A curved edging of Provence lavender, once again this year, has surprised me. The plants have grown even more broad and tall than last year — well past their usual height of one metre. The rose bushes in the small bed edged by the lavender are blooming through a veil of the fragrant, flowering wands.
Last summer, the fragrance was so powerful in the Provence florets that I felt compelled to use them. Dried and brushed from the stems, the florets provided many sachets to give away at Christmas. I wonder whether the fragrance will be as concentrated this summer.
Two Hybrid Musk roses, Buff Beauty and Ballerina, are carrying impressive clusters and sprays of bloom behind a fragrant curtain of lavender. Not quite the look I’d aimed for, but not without its own charm.
Garden wildlife
Big and baby bunnies are back, in greater numbers than last year. My neighbour Gisela and I are in a contest with them for our latest bean plantings. I’m using every scrap of old wire fencing I can find to protect the plants.
I was sure the rabbits would pounce quickly on flower transplants set out into a front garden plot. The only possible deterrent I could think of was crushed egg shells, which I keep on hand in the garden shed. I sprinkled them liberally around all the young plants which, so far, have developed unmunched.
Last week as I was tidying some vegetable plots, I set up a simple round sprinkler to create a small, gentle fountain of water to keep a few plot edges from drying out.
Soon after the water came on I heard the familiar whir of hummingbirds. A pair of them, attracted to the water, were darting in and out of the spray edges, with periods of rest on adjacent wire fencing that supported cucumber vines.
Hosting Nature’s creatures is both a challenge and a perk of caring for a garden.
Bug patrol
And then there are stink bugs. The raspberry plants have been festooned with them, in all stages of development from small, dark things to green and black and then the fully mature ones that are broadly shield-shaped and bright green.
Several other kinds of stink bugs include brown and gray ones.
I’m slowly developing a technique of quickly snatching them off the berries and leaves before, disturbed, they either fly away or drop straight to the ground. I drop them into a container of soapy water. Another method is to hold the container directly below the bug and then disturb it enough to drop down into the water.
Don’t do that when picking berries. Keep the container of picked berries away from the plants, lest a stink bug drop down into it, ruining any berries that had been gathered.
A 'cutting' garden
It was a struggle to keep new kale transplants alive in the heat, even with cardboard shading. The six main plants, the ones that will stay in the garden and yield their greens until late next spring, are now beautifully established.
After the six were planted, I decided to create a plot for “cutting greens” with the remaining transplants. Next to them, I seeded a short block of the kale seeds I had left. Now, for the next few weeks, I’ll have delicious “baby” kale to enjoy.
In an earlier column I mentioned my son’s practice of cooking regular potato and sweet potato together, and mashing them with lightly cooked, chopped greens. Several enthusiastic emails ensued.
Michael says that adding lightly cooked greens to mashed potatoes and yams (that had been steamed tender with garlic cloves) has become an instant family favourite and an easy meal. Gail chops young kale leaves into scrambled eggs. Others use them in smoothies. I value kale for its many uses and long-term yields of nutritious greens.
GARDEN EVENTS
Qualicum meeting. The Qualicum Beach Garden Club will meet on Tuesday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the QB Civic Centre, 747 Jones St. Members are invited to gather for a social evening at this final meeting before a summer break. qualicumbeachgardenclub.ca.
Plant sales. The Friends of Government House Gardens Society open the Plant Nursery, across from the Tea Room at Government House, 1401 Rockland Ave. in Victoria, from Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Most of the plants are sold for $8, payable by debit or credit cards only.
