No local heli-hiking with Canadian Mountain Holidays for second year

A greenhouse for a green thumb

Canadian Mountain Holidays will not be offering heli-hiking at their Cariboos Lodge again this year. This is the second year they have not offered pack-ages in the Robson Valley. “The world has

changed in the last couple years and we just don’t need the ca-pacity that has spilled into the Cariboos,” says company spokes-person Sarah Pearson. “We’re focussing our summer business on the areas around Banff

that are typically much busier.” C.M.H. has been of-fering heli-hiking for over 30 years, and started the business at the Cariboos lodge. Last year was the first year they did not of-fer heli-hiking there.

The company is only offering heli-hiking at the Bobby Burns and Bugaboo lodges near Golden BC. Pearson says the com-pany is open to offer-ing hiking again in the Cariboo Mountains if the market changes.

A three-day heli-hike can cost between $2,000 and $3,000 dol-lars per person. Other companies will continue to operate heli-hiking tours in the area. Helimagic will be offering heli-hiking around Mount Robson

Peter AmyoonySpecial to The Goat

Tuesday, June 08, 2010 A9 www.therockymountaingoat.com

Laura Keillkeil@therockymountaingoat.com

park this summer. Canadian Mountain Holidays employs about 500 people in peak season, 450 of whom work at the B.C.-based lodges. Their clientele comes largely from Europe and the U.S.

For the past month, I have spent hundreds of hours in my green-house and never seem to get tired of being there. Some days, after 12 or 14 hours, I still don’t want to come in at night. Many times I refer to it as my “play-pen.” Many people think a greenhouse is beyond their means or their ability but there is nothing further from the truth. One of my first greenhouses was a six by eight foot lean-to on the south side of a woodshed. It was made with scrap lumber, a few old windows and a door and some plastic. The total cost was around 20 dollars for the nails and the plastic. In it I raised my own bedding plants in the spring and grew toma-toes, cucumbers, basil and peppers there all summer. It more than paid for itself in the first summer. I find the best orie ntation for a green-house in our valley is east-west with a

solid north wall. If you have a south or south-east exposure for the greenhouse, so much the better. In the spring, dark barrels of water along the north wall can absorb heat during the day and give it off at night when it is needed. A shelf on top of the barrels is the ideal spot for young bedding plants with the heat under their roots. With a few large opening windows on one end and the door on the other, you can have lots of circulation on hot summer days. The rule of thumb for greenhouse venting is to have venting equal to one third of the floor area. (For exam-ple, in a 10 by 10 foot greenhouse –100 sq. ft. – you need about 35 sq. ft. of vents.) Adding a cold frame along the south side of the greenhouse is even better. The back of the cold frame can open into the front of the greenhouse. In early spring (April) the cold-frame col-

lects more heat for the greenhouse dur-ing the day but can be closed off at night. As the greenhouse be-comes more crowded in early May, some of the more hardy plants can be placed in the cold frame. With a tarp covering the lid at night, the heat from a small heater aimed into the cold frame will keep everything in the frame and the greenhouse quite cozy.

In the summer, cucumbers can be planted along the north wall and trained up twine, tomatoes in the main area of the greenhouse and peppers and basil in the shorter cold frame. With the cold-frame cover removed and the windows and door open, there is great circulation on hot summer days. In late summer, when frost threatens, everything

can be closed again to extend the season. The actual construc-tion can be as simple or as fancy as you choose. Keep in mind that a second layer of plastic on the inside of the structure gives you even more protection. I have read in a few greenhouse books that each layer of plastic is the same as moving 500 miles south. For an investment of a few dollars and a day

or so of work, you can have an extra three months of dirt under your fingernails! What more could a gardener ask for?

Pete Amyoony is a gardener in the Rob-son Valley of central B.C. high in the Rocky Mountains near Mount Robson. He has lived, worked and gardened in the Dunster area for almost thirty years.

Gardening with Pete

Laura Keil, The RMG