Stop Weeds WIth Newspaper

A great way to stop weeds around your plants is with newspaper. Rip the newspaper into strips and soak in clean water.
Dig the hole for your plant and work in any compost or nutrients you would usually incorporate into your soil and plant your plants. Once they are planted and covered with good soil take the newspaper strips and layer, overlapping them around the plant. Top off with a good mulch. The newspaper and mulch will help to retain water and keep the soil and roots moist. By overlapping the paper you form a barrier that will block out weeds.
An easy way to cut down on weeds and save you time in the garden and now is a great time to save newspapers. Just use the black and white print pages, do not use any pages with colour on them.

What better way to spend time during these cold winter days than planning your spring planting with the help of gardening events. A great event that occurs across Canada every year is Seedy Sunday. Sudbury will host its second Seedy Sunday on February 20th 10 – 4 at the Market Square, sponsored by Seeds of Diversity Canada and Sudbury Food Connects Network (Foodshed Project). Seedy Sundays are wonderful opportunities to find local vegetable and flower seeds grown in your own zone. There are seed swaps and sales with local garden enthusiasts manning the booths able to answer questions and perk your curiosity. Booths on green programs, green energy, clean up events, landscaping information and ideas, organic growing information and so much more than you may have thought was available in your community. The speakers corner has a wide variety of local experts, master gardeners, eco information, guaranteed something for everyone.
These events are worth having community support, bringing together an amazing group of diverse people and information. In Ontario, Toronto’s Seedy Sunday will be on February 13th at Hart House, Sault Ste. Marie February 19th at Sault College cafeteria, B wing West, Hamilton on February 26 at the Royal Botanical Gardens and so many more. To find a location in your area simply go to the Seeds of Diversity Canada web site to find Seedy Sundays from coast to coast.
There are also Garden Festivals in many communities. The Sudbury Garden Festival will be on May 28th & 29th at the Market Square with speakers on Orchids, Shoreline Gardening, Gardening with Native Plants, Alternatives to Pesticides, Trees and Shrubs, Gardening with Arthritis, Perennials and I will be there talking about heirloom vegetables and the importance and ease of sustainable vegetable gardens.
Search for local gardening events and if you are fortunate to have a Farmers Market check there for winter and spring events to give you the best seeds, tools, products and information and warm your mind to make your 2011 gardening season the best and most relaxing yet.