should also have shade material on top of the netting because insect netting or floating row covers holds in the heat. Floating row cover can be used as shade material if you fold a large piece over several times to make a cover with enough layers to block the light; lay it on top of plants, leaving the sides wide open for air circulation. Ripening fruit is especially vulnerable to being cooked, with sunscald injury on the side of the fruit directly exposed to the sun. If possible, at least for the hottest part of the day, throw an old sheet, curtain material or shade cloth over the sun-side of trees with ripening soft fruit, such as plums, and over bushes of blueberries an…

From now until early August, there are a lot of vegetables that can be started from seed to produce crops in time for winter harvests. BUT the next few days promise to be pretty hot so take special care to shade seed beds and seedlings (for a list of what to do to protect vegetables during heat waves, see the list in my May 10, 2023 message). I was thinking of sowing more lettuce and salad greens this weekend in the newly vacated area where I just harvest garlic, but am going to put it off for a few days until it off cools a bit. Lettuce really doesn’t germinate well in very warm soil and it takes a lot of vigilance to ensure seedbeds don’t dry out. It seems like we should have all summer ahead of us, but actually the end of the growing season is in sight: if a planting fails now there won’t be enough time left in the season to replace some vegetables from seed. I am sowing some plants (chard, kale, Chinese cabbage) indoors this week rather than directly in the garden. Ind…

With a heat wave forecast for this weekend, don’t forget to protect young vegetables from excessive heat. Depending where you are on the coast, temperatures might range as high as 26-30oC [79-86oF] over the weekend, dropping after Monday. While it doesn’t look too prolonged, these temperatures would certainly be too hot for tiny seedlings, newly sown seeds and plants that were transplanted recently—though of course, established heat loving crops, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, should enjoy it and snap out of their doldrums from the colder weather last month. No matter how well beds are watered, at these temperatures the roots of small plants are close enough to the soil surface to fry in the midday heat. Plants large enough that their leaves shade the soil around them, are much less at risk from heat injury, however, it has been such as dry spring (despite those showers in May) that you may not realize that larger plants could be experiencing drought conditions at their roo…

Although the group welcoming Heather to learn more about Neighbours Feeding Neighbours was small, the conversation was both multifaceted as well as fascinating. After Heather offered our land acknowledgement and told us of her “excitement and delight" with our long days, needed rain, and her verdant garden, offering her both satisfaction and challenges, we began to learn about this exciting project. Neighbours Feeding Neighbours is a 20-month pilot project of the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust and funded by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. While this funding is slated to end this winter, hopes are that some key initiatives identified by this pilot project will continue. With this funding, Heather and her team are laying the groundwork for developing an island-wide plan to address our food needs in emergency situations. They are building relationships with key players, planting the seeds of collaboration between growers and local buyers, and working with our…

With the return of bees over the last week or two I am relieved to see them once again working garden flowers. Every year I get concerned inquiries in May asking where the bees are. While insect populations, including native bees, have been steadily decreasing over recent decades, a marked absence of bees for several weeks in spring is usually because the bees are working on tree flowers or have found a patch of more attractive plants elsewhere. Bees really like maple flowers and later on Arbutus/Madrone flowers. In my neighbourhood, both of these trees lure bees high above our heads and it is only after trees are done blooming that we see good numbers of bees back in our yards. The cool (even cold!) weather of the last week or so has been pretty hard on tender vegetables planted early, such as tomatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers. With the weather warming up and higher overnight temperatures expected by this weekend, plants should recover. Depending on how protected your ga…

With the recent warm up, the cool tolerant vegetables can be seeded or set out any time: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, salad greens, radishes, peas, potatoes. But if you haven’t planted those yet, not to worry—there is plenty of time for them to produce in our growing season so planting in April or May works fine. For warmth loving plants (tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons, corn, beans), however, don’t be in a rush. Their cells simply do not function in cool temperatures so wait until May to plant these. Gardeners in the rest of Canada will be planting tomatoes on the May long weekend and that date works well for coastal gardeners too. In more protected or warmer gardens, tomatoes and zucchini, which are the most robust of the heat lovers, may go out earlier, especially if covered with cloches, temporary tunnels or floating row cover. The more delicate plants (cucumbers, melons and sweet basil) need consistently warm weather. I often can’t set…

According to the rain gauge in our garden upwards of 16 mm of rain fell over 24 hours on April 6, which seems fitting for a Rainwater Catchment tour. The rains didn't stop 20 SSI Garden Club members from attending the event that we hosted in our garden, sponsored by the Water Preservation Society. As one tour participant pointed out " there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices." Providing education about Rainwater Catchment systems ties in to the WPS mandate of promoting awareness of the value of water resources and sharing information about ways to conserve water. Gardeners have the opportunity to mitigate some of the impacts of climate change on our limited water resources by storing water collected during the rainy season and using it during the dry growing season. Creating systems for outdoor use doesn't have to be complicated or expensive if you work with gravity, Do It Yourself and use some recycled materials. Time was spent showing and explaini…

Spring is moving along slowly but surely, and although recent cold nights and rainy days have slowed down spring flowers, gardeners are fidgety, itching to plant something. With overwintered crops having survived the winter in better condition than usual, year-round gardeners may have enough broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, root crops, leeks, chard, kale, lettuce, etc. in the garden that they aren’t fussed about getting an early start (if that’s not you, see the end of this message for an online workshop I will be giving in April on year-round harvests for coastal gardeners). What to plant now: The soil is still much too wet to work outdoors, but in garden soil that is fertile from past years of amendments, you can rake back any mulch, pull weeds and sow a few things without disturbing the soil further. Poke pea seeds into the mud and scatter seeds of lettuce, spinach, radishes, cilantro, dill, arugula on the surface. Press seeds lightly into the soil without covering them or…

Despite the nuisance of dealing with snow over the last week or two around the coast, the storms have been very good for vegetables in the garden (and for the shoots of garlic and spring flower bulbs that are up). Snow insulates plants, keeping them warmer than the air temperatures above, so the deeper the snow, the better the protection. When the snow melts, you might see broken or bent plants and cold damaged leaves, but don’t be tempted to clean up the garden: leave everything alone! Root crops should be fine if they were protected by a good mulch before the snow further insulated the beds. Chard, spinach, hardy lettuce plants can look pretty bad, especially if leaves were frozen to the ground, but they usually grow back from the roots to provide a much earlier and larger harvest than you could hope to achieve with spring seedlings. Kale can have all the leaves broken off by deep snow, yet after a few weeks of spring warmth, new leaves sprout all along the stems. Give cabbag…