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Urban Seedling horticultural services focus on customer care and innovation in garden design.  You get to work directly with our team of horticulturalists to create your dream garden. We can add a clover lawn, a uni stone patio, a pergola or retaining wall to transform your space.

Call us today to schedule your consultation.  If your yard needs an extra splash of colour or you have an empty space that needs some greenery; if you want to impress with new beautiful garden beds or transform an existing landscape call us to work with the Urban Seedling’s horticulturalists.  Garden clean up, mulching and pruning; we do that too. From edible landscaping and butterfly gardens, to shade gardens and perennial garden beds, Urban Seedling’s horticultural services distinguish themselves.

We believe in creating a green space for you to enjoy. Call us today to book your free consultation.

Snow peas are fantastic little veggies with a very short season. They have started producing so get out there and start picking! The more you harvest the more the pea vine will produce. If you don’t have any snow peas, you can attach your tomato plants to the trellis right away by wrapping the growing tip around the trellis string.

Make sure to remove any suckers (extra vines found in the crotch between the main vine and the leaf) so that the tomato plants don’t over run the garden. Each plant needs enough sun to grow. We had a bit of trouble with transplant shock on some of the tomatoes, but most of them are recovering nicely with lots of water and some fertilizing (fish emulsion is best for this). Take a look at my video for more instructions.

For the peppers and eggplants to grow well and produce, they need to have clear space all the way around them. Harvest any plants or leaves that are getting too close. You should harvest any larger outer-leaves of broccoli, kale, chard, cabbage or any other plants that aren’t respecting their square foot. As soon as your beet greens are big enough, you can start harvesting them for salads! Simply pick larger outer leaves allowing smaller inner leaves to continue to grow.

It is important to keep up with watering. If your plants are still small, or don’t seem to be growing well it is probably because of a lack of water. Since we haven’t gotten much rain this season, it has been very hard especially for varieties that we need to start from seed such as beets, carrots and beans. Your soil should be moist just under the surface all the time. If you are having trouble keeping up with watering, installing a simple irrigation system on a timer will help a lot!

Tomatoes should be coming along. We had a bit of trouble with transplant shock on some of the tomatoes, but most of them are recovering nicely with lots of water and some fertilizing (fish emulsion is best for this). Once tomatoes are dark green and bushy, you should start removing suckers. If your tomatoes are tall and needing support, you should weave them into the trellis. Remove suckers that do not fit onto the trellis. For more info, please take a look at this video.

If you have potatoes, you can hill up soil around the stems so they don’t flop over. Ideally you would add a bunch of extra soil to bury them deeper. This is supposed to increase harvests.

Remember to weed a little bit everyday, this way you can stay on top of the weeds. Happy Gardening!

For those of you who planted all the way back in late-April early-May, you should be doing tons of harvesting every day! Harvest leafy greens by cutting off larger outer leaves and leave the inner leaves to grow. Keep leafy greens well harvested away from peppers and eggplants if your plants are sharing squares at this time of year. If your peppers and eggplants do not have lots of clear space around them, they will not grow.

Tomatoes have been planted in front of peas to share space as well. The tomatoes will hang out in the garden for the next 3 – 4 weeks to give peas a chance to produce on the trellis. Once tomatoes need support from the trellis, peas should be about done producing for the year.

Garlic scapes are ready to harvest. It is important to remove them all from the garlic plant so that the plant’s energy goes into producing bulbs instead of flowers. The scape is the curled end above the top leaves, see photo below. Simply snip off. You can chop it up to add to any dish, or blend all of them together to add to a pesto. They are a delicious delicacy – so be sure to enjoy! We have onion fly larva eating our garlic scapes and leaves. If you see a small yellowish larva on your plants, search and destroy. Trichogramma will help with this kind of pest.

Tomatoes and peppers will start flowering soon. Thrips damage in the garden can greatly reduce harvests. Cucumeris is an acarian that will take care of them for you. Applying beneficial insects early in the season helps to prevent problems later on.

