Dear Helen: Where did the term “Bibb” come from in regard to lettuce? Are Bibb lettuces the same as butter and Boston lettuces?
R.J.
Butter, or butterhead, lettuce, also called Boston lettuce, is named for its buttery, “melt-in-the-mouth” texture. Butter lettuces have rounded heads, with soft, crumpled leaves.
Bibb lettuces are smaller, darker butterheads. They form loose rosettes that resemble an open rose. They are believed to have originated with a 19th-century grower in Kentucky, Major John (Jack) Bibb, who developed the variation from Boston lettuces.
The Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalogue has separate listings for butterhead and Bibb lettuce varieties. They describe the Bibb lettuces as being of the “highest eating quality.”
Dear Helen: Should leaves be shredded before being added to a compost heap or stored for future mulching?
B.C.
Shredding is recommended if you want the leaves to decompose rapidly for making “leaf mould” more quickly than would happen using whole leaves. Shredded or mowed-over leaves also decompose more quickly in a compost heap, though I find whole leaves, mixed into a heap, decompose well. Speed of decomposition is more of a factor to consider in spring and summer, when conditions are optimum for rapid composting.
For placing on bare areas of soil as protection over the winter, whole leaves are more effective. Stored in bags or covered containers, the leaves can be brought out in cold winter weather to place as a insulating layer around the bases of winter vegetables (leeks, cabbages, sprouting broccoli, over-wintering cauliflower) and over root crops.
Dear Helen: We have a bed, roughly two-by-30 metres, with long-established rhododendrons, pieris, small maples and bedding plants, all neglected for years. We need to somehow replenish the hardened ground around the mature plants and have sprinkled lime except in areas with acid-loving plants. Can you give us some guidelines on revitalizing the appearance of the bed?
M.L.
I’d begin with an assessment of the planting. Consider digging up and disposing of irksomely overgrown, obviously ailing, unsightly and generally displeasing specimens. Clean emptied spaces, dig the soil over, and think over the winter about what sorts of replacement plants would bring the most delight as you address the appearance of the remaining ones.
If you are attached to most or all of the plants and plan to retain them, move on to a little tidying. Shorten overgrown stems and branches, but wait until late winter and early spring for major pruning. Prune the spring-flowering shrubs right after they finish blooming.
Lightly cultivate the soil around the plants and lay a bit of mulching material, such as shredded leaves or compost, just as winter soil protection. Do a major mulching in early spring, using a generous layer of a nourishing, soil-plumping compost.
Dear Helen: In my home, I have a lovely palm that I want to keep in its current fine condition. I’m wondering now whether the plant should be repotted.
P.S.
Palms do best with their roots kept fairly crowded. A general rule of thumb is to repot when roots begin edging their way out of the pot’s drainage hole(s). That is usually no more often than every three years.
At this point in the year, it is best to leave house plants alone and reduce watering. Winter is the time to just keep them alive. If a plant needs repotting, do it in the spring, as fresh growth begins. Use a pot only one size up from the plant’s current one and position the plant at the same depth it was before.
Early spring is also a good time to give house plants a tidying and a bit of a spring clean. Wipe dust off the leaves, and replenish a top layer of soil mix.
Garden Events
Mixing It Up Beauty & the Beast. Only 12 spots remain for Victoria Master Gardener Association’s Beauty & the Beast event on Feb. 2, with Glynn Percival, U.K. — Those Lurking Beneath; Janis Matson, Vancouver — Mood: Beautiful … Colour, Light and Sound; Claudia Copley, Victoria — The Good, the Bad and the Merely Ugly; Paul Hervey — Brookes, U.K. — Plants: RHS Award of Garden Merit. Information and registration at mixingitup.org.
