Canada's Local Gardener Volume 1 Issue 1

This magazine offers you great digital experiences Where you find a QR CODE

localgardener.net

Issue 1

2019 • 1

MS 170

Gas Chain Saw Displacement Power Output Weight

30.1 cc 1.3 kW 3.9 kg (8.6 lb)*

259

95

$

MSRP $289.95 with 16" bar

RECEIVE A FREE WOOD-PRO ™ KIT with the purchase of any eligible STIHL Chain Saw.** • Woodsman® Carrying Case • OILOMATIC ® Chain • STIHL Hat

**Don’t miss your chance to get the Wood-Pro™ Kit. Simply purchase any one of the following chain saws between now and November 30, 2019 and you will receive a STIHL Wood-Pro™ Kit FREE. This kit includes: a Woodsman® Carrying Case, STIHL hat and a replacement loop of OILOMATIC ® chain - an $85 value! Hat may not be exactly as shown. Offer valid until November 30, 2019, while supplies last. Eligible Models: MS 170, MS 171, MS 180 C-BE, MS 181 C-BE, MS 193 C-E, MS 211, MS 250, MS 251, MS 251 C-BE, MS 261 C-M, MS 271, MS 291 C-BE, MS 362 C-M and MS 391.

44995 $ 54995 $ 19995 $ 25995 $ 87995

MS 250

$

Gas Chain Saw 45.4 cc | 2.3 kW | 4.6 kg (10.1 lb)*

MS 271

Gas Chain Saw

MSRP $569.95 with 16" bar

50.2 cc | 2.6 kW | 5.6 kg (12.3 lb)*

BG 50

Gas Handheld Blower

MSRP $219.95

27.2 cc | 0.7 kW | 3.6 kg (7.9 lb) ‡

NEW

BGA 57

Battery Blower

MSRP $279.95

36 V Li-Ion 118 Wh | 2.2 kg (4.9 lb)†

NEW

BR 800 C-E

Gas Backpack Blower

MSRP $899.95

79.9 cc | 3.2 kW | 11.7 kg (25.8 lb) ‡

STIHLCanada

MSRP $459.95 with 16" bar

www.stihl.ca

STIHL MOTOMIX® – THE ULTIMATE PREMIXED FUEL AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT YOUR LOCAL STIHL DEALER!

Dealers may sell for less. Pricing on all chain saws, power tools and accessories will remain in effect until November 30, 2019. Illustrations and descriptions are as accurate as known at the time of publication and are subject to change without notice. STIHL Limited is not responsible for a printing error, the local STIHL Dealer has the final authority to set product pricing. Pricing valid at participating dealers only. * Weight with powerhead only. ‡ Weight without fuel. † Weight without battery.

ABC Power Tools 201 Regent Ave East Winnipeg, Mb 204-224-1760

Adventure Power Products Ltd 1-797 Quest blvd Ile Des Chenes, Mb 204-878-3194

Neniska Repair Ltd 25 Redditt Rd Kenora, On 807-548-5110

Shachtay Sales & Service 276 Ardal Street Arborg, Mb 204-376-5233

Teulon Tractor & Motor Ltd box 49, #77 Hwy 7 Teulon, Mb 204-886-2084

Accurate Lawn & Garden 344 Pembina Hwy Winnipeg, Mb 204-284-5950

Ideal Small Engine 500 berry Street Winnipeg, Mb 204-775-4555

Rental Experts Inc 410 Turenne Street Winnipeg, Mb 204-261-9600

Stringer Rentals & Power Products 99-7th Ave Gimli, Mb 204-642-7490

The Rental House 260 Park Road West Steinbach, Mb 204-326-2266

2 • 2019

Issue 1

localgardener.net

Contents volume 1

Canada’s local Gardener

28 Introducing Canada’s Local Gardener........... 4 Invasive plants spread all over the place....... 5 Letter to the editor............................................ 5 Herbal how-to: rosemary............................... 6 Gardening luminaries: Niki Jabbour.............. 9 Liberation 75 tulip bulbs............................... 10 String of pearls plant..................................... 12 Salvia the sage............................................... 14 Have you ever tried growing mushrooms?... 16 Forest gardens............................................... 18 Prunus............................................................20

