Call me weird if you will, but I think my newly sprouted bed of garlic is beautiful — all cleaned up now, and full of promise. Those little shoots will grow strong and tall before they begin to die back in early summer, having done their work of fuelling energy into the formation of fat bulbs full of juicy, tangy cloves to flavour foods and enhance health.
Those first sprouts are also, to me, symbols of and prompts toward a new growing season. Shortly after weeding and mulching the sprouted garlic earlier in the month, I planted two short rows of Exhibition Longpod broad beans from Salt Spring Seeds. In the same bed, as soon as they arrive I’ll plant another two rows, of Witkiem, a productive broad bean variety from William Dam Seeds.
In the same bed, which will house this fall’s garlic planting, I seeded three rows of corn salad, to grow under a clear, rectangular dome I was given. That seeding time is a little earlier than my usual, though in centuries past it was customary to seed corn salad on Ash Wednesday, which was this week.
My last year’s late summer corn salad seeding came through the winter and should give me useable rosettes of small, spoon-shaped leaves soon. In times past, the highly nutritious leaves, with their nutty flavour and chewy texture, were a passable and popular substitute for the meat that was forbidden during Lent.
Circular economy. Times Colonist readers will have seen the Feb. 12 Islander feature story: “Wool Woes.” I had a particular interest in it because I’d written a late January column on fertilizer pellets made from sheep’s wool that my son had given me.
One outcome of that column was an email from Leanna Maksymiuk, who makes the pellets on her Waste Not Wool ranch in Lumby, near Vernon. Several people had sent her my column on the pellets.
The email arrived three days before publication of the Islander article, which included a full page showing Leanna, her pellet manufacturing machine, and the pellets.
Wool fertilizer pellets have been produced and used for decades in Europe. Leanna began making them just last June. The Islander article suggests that she hopes to develop a waste-wool depot on the Island.
Her website (wastenotwool.com) declares her business to be “a proud member of B.C.’s circular economy.” She cites the benefits of the pellets. They increase a soil’s moisture retention, a key issue as extended periods of summer drought become common. The pellets add organic matter and nutrients to soils, and they save thousands of pounds of wool from being placed on landfills and burnpiles.
It makes me wonder how many more of the “throw-away” items that abound in our wasteful society could be transformed into something equally useful.
GARDEN EVENTS
Rose meeting. The Mid Island Rose Society will meet on Monday, 1 to 3 p.m. in North Island Library on Hammond Bay Rd. in Nanaimo.
Gordon Head meeting. The Gordon Head Garden Club will meet on Wednesday, 7 to 9 p.m. in the Gordon Head Lawn Bowling Club, 4105 Lambrick Way. The meeting will include a brainstorming session on future directions for the club. Visitors are welcome.
Growing groceries. The Compost Education Centre, 1216 North Park St. in Victoria, is offering a workshop on growing your own groceries on Saturday, March 4, 1 to 3 p.m. This is a “crash course” for beginners wanting to start growing their own fresh produce and for experienced gardeners wanting to pick up new tips. Soil health, site selection, growing from seeds and transplants, timing and more will be covered. For more information and registration, call 250-386-9676, email office@compost.bc.ca, or go online at compost.bc.ca/publicworkshops.
Pruning fruit trees. Bernie Dinter of Dinter Nursery, 2205 Phipps Rd. in Duncan, will lead a demonstration of Basic Fruit Tree Pruning on Saturday, March 4, 10 to 11 a.m. Dress for this outdoor event. There is no charge and no registration is required.
Seedy in Courtenay. The Comox Valley Growers & Seed Savers are presenting a Seedy Saturday event on March 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Florence Filberg Centre in Courtenay — the go-to place that day for picking up seeds and gardening supplies. Visit cvgss.org/events and click on About Our Vendors for a colour profile of participating venodors.
