You can visit David and Sharon Baliski’s labour of love during the 22nd Annual Cowichan Valley Garden Tour, scheduled for Sunday, June 5.

The couple moved to three-quarters of an acre on Tzouhalem Road on Halloween Day in 2011. The property came with a garden, first planted in 1895, that was a lot more treat than trick, even if it didn’t have all of the colour and fruit trees the couple favours.

The couple was also passionate about adding food gardens to the layout.

“We’ve always grown our own food,” Sharon said, as she and David describe learning how to grow a food garden from their parents, now passing the skill down to their children and grandchildren.

“I think gardening is in your blood,” Sharon said.

Now they’ve got everything from common veggies like carrots to more exotic fare like almonds.

To learn more about the Baliskis first Christmas in the garden and David’s narrow escape from being crushed, be sure to pick up a copy of the Citizen’s new Seasons Magazine, available June 1, for a full feature.

Or get yourself a ticket for the tour and ask the couple in person.

Put on by the Cowichan Family Life Association as a fundraiser, the self-guided tour runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and tickets are $20. There are six gardens on the tour.

In the Cowichan Valley, ticket outlets include Buckerfield’s, Dinter Nursery, Volume One Bookstore, Cowichan Family Life Thrift Store, Third Addition Gifts & Toys in Mill Bay, and Russell Farms Garden Centre and Sandpiper Garden & Glass in Chemainus.

To find a ticket outlet near you from Nanaimo to Victoria, call 250-748-8281.