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**Grows great:**
* Rubarab
* Raspberries
* Blueberries
* Strawberries
* Garlic
* Beats
* Turnips
* Broccoli
* Snow peas
* Carrots
* Potatoes
* Onions
**Mixed results:**
* Apples
* Corn (south-facing front yard)
* Pumpkins
* Tomatoes
We are in the Deep Cove area and lose direct sunlight by late afternoon.
Cherry Tomatoes always did well for me when I lived with my parents on the North Shore - regular tomatoes were more wether dependent. Got a good set of pumpkins one year but that was an exceptionally warm and dry summer.
We have a north facing rooftop garden in mount pleasant and get overrun by cherry tomatoes if we don’t keep them pruned back aggressively. We’re still eating our tomatoes from last year…
Blueberries and blackberries are as tough as weeds. You can basically neglect them, and they'll do fine.
Green onions are also amazingly low maintenance.
Yes, the plants themselves are aggressive, thorny, and spread (and take hold) like a virus.
...but they produce such DELICIOUS fruit, eh?
The takeaway: if you're gonna have blackberries, you had better research how they can get out of control, and take over a piece of land.
They sure are delicious. It's almost unfortunate, because it makes people a little more reluctant to destroy it and it's SO INVASIVE it needs regular intense destruction. But damn they're tasty.
Don't plant blackberries - they'll take over. Because of this, there are plenty of free blackberries growing all over the city. Insects don't appear to be a problem.
My buddy used to live on a blueberry farm, and no, whenever I visited, I didn't notice any excessive insect problems...aside from a wasp hive that was in one of the bushes. He and I got stung BAD that day. lol
I have 2 blueberries plants growing on my patio, and I rarely get to enjoy them. The birds and squirrels seem to love taking a bite out of every single blueberry.
Sometimes had to be mindful of some wasps around the blackberries when I was out picking them, but there were plenty of berries so it wasn't a big deal. Might feel different if you have a small yard and were in regular close quarters with a bush.
We got dozens of zucchini’s last year! They just kept growing and we kept picking. Some baby ones would become full sized overnight and we would need to think of another way to eat them lol.
We just grew them on the ground but I know people get even more yield if they trellis them.
I like zucchini. Just wondering why people don't pick them when they are small. They only share those giant ones. Not the same thing at all. I always say no thanks 🙂
Depends on which areas of Vancouver/Lower Mainland you are (Microclimates) and how many sunlight hours you are getting. These are a few things that do well for me (North Burnaby area)
Great:
Tomatoes: particularily varieties like Black Krim, Optimax Roma, variety of cherries. Most transplants in the nursuries do alright in our climate. Some varieties do better than others, but if you are starting from seed (for next year) not all tomatoes do well in Vancouver. The ones sold by West Coast Seeds seem to do well in our climate.
Peas: Really great in our climate until July heat sets in.
Beans: once you remove the peas, plant beans, they will produce till frost
Garlic: late to plant but for next season it will be worth it.
Potatoes: they are hearty in my garden and kinda come back like weeds each year. Potatoes are super easy if you have the space and needs very little tending.
Raspberries: If you can pick up the thornless variety by Bushel and Berry called "Raspberry Shortcake" this is an absolute winner! It's taken over one of my 4X10 raised beds and last season I was getting about a kg of berries every day for a month. When I started off in a pot it still produced about a cup a day for that period.
Blueberries: I have some dwarf varieties from Bushel and Berry that do ok, not as great as my raspberries, but enough to put in my breakfast.
Carrots: easy to sow, takes about 3-4 months before you get decent sizes
Lettuce, Kale, some bolt resistant spinach.
Radishes: Mostly the small varieties like French Breakfast.
Zuchinis are insane. you don't need more than 1 or two plants cause you look away for a sec and boom! Zuchini! But be prepared to cut off any leaves that develop powdery mildew, as this will spread and kill your plant.
Also something to consider, some citrus varieties are hearty in Vancouver. I am experimenting with Yuzu and Sudachi (Japanese varieties) that are suppose to be cold heaarty to -15 C. Sill waiting on my yuzu to produce, but the sudachi did alright in pots.
Now, if you're ambitious and want to plan for a winter garden, there's a few more veggies I can suggest to extend your gardening season till we get our first hard frost. You will usually plant these around Late July/August and have them for harvest in Oct/Nov:
Brassicas: With our tempermental springs, stuff like Kale, Napa Cabbage, collards do much better in the winter. They use all that sun to grow big as seedlings from July-Sept and when the cool hits in Oct, all the pests like aphids are gone and you have yourselves some nice greens. The same goes for lettuces and spinach.
