Check-Up on Local Permaculture

Last week I dropped by to check up on Verge Permaculture in Calgary. Michelle and Rob Avis are still trying to fix soil that is in its third year so it goes to show hard lifeless soil is not an easily remedied problem. Luckily one of the premises of permaculture is to hill beds so that the rain falls between beds and is absorbed up into the beds gradually. This was definitely working. The system also keeps people from walking on the soil and further compacting it.

Meanwhile Verge has a bumper crop of radish pods and a million other activities on the go. One of the projects involves building a solar greenhouse to increase the length of our extremely short growing season. I will keep an eye on the projects they pursue because it is interesting to all gardeners, not just permaculturists. Meanwhile Rob Avis has offered to preview my new veggie book. I am off to meet with co-author Steven Biggs to finalize and confirm the text this week. Yes the book series project is humming along and we hope to have the first in the series ready to show off in time for spring planting!

Molasses for Ant Control?

Well if this isn't a perennial problem in everyone's garden I don't know what is. Earlier an entire ornamental grass was picked up* and was in the process of being hauled away by ants when I put it out of it's misery by digging up and disposing of it myself.

I have tried cornmeal and borax and other "solutions" and my husband was threatening the big guns - aka pesticides - so I had to try something. That's when Joanna offered up her simple solution. She mixes molasses with water and pours that right on the ants. If this works it will be a miracle. Today is Sept. 6th and I have just poured two Gallons of water/molasses mix on the word's biggest ant hill inside my light standard at the front of my house.

Check back later to see what is happening. The theory is that the sugar in the molasses will be attractive to the ants - after they eat it they will literally die of a sugar overdose because sugar turns to alcohol and they can't tolerate alcohol. This is because insects don't have any way to break down alcohol.

*** Well the plant was not being taken away per se but the ants were slowly burying it as they were busy constructing their new nest inside it.

Carrots in Soil-Less Mix seem to be Fly-less as well

It is finally harvest time in my mini-garden beside the house. Last week I reported on the grand harvest of 15 blue potatoes from a single pot and this week I started pulling carrots out of my 3' x 3' mini-garden.

Because this was just an experiment and not a big "carrot growing operation" I was surprised how clean the carrots came out and it was a minute before I noticed the roots were rust-fly free. Then I remembered Joan telling me the carrots she was testing in her pots beside the ones growing in the ground were also fly free while the ground-grown carrots were riddled with the tiny maggots (or worms) so common with this insect.

We all know carrots do better in light soils but is it possible you can grow rust-fly free carrots more than one year in the same soil mix? I will definitely leave the soil in tact in this wooden box just to trial this idea next year. This is a nagging and irritating pest of carrots so it is great to know there may be a simple solution.

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Soils and testing for Microbes

It's late summer now and soils are becoming depleted and turning rock hard. Some of the depletion is due to low organic matter. I make the analogy to the fridge. You can keep taking food (ie organic matter) out until it is all gone and then you can take leftovers (ie compost) out but finally if you don't refill it the fridge will be empty.

It is the same with the soil. You need to add a lot of organic matter over time to sustain the soil in a garden, especially in a vegetable garden where you are removing so many minerals in the form of food you are eating. Given the right conditions microbes can multiply and grow and this eventually supplies the soil with nitrogen but microbes can't replace all of the micronutrients that have been removed with the food. Protozoa eating bacteria release nitrogen in plant available form and fungus transport phosphorus from afar but what do you do if your microbes themselves have been killed by fertilizers and mistreatment?

I bore you with all this because it is common that gardeners forget to replenish their soil and last week I took a soil biology course to see what is in my soils and compost and compost tea. I was generally happy - especially with the compost. It was alive with all kinds of beneficial organisms. If your soil is getting hard it is probably lacking the microbes necessary for good soil life. Fall is the perfect time to build soil microbes.

Thanks to Martin for the photo included here that he took when I was hard at work last week.

Does anyone know this Daylily?

This is Red Velvet Achillea but what is the smallish (about 30" tall) daylily below it? I planted it several years ago and this is the first year it has bloomed. I bought it from estate perennials but can't find an e-mail address for them either! I am hopeless some days. If you recognize this Alberta daylily send me a comment or call me!

New From Seed This Year- cutting zinnias

This spring I started the usual suspects - tomatoes and basil - as well as all kinds of small flowers. The latest to come into bloom are the tall cutting zinnias. One opened today and I am thrilled to see it has a beautiful peach blossom. Described in the seed packet as coming in shades of apricot to rose and salmon blush I thought it would complement my dark green house.

Here is a photo of Apricot Blush Zinnia from Renee's Garden seed in the US. It is growing in front of a (the deliberatly blurred) small shrub sold as Tiger Eyes Sumac. Remember we have a very cool climate here in Calgary, Alberta - our elevation is the same as Banff- so any bloom from seed is an excellent success story.

