Although it remains pretty cool, it is getting to be that time. By “that” I mean time to plant at least some of your vegetables, even if you have to put some of them in with the flowers. Lettuces, especially the ones with red outer leaves look quite at home in with say, fibrous begonias or almost anything pink or red.
If you have vegetable beds, wonderful, but if you only have pots or flower beds don’t let that stop you growing some of your own food. Not only will you know you’ve used no pesticides, but there is an amazing amount of satisfaction in announcing during supper, “That lettuce came out of our own garden.” (You may now take a bow!)
You can also plant carrot seed now. Try to space them a little apart, as they are hard to separate later without disturbing them all. You could also plant kohlrabi, storage onions, parsnips, spinach and turnips.
It’s still too early for corn, squashes, melons, tomatoes and peppers, although if you are fortunate enough to have a greenhouse, you could plant tomatoes, squashes and cucumbers in pots inside, to go outside in May when it is warm.
I tell this true story every spring. We knew a man who didn’t plant a thing in his vegetable garden until the 24th of May and he always had a magnificent crop of everything you can imagine.
Then there is my cousin’s wife’s vegetable garden which is very like a tropical forest. Things in it are indecently huge, almost embarassingly big and voluptious. They are planted in raised beds full of a mixture of clay soil, seaweed and horse manure. They live near a beach and have two horses, so their fertilizer is inexpensive, but oh so potent.
This brings me to a request from the 4-H club who once again this year will have bags of rotted manure for sale.
The Saanich Peninsula 4-H Club is again this year, fundraising by selling bagged steer manure, a natural fertilizer, at $3.50 a bag. Please order by April 10. Delivery will be April 16 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Contact Susy Chung-Smith at 250-652-1682 or email cows4-Hockey@shaw.ca.
Helen Lang has been the Peninsula News Review’s garden columnist for more than 25 years.