Many among us are hankering for warm and sunny beach weather, but the moderate temperatures this month have been a blessing for gardeners with a backlog of seeds and transplants long delayed in the planting by April night temperatures that were too cool.
Coolish spring weather has prolonged bloom in spring-flowering shrubs and trees. The rhododendrons have been glorious. A big, old Cynthia has filled my kitchen sink window with its huge pink flower trusses.
Another Cynthia, in the front garden, has become enormous and full of bloom. It’s a younger plant, made from a “layered” branch rooted while still attached to its parent plant by my kitchen window.
Cool weather has fostered the growth of more big, succulent miner’s lettuce plants than I’ve ever seen before on the property. The plants have been fat and juicy even in the dry forest clearing behind the garden shed. I’ve been sharing the succulent, lilypad-like leaves and their juicy stems with friends for weeks.
Last year’s mid-May heat wave fried the young pea and carrot plantings. This year, both are thriving. The first double row of shelling peas that I planted, in early April, is up and growing well. The second, similar planting made two weeks after the first has germinated well and starting to develop. The two double rows are arranged one metre apart for easy covering with shade cloth if needed.
At one end of the two double rows is a tall planting of garlic, made last fall. At the other is a short, double row of broad beans, now well over knee high.
Shelling pea vines trained vertically on wire offer useable spaces for small plants to grow along the pea vine bases. I’m trying three varieties of corn salad, for comparison, as edging for one of the outside edges of the two pea plantings. Alongside the pea plant bases are also lettuce transplants, some ready to harvest, and a row of both curly and broad-leaved endive.
The dog that nearly died. As I opened the front gate to drive into town, I noticed my neighbour Deanna heading my way. She wanted to speak with me about mushrooms that had sprouted on properties around us.
Deanna came home one day recently to see one of her two dearly loved dogs ill, in a state of near coma. Off to the vet, who pumped and flushed Raven out to find she’d eaten mushrooms. Raven recovered, but it was a near thing. It sent Deanna on a mission to dig out the dangerous mushrooms, identified as one of the Amanita species, in the neighbourhood. Since then, I’ve found and disposed of more on my property.
There are several Amanita mushroom species that grow on Vancouver Island. There is a helpful list with photos at westcoastforager.com. The ones in my area are either fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) or panther cap (A. pantheroides). I suspect the latter, because the fly agaric is more often seen in its red form and the neighbourhood mushrooms are brown. They both have white spots.
Both appear in spring and through the summer. Panther cap is common on forest floors, after rains. These mushrooms are toxic, and can cause very unpleasant symptoms in humans and more severe reactions in smaller creatures, like dogs.
I had never paid much attention to the mushrooms that sprout in my garden. Deanna’s and Raven’s experience has changed that.
GARDEN EVENTS
Sooke tour. The Sooke Philharmonic Society’s fundraising Sooke Secret Garden Tour will return, after a four-year absence, on Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a free outdoor Garden Concert on Sunday, 4:30, at 3183 Robinson Rd. The self-guided tour will be of eight private gardens, where there will be musical performers, artists and artisans, vendors, and master gardeners. Some garden owners will have plants for sale. Special destinations include Artisan’s Garden, Woodside Farm, and the Sooke Region Museum, where tickets will be available on tour day. Pharmasave Sooke is another ticket source. Or order tickets ($40) at sookephil.ca/sookegardentour.
Abkhazi Garden. Abkhazi Garden and Teahouse, 1964 Fairfield Rd., are open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with last entrance at 4 p.m. Reservations are recommended for the Teahouse. Call 250-896-0864. From May through September, local artists will be painting in the garden from 11a.m. to 4pm.
