Dear Helen: I heartily agree with your Jan. 27 column about the importance of growing as much of our own food as possible. We retired to Vancouver Island from northern Alberta, and love the milder winters, long growing season and the possibility growing winter vegetables.
My problem is knowing when to plant. When I鈥檝e purchased transplants in the fall, it鈥檚 been too late for them to size up properly before the cold weather. Seedings I鈥檝e made in summer either fizzle in the heat or are destroyed by pests. A calendar or timetable for seeding and transplanting times would be helpful.
Y.S.
Some of the best information on seeding and transplanting times is in the West Coast Seeds catalogue. A chart contains the timings and details are included with each individual vegetable. These give a good general guideline; however, conditions can vary considerably from area to area and it is helpful to experiment a little.
In my garden, I need to plant earlier than what is often recommended to have properly sized-up plants by mid-autumn. I听need to seed fall and over-wintering cabbage family vegetables in May for August transplanting. Lettuce, endive and escarole are sown indoors the last week in July for transplanting in late August to听early September. I seed radicchio indoors the last week in June for transplanting in August.
The indoor sowing gives seedlings and young transplants protection from the intense heat of midsummer. By August, the heat usually starts to subside, making conditions better for transplanting. And robust transplants have a better chance of standing up to pests than seedlings do.
听
Dear Helen: I鈥檝e never read anything about a tomato growing method called ring culture. Is it not used any more?
A.O.
I鈥檝e written about ring culture, though not recently. I听don鈥檛 know whether many gardeners use the method these days, but I agree I鈥檝e not heard or read anything about it for some time.
I became interested in the method when an acquaintance told me she always has ripe tomatoes in July using ring culture in an unheated greenhouse. I听see the process described in some British vegetable gardening books.
In ring culture, bottomless pots or rings with a diameter of听23 to 30 centimetres are set on听a bed of听some inert substrate such as听gravel or crushed stone. A听Royal Horticultural Society website I looked at recently also suggests using perlite.
The rings are filled with a rich potting mix. Plants grown in the rings send roots into the substrate, which is kept watered. Nutrients are supplied from the ring. With a nutrient-rich planting mix to begin with, feeding with a liquid fertilizer (into the ring) is usually started around the time of the first fruits forming.
听
Dear Helen: Masses of little grape hyacinth plants, each one with a tiny bulb attached, have infiltrated my flower beds. How can I get rid of them?
C.C.
I have the same problem with crocuses, and am currently engaged in the tedious task of levering up all the thin shoots and removing them, small patch by small patch, along with the attached baby corms. Now, while the ground is soft and moist, is a good time for this.
The regular, simple forms of听grape hyacinth have been equally invasive in my garden, though I鈥檝e noticed that some of the more highly developed, unusual ones haven鈥檛 attempted to take over. Two examples, ones听that I鈥檝e observed for years,听are the beautiful two-toned (navy and sky blue) Muscari latifolium and听鈥渇eather hyacinth鈥� (M.听鈥楶lumosum鈥�).
I wish I could offer an easier solution, but tackling small patches at a time and keeping at it will give you some control. Even if some of the tiny bulbs remain in the soil, at least they鈥檒l be robbed of top growth to nurture and enlarge them.
听
GARDEN EVENTS
Rose meeting. The Mid Island Rose Society will meet on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the meeting room of the new North Nanaimo Library, across from Green Thumb Nursery on Hammond Bay Rd. New members are always welcome. For information, call 250-390-2805.
听
Hardy plant meeting. The Victoria Hardy Plant Group will meet on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Knox Presbyterian Church, 2964 Richmond Rd. The meeting will feature a garden slide show. Non-members are welcome for a fee of $5.
