It’s never too early to begin planning your garden

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

Temperatures are frigid and snowbanks are piled up high, avid gardeners have already ordered their garden seeds or may have already received them in the mail. Let’s face it, in Saskatchewan, it’s never too early to begin planning your garden, and Puddles in My Garden and the Kindersley Food Bank are hooking up with gardeners in our community to lend a helping hand to our community.

Puddles in My Garden have partnered with the Kindersley Food Bank to start their first-ever “Plant-A-Row Grow-A-Row” project. They ask gardeners to plan to grow an extra row of their favourite vegetables this year, which can be harvested and given to the local food bank.

They’re looking for twenty avid gardeners to participate in the program, and Puddles in My Garden will even give out seeds to help the gardeners get a head start. Participants will be able to pick the seeds up at Puddles in My Garden’s opening day on May 1.

“I thought it was a great way to give back to the community ... food for food,” Joanne Kosolofski, owner of Puddles in My Garden, said. On opening day, Joanne will not only be handing out free seeds to participants, but she noted there will be other special things planned for the day, which will be announced at a later date.

Leslie Omness from the Kindersley Food Bank is excited about the new project. She said they are registering the first twenty people to have an idea of people who are willing to grow, but additional people can donate vegetables as well.

“We normally get lots of potatoes and carrots donated over the year. It would be wonderful if we got a variety of things. The people that have registered so far are willing to grow peppers, beans and beets. We will extend the project if we don’t have the twenty required participants,” Leslie said.

People who register can select from a wide variety of seeds, including carrots, beets, potatoes, peppers, radishes and tomatoes. So you see, it may not be too early to start planning your garden after all. You can phone 306-460-7022 for more information.