The next few days will be 鈥渆vent-full,鈥� with sa国际传媒 Family Day, a holiday for many, on Monday, then 鈥淪hrove鈥� Tuesday and the quirky combination of Ash Wednesday and Valentine鈥檚 Day on the 14th 鈥� holiday frolicking and pre-penitential gorging (traditionally, on pancakes) followed by a celebration of love to begin six weeks of mindfully abstemious living leading up to Easter.
It鈥檚 a busy and purposeful time for gardeners too. My mail suggests that keen home gardeners are fine-tuning their planning and checking through seeds and supplies in readiness for a new growing season.
鈥� Useful aids: The William Dam Seeds catalogue is a source for Proteknet, insect netting that lets in more light than other lightweight row covers used as insect barriers.
This year, I鈥檒l be trying a new way to hold the knitted fabric above plantings 鈥� Dam鈥檚 鈥淟oop Hoops,鈥� steel wire supports with corner loops for holding twine that forms a support for the netting. This is a source also for my earliest and best container tomato 鈥� Siderno.
鈥� A watering tip from Christene Rafuse, who gardens in Sooke: 鈥淔or years I鈥檝e been watering most of my garden with drip (weeper) hoses that I buy in 50-foot lengths at Canadian Tire. They are packaged as a 鈥楥ontinental Flat Soaker Hose.鈥� They must be popular. They sell out by late spring.
鈥淚 roll out the hoses next to the vegetables and other plants each spring and take them up in the fall. They are collapsible, take up little space in storage, seem very durable (some I鈥檝e been using for over five years), and they are very efficient.鈥�
This type of hose (soaker, weeper, drip) is probably the most water-thrifty way to irrigate garden beds.
鈥� Three Year Gardener鈥檚 Gratitude Journal, by Chelsie Anderson and Donna Balzer (240 pages, soft cover, $28.55): An effective agent for firing up enthusiasm for a new gardening season is a lighthearted and warmly encouraging garden journal like this one.
Subtitled 鈥淧art Diary, Part Personal Growing Guide,鈥� this newly published journal is arranged with three entry spaces for each date, turning the diary into a three-year gardening memoir.
At the end of each month there is extra space for notes.
This design gives room for recording planting and harvesting dates as well as hits (successes) and misses (鈥渓earning experiences) as the gardener learns, as gardeners do, by 鈥渢rowel and error.鈥�
A sheet of stickers that comes with the journal allows the gardener to punctuate occurrences such as 鈥渇irst tomato鈥� and 鈥渞ecord harvest.鈥�
The journal is generously endowed with 鈥済ood news鈥� stories that inform and amuse.
A January story tells of 鈥淗elpful Husband鈥� renting a 鈥渢iger torch鈥� to clean away weeds in a newly acquired, overgrown garden. 鈥淚聽knew nothing of the project until I 鈥� heard the fire trucks.鈥�
Every few pages, there is a quote to ponder: 鈥淕ardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes鈥� 鈥� (author unknown).
Best of all, this attractive journal is a gentle reminder to pay attention to and appreciate our gardens.
Inquire at bookstores and garden centres for Three Year Gardener鈥檚 Gratitude Journal or order it directly from donnabalzer.com/garden-journal/. The website gives more information about the publication and pictures inside pages.
