NEWS FROM THE IRLY GARDEN CENTRE – by Bridgite Messer
Easter Weekend Hours: Open 9am-5pm on Saturday, Closed for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Regular hours resume on Monday. Also, starting on Monday the Garden Centre will be staffed so you can go directly there for any needed garden supplies. We will return to Sunday hours for May and June.
Information for Gardening in April
For Gold River, we can’t even consider bedding plants until at least mid May. But this is a perfect time to work on perennials. (The plants that come back every year) You can divide your own or plant new ones.
For those who are interested in getting more varieties of perennials, a great selection has arrived! They are in root stock and bulb form. Snow won’t hurt them and early spring is the ideal for planting. Those who bought bulbs last fall will know about Colourful Companions, a product line offering a variety of plants designed to not only look good together but grow well together. Perennials, such as iris, phlox, rudbeckia, peonies, echinacea, lilies, hosta, bleeding hearts; plus a selection of native plants and wild flowers are ready to plant right now allowing time for blooms this year.
Seed potatoes are also here. These are not the average spuds but gourmet varieties like French fingerling, Russian blues and organic seed potatoes like Carlita and Mozaart. Some varieties of seeds can be sown directly right now and others can be started early to be put outside when they are safe. This year we are introducing West Coast Seeds and will appreciate feedback on how they perform. Jiffy pellets make early starting very easy. Basically you just put a seed into the pellet (a medium of soil designed for optimum germination), add water, and voila! That’s it!
Last month, I mentioned that it was a good month to start your general cleanup and to lime the lawn, so even under the snow the soil can sweeten up for a great summer lawn. So now, the grass is already growing and will appreciate some fertilizer. Lawn care can be an extensive subject, but to keep it simple, every lawn in Gold River appreciates being fed because soil nutrient is washed away in the rain. It is the easiest and fastest way to make a lawn green and lush.
Since we are at the time of year when gardeners are investing in plants it is good to know about zones. Many people have asked me about Gold River’s gardening zone. First, be aware that Canada’s zones are not the same as the USA. The American hardiness zones are based strictly on temperature, whereas the Canadian hardiness zones are based on winter temperature, maximum summer temperature, length of the growing season, summer rainfall, wind and snow cover. You’ve probably noticed that we are often 3-4 weeks behind Campbell River for spring’s arrival. This is one aspect that affects our zoning. Despite that, the easiest guide is still average temperature – especially winter:
Zone 5 is -29c to -23c
Zone 6 is -23 to -18
Zone 7 is -18 to -12
Zone 8 is -12 to -7
Zone 9 is -7 to -1
I have lived in Gold River for 38 years and I’ve experienced winters in each of these zones. Gold River is on record in 1980 (Environment Canada) for -19C; I think off the record, even colder. I have successfully grown zone 7 and 8 plants for several years in a row – but the cold eventually gets them. To complicate things, Gold River winters often expose plants to freezing and thawing many times throughout the winter. In considering all of this, I usually tend to invest in zone 5 to 6 plants as the main skeleton of the garden and allow myself to experiment in the spaces around them. You can achieve amazing results. Bear in mind that every garden also has its own little micro climates. A nicely protected southern exposure could be the ideal place for something quite exotic.
One more topic which is important for the beginning of the season is having the right tools for the right job. This can make the difference between making gardening fun or not. There are three tools, not everyone thinks of, that I would not be without. One is the garden edger: a very simple inexpensive tool, but makes all the difference to your curb appeal when lawns and beds are nicely edged. For weeding, which can be a terrible chore, a scuttle, or also known as a grizzly, hoe makes this job real easy. Its loop design slips through the roots of the weeds(without bending over), killing them instantly making it easier to lightly rake or just pick them up off of the ground. It also loosens and aerates soil. Lastly, I would never be without a wheelbarrow. It easily wheels from bed to bed, holds the tools, the weeds, and, in my case, the dog.
Try to start early before too many shoots are up that can be damaged when cleaning up last year’s dead material. Keep an eye on the weather forecast to plan the garden jobs on a fair day. After all, the whole idea is to have fun and enjoy making your outside home special.
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