I hope you noticed my bad pun and realized this post would in some way involve tomatoes. My mom and I often joke that we are the last people that could be relied upon to keep a garden alive. Yet, during the latter half of this inquiry project, I’ve been going on about creating a community garden as if I know exactly what I’m doing.

Right now I don’t have the resources to build a full garden because I am about to move out of my student house and then live in Sweden for two months during my practicum. But I was gifted some tomato seeds this week, and decided to start super small. I found some soil in my backyard, put it in a plant pot, and sprinkled the seeds on top. Currently the jar is sitting on my windowsill, which will hopefully give the seeds enough sunlight to grow. The best part is that since my mom is going to be looking after the plant while I am abroad, I can blame it on her if it dies! (Just kidding… of course).

I checked out this website for information that can help my new seeds get the best chance of attaining life. It informed me that tomatoes are the most popular plant in home and community gardens, and are a great place to start for beginner gardeners. For future gardening projects with my students, it seems like a good place to start is with seedlings rather than seeds. This way somebody else does the work of keeping seeds alive for the first few weeks. However, buying seedlings can be quite expensive, making this a more financially inaccessible option. Tomatoes require rich soil in a full-sun location (meaning at least 6 hours of direct sun every day). It will be difficult for me to grow tomatoes from inside my student house, but I am worried of the risk of deer if I plant them outside. Plus, since I am moving soon, I don’t want to plant my tomatoes in the backyard and let future tenants steal the fruits of my labour! (Pun might have been intended).

Unlike the plants I currently have – cacti and succulents – tomatoes need A LOT of water. I will need to constantly monitor the soil to make sure it is moist! Once (if) the tomato plant starts growing, I will need to buy feed for it. I also found it interesting to read about how the foliage of tomatoes turns yellow-green when it is time to be fed. As this will be the first vegetable I attempt to grow, I was relieved to hear that it will be giving me visual feedback about some of its needs.

Thinking ahead to my future, here are some tips for my future vegetable garden! All of the information below can be found on this website.

Location

  • Needs a lot of sun – ideally over 6 hours of direct sun per day!
  • Does not get a lot of wind: want pollinators to work effectively, and young plants to avoid getting blown over!

Easy Vegetables To Grow

  • Lettuce
  • Radishes
  • Tomatoes
  • Beets
  • Chard
  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • Peas

I need to also make sure to leave some space for paths around the garden so that I can weed the area without stepping on other plants.

Snorkelling Update

Looking back, it was ambitious of me to choose snorkelling for my inquiry project. One of the times that we went it was very snowy and cold, and to be totally honest it very much killed my joy for the activity. My wetsuit is meant for kayaking and is not very thick, and I think this will be much more suited for summer snorkelling. However, I learned a lot from starting my inquiry project out with snorkelling, and I am really excited to be a student of the sport(?) for years to come.

Looking forward on some goals for myself, I found a book featuring places to snorkel around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. These will be good bucket-list items for when I return home from Sweden!

Some highlights:

  1. Iron Mine Bay in East Sooke Park! My roommates are actually going there tomorrow, so I will get some insider tips from them 🙂
  2. Clover Point – just off Dallas Road! This goal will be easier to take off the list since it is much closer to where I will be living.
  3. Tribune Bay on Hornby Island. This bucket-list item kills two birds with one stone as I have also never been to Hornby and have been meaning to go.
  4. (Not part of the book) I want to go snorkelling in Whytecliff Park, which is in my hometown! Whytecliff was the ultimate summer spot for me as a teenager, and I would love to explore it in a new way once I enter adulthood.

Wildlife I Saw and Documented This Week

(AKA the best part of my blog…)

I witnessed a slug eating a worm on Thursday!

This one could be a viburnum or a laurustinus.

This last one is likely a cherry plum…