Pacific Giant Delphiniums

I gave in to an impulse purchase the other day.  I was at Ontario Seed in Waterloo, and I saw seeds for Pacific Giant delphiniums. In fact I had wanted to get Pacific Giant seeds or plants for some time, but I could only find on offer the shorter varieties of delphiniums which are much more popular nowadays. It is understandable that the tall Pacific Giants would not be as much in demand. They take a lot of room, snap easily in the wind and are heavy feeders. However, it seems to me that the very essence of the delphinium is to be big and stately. When well grown, these giant strains look spectacular.

Wild Life in the Garden

Being right next to a Canadian national park with very few people living around, we see a lot of wild life at Roche fleurie: bears, deer, Sandhill cranes, wild turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, porcupines and raccoons. Besides these, there are the animals you very rarely see, but are always around, such as foxes and coyotes. Raccoons are the only major pest in the garden. We have rabbits, not the small eastern cottontails most common throughout southern Ontario, but the larger snowshoe hares with brown fur in summer that turns completely white in winter to blend in with the snow. They even blend in on patchy snow: in the fall their legs are the first part of their body to turn white, so they become invisible between patches of grass when there is snow on the ground. 

Lettuce We Grow

Because we eat a lot of lettuce, we grow a lot. We have tried numerous varieties over the years, and here are the ones which we like best and which do best at Roche Fleurie.

Our “basic” lettuce, the one we seed regularly to make sure we always have some available and on which we rely throughout the growing season, is a German variety called Kagraner Sommer 2. It is a Bibb or Butterhead type lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata), which means that it makes a head but, in my experience, not a very big one, and is much looser than, say, that of Iceberg lettuce. The colour is yellow green. It is a delicious lettuce and very slow to bolt.

Our Very Own Weeds

It is only when you have had more than one garden and have looked more closely at your friends’s gardens that you realize how specific to each garden weeds are. Of course there are weeds we all share, such as dandelions, but each garden has some weeds of its own. I have had two gardens, and the weeds were quite different in each of them.

Overwintering Rosemary

For many years, I had at least one rosemary plant which I would take indoors for the winter. On the whole, rosemary bushes do not like spending the winter in a dry house. In such an environment, they hold on to life for a year or two, but soon give up the ghost.
A few years ago, I discovered that the most important way to succeed in overwintering a rosemary plant is to make sure it is stored in a humid-enough environment. Strangely, for a plant that originates in the Mediterranean, it can actually do without light for months, but not without humidity. I discovered that when I was going away for the good part of a winter. In late November, I potted up my rosemary and stored it in a crawlspace where there is no light, quite a bit of humidity and temperatures that do not reach the freezing point. I had little hope that the plant would survive but, to my amazement, it came out in the spring looking much better than it ever had done after a winter indoors. All it needed before another season out in the garden was a bit of trimming.

Seedy Saturday

I spent the morning of Saturday, February 23rd at Seedy Saturday in Kitchener (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedy_Sunday). The main focus of these events is a seed exchange. You collect seeds from your garden and bring them in to exchange with other gardeners. In Kitchener, Seedy Saturday is organized by the local Master Gardeners and is done informally. You leave your seeds on a table and pick from it any seed you want. There are also gardening lectures and several businesses offering mostly seeds and plants, but also gardening books or tools. Groups such as Seed of Diversity are also represented. These groups and the seed companies usually put some of their seeds on the exchange table.

For me, the greatest attraction is the people. Having been a member of this Master Gardener group for over 15 years, it is a yearly opportunity to meet with old friends. I also enjoy chatting with other gardeners about successes and failures and our experience growing some of the plant varieties offered. You can get some useful tips. This year, Mary-Anne Weiler (the lady in a white top on the right), who set up the Kitchener Master Gardener group many years ago, strongly recommended to me "Tricolor Carrots" from Renee's Garden which I made sure to buy. My best gardening friend, Gwynned Brundrett (with the blue top), who was giving a lecture, has been with the group ever since it was created.
As usual, I got quite a few packages of seeds. This year, there was a very good selection of heirloom tomatoes. I got several varieties which I want to try.

Blind Labels

I use a great many plant labels. First I use them in the flower beds to identify new plants (old favourites do not need a name tag). I use them with vegetables, for instance, to remind me where a row of carrots was seeded before they come up, and to list the variety. Most of my labels though identify the numerous plants I start from seed in the spring.

I have tried the various kinds of labels that are offered for sale. The wooden ones have the advantage that you can write on them with a pencil and as long as the written part is out of the ground, it will remain legible. However the end of the label that is stuck in the soil breaks down in one season and any writing in contact with wet soil disappears. The thin copper labels are very permanent but very hard to read after a few years. They come with a tie and they are too thin to stick in the ground. The zinc ones held on a wire stem are very good but too expensive to use extensively.

Plastic labels can last a few years in the shade. The more exposed to sunlight, the faster they get brittle. You can also write on them with a pencil (preferably a grease pencil). Usually, one side of the label is less shiny than the other and is easier to write on. The use of a pencil allows you to erase a mistake or even to re-use a label. A permanent marker is ideal when it is indeed permanent. The problem is that some are much less permanent than others, and it is only when the label has sat in the sun and rain for a year that you find out if the ink lived up to expectations.

Seeds Galore

For me, the milestones that mark the beginning and the end of the gardening year are the seed lists sent out by the North American Rock Garden Society and the Ontario Rock Garden and Hardy Plant Society for their respective seed exchanges. Invariably, much of the seed I get through these exchanges end up not sprouting or if they germinate I can’t carry the plants to maturity. However, at the ordering stage, all is hope and expectations, every seed I select seems bound to do well and sending out my seed orders is fine way of ending the gardening year on a high note.