February Spurs the Gardener in us All

As soon as February rolls in you immediately notice the light becoming stronger and lasting longer.  This seems to trigger an internal clock in all gardeners and we all start becoming alert to the anticipation of growing again.  Mid February is our first seed starting of artichoke, celery and a few flowers, Icelandic Poppies, Snapdragons, Dusty Miller, Stock and Dianthus.  Flowers that like cool weather will tolerate the cold nights in the greenhouse.  Hardened off properly they will tolerate light frosts once they are transplanted in the garden.  We can use row covers to protect them after they are planted if the temperatures really drop in April and May.  We also plant cool season flowers early in our small hoopouse after the tulips have all been harvested.  Once the cool flowers have finished we plant row cover like oats or buckwheat to incorporate green manure for nutrients for the tulips we plant in the fall.

We have also started waking up a few varieties of Dahlias and have placed them on a heat mat covered in a peat mix.  Once they start sending up shoots we will take cuttings and root on the heat mat to increase our stock of plants for the growing season.

Babette Dahlia

Elma Elizabeth Dahlia

We have a Dahlia Tubers listing available for purchase.  Click on the highlighted/underlined link.  Shipping across Canada or other arrangements can be made.