Emokhare Paul Anthony
Daily Herald
Alberta commercial vegetable grower Kim Ross didn’t plan on becoming a gardening specialist.
In fact, you could say she grew into the role.
Ross, a photographer by trade, was raised growing vegetables alongside her mother and grandmother. Her own efforts, however, were less than spectacular.
“I do not have a green thumb,” Ross said. “Everything you can do to make a mistake in gardening I made, and I was so fed up with gardening.”
The last straw came when a June hail storm wiped out her vegetable garden just as it was starting to grow. Bad weather had already forced her to replant twice that spring, and Ross was frustrated.
She began looking online for help, and found a Saskatchewan program geared towards gardeners on the Canadian prairies. The advice clicked, and Ross began growing enough food to start selling some commercially.
“Most of the stuff that I was following was coming from people in other places in the world and it doesn’t work here,” she remembered. “Once I switched, then I found success.”
Ross’ method was simple. She calls it No Till Gardening. She stopped tilling the soil, quit using herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizer, and cover the ground with six inches of straw. She also began using compost to help improve the soil.
The results have been spectacular. Her garden is still growing, despite her area of Alberta being hit by drought.
That success led to public speaking requests. Ross does several of these a year, including one on Saturday, March 29 in Prince Albert for Seedy Saturday, but at the time she was hesitant.
“I was never inspired to do public speaking,” she said. “I’m pretty quiet and reserved, and the thought of public speaking puts terror in my heart.”
Although public speaking isn’t her favourite thing, Ross does it because the workshops are important. With U.S. tariffs dominating the news, Ross said Canadians need to focus more on growing their own food.
Canada imports too many vegetables from the U.S. she said, but that can change.
“The top five imported vegetables we can grow very easily here on the Canadian prairies,” she explained. “There’s really no excuse for us.”
Ross openly admits she’s “not a skilled grower.” She jokes that she “kills more plants than I keep alive.” If she can find success, she said, so can most gardeners. The key, she said, it the willingness to learn.
“I think anyone can grow their own food, and in light of the economic environment we’re in right now, I really encourage people to take a stab at it.”
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
