Wind Plays Havoc on Tender Young Plants

What a lot of windy weather we have been having and the impact on plants can be disastrous. Newly planted seedlings can easily be damaged or snapped right off even in a stiff breeze. When plants are hardened off they are mainly acclimating to sun and a little breeze, when the wind starts to rise we bring the tender seedlings inside to protect them. Whenever a plant is transplanted to the garden they should always be staked. You don’t need to use big bamboo stakes even something as thin as a skewer, $1 for a pack of 100 at the dollar store or 36 really thick skewers. Even short plants need a little support while starting out and these are the ones usually overlooked. I always utilize a fan while growing seedlings to help strengthen the stem and get them used to light winds but I do stake all plants until they are established or if they need long term support the small stake is exchanged for a full bamboo stake that will last until harvest.

Protecting tender plants early will help to ensure a healthy plant and a productive harvest.

Garden Festival

They say a festival is only as good as the people organizing it. Well the Garden Festival organized by the Sudbury Horticultural Society led by Wayne and Linda Hugli to celebrate the society’s 100th anniversary was fantastic.

If you did not make it out to the Farmers Market last week-end you truly missed a great opportunity to see some wonderful gardening exhibits and outstanding speakers. Everything was garden based, no hot tubs or furniture or hair care products just great gardening items, art, magazines, tools, plants, produce, information and so much more. I was very excited to be asked to talk on organics and sustainable gardening and the interest from the audience was outstanding. Speakers on gardening with arthritis, how to garden without pesticides, perennial gardens, and so many more captivated the audience. The variety and knowledge of the speakers was so interesting the seating area filled quickly. I thank the society for the opportunity to spread my own organic sustainable message. With this great turn out I sold nearly all of my heirloom vegetable plants, now I will start to plant the rest into my own gardens.

I had a great two days and thoroughly enjoyed talking to all those who came to buy plants or just gather information. There are so many interesting gardeners in our community, some have greenhouses, some garden plots and others getting creative with container gardening. It was lovely to meet so many growers.

It was wonderful to see many people who follow my tips and gardening dilemmas on Facebook, Dave, John, Pirjo… I now have a face for many of the people on the other side of my computer.

Kudos to all those dedicated people who volunteered a lot of time and talent to present our community with such an outstanding event. Happy 100th Anniversary to the Sudbury Horticultural Society.

Pepper Tip

Peppers do well in containers and the containers can be placed in the garden beside the other plants but when it begins to cool a little they are easily brought in overnight. Peppers hate the cool and will stop growing or not fruit if they get chilled, but they can fruit through November if brought to a sunny location inside.

Early Weeding

The weather is finally turning and this is a great time to get a first step into the garden. I like this time of year to start weeding the beds and preparing for the upcoming season.

In the fall the ground gets damp then it freezes over expanding in the soil as ice crystals do, in the spring the ice melts and leaves air spaces in the soil that makes it nothing short of fluffy. This is the perfect time to weed. The soil is loose and a quick pull can relieve a long root from the ground quick and easy. This is my favourite weeding time, the easy weeding time. It will not take long for rains to pound the ground and the sun to dry it out until it is pretty packed in again. So take advantage of the nice weather and start some early season weeding. You won’t regret it.

Planting Your First Vegetable Garden?

If you have decided this is the year you are finally going to get a vegetable garden in, start preparing now. Start with a small garden, you can always expand your plot but you don’t want to exhaust or disappoint yourself by going too big too soon.

Plant what you like. If you cook a lot of Italian dishes then go for tomatoes, oregano, sweet peppers. Try a salad garden with a variety of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. Plant peppers in large pots then partially sink them into the garden, when the temperature drops you can pull them out and take them indoors, they will last months longer is a sunny spot. Want vegetables through the winter with little work at preserves, plant peas and beans with a variety of herbs you can hang to dry.

A small garden with a variety of plants is a lot healthier than a large plot with rows of plants.

