Gardening in Kitchener

(George W Bush photoshop)

In the garden: Front yard’s for show, backyard’s for you

What is a garden?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a “garden” as an enclosed piece of ground devoted to the cultivation of flowers, fruit or vegetables. This definition was referenced in a lawsuit in the United Kingdom back in 2008, but judges in the high court felt the description was too narrow.

I do like the opinion of Lord Justice Moses, who said “the key to what constituted a garden was the relationship between the owner and the land, and the history and character of the land and space.” Phew!

Now, the United Kingdom has a long tradition of gardens and gardening, whereas in Canada, the concepts have evolved differently. Tradition in these parts described a garden as a place where vegetables or cutting flowers were grown. In a farming community, it was, and still is, the part of the farm that wasn’t the farm; it was the garden.

As towns developed, we gained front yards and back yards. Back in the sixties, the front yard was fixed up with a lawn and a “foundation planting” — five assorted evergreens and a couple of geraniums. Meanwhile, the backyard was a place for the wash line, somewhere for the kids to play and a place to let the family dog loose. If a few vegetables were grown, it was in a patch, still often referred to as a garden.

Front yards became more interesting thanks to initiatives like Community in Bloom and front yard competitions. Then came landscaping — the foundation planting was no longer enough. Flowering shrubs, specimen trees, maintenance-free ground covers and ubiquitous rocks arrived. But not too daring. Avant-garde landscaping in conformist suburbia can be risky — might affect the resale value.

Landscaping is an art and plunking down a couple of rocks and assorted shrubbery does not a landscape make, but as I travel around I see more and more creativity in front-yard garden design, both by homeowners and professionals. This is the space we show to the world, good or bad, there to be judged.

But what about the backyard, the place that’s hidden from public view?

Pools, sheds, pet compounds, swing sets — and even a veggie patch. The latter increasing more so as interest in homegrown produce takes off. This is where the concept of “the relationship between the owner and the land and the history and character of the land and space” takes on meaning.

I always advise gardeners that this is their space and it need not conform to any one else’s concept of what a garden should or shouldn’t be. It’s a place to go wild — literally — and a place to explore, to build, and to create; it’s a place to be spiritual or eccentric (or both).

Got room for a labyrinth, a replica of a prehistoric stone circle, or a bent pyramid?

There’s a man in England with a full-sized Great Western railway station, complete with ticket office, toilets and luggage room.

How about a folly? I haven’t got around to building one yet — haven’t the space, but give me an acre or two . . .

There are countless opportunities in a garden and how you use it is up to you, but for me, it’s mainly about plants. I do build arbours and pergolas, lay pathways and patios, and clutter the place up with objet trouvé, even as I try to follow some semblance of basic landscape design, but the plants sometimes get in the way. And here’s why:

I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow.

That’s my backyard — and my garden.

Gardening in Kitchener

David Hobson, In the Garden

Friday May 25, 2012

In the garden: New plants need extra attention during heat wave

With temperatures kick starting AC units, the weather around the Victoria Day long weekend was hardly ideal to be planting. I expect to be concerned about cool nights, but Sahara conditions? And this was after a couple of nights with frost warnings.

I needn’t have been concerned about the frost as it didn’t show up, but I did stuff all the tender plants back into the greenhouse just to be safe. Then I had to quickly evacuate everything when the place turned into a broiler.

When temperatures reach July levels, I expect to be operating at my July puttering speed, but with flats of flowers planted, tomatoes in the ground, and seeds sown everywhere, I was bouncing around the yard like a pinball, watering can in hand. When I began to wilt, I finally succumbed and turned on the sprinkler. I prefer not to, but with plants gasping for water when they’re at their most vulnerable, I relented.

Ensuring that plants are well tended during the first week is essential if they’re to perform well in summer, especially seedlings that don’t have much of a root system yet.

Turn your back on a hot day and they’re wilting. Ignore them and there may be no blooms or harvest, but a little wilting, and I mean a little, is not necessarily a bad thing — once they are established.

When a plant is stressed, it goes into survival mode. We’ve seen how brown lawns in July can quickly green up after rain returns, and how droopy plants, if caught in time, almost snap to attention after watering.

