Gardening with Galia

By Irene van der Kloet

The time for starting the garden is quickly approaching, and in preparation for that, seeds need to be started indoors. Galia Alexander from Warspite is the go-to person to ask about starting plants, especially for organic gardening. On April 3, she hosted a workshop at the Smoky Lake Library, where participants learned about starting tomatoes and peppers. “Tomatoes from your garden are so different in flavour from tomatoes you buy in the store,” Galia explains. “The store-bought tomatoes are grown to last longer, to be picked early, they have to withstand being transported, and they do not nearly have the flavour of homegrown tomatoes. You can choose to grow the fanciest tomatoes at home, the ones that taste best. And start them early, grow them in a deep (5-gallon) pail.” Galia is very knowledgeable. She is building a small market garden in Warspite with her partner, Chris. Her garden will be no-till, where the soil structure is not disrupted. The market garden will also be a learning place for people wanting to grow their own garden, as Galia is always open to questions. She will teach about no-till gardening on Seedy Saturday, April 22, at the Smoky Lake Complex. For this workshop, she supplies all that is needed at no cost: potting soil, seeds and little containers to grow the seeds in, with a variety of tomato and pepper seeds to choose from. Growing plants from seeds can be challenging. “Ensure your soil is damp but not too wet, or your seeds will rot. Please place them in a spot with plenty of sun. Once they start growing, keep an eye on them. If the plants grow long stakes, very thin and tilted towards the window, that is a sign that they don’t get enough sun”, Galia teaches. Her workshop is fun and inspiring, and the 15 participants are eager to start. With six weeks to go until the end of May, the usual time to plant outside, there is some preparation to do. Watching the plants grow is a fun part of the process. “Tomato and pepper plants cannot handle frost. So if you plant them in a pail, you can harden them by putting them outside during the day and bringing them in at night. Once the frost is gone, you can leave them outside”, Galia says. She also gives several other tips for maintaining the plants and storing the fruit (tomatoes and peppers are fruits) so they will last for months. All participants went home with twelve tomato seeds in little pots and twelve pepper seeds—a good start for gardening season.