Spring is definitely here in the Kootenays. It kind of started in late February. The birds came back out, the trees broke dormancy, it even warmed up a little bit.

Turns out it was one big tease. We continued to get snow after that, the birds receded back into their hiding places in the forest, and the trees stopped all movement.

Then came Mid-March. It warmed up a little bit again, then proceeded to continue snowing.

I started to believe that spring would never come and in fact, we’d be trapped inbetween the two season for the rest of my life.

Then, April 1st hit. Instead of it being April Fool’s Day (or April Fish to my Francophone friends) it felt like it was actually getting warm. The robins and birds were out en masse again, and it’s been getting warmer and warmer every day since then.

I’ve been a little silent here, not for lack of anything done, but rather lack of time. I’ve had family visiting and just didn’t have the wherewithal to post here. It was a good little visit though. Within the past week it’s officially felt like spring. It was late this year. I blame La Nina I guess. But, it’s finally here now (I say with slightly bated breath for fear that Mother Nature will bitchslap me with a big snowfall or something).

These are the perennial violets that litter the ground in the shadier spots of the garden. Last year when I moved in (on April 28th) they were already in bloom. This year they might even bloom a bit earlier since they’re all popping up now. I’ve never been a big violet person, but seeing these tiny flowers all over has changed my mind. They’re some kind of dwarf violet – they don’t grow much bigger than a few inches, and the blooms themselves are only about the size of a quarter at the largest. I can’t wait to see them again this year.

On March 31st, my mom and I made a trip to the greenhouse. I knew we would be too early for most things, but I did manage to snag myself a few goodies. First off I picked up a lily of the valley. Still very early, it was nothing but a shoot. In a few days, I’ve seen the shoot unravel, and the first leaf is starting to appear.

Lily of the Valley are something I love. I remember being very small and having a whole section of the garden in my childhood home littered with these. My mom pointed out from an early age that they’re the flower that correspond with my birth month, so I always considered them my flower. Finally having a house now rather than an apartment (or crappy basement suite), I decided it was time to get a plant and put it underneath the huge old lilac tree that inhabits a good portion of my yard. I was going to buy a few, but my mom pointed out quickly how they grow like weeds, so one would do for the time being.

But that wasn’t the only thing I got. Oh no.

Last year when I moved in and got my act together to go to the greenhouse, I was already too late to pick up some blackcurrants (they were sold out for the year).

I love blackcurrants, and more importantly (since this is how I seem to pick most of the plants I grow), I love the history of them. A quick rundown: in WWII the UK was going through a serious lack of Vitamin C rich fruit like oranges, limes, and lemons due to rationing. The UK government in an effort to combat the problem they foresaw of health problems associated with this encouraged home gardeners to grow blackcurrants, which are extremely rich in Vitamin C, and which grow very well in the UK climate. From 1942 on blackcurrants were made into a syrup and distributed freely to children to help combat things like scurvy, leading to blackcurrants lasting popularity today in the UK.

But there’s more!

Blackcurrants were once popular in the US and Canada as well, but became extremely rare in the early 1900′s due to the belief that they were a vector of white pine blister rust and threatened the logging industry. The US government banned the cultivation of blackcurrants. In 1966 the jurisdiction of this ban got shifted to the state level, and since then research has led to prove that blackcurrants are not quite the danger once thought. Several states have now legalized the growing of blackcurrants, but several states still don’t allow their cultivation. Blackcurrants have never reached the popularity that they once had in North America due to these bans.

In Canada our laws were never quite as strict (from what I can tell). Having closer ties to the UK than the US does, we’ve had more blackcurrants available to us, but they’re still a berry that isn’t hugely popular. I, however, love them. I can’t get enough blackcurrants, or blackcurrant jam, and this year I was hellbent on getting in early and getting my bushes. And I did.

So they don’t look too impressive now, but I was assured they were second year plants, and therefore should set fruit. I was elated. I was also so early on the draw, that in fact the greenhouse had just gotten them and were just potting them up. I bought mine in bareroot. I was also informed that I was the first person of the year to buy them.

These guys are in pots right now because we’re getting the house painted this summer and I didn’t want them to get trampled in the process. I put them in a humus rich soil, added lots of perlite, and put in my favourite fertilizer – fishbone meal – in with it. They’re sprouting little buds now, and I know it won’t be long until I see actual leaf.

*sigh*

Life is always better once spring finally arrives.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 9:22 am and is filed under Garden Plans, Gardening, Gardening History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.