34

ISSUE 1, 2019

40

Wildflower or weed: strawberry blite...........23 All about beavers...........................................24 The secret life of ferns....................................26 Beautiful gardens: Laura and Steve Lucyshyn, Edmonton...28 Beautiful gardens: Jacquie Derewianchuk and Mark Shurek, Stonewall, Manitoba .................................34 Beautiful gardens: Betty Trethewey, Orillia, Ontario..............40 How to get started.........................................46

How to access bonus editorial features

localgardener.net

Find additional content online with your smartphone or tablet whenever you spot a QR code accompanying an article.

localgardener.net

Download a QR reader where you purchase apps if your phone doesn’t have one already.

There are many free ones.

Scan the QR code where you see it throughout the magazine.

Issue 1

Enjoy the video, picture or article!

Alternatively, you can type in the url beneath the QR code.

2019 • 3

Introducing Canada’s Local Gardener

Dear readers, I’m very proud to bring you the first issue of Canada’s Local Gardener!

After about 20 years of publishing our three magazines, Alberta Gardener, Manitoba Gardener and Ontario Gardener, we’re bringing you one magazine to cover all three provinces. Don’t want to give up your provincial content? You don’t have to. Read on to find out how you can access that content, available only to buyers of this magazine, online.

This is the magazine that focuses on gardening, the natural world and our relationship with it. For the inaugural issue, we’ve printed stories about Canada’s national animal symbol, the beaver; how ferns reproduce; and the many kinds of salvias you can grow. We also have an interview with Niki Jabbour, the force behind a number of gardening books and the website Savvy Gardening. And we look at the Prunus genre, which includes cherries, plums, apricots and peaches. Chances are you can grow some of them in your garden!

We have a story on how you can grow string of pearls as a house plant and another on why you’ll have trouble growing rosemary as a houseplant—but it’s still worth a try.

Plus, have you ever thought of growing mushrooms? We have some instructions to take you one step beyond buying a grow kit.

We’ll take you inside three beautiful gardens: Laura and Steve Lucyshyn in Edmonton; Jacquie Derewianchuk and Mark Shurek near Stonewall, Manitoba; and Betty and Bob Trethewey in Orillia, Ontario.

Now, if you’ve been looking forward to reading material specific to your province, you can go online using the QR code below, to find stories exclusively for Alberta, Manitoba or Ontario, including another garden for each province and a few other tidbits.

I want to invite you to have a look at this magazine and the online material and tell me what you think. Give us your opinions about what we’ve done and your ideas about what we should look at in the future.

I hope you enjoy it!

Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net

Next issue: Canada’s Local Gardener brings you our special annual edition of Beautiful Gardens. A total of gorgeous gardens we visited this summer in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, the pictures we took and the gardeners we met. As well, we’ll have reviews of all the seed catalogues in Canada we could find. All of them.

And there are a lot!

Scan for bonus regional content http://bit.ly/2nkov0N 4 • 2019

Canada’s

Local Gardener Follow us online at: localgardener.net Instagram:@local_gardener

Published by Pegasus Publications Inc. President/Publisher Dorothy Dobbie dorothy@pegasuspublications.net Design Cottonwood Publishing Services Editor Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net Art Direction & Layout Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net General Manager Ian Leatt ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net Contributors Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie, Ian Leatt, Robert Pavlis Editorial Advisory Boards Ontario: Ben Cullen, David Hobson, Sean James, Tara Nolan

Manitoba: Michael Allen, Keith Lemkey, Jan Pedersen, Kevin Twomey Alberta: Stacey Mar, Cynthia Philp, Leona Staples.

