This is the perfect time of year to become an armchair gardener. Winter is still in full force and there is enough snow outside that not much can be done. There is time to sit and read, cover to cover, each seed catalogue that arrives in the mailbox, and if you are not receiving enough catalogues, just ask your friends or turn on the computer. There is a whole world of gardening possibilities at your fingertips. The new varieties, the tried and true, the heritage, the odd and unusual or hard-to-find seeds are all out there.
If you find you are having trouble deciding what new seeds to order for the garden, there is plenty of help available. A good source for searching out catalogues is as close as your home computer. Type in “garden seed sources for the prairies” or any variety you can think of and you will be amazed at what appears. If you subscribe to any of the gardening magazines they too will usually contain a listing of different seed suppliers. You have just enough time to read through these listings, pick out a few, order the catalogues or shop online. After all, we likely still will have a few days of winter ahead.
To have the most success possible it is helpful to understand a little bit about the common terms used in seed catalogues. Reading the small print about each selection is important. Vegetable varieties are listed with days to harvest, which means from seeding date to when you can harvest your vegetables. This will always vary within a week or two depending on the weather. In Saskatchewan, you can usually rely on a late spring frost so be prepared.
Other terms you might need help deciphering include: heirloom, heritage, open-pollinated and hybrid. Many plant varieties are hybrids meaning the flowers of two related species have been cross-pollinated to produce a new flower or vegetable variety that exhibits superior growth or hybrid vigour. The seed from hybrid varieties will likely be sterile, however, if it does germinate, it is unlikely that the flowers or vegetables will be like the parent plant. The plants may be sterile and not produce flowers at all. If you wish to save seeds from what you plant, then it will be important to grow open-pollinated, also commonly called heritage or heirloom plants. These plants, as they breed true, are not a hybrid cross so saving seeds from these plants will produce very similar plants when the seeds from these plants are grown.
Last but not least, it is important to understand the difference between annual, biennial and perennial. Annuals are plants that will complete their entire lifecycle in one growing season – germinate, grow, flower and set seed. In less severe climates, what we consider annuals are often perennial – but for us on the prairies they are most definitely annuals. Biennials will take two years to complete their lifecycle and will often only produce vegetative growth the first year and flower and fruit in the following year. Perennials are plants that survive our winter in the great outdoors and live for three years or more.
Spend your time wisely – expanding your knowledge while armchair gardening!
Hanbidge is the Lead Horticulturist with Orchid Horticulture. Find us at www.orchidhort.com; by email at [email protected]; on Facebook @orchidhort and Instagram at #orchidhort.
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