Cool spring buys us time to prepare
The long, drawn-out chill of our West Coast spring can be a frustration for those craving warmth, and a blessing for some gardeners. Overnight temperatures that stay cold and mainly cool days slow the advancement of growth enough to buy us time for the springtime cleaning, weeding and plot preparation tasks that crowd the season.
March this year played out in typical spring-in-slow-motion fashion. Spring flowers on the patio have lasted in sprightly condition over many weeks. Overwintered vegetables have matured at a stately pace, slowly enough for full, well-spaced enjoyment.
The overwintered cauliflowers have been a special pleasure this spring. The last Purple Cape head I harvested, toward the end of March, measured 15 cm across — a delectable beauty with sweet, juicy stems and florets.
April. In our benign climate, April is almost always the “green light” month for home gardeners, when all flowers and vegetables except for extreme heat lovers can be planted. Take pleasure in the warming weather as you consider these April projects. • Prune spring-flowering shrubs, such as forsythia, right after the bloom period. • Finish seeding or transplanting root vegetables, cabbage family vegetables, peas, green salad vegetables, calendula, poppies, snapdragon, alyssum and nasturtium. Plant seed potatoes, gladiolus corms and dahlia roots. • Seed basil, marigold, zinnia, cucumber, squash, pumpkin and melon indoors, or buy transplants later for moving into the garden, along with tomatoes and peppers, next month when the weather has warmed and nighttime low temperatures no longer dip below 10 C. • Clean and weed perennial beds. Dig and divide broadly overgrown, congested clumps. Replant only the youngest portions taken from along the edge of a clump. Mulch the beds with compost. • Look for spaces in the ornamental garden that would accommodate new plants. Visit favourite local garden centres and browse for treasures. • Clean and weed strawberry beds. Remove a few of the oldest plants — ones with the thickest “necks” at the base of the foliage. Mulch with compost.
Sweet peas. Flower of the month for April is the sweet pea, beloved for its charming blooms and delicious scent. Aptly enough, in the language of flowers the sweet pea signifies “delicate pleasures.”
The sweet peas we grow have evolved, through painstaking breeding programs, from a Sicilian wild flower first written about in 1697. In 1699, seeds of the flower were sent to England. Before long, “sweet-scented peas,” selections of the wild form, were sold in London. In 1737, the first named variety appeared. It was Painted Lady, a white and pink bocolour still sold today.
West Coast Seeds lists Painted Lady, along with Matucana, another centuries-old variety, one whose small maroon and violet flowers more closely approximate the colouring of the original wild flower.
That these old sweet pea varieties remain popular today is not so surprising; they are easily grown, not prone to fussiness, generous of bloom in a broad range of conditions. Their fragrance is intoxicating.
Beside flamboyant modern versions of the sweet pea, with their large, frilly edged and wavy, streaked and ruffled flowers, the heirlooms speak rather quietly to us, but their simple elegance is refreshing.
Garden Events
Peninsula meeting. The Peninsula Garden Club will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, April 9, in the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. Elizabeth Cull, president of Dig This, will speak about container gardening. The evening includes refreshments, a parlour show, plant stall, library access and raffle. Non-member drop-in fee is $5. Qualicum meeting. The Qualicum Beach Garden Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in the Q.B. Civic Centre on Jones street. Doors open at 7. Diana Walker will present The German-Texan Botanist and Plant Hunter Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer. All are welcome. Non-member drop-in fee is $3. Lily meeting. The Victoria Lily Society will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in the Salvation Army Citadel, 4030 Douglas St. Gord Hutchings will present Dragonflies. Nanaimo meeting. The Nanaimo Horticultural Society will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in First Unitarian Fellowship Hall, 595 Townsite Rd. Dorothea Kieser will speak about Community Gardens. There will be a parlour show with judging of various spring flowers. More information at 250-758-6783.