It is important to keep on top of Slugs and leaf miner populations early in the season as well. The leaf miner can wipe out your chard or beet crops if left unchecked. Remove affected leaves and destroy. Check backs of healthy leaves for eggs and scrape off with your nail. It is important to get slugs out of the garden right away. They grow quickly and multiply! Use beer traps and hand picking to get out ahead of the population explosion. Watering in the morning instead of at night can helps to reduce slug populations.

It is important to water a lot. Watering deeply early in the morning is the best practice. If this is hard for you because of a busy morning schedule, setting up a simple irrigation system on a timer can help a lot!

Our first veggies are up! 25 days after you plant your radish they are ready to pick. It is always better to pick your vegetables when they are at their best. Your radishes will get tough and spicy in the heat.

The leafy greens are best picked now as well. Roquette, lettuce, bok choy, tatsoi and rapini are starting to bolt to seed. Best to harvest them while they are great as well. You can pick the flowers and eat them as well! Go into the garden with your salad bowl and take a couple of leaves from each type of plant for a fantastic mixed greens salad. The smaller inner leaves will continue to grow for a continual harvest. Take a look at my video for more details.

Still not a lot of rain! Make sure to keep on watering. Edibles are high performance plants that need a lot of sun and a lot of water to do well. If your seeds are not germinating or your plants are still small it is probably due to not enough water.

Slugs are starting to come out. At this time of year they are still small. It is important to get them out of the garden right away. They grow quickly and multiply! Use beer traps and hand picking to get out ahead of the population explosion. Watering in the morning instead of at night can greatly reduce slug populations as it makes it harder for them to get around at dusk on the dry soil surface.

The leaf miners are back. They cause the burn-like damage on Swiss chard and beet greens. You can save your plants by removing any damaged leaves right away, and inspecting the underside of healthy leaves and remove any eggs. Here’s a video with more details.

The Trichogramma and Nematodes are in! If you need protection from cabbage moth or Japanese Beetle, order now. We are also taking orders for Lacewing to control aphids, Cucumeris to control thrips and the almighty Mantis: Garden Predator. Reply to this email to reserve your beneficial insects.

Over the next few weeks, add heat-loving summer vegetables to your garden. We suggest removing one leafy-green per square foot to replace with a pepper or an eggplant (video). You will have to clear out the rest of the square soon to give your summer plants room to grow, but for now they can share to give you a little more spring harvest.

As soon as your leafy greens are big enough to your taste, you should start harvesting the outer leaves. Simply step outside with your salad bowl and pick a couple of leaves from each plant for a continual harvest. Radishes are ready to harvest around 25 days after planting. To check if they are ready, investigate the size of the root with your finger.

It’s time to order your Trichogramma (parasitic wasps) to control Cabbage Moths and Nematodes to control Japanese Beetle and White Grub. Please respond to this email to order. We’ve started to see a lot of flea beetle damage in some gardens. These are small black jumping beetles that leave small holes in plant leaves. They really enjoy hot dry weather. Diatomaceous earth and Yellow sticky traps can help control this pest.

When we plant our tomato plants, we take advantage of a super tomato trick. Tomatoes can grow roots all along the stem. We remove the bottom couple of leaves (so they don’t rot underground) and plant the tomato super deep so that only 5 or 6 inches are sticking out the top. This will give the tomato plant a much bigger root structure and make for a more vigorous and productive plant.

Over the next few weeks, we will also plant other warm weather vegetables like peppers, eggplants, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, squash. Anything that needs warm weather to grow. We will be back soon to replant your summer seedlings. We will let you know at least three days before our visit.

It seems to be a very hot dry summer so far. This means that it is important to water often and deeply. A simple irrigation system on a timer can help.

Make sure to thin your carrots and beets. This means enough space around each plant for it to grow well. Carrots need 2 inches (5cm), beets need 3 inches (7cm). Choose the best seedling and remove the rest. It is possible to transplant if they are still small. Just make sure to do it quickly and carefully. For more details check out my video below:

We seem to be through the coolest weather (fingers crossed) if the nights do dip below optimal temperatures (10 degrees for warm weather tomato, pepper, eggplant plantings) your floating row cover gives you a 2 or 3 degrees of protection.