When you line all the plants up in rows you make them more susceptible to pest and disease. If a pest comes along and starts to munch on one of your tomato plants it will go right along the whole row chomping on each and destroying your full harvest. If you mix it up when the pest hops to the next plant it is not of its liking, it leaves and tries the next and then takes off for better pickings. Mix your veggies and herbs up just like you would a flower garden and the confused pests will take a far lower tole on your plants. A mixed up garden also looks a lot nicer than those boring rows. I call row planting Farm Gardening, farmers have to plant in long straight rows of the same type of vegetable because they use machines to plant, fertilize, and harvest. A nicely planned out vegetable garden looks as lovely as a well tended flower garden, and it is just as relaxing and calming a place to sit and relax.

So, choose well, start small and mix it up and you will have a lovely garden to enjoy your morning coffee in and healthy food on your table.

Checking Soil Composition Before Planting

Planning on digging a garden this spring? This would be a great time to check your soil composition. Whether your soil is mainly clay, sand, silt or a perfect blend will determine what you need to do to build your soil to grow the plants you would like. Here is an easy method to let you know what you are in for. Take a clean glass jar and fill about half way with your soil and then fill it with water. Shake the jar like crazy to completely break down the soil and blend it with the water, you don’t want chunks. Place the jar in a location where it will not be disturbed for at least 24 hours. If the water is still very cloudy let it sit longer, fine clay particles can take a while to settle. The soil will settle in the water in layers according to the weight of the particles. Sand will be on the bottom of the jar with a layer of silt next and finally a layer of clay on top. Perfect soil composition is equal amounts in each layer. The humus content of your sample will be left floating on top.

If you are growing plants requiring very good drainage and drier conditions you would need a larger sand content layer in the jar, or add sand to your plot.

This is a good measurement to take before you begin to dig a new garden or to check on the progress of an established garden plot.

Gardening from the ground up.

A Quick Control for Slugs and Grubs

Trying to control slugs and grubs that are in your garden munching your plants at night can be a tiresome Endeavour. To save you time and to save your beautiful plants try placing a few slices of cucumber in a small aluminum pie or tart tin and place it in your garden. The chemical reaction between the cucumber and aluminum gives off a scent grubs and slugs do not like. A quick and easy way to rid yourself of garden pests.

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.

Best Stocking Stuffer Ever For Your Favourite Gardener

Every gardening season I look forward to finding new ideas, shortcuts and techniques others have lovingly experimented with. Sometimes, by stumble or sheer determination, you make a grand discovery yourself, a new method that will make life so much easier in your garden scape.
This year I discovered a common item which I put to a whole new use. Hair clips!!



In my garden I use the tiny ones and the next size up - for you fellas out there, there are probably seven or eight different sizes but you will know which will work best for you on first glance.
I use these little clips to support my plants. Whether a young tomato plant is needing a little tether to a bamboo stake for a couple weeks or a runner bean is being encouraged to grow up a stake and along fencing.



I used doweling in one of my gardens to accommodate runner beans. I placed three poles in a corner and tied twine between them so when the beans grew they filled in and made a little green corner wall. To secure the tendrils I placed them along the twine with clips and as they grew and twisted on their own I removed any unneeded clips to use elsewhere. The clips do not hinder or limit growth and I am no longer tying, twisting or replacing tight bindings. To loosely clip a thick branch to a pole I will sometimes place the clip on the pole, not around it, so the teeth of the clip actually grip the pole itself. This gives extra room for a plant to have wiggle and growth room.
These clips take the sun and rain well, when a plant no longer needs the clip I place it on the fencing or pole so I have it ready in the garden when it is needed next.
These “plant” clips are available in all department stores and hair care areas but I go to the local dollar store first and pick up a package of 10-12 for a $1. At the end of the season I give them a light wash and store them in my gardening tool bag for next year. You may choose the brown, black or dark green clips or funky up your garden with neon blues and pinks adding a little colour before the flowers burst forth. The bright ones are easiest to find at year end amongst the brown leaves and stems.
This is a great addition for stocking stuffers or gift baskets for any gardeners on your list.
This is my Big Discovery for the 2010 gardening season, a simple little clip that saves time and is gentle on my tender growing plants or taming wild runner beans. I was so thrilled with how well it worked I wanted to share it with everyone, and for those who discovered this before me… good for you, I hope you told every gardener you know!
With 9 days left 'til Christmas Happy Holidays to all.