Research into this survival mechanism has been taking place at the University of Nebraska (at Lincoln) and has revealed that plants appear to possess short-term memory to help them withstand drought.

Briefly, the findings of researcher Michael Fromm have shown that plants that were previously stressed when water was withheld were better able to adapt to subsequent drought conditions. Test plants that had never been stressed lost water and wilted faster.

Interesting, but do plants grow better if never stressed at all?

It’s a delicate balance during extremes of weather. With drought-like conditions in May, I’m not about to experiment. And freshly sown seed definitely has to remain moist for germination to occur, so I think I’ll continue racing around with the watering can.

Here are a few tips to help newly planted material survive:

If adding a large group to a flower bed, I like to dig over the area first. If the soil is dry, I’ll water before I begin — moist soil is much easier to dig. This is the time when I’ll dig in organic matter as the best condition for most plants is well drained soil that retains moisture.

Observation and experience help determine when and how much to water. Different plants have their preferences — some like to dry out in between — but good, well drained soil in the pot or in the flower bed is more forgiving of over- or under-watering.

With individual plants, the tendency is to dig a hole the size of the pot, but it’s best to loosen up the soil around a little so that it’s easier for the roots to spread out, especially so in compacted soil.

Gently firm the soil around the plant to remove air pockets then water as usual. One other thing I do is create a small depression around the plant so that when it does rain, water will be directed to the roots. If the flower bed is on a slope, water will easily run off and miss the plant, so make the depression on the high side of the plant.

Finally, mulch, mulch, mulch — but not too deeply. Five to eight centimetres (roughly to three inches) is enough on a flowerbed. Too much, and when it does rain, water won’t penetrate to the soil below — more wilting, and there’s been quite enough wilting, thank you.

Gardening in Kitchener

(Picture unrelated)

David Hobson

Friday May 18, 2012

In the garden: Hanging basket flowers are vulnerable to sun and wind

This is it, the May 24 weekend, when planting in earnest gets under way — although I confess I’ve been shoving stuff into the ground and into containers since last week.

The weather forecast showed nighttime temperatures well above zero, so I felt safe. If they freeze after this weekend, I won’t be responsible, even though a frosty night is always possible right into June.

The soil is warming up now and gives off a little heat at night to ward off the cold, but regardless, I always keep an eye on the weather and keep covers ready to throw over the softies. Most plants, however, usually manage to tough it out.

That’s not to say things planted early will grow well right away; cool soil and cool nights are unlikely to encourage rampant growth in plants that were reared in a cosy greenhouse. Cooler soil has a bigger impact on seeds. Until the right temperature is reached, seeds won’t germinate. Peas, for instance, don’t mind the cold and could have been planted already, but beans won’t sprout if the soil temperature doesn’t suit them.

Sadly, hanging baskets purchased in early May are often just a short-lived consumer item to be picked up with groceries. Just like highway overpasses, they’re more susceptible to freezing, hanging as they do in mid-air, so it doesn’t take much of a drop in temperature for them to suffer. Even if they survive that, they’re vulnerable to sun and wind.

Too many are marketed in overstuffed containers with barely a cup of soil to sustain them and can dry out in the time it takes to hang them. When it is windy and warm, they need to be checked as often as twice a day.

Because these small containers need frequent watering, they need frequent fertilizer, too, as it’s easily flushed out with the extra watering. The poor things can’t win. If they were only a temporary decoration for the front porch, that’s fine, but it’s unlikely to encourage anyone to take a greater interest in plants, or becoming a serious gardener, if something hung up in May is dead by June.

Bigger containers with good soil are the solution. I mix up my own, mainly because of the quantity I need. It is more work, but I enjoy it.

It’s like mixing a cake. Store-bought potting soil is the standard recommendation; the usual reason given is that garden soil may contain weeds or disease. I’ve never had a problem with weeds in a container as they’re easy to spot and soon crowded out by the plants. As for disease, it’s possible I suppose, but my container plants always seem to thrive.

Garden soil alone is not a good idea, though, as it doesn’t drain well. I do screen a little and mix it with my own compost. Then I add perlite or sand, and vermiculite, and lots of organic matter — shredded leaves, a bit of old manure. The important thing is that the soil in a planter retains moisture and at the same time drains well.

