To stay fit, grounded and happy, many avid home gardeners depend on being able to putter about in their landscapes year-round. I am among them. For such as us, last winter was a killer season. An elderly couple living just over my back fence confided to me that they actually wondered whether they would survive it. In any even semi-usable weather, I can count on hearing them chat as they work in their garden.
What a relief and delight most of last month has been. There was even sunlight on a few afternoons. My main winter project 鈥� cleaning and recovering back garden pathways with cardboard, newspaper and wood shavings 鈥� is underway.
I鈥檝e sensed a mood of anticipation already. People are enthusiastically engaged in planning their 2018 gardens.
> In Homes: Decorating tips, gardening advice, condo life
This is a perfect time for planning: for looking back and remembering notable features of last year鈥檚 garden and using these recollections in making decisions for this year鈥檚 plantings.
For gardeners, assessing the past is an essential aid in planning for the future.
An outstanding delight in my patio container garden last summer was a planting of four neatly compact sweet pepper plants in a 35-cm wide pot.
I noticed, and remembered, the name immediately when I saw the new listing in the 2017 T&T Seeds catalogue. I鈥檇 grown 鈥楻edskin鈥� years ago using seed I found in a now unavailable catalogue.
The seeds last year produced sturdy transplants that developed quickly to produce a summer-long supply of sweet and juicy, thick-walled peppers, blocky in shape and around 10聽centimetres long. The little planting often yielded five bright red peppers at a time. I picked the last ones around the end of October.
I was pleased to see that T&T Seeds has continued to list Redskin in its 2018 catalogue. I鈥檓 counting on it to bring me an equally prolific supply of sweet red peppers this year, as I anticipate doubling the pleasure with a companion container planting of 鈥楳ohawk鈥� 鈥� a similar plant but with orange peppers.
Because the bushy little plants are compact at just 25 cm high, and they鈥檙e so easy to grow, Redskin and Mohawk would be perfect for anyone who likes sweet peppers and who gardens in window boxes or on a deck, patio or balcony.
In recent years my best beet has been the reliably productive Taunus, a cylindrical beet I first found in the catalogue from William Dam Seeds. I like the convenience of handling and slicing a long beet, and Taunus has proven to be easy to grow and flavourful.
In last year鈥檚 Stokes Seeds catalogue I noticed a listing under their 鈥淐ylindrical Beets鈥� for an open-pollinated variety called Carillon, described as having no white rings and making 鈥渂eautiful slices.鈥�
It occurred to me that trying Carillon would be an opportunity to compare it with a similarly shaped, familiar hybrid beet 鈥� Taunus.
Both grew well and produced fairly similar roots, with some differences. Carillon is more slim and even in shape, with smoother skin, and flesh in a lighter shade of ruby red without any pale rings. I found Carillon to be more crisp and tender in texture and lighter in flavour than Taunus, which has darker flesh, a more crunchy, chewy texture and a deeper flavour.
I like them both, and will probably grow the two varieties again this year to see whether the 2018 roots yield similar results. Comparing their merits is rather like comparing a light sparkling wine such as Prosecco with a dark, robust Shiraz or Malbec.
If you have early-flowering shrubs and trees such as forsythia, flowering quince, witch hazel and apple in the garden, consider using them as a source of springtime bloom in the house.
Look for errant stems that you鈥檇 be removing later anyway, during the usual post-bloom pruning. Crossing or crowded stems and growth heading into the centre of the plant are all good candidates for cutting. Choose stems bearing plump buds.
Re-cut the stems at a slant and put them in a vase with tepid water. Keep the vase in a warm place, out of direct sun. Change the water every few days to keep it clean and clear. The earliest to flower outdoors will be the quickest to bloom in the house.
Garden Events
Alpine lecture. The Vancouver Island Heather Society invites the public to a talk by Gordon McKay on Cassiope (Mountain Heather), Phyllodoces and other alpine plants Wed., Feb. 7, 1:30 p.m. in Masonic Lodge Hall, 2748 Lashburn Rd. in Mill Bay. Information at bcheathersociety.org or 250-746-1994.