I look forward to more blooms in the coming weeks from the numerous buds.

Rat-Tail Radish - Another New Vegetable

Hassan is growing rat-tail radish - seed purchased from a regular seed company but never before seen by this garderner! Garden manager Georgina introduced it to me and I tasted her "radish gone to seed" in the Mission Community Garden in Calgary. It is delightful! Very spicy and radish-like in flavor. Yummy in salads or fast fries.

Thanks for introducing us to a new veggie Hassan!

New Gazania is Gorgeous!

I saw a new gazania in Evonne's garden today - we both agreed it is a good one. Gazanias usually close up at night or on cool days and this one is not only open on a shady cool day - it is a bright beautiful shade of orange. Sunbather's Sunset Gazania is a must try plant for me in 2011!

Follow-Up From Herald Article- Plants Speak to Us

Hello Donna, I enjoyed your Saturday August 06 (Calgary Herald) article about plant nutrient uptake. PLEEEEZe tell us how we can correct these problems in your next week's column. Kt

Ah Kate- - fixing the problem depends on what causes the problem- for instance Magnesium deficiency (shown on the tomato leaf above) is sometimes caused by low pH - which can be caused by the potting soil being acidic or it can be caused by lack of magnesium. The latter can be fixed just by adding the micronutrient -using a product such as Kelp. The low pH can be a bigger problem because if the soil was not balanced before you bought it that is a problem. Don't buy that soil again or fix it now by adding lime. So you have to rule out one problem and then look for the solution. If you simply add Mg and the pH is low it may not be available to the plant.

Iron "deficiency" is also more of a pH problem and once that is changed through using more compost and making sure the soil is watered well but not waterlogged, the problem can solve itself. I will try to add more bits and pieces in my Blog but am also trying to write a book right now so am torn with these writing projects! Thanks for your feedback... ps - I only write in the Herald every second week so check back her for more updates.

Garlic is ready!

My friend Pat said she had never seen garlic in a garden. Oops- I picked it five minutes before she arrived this weekend. It doesn't look like much in the garden once it is mature. The onion-like plant just gradually turns brown. The bottom picture is right after I picked it - before washing. The top photo is a washed and slightly peeled garlic ready to dry. I have hung it to dry where it won't get rain. I will replant some in the fall once it is ripe. To plant it I just separate the cloves into individual little nuggets and plant those pointy side up and an inch or two deep. This cluster of garlic started as a single clove purchased last fall at the market.

CBC Phone-In - Updates

On CBC radio in Alberta yesterday Catherine was having trouble with her clematis. Parts of the plant were wilting and then browning - or browning and then wilting- I am not too sure. I immediately declared she had trouble with a bacterial wilt. Ooops!

The wilt of clematis is caused by a fungus so I am self-correcting here for all to read. If there is a single stem wilting on a clematis that becomes a few brown wilted leaves or a whole stem of wilted leaves you may in fact have fungal wilt caused by Phoma clematidina. Cutting through a node just below the damage you can see if the stem is blackened and filled with fungus. This is causing the wilting and all damaged material must be cut off (I did tell Catherine to cut off the damage).

If the cut reveals the plant is not black, there is a chance Catherine's clematis was simply wind whipped by all the crazy Alberta weather we've had lately. In that case, the cure is the same: remove the damaged portion anyway.

For further details about this and other organisms causing rot in clematis check out the excellent paper out of England on the same subject:
http://www.howellsonclematis.co.uk/Pages/Wilt%20Art6.html

Sungold Tomatoes are ripe!

My favorite tomatoes come from Renee's Seed each spring like clockwork. I start the seed, transplant it, water and fertilize it and by late July or early August I am rewarded with hundreds of juicy jewels, far sweeter than Sweet 100 or Sweet Million. These amazingly sweet Sungold cherry tomatoes are an orange fruited cherry tomato on long trusses. They tested 11 on the Brix scale and are best served with a bit of sea salt and a basil leaf.

Amazing and worth the wait!

Permaculture - Learn Something New This Summer

Verge Permaculture in Calgary is offering courses - specifically the intensive 72 hour course - at Gull Lake starting Aug. 8, 2010. If you can take the time to go learn something new I suggest this would be a fun activity!

It could even be life changing. Check out details at http://www.vergepermaculture.ca/

"Permaculturists are extreme generalists. Gardeners are extreme specialists" - Quote from Adrian Buckley, Calgary Permaculturist.

