It's True...I Saw Martha Stewart and CBC radio starts....

Okay I don't watch the show or read the magazine but when Mark Disaro (gardenwriters.ca) brought Martha Stewart over to the Garden Writers (GWA) regional meeting at Canada Blooms there were a few pictures clicked.

Martha said she wanted to meet us - since she is also a garden writer - although she didn't want to meet us badly enough to individually shake our hands or anything like that. She was in Toronto Representing Home Depo - and was officially launching a new product ... which we didn't see in our giveaway stash so I can't tell you what that new product might be. I noticed the younger garden writers didn't even get up to see her - they continued talking among themselves during her quick visit. I guess its an age thing. (She looks good by the way - even in her orange not-quite-martha apron).

Follow this page over the next while for a peak of some of the fabulous new products we did get to see and take home thanks to Veronica Sliva (our GWA rep in Toronto - she is pictured next to Martha).

In really big news listen to CBC radio in Calgary starting this friday (March 26) when Donna (sorry Martha no home Depo products here) returns to the noon hour phone in show to answer Alberta gardener's questions.

Gardeners Get Out Your Brooms

Okay this is a simple post regarding snow mould on lawns. If the snow has melted on your lawn and there is white fuzzy stuff growing there, this is called snow mould. It is a fungus easily controlled with light raking or with a stiff sweep of a broom. Do this as soon as you see it and do it again if it comes back. This is a seasonal problem so easily controlled if you do the right thing as soon as this is noticed rather than after it has been there for a while. Now - gardeners- get out your brooms! (otherwise there will be dead patches on your lawn later and who wants that!)

Tomato Time ....2010

Seeding Primer:
Yes it is time to start tomatoes from seed again and that is exactly what I did yesterday. I love to start them in a little tray with shallow channels so that all the various kinds can be started at once. I know, some people like to grow in egg shells or in goofy peat pots or cell packs but no goofiness for me this year.... Just straight-up seedling mix (check here for more on the new organic seedling mixes available in a few days), seeds and water. The labels I cut from a yogurt container and labelled with a permanent pen. My warm floor isn't warm right now (yes that is being fixed) so I put my tray on the heat vent in the bathroom. Nothing kills off little seeds that are struggling to germinate faster than cold soil and in an older home it is hard to get heat. If you are new at tomatoes this is a reminder that the plants do not need sun until they are up - they just need heat so do something to warm the trays.

My Philosophy:
I am trying more of the heritage seeds again this year even though they have largely failed compared to the newer hybrids in the past. My reasoning is that I will be planting into a greenhouse when they are bigger and there won't be as many environmental factors to consider. This is the year I am going to continue growing them organically but with more consistent additions of compost tea and micronutrients. In the greenhouse I use a hydroponic system and I will not use conventional fertilizers for the first time on my hydroponic tomatoes. Instead, I am using more compost teas and micronutrients and other things - check this page to follow the progress this season.

Like a grape grower and maker of fine wines, last year for the first time I checked my tomatoes for their BRIX readings. This is a test for sugars in the fruit. I use a refractometer to do this and my tomatoes were double the BRIX that the bought tomatoes were so I am encouraged to pursue this further this year and Heritage tomatoes might have more potential for sweetness naturally - this is why they are back in the game.

My Seeds:
Thanks to Renee's Garden I have free seeds again this year (Big Beef - my favorite new beefstake cultivar, and Sungold- my favorite orange cherry tomato last year - so sweet and so early. Rennee's also sent me Brandywine,Marvel Stripe and Green Zebra Heirloom tomatoes all in one package labelled 'Rainbow's End'. I am intrigued by the tomatoes commercial growers sell in little trusses so I am also growing 'Moneymaker' and I like to have a few tomatoes to spill over the side of a pot so I am growing the one non-staking type 'Tumbler'. Finally, at a seedy staurday I picked up a Beefstake mix of tomatoes because I want to live dangerously! The idea here is to save the first sweet tomato that ripens for future cops.

My System:
I seeded and covered the seeds with a bit of seedling mix and covered the whole works with a plastic cover to keep the humidity in until they are germinated. In the past I have found the plants germinate at different stages but when you use heat they are usually up in under a week. Once 30% or so are up I move the whole works up to my grow lights. Once 75% are up I remove the plastic cover but still water to keep them moist.