How To Decide What To Plant

Having a hard time deciding what to plant this year? Open up your cookbook!

Go over your favourite recipes, look for the common ingredients and write your growing wish list like you would your shopping list. If you like to cook Italian recipes plant tomatoes, peppers, oregano, parsley, onion and chives. If stir-fries are big part of your meal planning grow snow peas, peppers, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes. Look forward to spicy dinners then try hot peppers, tomatoes, beans. Once you have your basic ingredients fill in the garden space with other types of interesting vegetables. Beans and peas are easy to grow and are good fresh or cooked and are so easy to freeze. Didn’t pick all of them off the vines? That’s alright let them dry out and you have not only dried peas and beans for soups and stews but the seeds for next year’s plants are ready. Plan your garden so shade loving plants are beside peas, beans or tomatoes to use their height as a barrier for sun or wind.

Choose what you like to eat most then look for varieties compatible with your growing zone and are dependable for a good yield. Look for different varieties within your vegetable of choice and fill in the extra garden space with other vegetables, aromatic herbs and flowers. Your garden will be a relaxing beautiful space in no time while your plants mature and provide you with seemingly endless food.

Have a hard time bending to weed and plant? A 12 inch raised bed makes a great place to sit while you weed, water, harvest and enjoy the garden.

Garden Vitamin Boost

Take your fresh kitchen scraps- carrot peel, potato peel, apple peel, eggshells, tea leaves, coffee grounds, lettuce leaves and place in a blender with enough water to cover them and puree. In the garden poke holes with the handle of a trowel or rake near the plants, pour liquid in and cover with soil. This is a great boost for plants or as a soil preparation before planting in an empty garden.

Eggshells can be crushed and sprinkled straight onto the garden adding calcium to the soil. This is especially good for brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower...)

Mulching in Northern Gardens

Mulching has many benefits to plants and soil, from conserving moisture, encouraging earthworms to stopping mud splashing on leafy plants during rainstorms. Mulch also keeps the soil cool during the summer, this is not advantageous in the springtime to a northern gardener anxiously awaiting the soil warming up for the transplants. Early in the spring season rake the mulch back in the areas you plan to place warmth loving plants like tomatoes and beans for a week or two so the soil can warm in the sunshine. Once the transplants are tucked in the warm soil spread the mulch back and enjoy the new growing season.

New Vegetable Varieties and Spring Preparation

My website, www.naturesgardenheirlooms.com, is being updated with some exciting new varieties and should be ready to view in the next week or two. I am expanding the tomato, pea, bean, lettuce, cucumber and pepper varieties with many more great choices for us northern gardeners.
The starlings are back and picking through my gardens for newly emerging bugs. Moths are gaining in nighttime population and butterflies have started to flit through the warming sunny days. I even thought I saw a frog bounce from the beaver pond mud flat into a grassy hummock. Though the temperatures are going up and down, spring is here, we just have to wait until it.... ripens.
The garden soil is still nice and crumply from the snow and ice melt which makes it a great time to weed. Roots are pulling effortlessly right now making the job faster and so much easier than it will be once those April showers flatten and compact the soil again.
Time to get out and enjoy those sunny days, getting gardens prepared for spring planting is a bonus. For me there is another good reason to weed now, I am trying to beat those immense clouds of marauding black flies. Wildlife in the countryside comes in all sizes!

An easy way to dig a new garden

Planning on starting a new garden this spring? A little preparation now will make the digging and turning so much easier.

Mark out the area you want to turn into your new garden site then cover it with black plastic. Garbage bags work well for this held in place with a few rocks. Three or four weeks later all the plants under the plastic will die and the soil will be soft, moist and easy to dig. A new garden site could not be easier to prepare.

Some seedlings need warm soil to be transplanted into, to warm up the garden soil simply cover with clear plastic. This warms the ground while allowing the light to pass through so the garden will be ready for your transplants as soon as the seedlings and the weather permit.