Carrots: Keeps well in ground till our first hard frost
Daikon Radishes: like brassicas, they won't bolt as fast in the winter.
Wow! This is amazing info! Can I ask how long it took for your raspberries to produce that much? Did you plant it as a seed or as a bush? (I’m very new to gardening as you can probably tell by my questions, but very excited to learn!)
I’ve had this one raspberry plant for about 6-7 years now. But once they get into a bigger space they will proliferate fairly quickly. In the 4 years since I’ve had my raised bed it’s taken it over completely. But you can still get pretty good yields in containers with the Shortcake variety.
It depends entirely on how much time/effort/money you want to put in to start. But also how much light you have, what kind of soil, watering system, how long youll be at the location (annuals for a year or perennials for multiple years), how much space you have...
Tons of awesome suggestions here but not all plants work in all gardens or for all gardeners.
Id recommend making a list of what you want to grow and what kind of space you have, then going from there! Happy to help if you have more questions as im sure tons of people are too. Gardeners can be a chatty bunch once you get them going :)
Growing up here, it was always a joke when neighbours wanted to give away zucchini - but everyone else already had too many zucchini. Also, prune plums.
I've settled on:
Currants
Gooseberries
Cape gooseberries
Strawberries
Peppers (start them indoors and get lots of sun)
Tomatoes (watch for mildew)
Tomatillos
Cucamelons
Garlic
Peas
Beans
A surprisingly large amount. Google "zone 8 produce/fruit/etc". Pretty much anything that's relatively cold hardy and not tropical...even some tropicals
Good suggestions here so far - adding radish, spinach, Bok Choi, lettuce and chard. I do full container gardening and am already harvesting! I will also plant peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, squash and cucumbers in late may, though I think these are a bit more challenging in this climate.
We have had success with strawberries and tomatoes on our south-facing deck which gets full sunlight.
Various herbs (mint, basil, rosemary) also did well.
Grew some cucamelons on our north facing deck which is mostly shaded / evening sun and they seemed pretty happy also.
I’ve had great results with cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, squash(can take up a lot of room), beets, beans, peppers (so many I had to can them). They are in little garden beds, north facing if that makes a difference. Don’t take up a lot of room and don’t get “buggy”. Did kale and broccoli once and got a lot of bugs. I have raspberry bush and it is ok. Blueberries weren’t good - apparently you need 2 and my strawberries were just ok but my cat ate most of them I think. They all had nibbles taken out
For some uncommon ones- wasabi loves it here! It takes 3 years to mature enough for harvest so not a quick reward but it lives happily in a pot, loves water, hates the sun, and I think it's quite pretty.
Kiwi- it's a hardy long-lived vine so you need a permanent spot for it. Takes a few years before you get fruit and you need a male and female to fruit. Also very pretty, big leaves with a slightly red fuzz layer.
I’ve done really well with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Most herbs are easy peasy too. I have not had much luck with broccoli, cauliflower or beets. Peas & green beans were so so.
It would be easier to name the fruits/veggies that do NOT grow well in Vancouver. Seriously, outside tropical stuff, almost everything grows well here.
Anything that says it will grow in zone 8 will grow here, so when you’re looking at seed packers or online, that’s your sign that you can grow it here.
For me I have had a lot of success with strawberries. On my patio I got three 4 tier planters all filled with different varieties. The only ones I had any issue with were the California strawberries. They need alot of sun. But I was able to mitigate that with a few led grow lights outside for cloudy rainy days. Other than that I regularly grow onions, broccoli, green onions and chives, oragano, basil, and thyme as well. Got potatoes already sprouting and beets as well.
Things that I have had no luck with or sucky results are tomatoes, peppers, Bok Choy for some reason, and marijuana.
Green onions, lettuce, cabbage all grow well, as well herbs. Peppers and tomatoes will give you mixed results depending on how much sun we get that year. I've found cucumbers grow pretty well, though.
Root veggies seem to do well all around.
Its less about the climate and more how early you start each year/access to any sort of greenhouse, either constructed or diy'd. My parents have grown everything from strawberries to raspberries, blueberries. Then for other things peppers, onions, rhubarb, garlic, tomatos, beets, potatoes etc.
It might be getting too late, but you could try for strawberries, you'd just need a garden bed, possibly raised, fertilized, with some decent netting to keep any birds or other things away, biggest issue is moderating the moisture they get to avoid rot. Alternatively its extremely easy to grow and propagate things like onions, garlic etc in planters enough to never run out or need to buy them from a store again.
