Dear Helen: The flats of fall and听winter vegetables that I鈥檝e听grown from seed are ready to听transplant, but it鈥檚 too hot in the vegetable garden for the tender young plants. What should I听do?
P.G.
Delay planting, if possible, and watch for a window of cooler weather. If there is room in the flats, top up their听soil with fresh planting mix and keep them well watered. Hold the transplants in bright shade. I have kept听mine in the dappled shade of a plum tree.
My latest transplanting, just before the heat wave struck at the beginning of the month, was of lettuces that I听could not hold off planting any longer. I found places for them in the cooling, light shade of large, leafy plants, mainly the staked tomatoes and sprawling, large-leaved squashes and pumpkins.
Any recently transplanted vegetables or heat-sensitive greens can be protected with some cooling cover 鈥� shade cloth, old, lightweight curtains or even bed sheets, draped over improvised supports. Row covers used to protect plantings from pests such as carrot rust fly are not suitable as cooling agents.
Keep everything watered well, but avoid parboiling plants by watering overhead when they are exposed to direct, hot sun.
听
Dear Helen: Every year I think about growing vegetables for fall and winter use, and every year I get so confused over the timing for seeding and transplanting the different sorts of vegetables that I give up on the project. Can you point me to a reliable timetable to guide me? Is it too late for this year?
E.E.
It鈥檚 not too late. Aug. 10 is my traditional last date for seeding lettuces. For this sowing, I use cold-hardy varieties such as Rouge d鈥橦iver and Winter Density (West Coast Seeds). Look, too, for fall and winter vegetable transplants (kale, lettuce, fall and winter cabbage, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli) at local garden centres.
Variables such as the current year鈥檚 weather pattern and the nature of the garden site make planning the fall and winter vegetable garden a bit tricky. An open, sunny location allows for later planting. My vegetable plots, semi-enclosed by towering forest trees, demands earlier plantings than the usually recommended timings because I听need to allow more time in the partly shaded garden for the plants to develop adequately before the weather turns cold.
A long, warm and sunny autumn will听enable later plantings to develop rapidly, while cold, rainy weather in the fall will slow the maturing of vegetables for fall, winter and early-spring eating.
Charted seeding and transplanting guides can be found in the West Coast Seeds catalogue and in Linda Gilkeson鈥檚 Year-Around Harvest: Winter Gardening on the Coast (lindagilkeson.ca).
For 鈥渄elayed,鈥� slow-growth garden sites like mine, here is a听less optimistic but reasonable planting guide for fall and winter vegetables:
鈥� Leeks. Seed indoors early February. Transplant March or early April.
鈥� Parsnips. Seed outdoors March or April.
鈥� Winter cabbage, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli. Seed indoors in May to early June.
鈥� Radicchio. Seed indoors late June to early July.
鈥� Carrots and beets. Seed outdoors beginning of July.
鈥� Lettuce, endive, escarole. Seed indoors last week in July. Transplant late August to early September. Or, direct seed outdoors around Aug. 10.
鈥� Spinach, mizuna and other hardy greens. Seed outdoors early August.
GARDEN EVENTS
Government House plant sales. From 9听a.m.听to 12 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for听the rest of the month, the Government House Plant Nursery will听be open听for public plant sales at Government House, 1401听Rockland Ave.
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Champagne garden tour. Point Ellice House, 2616 Pleasant St. in Victoria, is hosting a听Champagne Garden Tour on Saturday from 5听to听7 p.m. Tickets are $25, by reservation. Call听250-380-6506 or email [email protected].
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Plant identification and culture workshop. Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505听Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is offering the next session in this ongoing, monthly course (can be听joined at any time) on Saturday, Aug. 19, 1听to 4 p.m. In each session, Diane Pierce introduces 25听new plants. Cost to HCP members per session is $35, others $45. Cost for 12 sessions: members $350, others $450. To register, call 250-479-6162. hcp.ca.