Planning to garden this spring? You can start preparing now, say Calgary experts

Balmy daytime temperatures above freezing are expected this weekend. Even if they don't last, gardeners can "think spring" and start preparing for the growing season.

"For those in the know, gardening does kind of happen earlier in Calgary," Joanna Tschudy, the community garden co-ordinator for the Calgary Horticultural Society.

It's putting on a two-day online event this weekend called Think Spring! to prepare new and experienced gardeners for everything from hydroponics and how to attract pollinators, to tropical houseplant care and permaculture.

Other than getting educated, now is the time for planning and making sure you have resources ready to go when the growing season hits, said Tschudy.

"It's fast and furious here in Calgary, so it's making sure you're ready, [with] a good plan, a good layout."

Part of planning is thinking about the climate. After a summer of record-breaking heat and significant drought, Alberta has had a drier-than-usual winter so far, too.

"This is precipitation that we might not be lamenting right now, the lack of snowfall, but we will notice this in our gardening season," Tschudy said. "It's all the more important to be hooking up rain barrels and thinking about conserving water in your landscape."

That includes things like growing plants that don't need as much water, and assessing your water needs to meet them as smartly as possible — and experts will be on hand this weekend at Think Spring! to help figure out how to do just that.

Winter growing

But it's not all planning. Tschudy says that it's almost a good time to start winter sowing — starting seeds outside, in the winter, in containers like milk jugs. It works for some native perennials and hardy, cold-loving vegetable crops.

"Really, you want to do winter sowing after those really deep freezes have passed, and I think we're creeping toward that," said Tschudy.

Before people get too busy gardening outside, they can learn more about indoor practices and try their hand at something new — like hydroponics, the practice of growing plants without soil.

Andrew Britton is the owner of Gecko Grow, a company that supplies nutrients for hydroponics.

He's one of the Think Spring! speakers, and he hopes that people take away that you don't have to wait until May long weekend to start gardening. Hydroponics lends itself well to indoor growing, and plants can stay inside year-round or be transplanted outside in warmer weather.

"You can really grow anything," Britton said, listing lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and strawberries as a few examples. 

He says that though it can seem very daunting, it doesn't have to be complicated: it can be as simple as growing lettuce in a mason jar.

"If you can keep a fish alive, you can grow hydroponically."

And if you mess up, you can try again right away, unlike gardening outdoors when a mistake can mean waiting until the next year. Another plus, says Britton, is that you don't have to worry about extreme weather or pests, making it a way to ease into gardening while people are still dreaming of spring.

With files from The Homestretch.