Spring is here, and so is the beginning of the planting season throughout the South Cariboo.
The Horse Lake Gardening Centre, which is located in Lone Butte and is the largest nursery in the South Cariboo, has had numerous types of plants fly off their shelves already. This includes, according to store owner Miguel Vieira, hanging baskets, bedding plants and more.
"Pretty popular this year was the salvia, fifpat petunias, cali perkoras, marigolds - they were probably our most popular flowers," Vieira said, adding lavender has also sold quite well.
Vieira attributes the popularity of the plants in part because some of them are deer-resistant. His recommendations for plants are perennials, because they are deer-resistant.
"That's a huge issue in our area," Vieira said. He also adds when it comes to drought-resistant plants, you would need to water them for the first year to get them established, because nothing is actually drought-resistant unless it is watered for around a year.
In addition, Vieira says frost is also a huge factor in the Cariboo region overall, and until the first week of June, it can affect crops.
"Lots of people make mistakes of planting too early and not covering their crops from the front. At night, you get a frost, you lose all your crops. Last night, or the night before last, we were minus five here - so the next day we had a few people come in and say they lost everything because nobody told them they needed to cover it," Vieria said.
Another piece of advice he is giving is if a customer is staying in a summer cabin and wants their plants to survive, they need to make sure they take care of them.
"They're not here all summer. They only come up every few weeks, so they plant it, and no one's there to water it, and then they come back two weeks later and it's dead," Vieira said.
A way to prevent this outcome is to arrange to have someone water the plants, or set up a sprinkler or irrigation system to do it automatically. In general, he noted that watering is one of the most important things to get right about gardening, as both overwatering and underwatering can kill plants.
"Watering is crucial, and knowing how much water and when they need to be watered, testing your soil is probably the best way, especially once you've got a plant in the ground. Just kind of dig away a bit and see if it's soil split underneath, because it could be dry on top, but it's still wet underneath," Vieira advised.
In addition, if you have bought plants early, you should put them out during the day and bring them inside at night so that they do not freeze.
Lastly, Vieira said watering and fertilizer usage are critical for plants.
"Plants need food, so when you plant your plants, you should put fertilizer in the soil when you're transplanting, and fertilize them regularly with the proper fertilizer for those types of plants, every two weeks to a month, depending on the type of fertilizer," said Vieira.
The Horse Lake Garden Centre is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily until June 30. Then, on July 1, the centre will be open between Wednesday and Saturday, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. until Sept. 30. From Oct. 1 onwards, the centre will be open by appointment only.