Transplanting:
This is once the plants are well up and have their true leaves. I have already secured my rootrainers from Lee Valley to move them into so I will write about that more in a few weeks.

Fertilizing:
I never fertilize or use a compost-based or worm casting supplement until I transplant for the first time. More on that then.

Time to Prune - Apples and other fruits

Okay this is it - the weather is nice enough and the coolest part of winter is behind us. It is finally time to prune our apple trees to make sure we keep them short (ie they are on dwarfing rootstock) and to encourage an open shape on the center of the tree. The period for pruning is over on the coast because things are already blooming but - heh- we are months away from that in Calgary aren't we?

Here are some pruning tips:

- Young trees need to be shaped to remove center and create an open tree.
- Older trees should not require much pruning because you need to do this every year with fruit trees.
- If you missed pruning for a few years then it is time to do it now but don't go crazy- heavy pruning in the dormant season causes over the top water sprouts in spring (and the need for a bit of summer pruning)
- get a proper pruning ladder and really sharp shears
- be brave and remove less than you think you need to remove...
- and finally - get to know your spurs- apples always have these distinctive little branches (about an inch long) and they are the blooming part of the tree!

Photo above is Bernie Dinter, who was teaching a pruning course earlier this year.

Leaving Paradise - back to winter

Okay - it's true - I am heading back to Calgary today and will likely thoroughly enjoy that but this writing- gardening - dog walking month has been grand. Here is a closing pics as I leave today - and PS The peach is in bloom!

A Quote - about blogging?

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."
- Cyril Connolly

The 2010 Olympics... in Bloom

Yes it is February but the garden city has created a buzz to celebrate the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Stepping off the plane, the first thing tourists will notice is the newly planted green wall at the International Airport in Vancouver. Obviously brand new but very cool.

Downtown the Cherry trees are in full bloom.... how did that timing happen? It is a gorgeous welcome to the tourists that were thinking winter - not spring- when they were thinking Olympics.

A drive through Stanley Park ( Vancouver's large urban park) had me scratching my head. A small white Hellebore was in bloom - it did look quite dirty from the car but a walk by inspection later included a label. This is the new release Candy Love Hellebore (Helleborus x nigercors 'Candy Love') and it has been introduced by the Vancouver Garden Club just in time for the Olympics. Unlike the cherry, this is a plant that normally blooms late winter so it was designed to be in bloom for the games. For drive-by viewing it probably would have looked better with a dusting of snow but close-up it is a pretty little flower ideal for cheering up the Vancouver tourists on their way to the events!

PS The non-gardening themes at the Olympics were fun as well.

Spring on the Island

Hate to brag but gardens are not created equal and right now - as I write - several things are in bloom on Vancouver Island. Yes my garden in Calgary is still in the deep freeze but out here I have been taking the temperature of my compost, watching the flowers bloom, harvesting the last of the Brussel Sprouts and seeding lettuce...If this doesn't sound like very much excitement then you are not a true gardener!

Of course watching flowers bloom doesn't take up all my time. I am proceeding nicely with my new book series - I decided "a book" wasn't going to cover all of my interests so I am breaking it up into little bits and pieces. I am co-writing with another garden writer from Toronto and we have made great progress. I have also been watching TV - it is the Olympics after all! No -seriously - I was sent a review copy of the movie "Dirt" and have watched that and will be reviewing it prior to its airing on PBS March 20 of this year.

Okay back to the series - it is going to be of main interest to Urban Gardeners mainly because the rural gardeners I know already know more than I do.... send me a note if you disagree!

Seedy Saturday in Salt Spring

Today was seedy saturday in Salt Spring Island so if you missed it check your local area for a future seedy saturday. It is a great chance to exchange seed or to buy it! Demos of products and items for sale made it all the more fun.

Weeds in Hollywood!

Yes I am back - it was a marvelous sabbatical and I am sure I will be publishing bits and pieces of my escape to New Zealand over the next few weeks as I sort through my pictures.