Dont forget to thin your seedlings once they germinate. It is crucial for each plant to have enough space to grow well. Carrots and radishes need 2″ (5 cm) each. For beets you need 3″ (7 cm). If you have over-seeded, you must remove the extra seedlings. Choose the strongest one and remove the rest. You can transplant root vegetables if you do it carefully. Here is a video for more details.

Since we did not have a very cold winter, chances are good that we will have a lot of pest insects in the garden this year. To help keep those populations in check we have a beneficial insect program this year. It is currently time to order your trichogramma. These little creatures protect your garden from caterpillars – especially the cabbage moth. If your problem is large ragged holes in your kale, bok choy, broccoli or cabbage, this is your solution.

They are sold in cards, one for 1000 square feet of space. Treat with one card per week for 5 weeks starting now! To order, respond to this email.

If your problem is the Japanese Beetle in your plants or white grubs under your soil, nematodes are your solution. They are microscopic worms indigenous to Canada. It is an effective and ecological solution. They are sold in a water soluble form to spray on your lawn and garden. One sponge covers 2000 square feet. It is time to apply them now. To order, respond to this email.

You can remove your row cover now that the days are warmer. Keep it close by though – you should put it back on the garden if temperatures dip below 4 degrees at night.

Now that the sun is finally out and the days are warming up, it is really important to water, water, water. The most common reason vegetable gardens in a sunny location underperform is a lack of water. When you water make sure to water deeply – at least 20 min for a 10’x3′ garden. If regular watering is an issue I suggest getting a simple irrigation system set up. It can be as easy as a weeping-hose or sprinkler on a timer. Set the timer for a good hour from 4:00 – 5:00am so that you don’t loose water to evaporation in the hot sun. As an added bonus the top of the soil has a chance to dry out before slug time (usually dusk). This can drastically reduce your slug population.

While waiting for seeds to germinate and young seedlings to grow in, keep your garden well weeded. Little weed seedlings are easy to pluck from the garden, but once they get established they will out compete your vegetables, and make getting the garden back under control a big job. The key is early and often. Getting into your garden for 10 or 15 minutes every day to check on your plants is your garden’s best protection.

If you planted radish seeds last weekend or earlier, they have probably already sprouted. It is very important that each plant in your garden has enough space around it to grow to maturity. For radishes this is 2 inches of space around each and every plant. Often when planting seeds, you end up with several per spot. It is crucial to thin. Thinning means you choose the strongest, nicest seedling and remove or transplant the rest. Take a look at this video for more a more detailed look.

Looks like there is going to be cool weather ahead make sure to cover your garden with a floating row cover or to use an old blanket to keep your little seedlings warm.

It’s time! No need to wait until the end of May to start planting. with some proper planning and protections you can get your vegetable garden started right away.

You need:

• A sunny spot with at least 6 hours of sun per day
• Great soil for vegetable gardening (1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and coconut fibres, 1/3 organic gardening soil)
• Cold hardy plants and seeds (lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, radish, carrot, beet, mizuna, bok choy)
• A floating row cover to protect your vegetable seedlings from the cold

Plant your seedlings (video) deep in the ground, with enough space between plants to allow seedlings to reach maturity with their outer leaves touching. For most leafy greens this means 6″ (15 cm) between plants – or four plants per square foot.

Root vegetables and peas need to be planted from seed (video). Respect the spacing indicated on the seed pack and try to plant one seed per spot. This will save you a lot of work later on. No need to make a hole, seeds prefer to be close to the surface.

As the season progresses, you will need to add natural, organic fertilizers to keep your soil fertility at its best. Happy, healthy plants are not only much tastier and more nutritious, but very resistant to pest and disease.

To find out more about how to get the most of your vegetable garden, join us at our Soil Fertility Workshop next Saturday 1-3pm

Hello hello! 2016 is in like a lion and we are ready to go.

We have a great upcoming workshop on how to produce grade A top quality home compost and the best soil fertility program. For the Love of Plants: Composting, Companion Planting and Soil Fertility on 30th April, 2016. Click on the link for more info and to sign up.