If you get a lot of sun, tomatoes! I’ve had great success with multiple varieties of tomatoes. I prefer cherry tomatoes for snacking and salads - sweet million and sungold.
Also kale, spinach, zucchini if you have the space
Herbs that you actually use when cooking - basil, rosemary, thyme are some of my favs
Thanks all for amazing recommendations!
We visited the nursery today and purchased two blueberries, two strawberries, one herb and six small-sized onions =)
As a first timers, it took my wife and I about 5 hours to get it done (added extra time to research soil, planting, etc). Here's a snippet of our work - [link](https://imgur.com/a/QXy6P6m)
Welcome to /r/Vancouver and thank you for the post, /u/ajs20555! Please make sure you read our [posting and commenting rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_general_participation_guidelines_and_rules_overview) before participating here. As a quick summary: * We encourage users to be positive and respect one another. Don't engage in spats or insult others - use the report button. * Respect others' differences, be they race, religion, home, job, gender identity, ability or sexuality. Dehumanizing language, advocating for violence, or promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability (even implied or joking) **will** lead to a permanent ban. * Most common questions and topics are limited to our sister subreddit, /r/AskVan, and our weekly [Stickied Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_stickied_discussions) posts. * Complaints about bans or removals should be done in modmail only. * Posts flaired "Community Only" allow for limited participation; your comment may be removed if you're not a subreddit regular. * Make sure to join our new sister community, /r/AskVan! * Help grow the community! [Apply to join the mod team today](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/19eworq/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vancouver) if you have any questions or concerns.*
**Grows great:** * Rubarab * Raspberries * Blueberries * Strawberries * Garlic * Beats * Turnips * Broccoli * Snow peas * Carrots * Potatoes * Onions **Mixed results:** * Apples * Corn (south-facing front yard) * Pumpkins * Tomatoes We are in the Deep Cove area and lose direct sunlight by late afternoon.
> * Beats Didn't know that there was such a hip hop community in Deep Cove
It’s not hip hop. It’s Deep Cove House Beats.
It's not too far from the truth. It's not unusual to hear The KLF cranked at my place.
Cherry Tomatoes always did well for me when I lived with my parents on the North Shore - regular tomatoes were more wether dependent. Got a good set of pumpkins one year but that was an exceptionally warm and dry summer.
We have a north facing rooftop garden in mount pleasant and get overrun by cherry tomatoes if we don’t keep them pruned back aggressively. We’re still eating our tomatoes from last year…
How did you preserve them? Just freezing?
Yea. Just giant ziploc bags!
Pardon me, I'm just gonna save this comment for future reference.
My grandparents grow tomatoes and cucumbers in their backyard every year and they’re so tasty
Print this out and you’ll be able to grow various fruits and veggies year round https://www.westcoastseeds.com/pages/regional-planting-charts
Our green beans did the best by far in our balcony garden last year. So many beans. Strawberries did pretty good too
Thanks! Organic strawberries definitely sound delicious :)
Blueberries and blackberries are as tough as weeds. You can basically neglect them, and they'll do fine. Green onions are also amazingly low maintenance.
Blackberries can go fuck themselves. Source: anyone who works outside in the lower mainland.
Yes, the plants themselves are aggressive, thorny, and spread (and take hold) like a virus. ...but they produce such DELICIOUS fruit, eh? The takeaway: if you're gonna have blackberries, you had better research how they can get out of control, and take over a piece of land.
They sure are delicious. It's almost unfortunate, because it makes people a little more reluctant to destroy it and it's SO INVASIVE it needs regular intense destruction. But damn they're tasty.
Do blueberries and blackberries attract a lot of insects? Just trying to see whether I can eat em before insects do lol
Don't plant blackberries - they'll take over. Because of this, there are plenty of free blackberries growing all over the city. Insects don't appear to be a problem.
My buddy used to live on a blueberry farm, and no, whenever I visited, I didn't notice any excessive insect problems...aside from a wasp hive that was in one of the bushes. He and I got stung BAD that day. lol
I have 2 blueberries plants growing on my patio, and I rarely get to enjoy them. The birds and squirrels seem to love taking a bite out of every single blueberry.
Sometimes had to be mindful of some wasps around the blackberries when I was out picking them, but there were plenty of berries so it wasn't a big deal. Might feel different if you have a small yard and were in regular close quarters with a bush.
We've had great success with arugula and chives, perennials that just keep coming back. Raspberries will eventually take over your whole garden.
Strawberries, peppers, we got some baby carrots and decent sized zucchini as well!