Gardeners in Winter

What do gardeners do during the winter months? Well, I'll tell you what the don't do... hibernate! Winter is the time to plan changes and new projects. While the garden snoozes through the colder months it is a great time to take a good look at it. Just looking out the window over the cold landscape you can see if you might want to add different shrubs, bushes, trees or items to make you wintering garden as interesting as the summer. Bushes with berries or interesting seed pods and twig structure can add an artistic element as well as a place for birds to eat and rest if you have a feeder. A bench seat or stone pile adds an interesting element in all seasons as is the choice of materials to define the garden area whether raised beds or borders.

Now is a good time to get a head start on preparing for any repotting you will be doing or seed starting. Old plant pots are a treasure to have tucked away for future use as one plant our grows its space and is transplanted into a new one or a newly germinated seedling is potted to grow safely until the frost has past. This is a very rewarding project but it does take some preparing. Previously used pots need to be scrubbed clean in hot soapy water with a little bleach added to kill any unwanted organism or bug that may have been in the original soil or found a home in the pot since. Many repotted plants do not survive because of unknown contamination. While the winter is still upon us clean plant pots and gardening tools and organize everything so it is ready to use. The first day the warm spring sun warms your gardening fingers you will be very glad your tools and supplies are ready to begin another gardening adventure.

Fall Garlic Planting

I have finally planted my garlic garden. I really like being able to plant a garden in the fall and then watch it pop up in the early spring. It almost feels like it does it all on its own, when I am just getting started on long days digging and planting these little beauties are reaching for the sun.

When I pull the garlic out I start to prepare the garden for the next planting right away. I like to put roughage in the soil to replace the roots and bulbs I removed. I cut the raspberry canes back three years ago I kept the long stalks, cutting them into 6-8” pieces, intending to use them in the composter but finding so many usages for them along the way. Turning sticks, twigs, fall leaves, old garlic stalks into a garden provides compostable materials and an avenue for rain to filter down deep into the soil and opens airspaces up for worms. Worm highways are important in a healthy garden.

Once the soil is prepared I select the larger bulbs from my harvest and break them apart, I poke holes and drop a clove in point up and cover it up. A hole about 2 ½ times the length of the clove so 2–2½“deep is fine. sometimes the cold will pop the clove back up, you will find them poking out of the soil or lying on top, poke a hole in with your finger, or a screwdriver works well, and tuck it back in. A friend uses a piece of doweling with markings for ½”, 1”, 2” and 3” and pokes all his planting holes with that. I find three inches apart works well, it leaves plenty room and a small space can give me lots of garlic.

The best crop is when I cover the garden with mulch.

You can use hay, straw or in the spirit of using what Mother Nature provides, I use grass. I cut long grass from the meadow, this year the seed heads were well over 5ft! I take a handful and with yard scissors or hedge clippers cut a couple inches up from the ground. I take the grass and cut the seed head off so I am not planting grass seed in my garden, I don’t want more than what I already have. Then at the garlic garden I clip the stems into 8 – 12” pieces and spread them and inch or two thick. This will protect the cloves, keep the moisture in and warm the ground early in spring when you will see fresh green shoots poking through the grassy layer as soon as the snow starts to disappear. Long grass can be gathered from the roadside, field or empty lot, when you start to look you will find many great gathering locations close by. When you cut the seed heads off you just might want to keep them in a paper bag for a quick yard fix that I will be posting soon.

I leave the mulch in place until all chance of frost is gone and the sun is reliably warm then I pile it at the end of the garden so I can turn it into the soil after the garlic is out.

I have left the grass in place until harvest and found it suppressed grass and weed growth really well, I just like to turn the grass late spring, early summer or after an unusually wet season to be sure there is no mould or insect issues and let it air out.

So, plant your garlic now and relax until you harvest it, you will have plenty time to gather great garlic recipes and don’t forget about garlic preserves, you will have lots of garlic so make it last. New Garlic recipes have just been posted at naturesfoodrecipes.blogspot.com. ENJOY!!

