The best gardens do two things at once. They look stunning, and they feed you.
Late May in Alberta is the perfect moment to think about this. Your tomatoes and peppers are in the ground. The season is officially underway. Now it's time to think about what goes around them. The herbs you will reach for all summer long, and the colour that makes your patio a place you actually want to spend time.
At Maple Park Farm, our greenhouse is full right now with everything you need to complete that picture. Here is how to put it all together.
Start with Herbs - The Most Useful Thing in Your Garden
Fresh herbs are one of those things that seem like a small detail until you have them. Then you can't imagine cooking without them. A row of chives along the garden edge, a sprawling patch of dill that seeds itself year after year, thyme tucked into a sunny corner. These are the plants that make everything else you grow taste better.
Here are some of the herbs we are growing right now and how to use them:
🌿 Thyme - The flavour is subtle and versatile. Thyme works beautifully with roasted vegetables, chicken, soups, and anything slow-cooked. Low maintenance, drought-tolerant, and pretty enough to tuck into a container alongside your annuals.
🌿 Oregano - Bold, fragrant, and incredibly productive. Essential in Italian and Mediterranean cooking, gorgeous dried for winter use, and a favourite of pollinators when it flowers in midsummer.
🌿 Dill - One of the most versatile herbs in an Alberta garden. Use the feathery fronds fresh on salmon, potato salad, or cucumber. Let it go to seed, and it will come back for you next year. A generous dill plant is also a favourite of beneficial insects. It attracts pollinators and predatory wasps that keep garden pests in check.
🌿 Chives - Hardy, beautiful, and almost impossible to kill. Chives come back year after year, their purple flowers are genuinely pretty in the garden, and the mild onion flavour works on everything from scrambled eggs to baked potatoes to homemade dips. Plant them once, and you will have them forever.
🌿 Parsley - Flat leaf or curly, parsley is a workhorse herb that most kitchens use constantly. It's slower to establish than other herbs, but it's worth the patience. Parsley will produce abundantly all season.
Add Annuals - The Colour That Pulls It All Together
A garden that is only edible is productive. A garden that is edible and beautiful is one you will want to sit beside with a cup of coffee every morning.
Annuals are what create that feeling, and right now our greenhouse has a gorgeous selection ready to go. A few combinations we love for late May planting:
🌸 Petunias in containers and hanging baskets. Few plants give you more colour for less effort than petunias. They bloom prolifically from now until frost, they cascade beautifully from baskets and pots, and they come in every colour imaginable. If you want your patio to look full and abundant, petunias are your best friend.
🌸 Lobelia for the edges. This low-growing annual is perfect for the front of containers and window boxes. The trailing blue-and-white varieties are especially stunning, spilling over the edges of a pot with something taller in the centre.
Put It Together - The Container Formula That Works
If you are building a patio container this week, here is a simple formula that works every time: one thriller (something tall and dramatic in the centre), one filler (something that rounds out the middle), and one spiller (something that trails over the edge).
A practical example from our greenhouse right now: a tall salvia or geranium in the centre, surrounded by a mounding annual like a petunia or calibrachoa, with lobelia or bacopa spilling over the edge. Add a small pot of thyme or oregano nearby, and you have something that looks stunning and is genuinely useful all summer long.
Come See What's in the Greenhouse
We have a full selection of herbs and annuals in the greenhouse right now. Our team is happy to help you put together combinations that work for your specific space, light, and style.
While you are thinking about your summer garden, if you'd love fresh vegetables delivered to you all season long without having to grow them yourself, our Summer Vegetable CSA still has spots available. Sign-up deadline is June 20. 2026 CSA Information
📍 18311 Township Road 502, Tofield · Open every day · Mon-Sat: 10 am-6 pm · Sun: 10 am-5 pm