Sounds like a contradiction, but think of a sponge. When saturated, the excess water will drain to the bottom while the rest stays moist. This is how container soils should work. And remember; gravel in the bottom isn’t required, but a free draining hole is.

And what have I been planting in my containers? I’m afraid I haven’t been keeping track as I have a completely erratic approach. First I buy a load of plants that take my fancy, then match them up as I go — with a little consideration of colour, form, and size. Works for me!

One plant I have to find room for this Victoria Day is the geranium (pelargonium) I kept over winter. It’s called Appleblossom and was said to be Queen Victoria’s favourite. How appropriate is that?

Gardening in Globe and Mail

(Picture: Running off to the Garden Centre)

Running off to the garden centre? Plan ahead to save money and time

NOREEN RASBACH

Friday, May 18, 2012

Gardening expert Mark Cullen calls them “gardens for golfers” – good-looking spaces that don’t cost a fortune and are easy to maintain, perfect for people who’d rather golf or do anything but prune, weed and water. And now that the last freak frosts and snowfalls are behind us (with the unfortunate exception of Calgary – sorry Calgary), hordes of eager green thumbs will be descending on garden stores this long weekend. Before digging, however, it pays to do some research. The Globe asked the experts how to get more bang for the buck, while keeping your knees as dirt-free as possible.

Get rid of your grass

The fact that people still have manicured lawns baffles Bill Andrews, a professor emeritus of environmental science at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Keeping it green and pristine uses up resources – water and fertilizer – not to mention considerable work.

Dr. Andrews recalls having to explain North American lawns to visiting Chinese professors. He outlined the process: fertilize, grow, cut, throw it away; then fertilize again, grow, cut and throw it away. “It’s just wrong to waste like that,” he says.

In his Toronto garden, Dr. Andrews, who gives talks across Ontario on low-maintenance gardening, has Carolinian trees, shrubs and hostas that require little or no upkeep and provide habitat and food for butterflies, bees and birds.

Space is a key consideration for Sarah Battersby of Toronto, who writes torontogardens.blogspot.ca. Ms. Battersby says getting rid of grass in many city gardens can be a shrewd move because yards tend to be tiny. “You have to go out there every week or every week and a half and edge it and cut it, whereas if you get rid of your grass, and have a low-maintenance mix of shrubs and perennials, you’re never going to have to do cutting or edging again.”

Go native

The road to a low-maintenance garden begins with native plants. That’s why, Mr. Cullen says, demand for these plants has been growing over the past decade. Native plants in Canada, he says, were here before the Europeans settled 500 years ago, which means they thrive with no fertilizer and require little watering. They are also considered resistant to insect and disease problems.

The payoff for going native is in ease, not in price – Mr. Cullen says you don’t pay a premium for the plants but they aren’t cheaper either. In Vancouver, native plants include western redcedar trees, Pacific dogwood, tiger lilies and skunk cabbage. In southern Ontario, some popular native flowers are black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, butterfly milkweed and New England Aster; in Nova Scotia, consider Canada lilies, purple coneflowers, sunflowers and violets. Native prairie wildflowers include crocuses, prairie roses, yarrow and blue-eyed grass.

Ms. Battersby says that while she supports the impulse to plant natives, gardeners have to remember “the urban garden is an altered ecosystem” – so sometimes a plant that grows well in a field won’t thrive in a small city garden.

Perennials vs. annuals

Dr. Andrews is an advocate of perennials (plants that live for two or more years), rather than annuals (which complete their reproductive cycle in one year.) Annuals waste resources, he says, by requiring fertilizer and a lot of watering. Unlike grass, he allows a few in his garden “to add some beauty and diversity,” but says “it’s a mistake to plant too many.”

Mr. Cullen says that annuals have a reputation for dying at the first sign of frost, but many are relatively frost resistant – like snapdragons, dusty miller and geraniums. And while perennials have a reputation for not blooming for a long period of time, several actually do. Take black-eyed Susans – they begin to bloom in late July in Ontario and continue until early October.

This year the Perennial Plant Association picked the Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ as the perennial of the year. “It’s amazing,” Mr. Cullen says. “It’s got a variegated leaf – that’s the main attraction, not the flower.”

