Dear Helen: I’m wondering whether sweet potato cuttings are available locally. When should they be planted and do home-grown sweet potatoes store well?
T.S.
Bella’s Berries and Farm Fresh Produce in Brentwood Bay (250-652-3082) is now selling sweet potato cuttings. I’ll place your question in a column, in case that brings additional sources to my attention.
Pre-warm the soil with plastic and plant in the warmth of May once soil temperatures no longer dip below 10 C. Plant right into holes cut in the plastic.
I still have some of last year’s sweet potatoes in good condition, though a few of the smaller ones have begun to sprout. The secret is to cure the harvested tubers in moist heat for 10 to 14 days. I’ll have details of the curing process in a September or early October column.
Dear Helen: I misplaced the recipe for a rhubarb pie that you featured in a column last year. I would appreciate your repeating it. I’m sure other gardener-cooks would like to try it too.
M.G.
Dear M.G.: I think you mean the rhubarb meringue pie I discovered last spring. In recent weeks, as I’ve observed the surging growth of my rhubarb plants, I have been thinking with acute anticipation of that recipe. Here it is.
Rhubarb Meringue Pie
This meringue is a delicious use for the spring rhubard harvest.
For the crust:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup flour
1 to 2 Tbsp icing sugar
For the filling:
4 cups rhubarb, chopped
3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whipping cream (or coconut milk, sold in health food store coolers.)
For the meringue:
3 egg whites
3 to 4 Tbsp sugar
Combine the butter, flour and icing sugar and press into a nine-inch pie pan. Bake at 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes.
Separate three egg yolks, reserving the whites for the meringue. Beat together the egg yolks, 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup whipping cream and 4 cups of chopped rhubarb. Pour mixture into the baked crust. Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes or until set.
For the meringue, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 3 to 4 Tbsp sugar and beat to glossy peaks. Pile onto pie and bake until the meringue is lightly browned.
GARDEN EVENTS
Hardy plant meeting. The Victoria Hardy Plant Group will meet today at 7 p.m. in Knox Presbyterian Church, 2964 Richmond Rd. Diane Pearce will give her insights on Attractive Foliage Combinations for the Garden. Everyone is welcome. Drop-in fee is $5.
View Royal meeting. The View Royal Garden Club will meet today at 7:30 p.m. in Shoreline Community School, 2750 Shoreline Dr. The presentation will be on companion planting in the rhododendron garden. Visitors and new members are welcome.
Sooke meeting. The Sooke Garden Club meets today at 7 p.m. in St. Rose of Lima Church, 2191 Townsend Rd. in Sooke. Bob Duncan of Fruit Trees and More will speak about Apples, Pears and Quinces.
Plant sales on Saturday, April 25:
• Victoria Dahlia Society tuber and plant sale, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 2945 Jacklin Rd.
• Sooke Garden Club, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Sooke’s Evergreen Centre.
• ALM Organic Farm and Full Circle Seeds plant and seed sale, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 3680 Otter Point Rd. in Sooke.
• Mill Bay Plantaholics sale, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2836 Oceanside Lane in Mill Bay. Details at 250-743-0965 or [email protected].
• Eswyn’s Alpine & Rock Garden at Nanoose Place, 2925 Northwest Bay Rd. in Nanoose, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific’s spring plant pale Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich.
• Milner Gardens and Woodland’s spring plant sale on Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2179 West Island Hwy. in Qualicum Beach
