Two real seasons, four garden ones
Advice organized by season for the Fraser Valley, British Columbia — jump to the one you need.
Our spring is long, wet, and cooler than the calendar suggests. Patience with soil temperature matters more than the date on the seed packet.
Tomatoes and peppers go in trays by mid-February so they're ready to transplant around early-to-mid April.
Walking on or digging soaked clay compacts it for the whole season — wait until it crumbles, not clumps.
They're active the moment things warm up even slightly — start patrols before seedlings appear.
July and August can go weeks with almost no rain. This is the one season where irrigation, not rainfall, keeps things alive.
Cuts evaporation loss and keeps foliage dry overnight, which matters for disease-prone plants like tomatoes.
A thick layer holds moisture in our free-draining raised beds through the driest weeks.
Lettuce bolts fast in summer heat — sow small batches every few weeks instead of one big row.
Our mild fall is a real second season, not just cleanup time, right up until late October to early November.
Cloves go in through October for a harvest the following summer — one of the easiest crops for this climate.
Shredded fall leaves make excellent mulch and compost carbon — don't bag them for the curb.
Cold frames or row cover keep hardy greens producing well past the first light frosts.
Rarely a hard freeze here, but consistently wet — drainage is the main winter risk to manage.
Late winter, before buds swell, is the right window for structural pruning on apples and plums.
Rotate vegetable families and order seed early — popular varieties sell out by February.
Standing water after heavy rain is the top killer of perennials in our winters — regrade or raise beds where it pools.