For the last few years, the main concern for gardeners has been keeping plants alive during unpredictable, sometimes malicious weather patterns brought about by climate change. Finding ways to mitigate the effects of adverse growing conditions while being mindful to reduce our own environmental impact has led to new techniques and practices.
No-dig gardening reduces carbon being released into the atmosphere, while careful irrigation, mulching, plant selection and planting techniques results in less water being required. Row covers and shade cloth help to maintain more even temperatures conducive for healthy plants.
There is a lot of helpful information about sustainability and resilience easily accessible on the internet and other media. These are answers to the big questions of what actions to take when faced with climatic shifts.
But still, there are many more questions raised by gardeners about their individual plants or that are on a local level. And who knows better to answer these than those who live in the qathet region?
To address questions raised by members, Powell River Garden Club’s newsletter publishes garden-related questions and subsequent responses into a Dear Ivy column. Over the last year, Dear Ivy has become a popular way to exchange information and ideas that many find relevant. It is sometimes serious and sometimes funny, but the column is always entertaining.
Gardeners are always happy to share their experiences and knowledge. I have selected a few questions and responses from past columns that are relevant for this time of year.
Get figgy with it
There are many fig trees in qathet! Unfortunately, not everyone reaps the rewards of a tree full of ripe, delectable treats. Bill Smith sent in two questions:
One: “Should you remove figs from the tree when there is no chance of them ripening?”
Answer from Margaret Cooper: You don't need to remove the figs that won't ripen. They are the second crop which are the big crop in warmer climates, but our season is too short. We have to maximize the first (breba) crop which ripens in our summer.
Answer from Michael Stewart: The second crop of figs seldom ripens in this climate. I thought some might ripen this year but only one did. I leave mine on. There is a good but time-consuming recipe for preserving them in a sweet solution at mamastaverna.com/baby-fig-spoon-sweet-sikalaki-gliko. This is the recipe we used with our second crop of figs. We used them with ice cream or yogurt, the English name would be candied figs. It is quite laborious but they are a delicacy when preserved this way.
There are other examples of this Turkish or Greek way of preserving figs. I looked on the internet and there are several other recipes that might be simpler and also recipes for jams using this second crop. There are also other recipes if the “Sikalaki Gliko” is searched. I haven’t made this recipe again; it was good and they lasted for more than a year but it is quite time consuming.
Answer from Ms Ivy: I have grown fig (trees) for many years, treated the trees with years of tender pruning, with scant success. Then tried years of brutal pruning. Figs were a hit or miss. Spoke sweet nothings to the branches, tried swearing. Still there was the harvest of 2018.
Answer from Lesley Moseley: I had two figs in the first (breba) crop that ripened this summer. The tree is now loaded with the second crop, but they will not ripen. The following link is for a recipe for unripe figs preserved in honey: How-to-turn-unripe-figs-into-a-condiment-for-cheese-recipe-zero-waste-cooking. I’m going to give it a try.
Two: Should you regularly trim a fig tree for more growth?
Answer from Diana Wood: I grow two different kinds of figs, but their pruning method is the same. It is a good idea to regularly trim a fig tree’s one-year-old branches to promote next year’s fruiting branches.
Remember to leave two to three buds for forming next year's new branches. When a tree gets too tall, you need to cut back some of the old branches. You won't get fruit from the new branches next year, but you will the year after.
By selectively cutting back the old branches, you will have fruit every year. The fruits only bear on the new branch that arises from last year's growth.
Margaret Cooper answer: We'd need to know which kind of fig before answering the pruning question. Italian honey fig has an entirely different growth pattern from Turkish brown fig. We have an Italian honey fig and we prune it in early spring and have a definite pruning strategy to (a) retain the last-year's shoots that will give the breba crop, and (b) control it from growing up to the sky.
Michael Stewart answer: The speaker we had at the garden club a couple of years ago, Bob Duncan, has a very good video online about pruning figs. Look up Bob Duncan Pruning Figs on YouTube. It is easy to follow and very helpful. And enjoy your early crop next summer.
