The ToFoodies Gardens: The Seed Journey with West Coast Seeds

Hello, Summer 2021! The year has been flying by and it has not been without monumental changes for ToFoodies and myself - for example: living through a pandemic, moving into a new home and getting engaged. As you probably followed along last year, 2020 was the year that we got into gardening! My pandemic hobby became a daily ritual and ultimately, a lifeline to find normalcy and calm. Some days it felt like the world was on fire (some days it literally was), and yet I could always go back to my little rooftop garden patch and find something growing, changing, and soldiering on. Now, it’s just a month after we officially moved into the new house and the rooftop container garden has been turned into land-based garden! Essential to my gardening journey has been West Coast Seeds; I found them on my own in the great Wide Web and discovered their epic array of varieties that all appealed to the foodie in me. Check out the before and after below that shows how I prepared my garden beds for these beautiful seeds!

When I first discovered West Coast Seeds, I liked that they were Canadian and organic, and how they were providing detailed background information of the various types of seeds. Each web listing was like attending seed school! And so for the first time in my life, I ordered seeds and lovingly tended to them day by day. And with my West Coast Seeds, it was honestly the most gratifying to see how my tomato plants bloomed from the seeds. That’s why I am so happy to be partnering with West Coast Seeds this year for what is truly a collaboration based on my deep fandom for a company that turned on my passion for gardening. Everything from their packaging to their website is filled with educational tools and a Garden Wisdom Blog to help you care for your garden and also make the right decisions in the first place. And when you talk to them, it’s so clear that this is a family-run business that cares about it’s customers and workers and community. They even have a warehouse just outside of Toronto, so there’s a bit of East Coast in them, too!

As we look to the summer, there are still many things that you can plant and grow! At first, I used my Sunblaster T5HO Growlight Garden to grow microgreens and my seedlings for tomatoes, peppers and flowers (things that could use the head start so we don’t go the whole season without them flowering). In the photo below, I am holding the Growlight Garden container that grew seedlings for Sungolds and Purple Bumblebee tomatoes, as well as Genovese Basil, because I have heard that these make great partners for optimum flavour in the final tomatoes! The Growlight Garden would be/will be an amazing thing to have all year around for growing seedlings and leafy greens. The constant sun really made these babies spurt. Even in the hooplah of moving and packing, I knew my seedlings and greens were safe in there. The danger only came when I got transplanting and discovered how many hungry animals live in my backyard… (Check out my latest post on @tofoodies to see all the questions that I recommend asking yourself when you’re starting a new garden!)

If you’re starting with good seeds, it’s really not too late to get planting! If you think that the summer has gotten away from you, have no fear! On the West Coast Seeds Garden Wisdom Blog, they released what to plant this August 2021 for regions across Canada and you can always find great info on how to maintain your garden. Check it out yourself and for handy reference, I have added their list of what to plant and when for the rest of summer. This is specifically for Southern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area!

August 2021 Planting Season

Arugula (harvest mid-August to late September)
Beans, Bush & Pole (harvest September)
Beets (harvest late September to December)
Sprouting Broccoli (start indoors, transplant in August for winter & spring harvests)
Brussels Sprouts (start indoors, transplant in August for winter harvest)
Cabbage (start indoors, transplant in August for winter harvest)
Carrots (direct sow for fall & winter harvests)
Cauliflower (start Galleon indoors, transplant in August for spring harvest)
Cilantro (direct sow for baby greens and fall harvest)

Corn salad
Kale & Collards (direct sow for fall & winter harvests)
Lettuce (direct sow for baby salad greens – harvest in 35 days)
Mesclun Mixes (direct sow continuously for harvest as baby greens in only 20-30 days)
Mustard Greens (sow for baby greens at 30 days, or for fall harvest)
Onions, Overwintering
Onions, Scallions (plant continuously from now to September for fall & winter harvests)
Pansies (direct sow for edible winter blooms)
Parsley (direct sow for fall & winter harvests)
Peas (direct sow enation resistant varieties for fall harvest – they freeze so well!)

Radishes
Swiss Chard (direct sow for fall & winter harvests)
Turnips (direct sow for fall & winter harvests)