He prefers mostly perennials: black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, daffodils, Ivory Silk Japanese tree lilacs, serviceberry, butterfly bush, sugar maple and hydrangea ‘Annabelle.’

High-impact design

Brian Minter runs Minter Gardens, 32 acres of elaborate show gardens in Chilliwack, B.C., but he recognizes the urban reality in Canada – most people have very small gardens or are living in “a container reality.” He believes, however, that gardeners should not be afraid to be bold and “create stunning focal points,” no matter how small the space.

His first piece of advice: Use vertical space, especially when you have a balcony or a small patio. “Who says you can’t put a tree in a container?” He suggests, for example, planting a tree on a patio. The industry, he adds, is adapting trees to make them narrower. For example, there are now compact forms of red maples that grow to about eight feet wide.

Or, he says, you can create interesting frames – using a tripod or bamboo stakes – to grow beans, peas or cucumbers. Ms. Battersby suggests scarlet runner beans – “they’re an edible bean but they have a beautiful, full red flower.”

Make a statement

Garden design, Ms. Battersby says, comes down to this: “You want to always have things a little bit slightly off centre.” That means not lining up plants in a straight row “like little soldiers.”

Her advice: Always buy in groups of odd numbers rather than even numbers. If you have money to buy five things, buy five of one thing rather than one each of five things – “it just looks better.”

Also have one big focal point. “If you’re going to buy a planter for your front garden, buy the biggest one.” Then use that planter to create something of visual interest for each season.

Ms. Battersby says a little bit of paint can go a long way in a garden. Her sister recently took a cedar obelisk in her garden and had it painted purple.

“It was a $12 can of paint and that obelisk went from being really noticeable in the garden to wow!”

Gardening in Kitchener

(Photo: Little Lime Hydrangea)

In the garden: New clematis varieties are good for small gardens

It’s not often I get to meet genuine garden celebrities, though I’m not sure celebrity is the right word.

There are big name garden designers, the ones that have a presence at places like the Chelsea Flower show, or that show up on TV occasionally, but in this case I’m thinking of two who have had a major impact on the garden world and continue to do so. I had the pleasure of hearing them speak at the recent President’s Choice garden product media launch, held at the Toronto Botanical Garden.

All the new plant introductions were on display, with representatives of the major producers on hand to give presentations about what will be in garden centres this spring. But for me, one star of the show was Raymond Evison OBE (Order of the British Empire).

It’s a name you may not recognize, but you may have seen it in an abbreviated form if you’ve ever bought a clematis. If the reference number on the plant tag includes the letters evi, then it’s one of Evison’s. He hails from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, between Britain and France, where for more than 50 years he’s been breeding and developing clematis plants and today produces a fifth of the world’s supply.

Many older varieties of clematis can become large, cumbersome plants that need specific pruning if they are to bloom their best, but newer varieties bred at the Guernsey Clematis Nursery are smaller plants suitable for small gardens or even as container plants.

New ones introduced by Evison (the queen gave him his OBE for doing such a fine job with clematis) included the extremely free flowering Chevallier™ and Hyde Hall™, a variety that flowers in late spring, early summer, and again in fall. What’s more, it does well on as little as three or four hours of sun, unusual for a clematis, making it a candidate to replace the dreary, scale-infested euonymus in my shady side yard.

As for pruning, “Give it a pony tail cut,” Evison informed us. In fall or late winter, he recommends bundling up all the stems and cutting them back to about 45 centimetres (18 inches) — simple.

Haskap berries

Bob Bors doesn’t have a title, but he does deserve an award. I wrote about his work with the Haskap berry plant in a column over a year ago and here he was at the President’s Choice event to promote it.

At the time I wrote the column, Haskap wasn’t widely available, although I heard later from Perry Grobe of Grobe’s Nursery and Garden Centre that he had a supply.

Bors and his team at the University of Saskatchewan have worked tirelessly to bring this plant to market. The flavour of the Haskap berry is described as a cross between a raspberry, blueberry, and the Saskatoon berry and it’s the first fruit to ripen in the spring, even before strawberries. I tried a sample of Haskap jam and it was yummy. If you plan on growing Haskap, Bors noted that two unrelated varieties are necessary to ensure pollination and subsequent fruit production.