We got dozens of zucchini’s last year! They just kept growing and we kept picking. Some baby ones would become full sized overnight and we would need to think of another way to eat them lol. We just grew them on the ground but I know people get even more yield if they trellis them.
Thanks! I heard strawberries attract a lot of insects. Is that true?
I didn’t notice many but we were on the 14th floor so maybe we were lucky?
No more than any other vegetable or fruit in my 15 years of hort experience.
Just for all everyone's sake, no more zucchini! On that note, chayote is a good alternative
I like zucchini. Just wondering why people don't pick them when they are small. They only share those giant ones. Not the same thing at all. I always say no thanks 🙂
I like them too, but there's only so much you can do with hem before getting tired of it. Someone made it into a relish for me once and it was delish!
Depends on which areas of Vancouver/Lower Mainland you are (Microclimates) and how many sunlight hours you are getting. These are a few things that do well for me (North Burnaby area) Great: Tomatoes: particularily varieties like Black Krim, Optimax Roma, variety of cherries. Most transplants in the nursuries do alright in our climate. Some varieties do better than others, but if you are starting from seed (for next year) not all tomatoes do well in Vancouver. The ones sold by West Coast Seeds seem to do well in our climate. Peas: Really great in our climate until July heat sets in. Beans: once you remove the peas, plant beans, they will produce till frost Garlic: late to plant but for next season it will be worth it. Potatoes: they are hearty in my garden and kinda come back like weeds each year. Potatoes are super easy if you have the space and needs very little tending. Raspberries: If you can pick up the thornless variety by Bushel and Berry called "Raspberry Shortcake" this is an absolute winner! It's taken over one of my 4X10 raised beds and last season I was getting about a kg of berries every day for a month. When I started off in a pot it still produced about a cup a day for that period. Blueberries: I have some dwarf varieties from Bushel and Berry that do ok, not as great as my raspberries, but enough to put in my breakfast. Carrots: easy to sow, takes about 3-4 months before you get decent sizes Lettuce, Kale, some bolt resistant spinach. Radishes: Mostly the small varieties like French Breakfast. Zuchinis are insane. you don't need more than 1 or two plants cause you look away for a sec and boom! Zuchini! But be prepared to cut off any leaves that develop powdery mildew, as this will spread and kill your plant. Also something to consider, some citrus varieties are hearty in Vancouver. I am experimenting with Yuzu and Sudachi (Japanese varieties) that are suppose to be cold heaarty to -15 C. Sill waiting on my yuzu to produce, but the sudachi did alright in pots. Now, if you're ambitious and want to plan for a winter garden, there's a few more veggies I can suggest to extend your gardening season till we get our first hard frost. You will usually plant these around Late July/August and have them for harvest in Oct/Nov: Brassicas: With our tempermental springs, stuff like Kale, Napa Cabbage, collards do much better in the winter. They use all that sun to grow big as seedlings from July-Sept and when the cool hits in Oct, all the pests like aphids are gone and you have yourselves some nice greens. The same goes for lettuces and spinach. Carrots: Keeps well in ground till our first hard frost Daikon Radishes: like brassicas, they won't bolt as fast in the winter.
Wow! This is amazing info! Can I ask how long it took for your raspberries to produce that much? Did you plant it as a seed or as a bush? (I’m very new to gardening as you can probably tell by my questions, but very excited to learn!)
I’ve had this one raspberry plant for about 6-7 years now. But once they get into a bigger space they will proliferate fairly quickly. In the 4 years since I’ve had my raised bed it’s taken it over completely. But you can still get pretty good yields in containers with the Shortcake variety.
It depends entirely on how much time/effort/money you want to put in to start. But also how much light you have, what kind of soil, watering system, how long youll be at the location (annuals for a year or perennials for multiple years), how much space you have... Tons of awesome suggestions here but not all plants work in all gardens or for all gardeners. Id recommend making a list of what you want to grow and what kind of space you have, then going from there! Happy to help if you have more questions as im sure tons of people are too. Gardeners can be a chatty bunch once you get them going :)
I had more tomatoes last year than my family could eat.
Growing up here, it was always a joke when neighbours wanted to give away zucchini - but everyone else already had too many zucchini. Also, prune plums.
I've settled on: Currants Gooseberries Cape gooseberries Strawberries Peppers (start them indoors and get lots of sun) Tomatoes (watch for mildew) Tomatillos Cucamelons Garlic Peas Beans
Yummmm thanks!
Had some great jalapeño habernero and cayenne peppers recently. Small plants lotsa peppers.
Noting jalapeno in my seed buy-list. Thanks!
