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6 Friday, March 24, 2017 brooklintowncrier.com Inside, It All Makes Sense Blooming in Brooklin By Ken Brown Maybe I'll just stay in the basement. At least down there the gardening season seems to make sense because the weather sure doesn't. The seeds are being planted on time and germinating when they're supposed to. But outside, the weather is just weird. Back to the basement I go where things are orderly and predictable. All the early season vegetable crops have been sown and have germinated. I found a new source for the oriental vegetable seeds, (agrohaitai.com) that make up the bulk of the early crop. I'm growing three types of pak choi this year and a Chinese celery that's new to me. Coincidently, I just received a new book, The Chinese Kitchen Garden by Wendy Kiang-Spray. My first quick read reveals a delightful family story that weaves its way into planting and growing instructions for a wide range of Chinese vegetables. Each story is accompanied by a recipe for the harvest in the kitchen. It's going to be well used this spring. While the calendar says it's late March, there's a crowded schedule waiting for me. Besides the many seeds needing sowing, there are bulbs and tubers to get started on. My favourite tuberous begonias have to be dug out of the box of shredded paper where they've had their long winter nap, and potted. Some moisture and warmth will wake them up and they'll start the long journey that provides me with magnificent blooms all summer. They're easy to grow and will tolerate a reasonable amount of shade. Garden centres should have many varieties on display now, so escape the winter weather by visiting one and wandering among the delights of spring Beside the begonia tubers there'll be a range of dahlia tubers available. I've been growing more of these each year because they're a great source of cut flowers in the summer. That box of shredded paper will also yield several large clumps of dahlia tubers. Those little tubers you find in the bag from the garden centre will produce wonderful flowers but they'll also greatly increase the size of their tuber clump. I have some that will need a 20 cm pot to hold them. Even then, I may have to remove a few to make them fit. That's not a bad thing, as I look them over carefully for damaged or shrivelled parts that should be removed. These large clumps can also be divided carefully, but then you have two plants producing the same flowers when I would rather use that same space to grow two different plants. It's a little early to really start my tomato seeds but a few will be planted now. The plan is to have a couple of plants in at least 15 cm pots with flowers and maybe a few tiny fruit ready to go out in the garden at the end of May. It doesn't always work out well, but when it does, savouring a few extra early tomatoes makes all the effort worthwhile. It's just another reward of being a dedicated gardener. Men's League Champs! Brooklin State Farm Canucks (top) won the Masters Division and the Brooklin IDA Pharmacy Canadiens (bottom) won the Original 6 division in the Brooklin Men's League championships at Vipond Arena on March 11.