Serious Fire Hazard in Commom Garden Item

Common products and items used around the outside of your home to enhance the look could be a serious fire hazard.
Though this was a wet cold summer in the Sudbury area both Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario suffered the same lack of sunny days, but, despite the weather it was a summer of home renovations here. One of the projects required the front deck to be removed and we did so, in many, many pieces. It was a large deck with trellis around the bottom to block the three foot opening underneath from animals , leaves and no doubt the urge to store things there. The wood that was not reusable, most of it, was placed on a growing pile of wood scrap. I decided it was time to get rid of the pile. I started a bonfire and being careful no butterflies, moths, mice or snakes were within the armfuls of wood I was taking to the fire I did a great job of reducing the pile. When I took the old trellising and threw it on top of the pyre I was very surprised when flames leapt up as though I had just poured gasoline on it. Trellis, it seems, is extremely flammable. The deck was hardwood and if a fire had started we would have time to grab the fire extinguisher and deal with it but if the fire got to the trellis there would have been no chance at all.
Trellis is great in the garden for climbing plants in an arbor, fan or fence, whether for transplants or starting seeds, but caution should be used when placed near your home, shed or garage. In both Sudbury and Southern Ontario gardens I have often seen trellis very attractively attached to a wall with a vigorous climbing flower covering the whole area and transforming an otherwise bland wall into a spectacular rampage of colour.
You can still have supports for these lovely plants but consider using plastic or metal. Metal strapping or thin tubing may easily be made into a fan shape, ladder or rectangular grid for your climbers. The same effect but so much safer than thin, dry, trellising. When using any kind of tubing outside be sure to plug the holes so they don’t become the favourite hiding and nesting caves of wasps and other unwanted pests.
Whether a northern or southern garden there are many wonderful possibilities to enhance your home, be aware of the hazards and eliminate all that you can.

Visit to a Neighbours Garden

A visit to a neighbours garden reminded me, one of the wonderful things about being a gardener, is other gardeners. Gardeners like to share information, tips and plants. Whether you live on the East Coast or the West Coast or, like me, in the Sudbury area the attitude of gardeners is for the most part the same, we share. Information is readily available on the internet from coast to coast to coast to border but getting together with neighbouring or local gardeners creates a special moment. Being a northern gardener I am able to find local information on plant success and, being newer to Northern Ontario, I can gain the history of the area from those who know, the gardeners who live here.

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting the garden of my neighbour, Orest. We share a beginning in Southern Ontario but he has been gardening here for about 20 years now. Orest knows his garden well and spends a lot of time working his garden, weeding, planning different layouts and trellis systems and best of all relaxing in the beauty of his talent.

Gardeners are avid recyclers as they have the ability to reuse many items from barrels and containers for rain water, composting and container growing. I reused an old wire fence that was at the point of take it down or it will do so on its own, for a trellis. The fencing was rolled and fastened into cylinders then placed into the garden for tomatoes, beans, peas and cucumbers (pictured at top) to grow up and through, the openings in the wire fencing was large enough for me to reach through so I could easily pick the harvest tucked inside. At the end of the season they go back into the shed for next year.

In Orest’s garden he utilizes window boxes and an assortment of pails and bucket type containers to start his seeds and he tends to the plants until they are ready, and the weather is ready, for transplanting into the garden.

Some of the seedlings are also kept in a container garden. Even with a garden in place containers can still be used to grow a plant you only want a little of, or one you have in the garden but also in a container to extend the season. Orest has lettuce and peppers both in his garden and in containers, at anytime there is a frost warning the containers can simply be moved to a shed or other frost free location. Great to extend the season for fresh produce towards the end of the year or to protect against those surprise frosty early summer nights. Containers can also be moved into the sun or shade for plants that like the sun but a hot summer day may be just too much.

Orest garden is also a mixed garden. I love a mixed garden where vegetables and berries are grown along with flowers for a lovely restful space at anytime of the year. A border of common evening primrose and ribbon grass is a great structure for young plants. Plants that require partial sun are planted closer to the perennials and those sun lovers are placed in the open spaces.

Growing perennials in the same garden is perfect for small spaces where some think they have to choose between vegetables and flowers. Last year Orest grew an 9’ sunflower with a head that was about 18” across, it was beautiful, he has planted more this year again. I did not have the success with sunflowers that Orest did, mine tended to be about 2’ tall and 6-8” across.

As I said at the beginning, gardeners like to share and I was delighted to bring home a lovely basket of sunflowers and a bean plant. They were all successfully planted and doing well even with this wet and now dry summer. I am hoping Orest’s success with his sunflowers will rub off on me this year.