Today I present a surprise. It is a common weed that we all know. I remember standing in E & M Woodland gardens last spring when a client asked the owner Ed what to do about this greedy weed and native plant that had taken over her farm near Sundre, Alberta. Imagine my surprise when on my flight home through LA we popped off the plane for a few hours to stretch our legs and we saw horsetail - yes common horsetail - in use in a very elegant flower shop in Los Angeles.

Of course I quizzed the owner of the store. "Aren't you worried this little weed will escape and become the next environmental disaster in LA? He laughed and said most of his clients kept it in pots and we moved on. So, if you have been wondering what to do with the weeds on your property consider a hollywood move - or at least trying them in a pot.

Winter Wonderland

Just a quick note from down under with a few photos for fans of DB. Here is a photo of the grand-kids walking to the community garden in Nelson, New Zealand so just imagine where I am.

Resolutions...

"One resolution Eve and I have made for the New Year is that we will keep a photographic record of our garden month by month. We have settled on twelve spots in the garden of which we shall take a photograph on the first day of every month or as near the first as weather conditions will allow. This pictorial record of the same spots at the same dates year by year should be interesting."
From: Adam and Eve in a Garden, page 202 February 1934 issue.

Good idea Adam! I am going to try to achieve the same in mine...
DB

Merry Christmas!

Excerpt from "The Garden" February 1934, Pg 200. These excerpts are part of a diary written as part of a husband and wife banter under the title "Adam and Eve in the Garden"

Dec 24
"It has always been considered ungracious to look a gift horse in the mouth but I couldn't help looking several Christmas gifts which have arrived today in the mouth. And I shall have to perjure my soul when I write thank-you letters for them. As usual, these are from friends who are not gardeners themselves but know I am; think they are clever in sending me "something for the garden." There should be a general rule that nobody who is not him - or herself a working gardener should ever buy any tool or gadget for one who is."

Dec 26
To economise space under cover of glass, we decided that early strawberries and French beans in pots could be dispensed with - in fact are not worth the trouble and space....

Young Love

Photo of Kale, thoroughly enjoying digging potatoes in the summer.

... The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass along to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives.
GERTRUDE JEKYLL: Wood and Garden

Peggy"s Patio

What a great little space Peggy's husband has created for her in their tiny back yard! These wooden "tiles" - purchased and installed by Peggy's husband are a good example of a creative and beautiful effect in a small space... and yes- that is one of the upcoming titles in my new book series... more info to follow as all the details come together- now back to work.

Tomatoes you have known and Grown

Cohen's favorite eating tomato is this green zebra ... what is your fav?

I am seeking the names of tomatoes Calgary Gardeners love and asking for reasons you love them!

Send in the names of tomatoes you grow and tell me why they are a favorite of yours ...

What Have I been Up to?

It is hard to imagine a faster month gone by. In the month since I put away my steel-toed boots and stacked my tools in storage- why have I been too busy to write?

I am in thinking mode and in writing mode but not in writing Blog mode. I have been reading all the various garden books I have bought over the years including one from 1908 . I am worse than the proverbial "kid in the candy shop" - It really is a gorging event. This is my "education season" and I have been waiting years to do it. Instead of staying in Calgary to read and write amid distractions of "real" work and visiting with friends I have come to the coast with all my books and I am doing exactly as I dreamed. I am reading and writing and thinking. I am keen to start a new book but not a book that simply repeats all the old wive's tails and adjective filled descriptions of plants or step-by-step instructions to do this or that. I was looking for a single "good idea".

I recently came upon a set of magazines called "The Garden" published monthly by Theo A. Stephens starting in January 1934. With a subtitle "An intimate magazine for garden lovers", Stephens opened with a personal foreward. "For many years it has been my ambition to produce a gardening paper" starts Stephens. "The type of magazine I have always visualized was a de luxe production, taking advantage of modern methods of reproduction by colour printing, photogravure and fine screen half tone.... a small intimate book, simple and friendly".

