For gardening ideas, check out out Linda GIlkeson’s textbooks, the West Coast Seeds catalogue and the Victoria Horticultural Society’s website
Expensive Helen: Our new home in Sidney has a small backyard place in comprehensive sunshine. I’d like to have quite a few lifted beds and, future 12 months, a tiny greenhouse. Would you please suggest books and/or websites geared to our local weather to get me started as I system for this backyard garden?
L.L.
An exceptional nearby supply for comprehensive data on escalating foods crops and the most ideal and advantageous bouquets for food items gardens is Linda Gilkeson, a gardening educator and creator living on Salt Spring Island. Her textbooks include things like Yard Bounty, a guide to calendar year-spherical natural and organic gardening in our weather. A new, expanded, 3rd edition of her Normal Insect, Weed & Disease Handle has just become obtainable.
Linda’s internet site is entire of articles and strategies, such as great pics of typical pests and diseases in all their stages. lindagilkeson.com.
The West Coast Seeds Gardening Guidebook catalogue is as fantastic common guidebook to planting, tending and harvesting veggies, herbs and flowers. In-depth info is presented for every single big listing.
Posts abound in the catalogue, on subjects these as drying herbs, storing seeds and xeriscaping. At-a-Glance charts on the timing for seeding and transplanting greens, herbs and flowers are beneficial.
At the bottom of the Home website page of the Victoria Horticultural Modern society (vichortsociety.org) you’ll come across a listing of back links of fascination that involves community gardening teams, backyard centres and other means.
Pricey Helen: My husband and I generally slash our Garry oak leaves down to a good mulch utilizing an electric shredder. Past tumble, we did not deal with this task. As an alternative, we just raked the whole leaves on to our bed of perennials. Is it all correct to just address the leaves with compost in the spring or do we require to rake the leaves off the mattress? The daffodils commenced emerging last month. Other plantings consist of hardy cyclamen and creeping thyme.
K.B.
It is very good that the leaves were being continue to on the mattress in the course of previous week’s cold climate. Temperatures are warming this 7 days. With the chilly interval getting finished, and specially if the leaves lie pretty thick on the bed, rake most of them up lest they smother some of the plantings. Compost them, or shred them for use all around plants.
In accordance to the information I have held over latest a long time, tough freezing temperatures are exceptional in March, but we’re all mindful how unpredictable the climate has turn out to be. At the very least for the very first half of the thirty day period, check forecasts and be all set to place some type of insulating protect around susceptible vegetation if unseasonably cold temperatures seem to be imminent.
Dear Helen: In February, I produced a cautious lookup in my area’s plant outlets for cape violet crops, with no luck. Do you know in which I could possibly obtain one?
K.K.
Not acquiring a plant very last thirty day period could just have been a make any difference of unlucky timing. Streptocarpus (Cape primrose, Cape violet, Wrong African violet) is a lot more probably to be readily available in spring and summer time.
When I received your e mail, I phoned my closest yard centre and was advised they ended up expecting Streptocarpus vegetation soon. I expect that a several cellphone phone calls to your area’s stores that ordinarily carry an in depth choice of home plants will unearth a supply.
It’s been a lengthy time considering that I grew Streptocarpus plants. I imagine I grew them from seed. An African violet relative, Cape primrose thrives and blooms most effective in similar situations of shiny indirect light, ordinary room temperature warmth, large concentrations of humidity, and a potting blend retained modestly moist and that drains nicely of extra humidity,
The brightly coloured, attractively veined, trumpet-formed flowers crop up from a rosette of primrose-like leaves.
Backyard garden Functions
Seedy in Courtenay. The Comox Valley Growers & Seed Savers are presenting a Seedy Saturday celebration on March 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Florence Filberg Centre in Courtenay — the go-to location that day for selecting up seeds and gardening provides. Pay a visit to cvgss.org/gatherings and click on About Our Suppliers for a color profile of taking part vendors.
Seedy Sunday. Nanaimo Foodshare, in collaboration with Nanaimo Neighborhood Gardens, is web hosting a Seedy Sunday function in Beban Centennial Creating, 2300 Bowen Rd. in Nanaimo on March 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This local community event promotes seed preserving, area seed companies, eco-friendly makers, gardening and environmental companies. Free instructional workshops will emphasis on rising local foods.