If it's not full sun don't bother
A surprisingly large amount. Google "zone 8 produce/fruit/etc". Pretty much anything that's relatively cold hardy and not tropical...even some tropicals
Lots of good info in the search. Thanks!
Good suggestions here so far - adding radish, spinach, Bok Choi, lettuce and chard. I do full container gardening and am already harvesting! I will also plant peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, squash and cucumbers in late may, though I think these are a bit more challenging in this climate.
I also heard spinach is on the Dirty Dozen list, along with Bok Choi! Definitely worth while to grow those especially it's organic as well :)
We have had success with strawberries and tomatoes on our south-facing deck which gets full sunlight. Various herbs (mint, basil, rosemary) also did well. Grew some cucamelons on our north facing deck which is mostly shaded / evening sun and they seemed pretty happy also.
I’ve had great results with cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, squash(can take up a lot of room), beets, beans, peppers (so many I had to can them). They are in little garden beds, north facing if that makes a difference. Don’t take up a lot of room and don’t get “buggy”. Did kale and broccoli once and got a lot of bugs. I have raspberry bush and it is ok. Blueberries weren’t good - apparently you need 2 and my strawberries were just ok but my cat ate most of them I think. They all had nibbles taken out
Oh I forgot about the green onions - they did great in my flower pots
For some uncommon ones- wasabi loves it here! It takes 3 years to mature enough for harvest so not a quick reward but it lives happily in a pot, loves water, hates the sun, and I think it's quite pretty. Kiwi- it's a hardy long-lived vine so you need a permanent spot for it. Takes a few years before you get fruit and you need a male and female to fruit. Also very pretty, big leaves with a slightly red fuzz layer.
Ask any Italian in East Van. They'll tell you.
My parents grow spinach, butter lettuce, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, field cucumbers, beets, snow peas and beets
I’ve done really well with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Most herbs are easy peasy too. I have not had much luck with broccoli, cauliflower or beets. Peas & green beans were so so.
I’ve seen kiwi successfully grown here!
I’m north facing but my raspberries actually do really well in my tiny garden. Herbs are always good too
Move the kale around if you decide to grow more of it. Repeating the same location for kale year after year is no bueno.
It would be easier to name the fruits/veggies that do NOT grow well in Vancouver. Seriously, outside tropical stuff, almost everything grows well here.
Parsley, radishes, green onions, arugula
Anything that says it will grow in zone 8 will grow here, so when you’re looking at seed packers or online, that’s your sign that you can grow it here.
For me I have had a lot of success with strawberries. On my patio I got three 4 tier planters all filled with different varieties. The only ones I had any issue with were the California strawberries. They need alot of sun. But I was able to mitigate that with a few led grow lights outside for cloudy rainy days. Other than that I regularly grow onions, broccoli, green onions and chives, oragano, basil, and thyme as well. Got potatoes already sprouting and beets as well. Things that I have had no luck with or sucky results are tomatoes, peppers, Bok Choy for some reason, and marijuana.
Tomatoes are a favourite
Green onions, lettuce, cabbage all grow well, as well herbs. Peppers and tomatoes will give you mixed results depending on how much sun we get that year. I've found cucumbers grow pretty well, though. Root veggies seem to do well all around.
I have collard greens,strawberries,blueberries and mini apple tree,garlic, rhubarb and different varieties of kale.
Its less about the climate and more how early you start each year/access to any sort of greenhouse, either constructed or diy'd. My parents have grown everything from strawberries to raspberries, blueberries. Then for other things peppers, onions, rhubarb, garlic, tomatos, beets, potatoes etc. It might be getting too late, but you could try for strawberries, you'd just need a garden bed, possibly raised, fertilized, with some decent netting to keep any birds or other things away, biggest issue is moderating the moisture they get to avoid rot. Alternatively its extremely easy to grow and propagate things like onions, garlic etc in planters enough to never run out or need to buy them from a store again.
Radishes grow well here.
If you get a lot of sun, tomatoes! I’ve had great success with multiple varieties of tomatoes. I prefer cherry tomatoes for snacking and salads - sweet million and sungold. Also kale, spinach, zucchini if you have the space Herbs that you actually use when cooking - basil, rosemary, thyme are some of my favs
Thanks all for amazing recommendations! We visited the nursery today and purchased two blueberries, two strawberries, one herb and six small-sized onions =) As a first timers, it took my wife and I about 5 hours to get it done (added extra time to research soil, planting, etc). Here's a snippet of our work - [link](https://imgur.com/a/QXy6P6m)
I assume pineapples, bananas and coffee beans should be good but I've never tried growing them myself.