Advertising Sales 1.888.680.2008 Subscriptions Write, email or call Canada’s Local Gardener, Suite 300 – 1600 Ness Ave. Winnipeg MB R3J 3W7 Phone (204) 940-2700 Fax (204) 940-2727 Toll Free 1 (888) 680-2008 subscribe@localgardener.net One year (four issues): $29.95 Two years (eight issues): $58 Three years (twelve issues): $80 Single copy: $8.95; Beautiful Gardens: $12.95 150 years of Gardening in Canada copy: $12.95 Plus applicable taxes.

Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Circulation Department Pegasus Publications Inc. Suite 300 – 1600 Ness Ave., Winnipeg MB R3J 3W7 Canadian Publications mail product Sales agreement #40027604 ISSN 2369-0410

Canada’s Local Gardener is published four times annually by Pegasus Publications Inc. It is regularly available to purchase at newsstands and retail locations throughout Canada or by subscription. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Publisher buys all editorial rights and reserves the right to republish any material purchased. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher.

Copyright Pegasus Publications Inc.

Issue 1

localgardener.net

Invasive plants spread all over the place

T

By Robert Pavlis

his is really two myths in one.

The word invasive is used incorrectly by most people, including myself. It just seems like the perfect word to describe a plant that grows too aggressively in the garden, but that may be an incorrect use of the word.

An invasive plant is a non-native plant that spreads out of control. The non-native part of the definition is critical. Aggressive native plants can’t be invasive.

If you are talking about a native plant, it is better to use words such as aggressive, thuggish or ill-behaved.

For example, in North America, the sumac is aggressive, but not invasive since it is a North American native. Purple loosestrife is invasive.

The second problem with labels like invasive and aggressive is that they are location specific. Many plants that are invasive in Zone 7 and 8 are not invasive in Zone 5. The common butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) is native to China and Japan and is invasive in warmer climates of North America and Europe, but in my Zone 5 garden, it barely makes it through the winter.

Invasiveness depends on climate and soil. Lots of invasive plants are not going to make it in a hot desert.

Any statements that talk about the invasive or aggressive qualities of a plant should also include a location. h Robert Pavlis is the author of two books, Garden Myths and Building Natural Ponds. Have a question for Robert – connect on his Facebook Group: Garden Fundamentals.

Canada’s Largest Christmas Store!

Fabulous Fresh Greens Great Gifts for Gardeners Amazing Holiday Décor greenlandgarden.com

78 0 - 4 6 7- 75 5 7 Sherwood Park

Canada’s

Chosen

Garden Centre

Letter to the editor Hello. Just received Volume 22, Issue 2 of Manitoba Gardener. First - I love this publication. I subscribed many years ago, let my subscription lapse for a period, but quickly resubscribed!

Such exciting news re: the new magazine forthcoming. I'm so happy that print issues will be continued.

There's nothing better than reading and holding a real true-to-life magazine with wonderful glossy pictures.

Especially during our long dark and cold winter months.

However, I am always trying to stay in tune with technology. I use APPS for my grocery shopping and have even done some online shopping! Will there be an APP for the new magazine?

Good luck in this new venture. I can hardly wait!!

Kathleen Bell, Anola, Manitoba

Grow with Manitoba’s

1 Soil Provider

#

A great yard or garden begins with a great foundation. Reimer Soils has been providing the highest quality landscaping products for more than 40 years. With a complete range of top quality products and unmatched customer service, there is no reason to look any further than Reimer Soils for all your landscaping supply needs.

Thank you for writing, Kathleen! In fact, we do have a digital edition with an app. You can download the app at the Apple Store or the Google Play Store, then you can subscribe to the digital edition of Manitoba Gardener or the print edition of Canada’s Local Gardener, which comes with access to online local content. Or you can subscribe to both.

Shauna Dobbie, Editor localgardener.net

Reimer Soils 204•237•6668 reimersoils.ca

Issue 1

2019 • 5

Herbal how-to: rosemary

Rosemary in bloom.

