Have you ever thought about having your own greenhouse to extend your gardening season, start your own seeds in spring, or perhaps even grow tropical plants? Doug Elliott, our Garden Club member has pulled together a group of five Bowen gardners and their greenhouses. We will explore several green house designs and their uses.
Garden Club members Cathy Buchanan, Marcel Bally, Rafal and Diana Izdebski, David and Aubin van Berckel as well as with Doug Elliott showcase their greenhouses, talk about design, how they use them and why they were built the way they are.
Marcel enjoys his greenhouse-grown hot, hot peppers and the coveted Beefsteak tomatoes without the deer eating them.
Rafal and Diana live in Tunstall Bay and built their own greenhouse out of repurposed windows. They use aquaponic gardening for food and overwinter tropical plants.
Doug’s greenhouse is in the shadow of Apodaca Ridge up on Cates Hill. Doug starts spring seedlings and overwinters tender plants. Their greenhouse is an expansion of an existing garden shed.
Cathy Buchanan has a Master organic and permaculture certificate. She enjoys trying new approaches to food production. Her first greenhouse was made from wood and plastic. Now she has two greenhouses, one polycarbonate on Bowen and the second greenhouse, of glass, situated in North Saanich Vancouver Island.
David and Aubin purchased their lot on Cates Hill in 1994 and began to develop their garden and home at that time. In 2013 they added “The Orangerie” in the sunniest part of the property because, as David says, “it would be nice to grow oranges.”
After each video segment there will be a brief Q and A period where you can ask the owners questions and get ideas. All of this from the comfort of your own home via the magic of Zoom. Open to members of the Bowen Island Garden Club. Membership information is at bowenislandgardenclub.ca.
“Home Grown” Greenhouse Gardening on Bowen on Zoom April 19 at 7 p.m.