Coincidentally I have also been dreaming of writing "a friendly small intimate" book (not a monthly magazine). I have considered producing a series of small books covering tasks people tell me they want more information on. It will be a distillation of my thirty years of gardening experience with a dash of my collected book knowledge. And it won't come together quickly. It is a luscious and fun task and I am in no hurry to complete it! The working title for the series is almost a done deal and the first book in the series is in the works with many titles and ideas on the board. Meanwhile I am also enjoying modern non-gardening reading and have almost finished "Cradle to Cradle". In a few weeks I leave for an extended visit to New Zealand where I hope to keep "working" in a comparative way on my various garden ideas.

Meanwhile I will fill this blog with bits and pieces from "The Garden" and other books I am reading so that there is something to fill the blank pages of my blog as I pursue my dream.

Plants back to life? Anita was right

My horrible dry and frozen leaves have thawed and look normal now and just may get normal fall colour.

A week ago I was worried that my life (as a gardener this season) was over! The temperatures dipped to minus 15 celsius and the leaves on trees including my little silver maple were horribly crispy and shrivelled. Registered Consulting Arborist Anita Schill told me not to worry. Trees that are horribly dry may need water, she said but everything else will be okay. I am publishing a photo of a leaf from the same maple I was so worried about a few weeks ago. It has thawed, come back to life and looks like it will go into normal fall colour and perhaps senesce normally. Go figure. You were so right Anita!

Remember if your leaves have not dropped and do not look like "normal" fall leaves you must get out and water right now. While the soil is still alive. Don't wait until February to think about this. In all many gardening years this is the first time I have seen heavy freezing as a general rule on trees in the fall before the leaves have dropped.

Empty Water Barrels Now

Well --- I drained my water barrel and then placed a container under it to catch the last of the water, tightened the tap - and then I went away. When I came back it had snowed and the melted snow has filled the barrel again! Okay - truth is it is time to physically disconnect the barrel and put it in the garage or upside down beside the house for winter. A rain barrel is a big item but if it is not put away and kept dry it might split and break during one of our freeze/dry cycles this winter... And it is not just me- Clean Calgary also reminds us to empty barrels and their argument is convincing- open the tap and empty it out today! Before it gets cold again. We are not living on Vancouver Island - we are in Alberta!

The End of Summer?

Yes there is snow on the ground this morning. I guess this is good for oil prices?

It is definitely too early for temperatures this cold and the trees know it. After a warmer than expected fall with a leisurely and extended summer the frost came and it stayed. The first few frosts started turning the leaves and we had a bit of fall colour coming on. Some hardy old poplars even shed their leaves. Good for them. Now it is so bloody cold we are all checking on last minute seat sales and passport renewals. The trees can't leave town so they are stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. Many leaves have frozen rigidly on the stems before they started to change colour and this is the worst case scenario.

What it means is that no abscission layer was formed between the leaves and the stems. Instead of slowly pulling in all the reusable nutrients and storing them away in the roots for use again next year, the leaves and stems froze rigidly on many trees and shrubs and the nutrients are now locked in the dead leaves and are hanging on instead of falling off. Woody plants and even old standby perennials like peonies usually put the minerals and sugars and nitrogen back into the roots and that way they have a resource come spring. The plants were caught with their pants down. Some arborists are not as worried. To paraphrase Anita Schill, Registered Consulting Arborist with Tree & Leaf in Calgary: "The short days have triggered plants to begin to acclimatize ... they have been storing away food for a month already" she said. She is not worried trees will lose all their hard labour and nutrients with this sudden turn of events and thinks there is something we can do to save them - water, water and water.

The nutrients will be reused by the tree if they are left on the ground because eventually the woody plant can bribe a few fungi with sugary photosynthate exuded from their roots and these fungi will break down the dead leaves into its usable components again next spring. I believe stems still holding leaves may now suffer from "winterkill" or freezing because they have too much water still in the cells. Dry trees, Schill emphasizes, are the problem. They are holding dry leaves right now so watering will help because the root fungi are still active and needing moisture.

Not just a sad day for gardeners, it is a sad day for new trees planted this year that may not have the reserves in place to fully overwinter. We won't really know until next May but it isn't looking good for any new plantings or lush growing plants right now. I agree with Schill- get out and check your moisture. The snow we've had is not enough for the soil borne organisms - give them a break by watering now.