Plant varieties

Plant breeders have been busy and I can barely keep up with so many new and improved varieties. Among the other plants that caused excitement and will be available this spring were the following:

 • Little Lime™ hydrangea, a dwarf version of Limelight — a favourite of mine.

 • A Ninebark called Center Glow™. It has a purple red leaf that opens with a splash of lime yellow.

 • Pink lemonade, a soft yellow petunia with pink edges. And if you liked last year’s Black Velvet petunia, there’s a new one called Honey Bee with blooms that are almost black with yellow stars.

 • Wasabi is a bright green coleus and Twister Pink is a new verbena.

 • Cosmic Eye is a compact coreopsis with deep maroon and yellow flowers. I have the similar Route 66 introduced a couple of years ago and it’s one of the longest blooming perennials in my garden, a real celebrity.

It’s planting time . . . whoo hoo!

Gardening in the G&M

This little pixie will really perk up your garden

Marjorie Harris

 

Epimedium Grandiflorum (also known as the Purple Pixie, Fairy Wing)

Why you should plant it: One of the grandest of the woodland shade plants, this species grows on gardeners so much that many become collectors.  Epimedium can tolerate part sun, but will thrive in fairly dense shade. It has enchanting blooms with downward curving spurs. The small, neat clumps are easy to place.

Where to plant it: In the shade on a well-drained slope. It needs some protection or ends up looking scraggly. As a deciduous plant, it will disappear all winter but spring up early in the year. Give it shade, shelter and lots of organic material (i.e., plenty of compost or manure or both) when you plant it.

What it offers: The glory of a perky bloom in very early spring as well as gorgeous heart-shaped leaves. Since this Zone 5 plant forms small, neat clumps, it is lovely to look at, so place it in a spot where you can show it off. ‘Purple Pixie’ will grow to 30 centimetres high by 60 centimetres wide, but very, very slowly. It blooms any time from April to May.

Source and cost: Get it for $14.99 at nurseries such as Plant World (www.plantworld.net) in Toronto. Visit www.marjorieharris.com for more plant and gardening information.

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What can I do with my old gardening tools?

Marjorie Harris

The question: I have a dull-bladed lawnmower and lots of clippers that look like they will never cut again. Is there anything to be done with them?

The answer: All cutting tools can be sharpened, giving them a new lease on life. In times past, those wandering neighbourhood knife sharpeners could be counted on for such services. Now, though, you’ll need to arrange to see one. In Toronto, Andrew Hutchinson of Sharp My Knife (www.sharpmyknife.com) will go to your house and rescue your tools for $5 per item and up (minimum $35). All you’ll need is an outdoor electrical outlet or one that is close to your yard.

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A fork to do the heavy (mulch) lifting

Marjorie Harris

Few enjoy multitasking more than gardeners, so Garant’s new three-in-on mulching fork ($32.99 at garden centres, hardware stores and home building outlets across Canada) should prove popular.

The shovel at the top of the base is ideal for lifting and moving mulch, while the fork at the end spreads it nicely. The rounded tines also make it easy to level the ground around plants.

How the right soil makes your vegetables tastier

Wency Leung - Globe and Mail

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Do your vegetables taste bland? Don’t blame the cook. The problem could be rooted in the soil.

Soil can make a significant difference to the flavour of produce. Just ask David Cohlmeyer.

The farmer turned sustainable food consultant noticed in the 1990s that the taste of the vegetables he grew near Thornton, Ont., depended on how he treated the earth. When he was gentler on the soil – if he set aside his Rototiller and grew a cover crop, such as rye and hairy vetch, over the winter – he found that the next year’s carrots and beets tasted sweeter and more complex.

“Pretty well across the board, just about everything” tasted better, Mr. Cohlmeyer says. “Kind of like with a good wine. You know, it’s not just one taste, you get an assortment of tastes.”

It wasn’t just his imagination. Chefs who used his produce also noticed the difference.

