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Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: Crocuses spread in two different ways

Crocus corms expand into clumps by forming little offset corms beside the parent corm

Dear Helen: How do crocuses spread to form carpets of the plants? Surely the bulbs (corms?) can’t travel.

P.C.

Crocuses can spread in two ways. Over the years, the corms themselves expand into clumps by forming little offset corms beside the parent corm. As they develop, the baby corms develop into flowering size, turning each corm you planted into an expanding clump of bloom. That is why, for long-term effect, a 10-cm space left between the corms when planting is recommended.

The very early blooming “snow” or botanical crocuses in my garden produce seed pods following bloom. The pods look like little football-shaped formations on short, stocky stems. Over the spring the pods turn from green to tan, prior to opening and shedding their seeds. That’s how I acquired carpets of late winter and early spring crocus flowers covering a corner of my back garden.

I’ve not observed the large-flowered, later Dutch crocuses spreading themselves around in the same way.

Dear Helen: A friend gave me some pepper plants she’d grown from seed. They looked in good condition when I brought them home, but after I transplanted them to a container on my deck they began to develop tan and whitish blotches on the leaves. What could have caused this?

L.E.

This has been a common, weather-related problem through the spring, which was mainly cold and rainy. Plants, especially young transplants, did not have much of a chance to build resistance to heat and direct sun. When the sun did come out and shine directly on vulnerable plants, a certain amount of sunscald was bound to occur.

I expect a few of us humans will experience a similar misfortune if we suddenly bare our skin to direct, hot sun following a long, chilly and wet spring.

As our plants mature and temperatures rise (gradually I hope), sunscald problems should lessen. Keep soils adequately watered, and protect exposed soils with loose, cooling mulches.

Young plants will outgrow sunscald injuries, but watch damaged areas because plant diseases sometimes infect the damaged tissues. Remove affected leaves if they display further discolouration or rounded, sunken areas.

Dear Helen: Newly transplanted lettuce seedlings disappeared from my netted garden boxes this spring. There were no slug trails or shredded leaves left as clues to the source of the problem.

S.C.

When entire seedlings disappear, leaving no shreds, rabbits and deer would normally be the prime suspects, but I presume the netting is secured well enough over your plots to exclude them.

I’ve had small lettuce transplants melt quickly into the soil in cold, wet spring conditions. If your seedlings were small, and the weather was still rainy and cold and the soil wet, that could have been the problem.

Cutworms are capable of consuming entire small seedlings. Where plants have been toppled or have disappeared, dig around in the soil, looking for fat, greasy looking grey or brown caterpillars that curl into a C when disturbed.

Dear Helen: My beets are refusing to grow in a soil amply enriched with compost and generous supplies of fertilizer. What could be wrong? We are new to the Island. Most of what I’ve planted is doing well.

R.E.

This is a common problem in climates like ours with plentiful rainfall that leaches alkaline elements like calcium and magnesium out of the soil, leaving it acidic.

In the acidic to alkaline “pH” scale of 1 to 14, 7 is considered neutral. Lower numbers indicate the degree of acidity. Many nutrients are locked up and unavailable to plants in soils that are too acidic or too alkaline. For most plants, a just slightly acidic soil with a pH of 6.5 is ideal. Beets will not thrive in soils with a lower pH.

In preparing a plot to grow beets, add Dolopril, a pelleted, fast-acting form of dolomite lime to the soil along with compost and a balanced fertilizer.

GARDEN EVENT

VHS meeting. The Victoria Horticultural Society will meet on Tuesday, July 5, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. Dave Fraser, founder of Fraser’s Thimble Farms on Salt Spring Island, will speak about growing Brugmansias. Fraser’s Thimble Farms specializes in rare, unusual, and native plants. Masks are required in the Garth Homer Centre. Doors open at 6:30 for those who would like some social time before the meeting. Non-member drop-in fee $5. vichortsociety.org.