Gardening in Canada

Updated: 03/23/11

Have you been thinking about going out in the garden and getting your hands dirty? Here are some useful resources to give you a bit of inspiration and some solid advice on planning your garden in Canada.

Gardening Zones

The first thing you need to know is the gardening hardiness zone for your geographic location in Canada, so you'll be able to find information that applies to your particular climate conditions. To make life a little more difficult, Canadian and U.S. zone numbers are not the same - so be sure you know whether you are at a Canadian or U.S. site when you are looking at zone information. Here are maps for both:

Planning Your Garden

Lee Valley Tools, a Canadian company which sells gardening and woodworking tools, has a lot of useful information on its site. As well as online shopping for an array of useful gardening tools and supplies, the company has articles to help plan your garden. As an example, in the "In the Garden" section of articles you'll find a Home Garden Schedule. It gives a month-by-month schedule of what things in the garden should be done when. Primarily for the northeast United States and central and eastern Canada, you might have to adjust it a bit for your own location, but it provides a useful overall perspective.

Garden Landscaping

A source of Canadian landscaping information is the In The Yard section of the I Can Garden site. You'll find items there on starting your garden, accessories, perennials, trees and shrubs, and lawns.

If you need general information on landscaping and garden design, you can find it here on the About.com network. The first site to check is About.com Landscaping with David Beaulieu, where you'll find an amazing selection of resources to help with your landscaping needs. Also be sure to check About.com Gardening with Marie Iannotti. Her section on garden design provides practical information plus some inspiration. Neither of the About.com sites is Canadian, but much of their information is useable in northern climates.

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