Tests of his vegetables confirmed elevated Brix levels, or sugars, in their juices. A carrot that would normally be 8 degrees Brix now measured 12 degrees Brix.  And, perhaps more important, his vegetables had higher levels of diffusion, a measurement of the amount of dissolved solids, including flavour components, nutrients and aromas, for which he credits their robust and complicated flavour.  Root vegetables, in particular, also tended to last longer in storage. (Certain varieties of vegetables do yield higher Brix levels, but Mr. Cohlmeyer found these varying levels between the same strains grown in different soil.)

Around 2005, with the support of a government research program, Mr. Cohlmeyer began conducting his own research based on his suspicion that soil life – the universe of insects and micro-organisms in the ground, including bacteria, fungi, yeasts and protozoa – could be a key factor in developing tasty produce.

Last fall, he has been working with scientists at the University of Guelph to further examine how to improve soil to enhance flavour and naturally prolong shelf life. They plan to test how different amendments to soil, such as adding compost or compost tea, affects various crops such as carrots, beets, squash, winter radishes and potatoes. The aim is to identify what is increasing the Brix and diffusion levels of the vegetables.The team is now seeking funding for its research.

When it comes to wine, no one bats an eye at the mention of terroir, the notion that flavour is tied to the soil and climate of a region. Terroir affects the taste of other crops as well, says Antony John, owner of the Soiled Reputation Farm in Sebringville, Ont.

“The exact same principles apply to vegetables as they do to grapes,” Mr. John says, noting that eating locally grown food isn’t just a feel-good philosophy; it tastes distinctive too. “In Europe, this is understood that olives grown in one part of the region will taste different than [those grown in another].”

At his farm in fertile Perth County, the soil of the region naturally contains a good mix of calcium, sand, clay, humus and other rich organic matter, which makes it ideal for growing vegetables, Mr. John says. Home gardeners can create a similar soil composition in their own backyards, he adds.

So what’s the recipe for good soil? Here are a few elements that can potentially alter the taste of your vegetables:

Calcium: Calcium is important as it is involved in the formation of sugars in root vegetables and encourages bud formation in flowering vegetables, Mr. John says. Home gardeners can pick up bone meal or limestone at gardening stores to add calcium carbonate to their soil. Mr. John recommends stone dust containing limestone, which also increases the porosity of the soil. You don’t need much. A two-pound (900-gram) bag of any store-bought garden product that contains calcium will be sufficient for a typical home garden, he says.

Clay: Vegetables grown in heavy clay soils generally taste better than those grown in sandy soil, Mr. Cohlmeyer says. Clay has a higher cation-exchange capacity, which means it is able to hold more positively charged mineral ions, such as potassium and magnesium, making them more readily available to plants. But clay can be tricky. It tends to dry out, making it hard for plants to germinate and for growers to harvest roots. If your soil lacks clay, adding compost will also increase its cation-exchange capacity, Mr. Cohlmeyer says.

Peat moss and compost: Across Canada, soil degradation, particularly the depletion of organic matter, has become a concern for farmers. Vegetables thrive in soil that is rich in organic matter, which retains moisture and has an abundance of bacterial and fungal activity. But a muck soil, which is extremely rich in organic matter, doesn’t hold onto nutrients well and can alter the flavour profile, Mr. John says.

For most home gardens, though, it’s generally a good idea to add some quality compost, Mr. Cohlmeyer says. After all, he says, having a healthy amount of organic matter in soil is what organic farming is all about. “If you have good organic matter, high enough organic matter, in the soil, you don’t need these herbicides and pesticides,” he says. “It’s not that you choose not to use them, you don’t have any need for them.”

How to brew compost tea

Through his experiments to produce tastier vegetables, David Cohlmeyer has come up with a formula for compost tea to promote soil life:

Mix a small amount quality compost (make sure it’s free of harmful E. coli, which can be present in manure) with some molasses and a sprinkling of oats to boost fungal activity. Let the mixture sit for a few days, keeping it moist. Add water, and insert a fish-tank bubbler to aerate it for about 24 hours, encouraging the growth of aerobic bacteria and fungi. (Mr. Cohlmeyer uses a shovelful of compost for every 45 gallons, or 170 litres of water, enough for an entire acre, so home gardeners should scale down accordingly.) Spray the compost tea over damp soil.

“With a compost tea, we were able to get a similar increase in the biological activity in the soil as putting on compost, so you can get similar effects with less compost,” he says.