Jeff Lowenfels travelled all the way from Alaska to Canada Blooms to dish the dirt on soil to Toronto gardeners — and I’m glad he did. His lecture on Wednesday afternoon was all about mycorrhizal fungi, protazoa, nematodes and bacteria. Yes, I’ve heard about these micro-organisms but never in such an entertaining way. Somehow, he [...]
To non-gardeners, bags of leaves left at the roadside are just so much waste material to be collected and disposed of by the city. But to the horticulturally cognoscenti, those leaves are plant duvets that keep the garden cozy all winter long. Like a deep blanket of snow, a four- to six-inch mulch of leaves [...]
As the cool winds of autumn usher out another gardening season, I can’t help reflecting on what I accomplished in the garden over this past summer. Although I planted lots of new perennials, potted up summer bulbs and separated clumps of flowers with clashing colours, what I’m most proud of is taking apart and cleaning [...]
Fall is my favourite season for a host of reasons. My Barracuda leaf vacuum and mulcher rates in the top 10 things I like about autumn. On crisp, sunny days, you’ll find me sucking up the fallen leaves from the linden in the front yard with my trusty Barracuda, or in the backyard chopping bags of [...]
Colourful bulbs are calling out to us from the shelves of garden centres and from the pages of mail order catalogues. Their siren sounds seem to say, “Buy me, plant me, water me and you’ll be rewarded with my spring beauty.”To succumb to these irresistible cries is to play into the hands of the squirrels. [...]
How did your plants spend their summer vacation? Walk out into the garden and take a look around. Have the Siberian irises crowded out the phlox? Are the stems of your yarrow lazily flopping over its neighbours? Has the centre of the your silvery artemisia browned-out? Did you notice how much smaller the peony flowers [...]
Whether it’s the World Cup, Olympic Games or the Oscars, everybody loves celebrating a winner, and right now garden communicators like me are congratulating one of our own for her Silver Medal Award-winning garden calendar. The Garden Writers Association has just annouced the winners of its annual awards program, and Niagara Falls-based Theresa Forte has won big [...]
You may prefer the creamy edges of Brunnera ‘Hadspen Cream’ or the gold-rimmed ‘King’s Ransom’ or even the silvery leaves of ‘Looking Glass’, but my heart will always be true to ‘Jack Frost’. It’s not just the snowy foliage (it reminds me of Frosted Flakes cereal — maybe it’s a nostalgia thing…), or those gorgeous forget-me-not [...]
10.Give it an Edge Finish your spring spruce-up by edging flowerbeds. The easiest way is to dig a shallow trench between lawn and border using an edger (a half-moon shaped tool available at hardware stores). It may take time, but the payoff is a garden with a professional edge!
9.Rake it off Raking the lawn is not only a pleasant spring pastime, but it helps remove thatch buildup, which can weaken the roots of turf grass. Rake off the winter mulch from flowerbeds too, so they warm up faster. Reserve the mulch, mix it with compost and reapply as a top dressing in a [...]
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