Gardens in winter
We live in an area that has comparatively mild winters. Some gardeners like their beds to lie dormant through the cold season while others like to continue planting through the winter. Hoping to bypass, or at least minimize the usual harvesting and preserving, a self-confessed lazy but hungry gardener sent in this first question:
One: Do you have some tips you could share about what plants you've had experience with that are winter hardy, that can just stay in the ground until harvested?
Answer from Valerie Lane: I have had good success with Bolero carrots (just finished the last ones) and if I plant enough I can have them until March. I am still digging up parsnips, beets and leeks and picking kale. I can still find potatoes that I missed and are still good. I do have soil that drains well and I cover the veggies with chopped up leaves and the carrots with remay row cover.
Answer from Joyce Rigeaux: I’ve been harvesting kale, arugula, parsley, beets and sorrel through the winter. This spring I want to plant Jerusalem artichokes that stay in the ground, taste delicious, naturalize and produce beautiful large yellow blooms in fall.
Answer from Terry Webster: Coming from the Peace River area of BC, I thought anyone could grow endless lettuce. Nope. Not in Powell River.
The long sunlit cooler days and rich topsoil were gone and when I tried growing lettuce, it quickly bolted here. Then I found Rouge d’Hiver. It’s a winter lettuce that I start early for a spring/summer crop and also plant in the fall, cover with remay cloth and harvest in early spring.
Liane Arnstein answer: I have new raised garden boxes. Instead of laying fallow for the winter, I plan on planting mine up with spinach and swiss chard, both of which have overwintered in previous gardens.
Two: I have a few raised beds that I won't be using for the fall. The beds' last crops were brassicas, root vegetables and alliums. I won't be using the beds over winter but will plant for next spring. What is the best cover crop? Is a nitrogen fixer a good idea?
Answer from Diana Wood: Planting a nitrogen-rich green manure is always a good idea, but you will have to turn the green manure into the soil and wait for two weeks before you can plant in the spring. If I had a large piece of farmland that is what I would do.
But for raised beds, an easier and more effective way is to first spread your and your friends’ kitchen compost on the beds. Then collect all the deciduous leaves from your lawn and your neighbour’s and pile them more than four inches thick on top of the compost. Earthworms and microorganisms will love all the food and warmth for the winter and reward you with productive garden soil to plant next spring. By the way, end-of-season lawn clippings mixed with fallen leaves are the best for anyone’s garden soil and raised beds.
Who doesn’t love roses?
These queens of flowers grace so many qathet gardens with their beauty and charm. Roses are hardy by nature, but they still have their challenges, especially aphid infestations and black spot. Spring and summer are not the only times a gardener can take action, as we see in the responses to these two rose-related questions.
One: Every year my big China rose and heritage roses get black spot. I spend all my summer picking off the affected leaves and disposing of them in the trash and spraying the aphids with soapy water. Even with all their troubles, the roses produce beautiful blooms all summer, but I’d like to do other things with my life. Should I bite the bullet and buy a fungicide this spring for these lovelies?
Answer from Lesley Moseley: My mum, Pauline Moseley, gave me this advice many years ago. In the winter, make sure you remove all the leaves on and around the roses. Give them a bit of a trim.
In the spring, work in epsom salts into the soil around the base. Once the roses begin to get new growth give them their final shaping trim. Epsom salts strengthen the leaves and make them shiny.
Two: I have a David Austin yellow rose. It is in a large pot. It was attacked and eaten by a deer when I first got it. I managed to move it and pot to another location and while it has survived and grown, it persists in having black spot. So far I have given it rose food and picked off the affected leaves, but is there something else I should be doing?
Answer from Lin Morrison: Regarding the David Austin rose, mulch heavily to prevent soil splash up. Provide lots of sun and air circulation. Spray with baking soda, dish soap and water, tops and bottoms of leaves and stem.
Feed generously, a healthy plant is more resilient. Keep picking off affected leaves. But sometimes a rose is just vulnerable. My affected Graham Thomas dwindled year by year until it was gone.
Powell River Garden Club meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month, September to June (except for December). Check us out on Facebook and our Blog at powellrivergardenclubblog.blogspot.com.
Lesley Mosely is president of Powell River Garden Club.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
