Tag Archives: local gardener

Local Feature: Mark & his plants

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On Sunday night, Chris, Julie and I visited Mark at his suburban home in Port Coquitlam. Mark has created a garden paradise on a pretty typical suburban lot. It’s incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many plants in that kind of space before. Chris had found Mark and his plants through a craigslist plant sale ad and insisted we visit his home to buy some Jerusalem artichoke plants. And we’re so glad we did!

One of the things we’d like to start doing more of is visiting other local farmers and gardeners, connecting with them, learning from them, supporting them and promoting them through this blog. As new farmers who are learning as we go, we have a lot to glean from others who’ve been growing their own food and plants a lot longer than we have. It’s also nice to think of local gardeners as a network rather than business rivals. Everyone offers something a little bit different and we can all help and support each other’s efforts to pursue a long-term local food culture.

Mark used to spend his weekends selling his plants at Farmer’s Markets, but now he does all of his sales from home. He has a greenhouse in his backyard and scattered among all the well-established plants in his front yard are pot after pot of flowers and edibles waiting to be taken home. We ended up leaving with more than just the Jerusalem artichokes that Chris was so excited about. We also picked up a ground cherry bush, gooseberry bush and a chocolate mint plant. Yummy!

Every spring Mark holds a big weekend plant sale on his property so we’ll blog a reminder about that next spring before it happens. In the meantime, if you’re interested in visiting his property, picking up some great plants and getting inspired by a very passionate gardener, keep an eye on craigslist for his ads. He’s actually having a sale tonight that is currently listed online. I’ve reprinted it below:

FRUIT PLANT SALE TUESDAY EVENING – $5 (Port Coquitlam)

DATE:TUESDAY JUNE 7TH 7pm -9 pm Rain or Shine

Location: 3952 Hamilton Street, Port Coquitlam

FRUITS OFFERED FOR SALE:

Saskatoon berries(shown), cranberry plants, ground cherries/ cape gooseberries( shown)yellow raspberries,hardy edible ginger,
asparagus roots, black currant,rhubarb, red currant, , red strawberries,black walnut trees,
red raspberries,, jeusalum articokes(shown),horse radish , red seedless grapes, green seedless grapes,
goose berries red or green, , wonder berry plants, & thornless blackberries.

HERBS: Basil,Rosemary,fairytale dwarf egg plant, chives,lemon balm, begamot,,Stevia ( sugar substitute plants), swiss chard, cucumber plant,,are a few of the herbs offered

Heritage tomatoes in 1 gallon pots: Super snow white, tiny tim( shown), green zebra, red zebra, and others

Thanks for having us Mark! It was great to meet you and we look forward to next time!