Gardening TheReview Wednesday, April 17, 1991 Als Today Id like to start off with a loud warning signal ... IT IS TOO. EARLY to plant a great many things already being advertised for sale. I’m speaking here about such items as marigolds, petunias, gera- niums, peppers and tomatoes. Buy them now, if you must, but keep them inside a greenhouse, in a cold-frame, or in the house until the weather is warmer, the ground has heated up a bit, and there is no chance of a frost. If you have any doubts about hardiness do ask your nurseryman if it would be safe to plant. I know how hard it is to resist when the sun shines so brightly, but concen- trate on the toughies; for example, pansies, snapdragons, primroses, ranunculus, anemonies, and all those hardy perennials, such as delphiniums, peonies, day lilies, chrysanthemums, dianthus, geums... there are masses of peren- nials for sale right now, and with these you are pretty well guar- anteed success! Unless, of course, you are in the same boat (and “boat” is the right word here) as some of us whose flower gardens are still awash in mud. Our yard, with the exception of the raised beds, is still in danger of drowning. I’m pretty sure we have lost the agapanthus, all of this this time. The bulbs have been under water since last November, and the per- ennial Baby’s Breath, and a won- derful single petaled peony, which were right next door, may have gone as well. Hazel used to say, shrugging, “Oh well, less to look after, I suppose.” I can’t quite accept that ... not yet, anyway, and am going to fight the problem by raising that partic- ular bed by several inches. If the peony does, in the end, make an appearance, it will be dug up and moved to a safer location. I had a phone call from an angry and disappointed Mr. Gary Find- lay. Last year he had bought and planted a bag of something adver- tised as “The Best” winter cover crop, a mixture of various seeds, You'll geta a warm welcome, come rain or come shine The healthiest plants, the most competitive prices, convenience and ample parking, drive through All the more reasons to come to Snapdragon Nursery. # Go and buy them, but don’t plant yet including legumes, which are, of course, very good for any soil. To his horror, the first hard frost wiped out the majority of his crop, leaving him with bare ground, which, this spring has already LEARN TO SCUBA DIVE, SCUBA LESSONS SPECIAL - APRIL 22nd 656-0060 fertilizing your garden beds. She clipped her hedge, then stuck the cut branches in the soil amongst her plants, leaving no bare ground to attract maurading cats. Mr. S. Thomson has given us a fine idea for trapping slugs. If this really works, let’s strike him a medal, something in the order of the Victoria Cross! He suggests that rather than using beer in a saucer, that you save your beer for more interesting purposes, and, instead, mix up a brew of sugar, water and yeast, and put that in your saucer to attract slugs to a watery death. He also wondered if there is an easy way to get onion seedlings out of their containers and into the ground. I’ve found that if you will put your container in a bucket of slightly warmed water, and swirl it around, the soil will drop away, freeing all onion roots. This makes onions much easier to handle. presented him with a full year’s supply of weeds! 201 MARINER VILLAGE MALL 5” DIVE SHOP (Look for the Lighthouse at Mariner Village Mall) 9810- 7th ST. SIDNEY, B.C. LARGE SELECTION OF ROSES (Bare Root) eAZALEAS - Perennials - Dahlias - Lilies » Begonias - Japanese Tree Peonies + Small Fruits “Friendly, Knowledgable Service” BRENTWOOD BAY He swears that from now on he will stick with our faithful green manure crop, Fall Rye. Something that could be planted, from now on, any time you have a piece of bare ground in your vegetable plot, is buckwheat. This sprouts very readily in warm soil, and may be dug in at any time you need that space. It, too, smothers weeds, and provides nourishment to your soil. Mrs. Ostensoe called to say that she seems to have discovered an attractive way to keep cats from * UPHOLSTERY *x ANTIQUES 6655 TRUDEAU TERRACE BRENTWOOD BAY, B.C. 1395 Benvenuto Ave. (Turn off to Butchart Gardens) 652-1507 HOURS: Mon.-Sat. 9a.m.-Sp.m- Sun. 10a.m.-5p.m. I usually shorten all roots to about two inches, and clip back tops to about four. Plant these seedlings so that only a tiny bit of the actual onion is under the soil, plus all the roots, of course. Although they start out small, do allow enough room for consid- erable expansion ... most sweet onions get beeeg! J plant onion SETS four inches apart in all directions, making a roughly diamond shaped pattern with every four onions ... like this: onion onion onion onion onion onion LIMITE le eo eee eee [= PRESCRIPTION CHEMISTS —__ TIO TON MOISTURIZING CREAM * DRAPERIES *ETC. GIFT “BOX =) ge Jen 652-9454 A DELIGHTFUL GIFT BOX. ..featuring a 30 g. jar of Mr. McGill’s famous VICTORIA MOISTURIZING CREAM, a 60 mi. bottle of our ROSE BATH OIL plus a 60 ml. bottle of GLYCERINE and ROSEWATER LOTION... Three Great Skin Products $ Together for only... e The SPRING FLOWERS GIFT BOX is available at all our 10 store locations. Come in and celebrate SPRING with this fresh and fragrant presentaion. It’s PELARGONIUMS 6” POT “MARTHA WASHINGTON” $629 NEW GUINEA IMPATIENS $ B49 PERFECT for all Springtime gift-giving occasions! MK Gill @ Cume PRESCRIPTION ue BRENTWOOD BAY DISPENSARY 7105 C W. 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