I do everything I can to keep weeds from encroaching in my garden… … I mulch my gardens to supress weeds and limit new seed germination by supressing light to weed seeds; … I pull weeds in all of my gardens by hand when they are small. An old fashioned two pronged hand weeder is… Read more »
It’s That Busy Time Of Year
I’ve been a bit behind on the blogging front the last few weeks, having spent my time instead… Harvesting and preserving 4 bushels of tomatoes into 3 types of soup, 2 kinds of tomato sauce, and plain tomatoes now filling a large chunk of my freezer. Harvesting 9 rows of potatoes — who’s idea was… Read more »
Sulphur To Control Blackspot
Rosa ‘Lilli Marlene’ is another healthy rose that has stayed in my garden. Lilli Marlene is a floribunda rose with clusters of deep red blooms among dark green foliage. In order to help combat black spot during the hotter weather I have been using lime-sulfur this year as a preventative. I also removed a large… Read more »
Lazy Man’s Composting
We compost everything at our house from garden waste to table scraps, unfortunately we are lazy composters. Given the size of our gardens I produce a lot of garden waste and my method is basically to keep piling it up on top of the compost pile. Unfortunately I never seem to get around to turning… Read more »
Spring Is Here – It’s Time to Clean Up
April is finally here, a month all cold-climate gardeners look forward to despite all the work that is ahead. After a long cold winter, we are experiencing some unusually warm weather right now which, of course, makes me want to jump right out there and start my spring chores. However I’m trying to remember from… Read more »
Good Garden Maintenance Resolution
It seems that every year I have a major garden design project or two under way, and despite my many good intentions, garden maintenance seems to fall to the back burner. Well, I’ve promised myself that 2010 will, for me, be the ‘Year Of The Maintenance’. While I have a few small projects already planned… Read more »
Another Reason To Prune
I’ve been busy in the garden this past week pruning some shrubs and trees. Most of my summer blooming spirea have finished blooming and this year I gave them quite a severe pruning to control their size and encourage nice new foliage. In addition, I’ve pruned back some tall weigela branches. Pruning weigela is not… Read more »
Treating Boxwood Psyllid Organically
Fighting pests in a pesticide free Ontario can certainly be a challenge. I have found that one of the key solutions is to know your pest, learn it’s life cyle and investigate which organic solution might work. It certainly does make us have to think before we spray which is a good thing. My boxwood… Read more »
Organic Lawn Care – Year Two
Effective April 22, 2009, Earth Day, Ontario banned the sale and use of chemical pesticides for cosmetic use. This ban was predicted in early 2008 and legislation was brought in during the fall. Anticipating the ban, I decided to convert my entire lawn care program to an organic approach in the spring of 2008. Everything… Read more »
Enjoying gardening, just gardening!
It has been a great gardening season so far this year. Although we have had some dry and hot spells, we have had a fair amount of moisture this year and the temperatures have been a little cooler than normal for the past few weeks. And the gardens are looking great because of it. This… Read more »