R

6 • 2019

Rosemary leaves are small but they carry a strong pungent flavour.

While you should not let rosemary dry out completely, don’t overwater.

Good drainage is essential, so water your plant in the sink and let the water run through, and then leave it there until it stops dripping. Add sand to the mix of soil you use for potting up rosemary and reduce the amount of peat (if any) used. Compost is fine.

Rosemary prefers an alkaline soil.

Peat-based mixes tend to be more acidic than the plant can tolerate.

Propagation is quite easy and simple. Just stick a soft-tissue cutting in soil. To hurry up the process, strip off the bottom few leaves and touch the tip up with rooting hormone. You can also layer rosemary to get new plants. h Issue 1

Photo by Nicole.

osemary is from the Mediterranean; it needs at least six to eight hours of intense sunlight a day to survive. Many a rosemary has starved to death in the dark winter months simply because the plant couldn’t get enough sunlight to photosynthesize due to the nature of their leathery, narrow leaves.

In the wild, rosemary is a tough little plant and can fend for itself if given water that drains well and plenty of light. In your home, conditions are much different, making it difficult to overwinter this plant. But you can try.

Put your plant in the sunniest south-facing window you have and slow down its metabolism by reducing watering until the days get longer.

Remember, it needs mega amounts of sunshine to thrive. And enough water, but not too much... and just the right humidity. It really doesn’t need fertilizer. If you can’t resist adding a tonic, give it a dose of seaweed tea in springtime.

Watch the leaves for signs of health.

Healthy rosemary leaves have a dull sheen. Rosemary leaves that appear lackluster mean that the plant probably needs water.

Rosemary is easy to propagate. localgardener.net

Fun facts about rosemary

Dried rosemary has many uses, from culinary flavourings to keeping away witches.

One variety of rosemary is the cascading type.

• Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, means “dew of the sea” in Latin because legend has it that rosemary was draped around the neck of Aphrodite as she rose from the sea. This aromatic plant was used

by Egyptians for incense. It was believed to be able to ward off evil spirits.

• Rosemary is the herb of remembrance. It was used to improve memory loss, relieve muscle pain and among numerous other things, to promote hair growth. It is actually approved for this used by the German Commission E, a scientific advisory board.

It has been studied for use in treating Alzheimer’s. Research from 10 years ago claims that carnosic acid in rosemary fights off free radical damage to the brain.

• Australians wear a sprig of rosemary on their Remembrance Day to honour their First World War soldiers who died on the Gallipoli Peninsula where rosemary grows wild. Shakespeare’s Ophelia

in Hamlet also says, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you love, remember.”

• Rosemary is a wizard in the kitchen, pairing up very naturally with lamb, but also with chicken and potatoes and carrots. It adds a real sparkle to spaghetti sauces.

Just a few rosemary leaves can provide you with the total amount of vitamin A needed in a day. They are also full of vitamins C and B. • And best of all? A few springs of rosemary on your doorstep should keep witches away. If you are troubled by nightmares, then put a sprig under your pillow.

Scan me Looking for a recipe?

Try our rosemary chicken. https://localgardener.net/ fresh-rosemary-chicken-recipe/

Rosemary is a versatile friend in the kitchen! localgardener.net

Issue 1

2019 • 7

Canada’s

Local Gardener Now available in print and digital. Or both!

1 year $12.95 digital subscription (four editions) You can choose from three localized digital editions: Alberta, Manitoba or Ontario 1 year $29.95 print subscription (four magazines)

THERE’S nEvER bEEn a bETTER TimE! YES!! PLEaSE RUSH mY oRdER FoR Canada’S LoCaL GaRdEnER TodaY! q 1 Year (4 issues) $29.95 q 2 Years (8 issues) $58 q 3 Years (12 issues) $80 Newstand

You save

Your cost

tax $36.75 Plus

$6.80

$29.95

2 years

$73.50

$15.50

$58.00

3 years

$110.25

$30.25

1 year

Book of 10 Neat Things 2

$80.00

q 1 Year Print and Digital $34.95 q Book of Ten Neat Things 2 $29.95 *Plus $5.00 shipping on book of 10 Neat Things 2

Sub total GST 5% PST 7% (for MB) Shipping

$ .................. $ .................. $ .................. $ .................. $ .................. $ ..................

