Vitality Gardening

With gardening season around the corner, host Coleen Rajotte removes her lawn as she prepares to plant a tomato garden in her front yard. Colleen also blesses her seeds and does some seasonal chores to gear up for another prosperous growing season.

Winnipeg is in the middle of a heatwave and Coleen’s garden is dry and full of clumps. Gardening guru Gary Martens shows Coleen how to use a rototiller, which turns out to be a hilarious process. Coleen also plants asparagus for the first time.

Coleen’s seeds aren’t germinating, so she must resow them in mid-June. She plants an ancient variety of Indigenous squash and explores the positive effects of gardening on mental health.

Coleen sows heritage tomato seeds indoors during the final days of winter. She explains how to start seeds, care for the seedlings, harden off the growing plants and eventually transplant them into the ground.

Coleen discovers she has a bumper crop of basil, which her gardening apprentice, Taralee, helps her harvest, wash and process. Taralee has recently been diagnosed with cancer and explains how gardening helps with her stress management.

Coleen travels to Manigotagan in eastern Manitoba to learn about a thriving Métis community garden project. Elder Charles Simard teaches Coleen how to harvest black diamond willow fungus, a sacred medicine.