Horticulturist shares journey of sustainable gardening

Breakfast with avocado toast, fresh lemon used in salad dressings, baking and simple hot water, lemon and oranges ripe for picking. Simple yet so enjoyable. Growing these yourself and picking them off the vine instead of selecting from the produce section at the grocery store would be a dream.

This month’s Sooke Garden Club speaker Jane Squier does just that.

Squier will share a presentation of her journey from growing commercial greenhouse lettuce to establishing a subtropical orchard with more than 35 varieties of citrus and four varieties of avocadoes. She will share greenhouse innovations which help to create a beautiful, productive and sustainable environment.

Squier’s background is over 40 years of experience operating greenhouse and market garden businesses. Managing organic and hydroponic systems in tropical, Mediterranean, and cold Zone 3 climates. She studied horticulture and agroecology at Alberta’s Olds College and the University of B.C., aquaponics at the University of Vancouver Island, and soil microbiology at The Soil Food Web School. Squier converted her 6,000-square-foot greenhouse into an orchard of 125 hardy citrus and avocado trees in 2014.

Striving to reduce her ecological footprint, she incorporates extensive rainwater collection, solar energy systems, thermal mass, anaerobic digestion and a keen interest in building healthy soil and nutrient-rich food using regenerative agriculture techniques. She shares her findings on her website and YouTube.

Members of the Sooke Garden Club are invited to attend the meeting on Wednesday, March 27th at 7p.m. at the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 2191 Townsend Rd. If you would like to join, come to the meeting on Wednesday, April 26th at 7:00pm at the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church.

Jane Squire