We started to replant the vegetable gardens today. If you are a replant customer, we will be in touch 3 days before you are scheduled to let you know when we are coming. Please make sure your water is turned on, and your garden is accessible.

In the mean time, please remove the plastic that is covering the garlic, but leave it on the rest of the garden to help heat the soil and keep out weed seeds. We will cover your garden with a floating row cover after it is planted to keep your garden protected over the next few weeks. This will give your tender seedlings an extra 3 or 4 degrees when the nights get cool.

To plan your garden, we have our fancy new Garden Planning App. It is still in the Beta testing phase, so thank you for your help working through any bugs that come up. All replant clients should have received a link to their garden plan, so if you haven’t or are having any problems with the App please let us know so we can help you through the process, or fix any bugs on the back end.

If you have an irrigation system and need an opening visit to check for leaks, fix any broken parts and set the water timer, please let us know.

Happy Gardening!

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn the basics of home-made ferments with Fermentista Lia Chiasson. You’ll leave with your very own jar of kraut and a recipe book to get you started fermenting at home!

What you will learn:

• A brief history of fermentation and culturing
• Tips on fermentation vessels and storage
• The food safety of fermented foods
• The health benefits of a healthy intestinal flora, microorganisms and pre-digestion
• Learn about Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Kefir, Lacto-Fermented Vegetables and Tempeh

Ferments are delicious and super-healthy! Learn more about their health-promoting properties and how to make these foods part of your daily diet. There will be plenty of taster samples included throughout the workshop.

Fermenting foods is a fun and simple process. It’s much more than just a way of preserving food: it’s a method of self-sufficiency, a crucial historical component to all agricultural movements, and utterly delicious.

Please bring a small cutting board, knife, and your favourite spices.

There is a french workshop March 5th 1:00-4:00pm

Coalition de la Petite-Bourgogne
741 rue des Seigneurs
Montreal, QC
H3J 1Y2

During the winter months, I sometimes feel that my body needs a little extra support. The days are shorter and I start to miss the sun. I usually turn to some delicious immune boosters and supporters to keep me going during the colder months.

My favourite winter snack is roasted sesame seaweed. Seaweed is truly one of the most nutritious foods packed with vitamins and minerals, it helps our bodies cope with environmental pollutants. Considered a mood-boosting food seaweed helps us fight the winter blues.  Helping the revitalize our systems, it is great winter helper.

Mushrooms strengthen you immune system and are delicious! Reishi, Maitake, Shitake are know to enhance immune functions and can be easily added to a soup. I like to keep some dried ones around the house.

Garlic! (AKA stinking rose) is known for its antimicrobial, anti fungal, and antiseptic properties. It effectively kills disease-causing bacteria. Great for the cardiovascular health and full of antioxidants, add liberally to your winter stews, soups and other recipes. Although delicious garlic has a strong smell, so make sure everybody has a bit of garlic so you can still keep each others company.

Some of us may remember playing outside as a child and falling in a patch of nettle, ah the sting! A mistake to not be repeated. Nettle is one of your greatest allies. You can make an infusion and place in your water bottle instead of plain water. Nettle is packed with nutrition (even more than seaweed)! Plenty of protein, vitamins, and minerals that will leave you feeling invigorated. Not only will it provide you with some much needed energy, it is great for your nail, hair, bones, skin and is affordable. Place a handful of dried nettle in a glass jar, pour boiling water over them, let steep over night and then place in the fridge. Fill your water bottle.

I learned the secret of this immune system booster from one of my great herbalism teachers. Astragalus is an herb well known in the world of chinese medicine for its ability to strengthen and restore the immune system functions. The root cannot be eaten therefore, it must decocted (boiled to extract its medicinal value). Boil the root in water for 20 minutes, remove roots as they are not to be eaten. Add to broth for soup, to the water for your porridge or rice. Astragalus will keep you invigorated throughout the winter season.

Finally, sugar is real culprit when it come to our health and keeping our immune system up. When you have a craving for something sweet reach for the some local honey! As well as being delicious, it is full of healing properties for the body and nutrition and has been used as such for centuries. Sip a cup of honey, lemon and ginger on those chilly winter days.

All the best,
Lia