Dear Helen: Are optimal storage conditions for onions and potatoes the same? I have only one place for keeping these two vegetables over the winter.
B.K.
Ideal conditions for storing potatoes and onions are similar, with differences mainly in optimal levels of humidity. Onions prefer cold (2 to 4 C), dry conditions with humidity levels 60 to 70 per cent.
Potatoes prefer cold, moist conditions with around the same temperatures as onions but at 80 to 90 per cent humidity.
I too have only one cold storage area, in a small storeroom attached to the house at the end of the carport. For years my Kelsae onions have stored very well there, through to spring. The potatoes often began sprouting earlier than I would like.
Over the years, when I’ve been preparing the soil for spring planting, I’ve discovered potatoes in perfect condition buried in vegetable plots. That led me to begin leaving potatoes in the ground, like the carrots, over the winter. I pile leaves and straw over the tubers in the fall, and add more straw and old row cover or tarps over them if hard freezing weather is predicted.
This in-ground potato storage has worked perfectly in my garden, which is not overly infested with tuber-gnawing soil insects. And the sandy soil drains speedily of excess moisture. This storage method is superbly low-maintenance. With the plantings well marked, it’s a simple matter of “grocery shopping” with a digging fork as the vegetables are needed during the winter.
Dear Helen: Have you ever grown the large-flowered type of sweet pea that is vividly striped and sometimes marked with dark edging against a pale background? I’d never seen one until this past summer. Is seed available?
F.L.
These dramatically marked sweet peas are classed as “Stripe.” I’ve not grown them for a while and some of my usual sources no longer list them. Currently, Florabunda Seeds in Ontario lists Unwin’s Striped Mix and McKenzie Seeds in Brandon lists Streamers, a blend I’ve grown.
Dear Helen: What are the carpets of tiny pink flowers I’ve noticed in some woodland type gardens recently?
乌鸦传媒
They are most likely ivy-leaved cyclamen, which are hardy, tuberous-rooted perennials whose little flowers appear from August to October. When they die down they are replaced with beautifully patterned foliage that lasts all winter. I have them growing under and around rhododendrons. There are white-flowered varieties as well.
The tubers are available in some garden centres for late summer and early fall planting.
Dear Helen: For the first time I noticed flowers on my potato plants this summer. Is this a common occurrence? The flowers were white, and rather inconspicuous.
S.W.
Potatoes do produce flowers, but the blooms are not often showy. They can be white, yellow, red, blue, or purple. The bloom colour is sometimes but not always linked to the skin and flesh colour of the tubers.
Of all the potato varieties I’ve grown, Russian Blue plants have produced the most beautiful flowers in a violet-blue that does somewhat reflect the dark violet purple of the tuber flesh.
GARDEN EVENTS
View Royal meeting. The View Royal Garden Club will meet this evening (Wednesday, Sept. 25) at 7:30 p.m. in Wheeley Hall behind Esquimalt United Church, 500 Admirals Rd. Entrance off Lyall Street. Linda Amy will present “Permaculture for the Home Gardener.” Practical tips will be discussed for making small changes to design a garden suited to your local environment. Non-member drop-in fee $5. More information at .
Cactus and succulent show and sale. The Victoria Cactus and Succulent Society is holding a Fall Show and Sale on Friday, Sept. 27, 12 to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Sept, 28, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Church of the Advent, 510 Mt. View Ave. in Colwood. Admission is free.
Garden symposium. The View Royal Garden Club is celebrating its 75th year since inauguration with a symposium on Saturday, Oct. 5, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the Victoria Scottish Community Centre, 1803 Admirals Rd. Guest speakers will be Jeff de Jong, UVIC Instructor of Landscape Design, and Gary Lewis of Phoenix Perennials. Tickets are available at . Registration $25.
