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.

Snow, Compost & Fall Bulbs

It was a busy weekend of emptying the old compost bin and spreading it; draining our water barrel for the winter; watering in the peonies we moved and finally planting the bulbs and spreading a yard of commercial compost. Yes it happened all at once. I ordered compost and just as it came the weather turned and it started raining. By the time the bulbs (Allium christophii and Allium Mount Everest - see first two photos above) were planted it was starting to snow. Luckily we finished planting bulbs and covering all the beds with compost (see bottom photo of Eagle Lake Black Gold) before it really came down this morning. Now it looks perfect!

The leaves are slow to change colour this year but those that are down were added to our cleaned out bin along with a few kitchen scraps. It is hovering near 2-5 degrees now which is only a shock because it was plus 30 last week. This is all in celcius of course and that means it was very hot and now is so cold. Good thing we are going away for Thanksgiving!

Fall Harvest Grass & CBC

I will be bringing some fall grasses with me to CBC radio this friday but meanwhile I have had an image of Foxtail Millet sent to me by John Moore (www.williammoorefarms.ca) Have a look at his beautiful website for more details about the ornamental grasses you can grow here in Alberta such as triticale, millet and old strains of wheat. Very beautiful!

Giant Hydrangeas - was it the compost tea?

This fall my Annabelle Hydrangeas are bigger and better than ever. I wondered how they managed to get so big and if it was the "special" fertilizer I used or the compost tea? I am still making compost but the days are so cool I am not making tea any more. The Sustainable Soil Solutions fertilizer was only applied once so I am not sure if that had any special effect. With the cracks in the soil as it dries out this fall I am also wondering about adding more calcium this fall. Research shows that cracks are often caused by a deficiency such as Calcium and that needs to be sprayed onto the soil instead of the plants so I might do that now. Many of us deal with poor soils and cracks form when the clays shrink. If it is a problem a fertilizer can solve then gardeners need to know.

Meanwhile don't forget to water - it is fall but micro-organisms in the soil are still working and probably need the moisture to do their life's work.

Fall is my Favorite time of Year

It is hard to believe how nature keeps ticking even as the evenings get so cold. Remember all insects are cold blooded so they are hiding in leaves and duff and cracks and crannies when it is cold but as soon as it warms up they are out and about on the flowers looking for a little last minute snack. Here I caught a painted lady butterfly on a sunflower.

Fall Harvest

With frost pending this week I am hurrying to gather up all the produce. What a beautiful sight this squash makes in the sink. These are all summer squash which means they don't have a long shelf life.

I have also pulled all the tomatoes and they are laid out in boxes between newspaper while they finish ripening. I plan to roast the tomatoes on the barbeque or in a low oven. My favorite is to slice the cherry tomatoes or paste tomatoes in half, brush them with olive oil which has crushed garlic in it. Then I lightly sprinkle sea salt on the works and roast in a low oven for an hour or more. I want things to dry out a bit before I either freeze them or mix them with fresh pasta. Yum, Good.

1962 Pontiac Landscape

It's the first day of fall - hotter than blazes and I am happy to report I saw the best fall landscape the other day. I was emerging from the LRT and there was the landscaped Pontiac. Complete with a water feature.

Someone had to do it - makes me wish I had a spare pontiac. Or not.

More Fall Colour - from Annuals?

What a surprise to come home to! The asters ordered from Vesey's in January; started from seed in March and planted outdoors in late May have finally bloomed in September. Gardening certainly beats the "slow food" movement in terms of testing patience. And within a few weeks it will all be compost.

But who is thinking about the next few weeks? The reward right now is in the beautiful deep purple blooms spilling over the sidewalk and sprouting between perennials. True to its description, Pavlova Dark Blue Aster is icing on the cake of my 2009 garden.

Hardy Korean Maple- Fabulous fall colour

Years ago Byland Nursery in Kelowna gave me three little maple seedlings to trial. They were promoted as similar to Japanese maples but for a cold climate. I was in between gardens at the time so I gave them to three different gardeners in different parts of Calgary. Two out of three survived and the fall colour is amazing!

If you don't have enough fall colour in your yard why not try this plant - especially if you are in an inner city location with good sun and some shelter. This photo was taken today in the SW neighborhood of Spruce Cliff with a spruce hedge behind it and a full west exposure. What a way to welcome the first day of fall.

Happy Surprise!

In happy news a cluster of fall crocus met us at the front door as we arrived home this weekend. When did we plant them or did they come from the previous owners? Who knows and who cares. These simple and beautiful fall crocus are a short-lived and apparently deer proof plant so we love them! If you haven't got any they are still available for sale in the garden centers.

Blue Chiffon Blooms

In a run of bad luck reported earlier this season, my new Blue Chiffon Hibiscus was initially yanked out and cast aside as a dead duck in my Calgary garden. Then, after seeing a single bud emerging from the cast-off root I decided to pot it up and brought it out to God's country - Vancouver Island - in its pot this August.

Planted carefully and fertilized with only the purest enzymes and cold water Kelp, I babied it to the still fragile but stable flower bud stage. Then we got busy on a rotation of bed changing, shopping and cooking for visitors to our west coast getaway. We basically forgot about the buds that had formed and when we got back from "the daughter's" wedding there it was in all its glory. The leaves were all munched away but the blooms were showing their prize winning form.

Sadly, the deer noticed the plant while our killer cat was trapped indoors while we were off to the wedding. Now the deer were back for another taste. As the baby deer posed in all his spots and charms I ran to grab my camera. My husband, dear thing, decided to take the offensive and tried to chase the deer out of the yard in an attempt to figure out how he got in. This produced one very scared deer, once frustrated engineer and a hapless photographer begging everyone to just hold still for a moment so a photo could be snapped.

In lieu of a photo of the deer I snapped a photo of the flower- close enough I hope to show the splendor of the late season, deer attractive plant without illustrating the stripped and naked stems. Is it just me or is this plant a prima donna? Late to come to the party and then attracting all the attention with its tasty and primed leaves. My neighbor reports these plants are so poisonous to deer he had one legs up in his front yard shortly after a late night snack. He felt ripped off because not only had the deer eaten his deer repellent and reportedly poisonous plant, it had died on his front step and the fish and wildlife had refused to pick up the rigid body. In fact they suggested he dig a hole somewhere in his own yard and bury it. It was not enough to provide the last meal, he had to provide the burial grounds as well.

Dear husband has just left the house again for another trip to the hardware store. He is reportedly planning some tweaking to the deer-proof fence he built earlier this year because although he is now getting good at running an unofficial bed and breakfast for relatives I am sure the last thing he wants to add is an animal graveyard. Not yet, anyway.

Name this plant...

A friend gave the  wife of a cousin of my husband the most beautiful impatience plant. What could it be? It came from Ontario originally so I know some of my friends/readers know this one. Help me out.