Art in the Garden

Just read in the Herald that Katharine Ylitalo (formerly of Edwards garden Center) is now working at the Banff Center on The Banff Butterfly Garden at the Walter Phillips Gallery. On Aug 7 the gallery will present Art in the Garden with Katharine from 1-2 Pm followed by a garden tour and drawing session. If you are in Banff or area consider signing up and going. Sorry I don't have any further details but those should be available from the Banff Center.

Cardoons - A New vegetable for me!

According to Wikipedia, acclaimed chef Mario Batali calls the cardoon one of his favorite vegetables and says they have a "very sexy flavor". Of course this is not why I tried them this spring. But it might be why I keep growing them.

Like most "white bread" gardeners I hardly ever try a new vegetable. I know and grow my favorites and that is enough. In fact this one is so unusual you can't even buy it in the stores or markets in our cold zone 3 climate. I tried it because Ed and Mariann at E & M Woodland Gardens near Innisfail started growing them from seed for their Italian neighbors. Ed Wassenaar convinced me it would be a dramatic addition to my pots and that it might reach heights of 2 meters in a season. In warmer climates (Zone 7?) this plant overwinters easily and sometimes becomes a weed, but In Calgary this exotic Italian plant will not winter so I put this Artichoke relative in a big pot for its showy leaves thinking they would cause a drive-by sensation.

I only have one plant in one pot but neighbours and friends walking by all comment. Finally, one woman who has a winter home in Spain, stopped to tell me I should be making Cardoon risotto or soup with my plant. A single leaf stalk is similar to a giant celery stalk. Pick 1 or 2 stalks and strip off the leaflets along the petiole edges. Remove the woody veins before chopping and parboiling the leaf stalk and finally add it to any number of dishes. A search of the internet shows this is not just a pretty plant, it is a virtual wonder. It's amazing I never cooked it before. Tastes a lot like an artichoke without the warm climate needed to get the artichoke flowers. Wow, the longer I garden the more I learn.

Fast fact: Cardoon is Cynara cardunculus while artichoke is Cynara scolymus so they are closely related. They are in the daisy family but don't look that way until they bloom and look like giant thistles.

Oriental Poppies are Pretty

Yes it is Oriental Poppy time again and they are beautiful! Trouble is once they bloom they are done, finished, caput.

Remember to cut back or deadhead the blooms if you want to keep the plant as strong as possible. This means cutting off the dead flower head and the stem it is on. If you leave the stem, the little pointer sticks up in the air looking miserable and the plant has to decide what to do with it. Sometimes it is wise to leave a pod or two to mature and go to seed so that you have young plants coming next year. You will know the seeds are ripe when you tip over the pod and can shake out the black seeds.

Do not immediately cut back all the leaves because the plant needs to wind down. If the leaves brown, cut them off as they discolor and eventually you may have to cut them all back.

New Diseae at Reader Rock Garden

Just noticed the Hosta virus has hit Calgary - saw it a few years ago when touring Hosta growers in Holland and now there are hostas showing signs of disease in Calgary's Reader Rock Garden. Look at photos of normal (top) and disease (leaves smaller, speckled and veined, below) Hostas pictured. This problem has been in Eastern Canada for several years so had to eventually come here too! Sadly there is nothing to be done- perhaps removing and destroying infected plants?

Plant Annuals in July?

Okay- last night I planted annuals in my front yard. Yes it was raining and yes it is late by most people's standards but I was away earlier and then it hailed and I could go on and on. This is just a public service message really to say why not fill in a space where an oriental poppy pooped out or the hail nailed a favorite plant?

Surprisingly, there are still annuals to be had and with our weather finally turning nice (for today anyway) it is a good idea to plant and reap the rewards of late summer bloom. Meanwhile I have to say my new Terra Nova perennials are coming along nicely. More on that later!

Join Me at the Eleanor Luxton House in Banff

It is a rare thing that a garden continues and sometimes even improves long after the owners have passed. Thanks to the foundation set up by Eleanor Luxton in Banff Alberta, her historical family home is not just humming along, it is happily being weeded and planted and loved as if Eleanor or her parents still lived there!

If you are going to be in Banff or want an excuse to come out to visit this weekend, join me as we open the garden to the public. Eleanor's house is at 206 Beaver Street. The event is Sunday, July 18 from 2-4 PM. I will be on hand to answer garden questions of all kinds and to show off some of the work the foundation has been up to. Meet the gardener Lance Woolaver and the hard working "Friends" who have planted and weeded on behalf of the foundation for the first time this season.

Remember Banff is a cooler climate than most of Alberta so plants long gone in your own garden will be peaking here now. I look forward to meeting you so don't be shy - come over and introduce yourself.

Front Door Wow- First Impressions

Check out my Calgary Herald article July 9 when I look at ways to add more wow to the front yard! Here is another bonus photo taken last week in Croatia... this front door is in Ston- just north of Dubrovnik.