I’ve been paying special attention to the carrots and shelling peas this spring, both plantings having been fried by the unusually high heat in May of last year. Until last year, I’d always managed to grow enough of these staple vegetables to see me through to the following spring. Apart from rabbit-nibbling of a few pea plants, both plantings are doing well.
In the midst of this busy planting season, I deemed it a bit of a triumph to accomplish an early weeding of the carrot bed, before the small, ferny plants became overwhelmed by vigorous weeds.
I added bok choy to the carrot bed this year, because there was room and bok choy, like the carrots, needs row cover protection against insect pests. Grouping plantings that need this insect protection together, under one cover, simplifies their care. Bok choy is a vegetable I use regularly in preparing meals. It adds a juicy crunch to salads.
Birds and bees
As I sit beside a large window at the old kitchen table that serves as my desk, I watch with pleasure as bees work their way along a ferny-leaved planting of Corydalis growing in a brick planter across the front of the house. There has been a gratifying amount of bee activity as well in the kale flowers and rhododendrons, and in a rosemary hedge starting to flower.
Walking into the back garden can be startling, as birds, disturbed, rise sharply from ground-level resting places. Their songs bring music to the garden. Even the squawking of their domestic squabbles are amusing.
Nuthatches are back nesting in an old snag across a path from the kiwi vines and next to a sitting-out spot. That pair of small birds flew noisily to the ground, almost at my feet recently, chattering vigorously to each other before flying off. I wonder what the “discussion” was about.
June is here
The month now upon us is thought of as the month of roses, flowers whose beauty and fragrance delight gardeners. June begins the lily season with the upward-facing Asiatics and brings on the big crepe-paper blossoms of Oriental poppies.
Peonies, delphiniums, irises and hardy geraniums are part of the June scene. The first summer-flowering clematis vines begin to bloom. Climbing hydrangeas create walls of big, lacy flower clusters. The scent of honeysuckle perfumes the garden.
I relish all the crispy-fresh green salad vegetables that flourish in the June garden — green and red lettuces of many kinds along with the “bitter” greens that I like adding to salads, often together with pieces of fruit as sweetener. Cut-up pieces of roasted fig halves, stored in the freezer, are perfect.
I grow both frizzy (curly) and broad-leaved endive (escarole). These are among the nutrient-dense bitter greens that have many health benefits.
On June 20, we will have the year’s longest day to revel in the month’s bounty.
Catch up and look forward
In my large garden, June is a time of catch up as I scurry to complete spring plantings. Often, annual flowers in the front garden are among the final major spring plantings. Marigolds will predominate this year, in hopes that the plants will not appeal to the pair of rabbits that are regular visitors t the garden.
I start seeds of winter and over-wintering cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower this month and make second sowings of zucchini and a summer sprouting broccoli called Aspabroc. These promise to extend seasons of fine eating considerably.
GARDEN EVENTS
VHS meeting. The Victoria Horticultural Society will meet on Tuesday, June 4, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. Bryan Emery, proprietor of Bryan’s Specialty Plants nursery, will offer a workshop at 6:30 on getting orchids to rebloom. At 8 he will present “All About Pelargoniums.” Non-member drop-in fee $5. vichortsociety.org
Dahlia meeting. The Victoria Dahlia Society will meet on Thursday, June 6, at 7 p.m. in St. Michael’s Church, 4733 West Saanich Rd. Award-winning hybridizer Connie Young-Davis will explain how to successfully grow your newly planted dahlias. Visitors are welcome.
Children’s programs. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd., offers numerous programs aimed at connecting children and youth to plants and the natural world. They include garden workshops, camps, family adventures and more. For information, visit hcp.ca/home/hcp-kids-youth-programs.
