Is it too early to plant in Montreal? One expert says hardy crops can go in now

Experts offer early-season tips for planting frost-resistant crops.

The mild spring weather that comes in spurts has gardeners excited about the new planting season. But with nighttime temperatures dropping, is it too early to dig in the dirt? Shawn Manning says no.

Urban Seedling Garden Centre in Verdun is open for the season, and Manning says now is the time to plant frost-resistant crops like kale and bok choy. “If you plant these today, in a month you’ll be harvesting bok choy!”

He says that when the temperature drops, covering your garden at night will protect it. Demonstrating with a light blanket-type fabric, he said: “That will give me a little buffer of about three degrees. It’s called a floating row cover. It’s like a little blanket for the veggies.”

Manning says planting in the spring and again in the summer gets the most out of the growing season — no matter how big or small your garden is.

“You might be gardening on a balcony. You may only have enough space for a bag or a small bed or a small box. Or maybe you’re doing something vertical. It’s important to be able to maximize that as much as possible.”

Krin Haglund of Jardin Buzz recommends Indigenous plants because they’re hearty and, like agastache, attract pollinators.

“It’s really tough. It grows like a champ. And the great thing about this plant is if you’ve got a vegetable garden, this is just going to welcome bees to your garden. So you’re going to get even more productivity from your garden by planting agastache.”

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University notes the increase in vegetable prices in Canada.

“Cucumbers are up 43 per cent year to year, celery is plus 37 per cent.”

He says if the price of vegetables in the store has you planning a garden, be aware of the start-up costs.

“You want to commit to several years because if you do it for one year, it becomes very expensive per tomato or per cucumber. But the other thing that people may want to consider is community gardens. They will offer you all the equipment you need.”

He’s right — community gardens are so popular that the City of Montreal’s website says you can add your name to the waiting list in the location of your choice.

Or hire Urban Seedling to start your garden for you.

“I love gardening, I love eating, I love cooking,” Manning said.