TOTAl

$ ..................

*Less gift discount

8 • 2019

q Cheque

q VISA

Book of 10 Neat Things 2 $29.95 plus $5.00 shipping

q Amex

q MasterCard

Card No ............................................................................................ CVC .........................

Expiry ........................ Signature .....................................................................................

Name ..................................................................................................................................

Address ...............................................................................................................................

City..................................................... Prov....................... Postal Code ..........................

Phone.............................. Email ......................................................................................... q Please auto-renew my subscription (I may cancel at any time). q Please send me the free weekly gardening email newsletter “10 Neat Things”

$29.95*

q 1 Year Digital $12.95 q Alberta q Manitoba q Ontario

Cost

Or get both for $34.95

Gift Subscriptions – Subtract $5 from the total as our gift to you Gift for .................................................................................................................................

Address ...............................................................................................................................

City ................................................... Prov ..................Postal Code ................................. q Please auto-renew my gift subscription (I may cancel at any time).

SEND ORDER TO: Suite 300 – 1600 Ness Ave., Winnipeg MB R3J 3W7 Order online: localgardeners.net | Or call 204.940.2700 or 1.888.680.2008 Don’t want to cut up your magazine? Fill out the form, take a picture and email it to subscriptions@pegasuspublications.net Issue 1

localgardener.net

Gardening luminaries Niki Jabbour, Halifax Name and garden job.

Niki Jabbour, author of The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener, Groundbreaking Food Gardens, and Veggie Garden Remix. I’ve also just finished my 4th book, which will be coming out likely late in 2020 or spring 2021. I also host The Weekend Gardener radio show, which celebrates 13 years in 2019. I write for savvygardener.com, newspaper columns, for magazines like Fine Gardening, and I speak at events across North America. And most importantly, I am a passionate vegetable gardener!

How did you get this job?

I studied horticulture in university and immediately after graduation started working in the industry. After a few years I started writing a column for our local newspaper and that led to more writing, radio, tv, and book work.

What would you do if you didn’t have this job?

My other plan was to be a science teacher.

How did you learn how to garden?

Both of my grandmothers and my mother were gardeners. Growing up, we always had a small summer vegetable garden and it was my favourite place to play.

Eventually, by the time I was about twelve, I took it over and never looked back.

Earliest gardening memory.

Picking bouquets of forget-me-nots and lily of the valley with my sisters and sitting in the front yard making dandelion crowns for our hair.

Biggest ever gardening mistake.

Planting a pass-along plant from a friend, which turned out to have a piece of goutweed root in the soil! I’ve been pulling it up, smothering it, and swearing at it ever since.

What would you love to do that you’ve never been able to in the garden?

I’d love to have more structures in my garden; a pergola-topped sitting area to the side of my vegetable garden would be wonderful. Working full time and maintaining a large 20-raised bed vegetable garden and a 14-by-24foot poly tunnel doesn’t leave me a lot of extra time to tackle these types of projects.

Question you’re tired of hearing.

How do I get rid of goutweed? I am tired of thinking about goutweed! Ha ha.

All-time favourite gardening tool.

I love my garden fork and use it for everything. But for a small hand tool, I’d pick my Cobrahead, which is so handy for seeding, weeding, and everything else. localgardener.net

What plant do you over-use?

Catmint, but unapologetically as it’s a wonderful plant!

It blooms for months and the pollinators love it. I’m beginning to plant large clumps of milkweed all over my property too, but I don’t think one can overplant milkweed as it’s so important for the monarchs.

What plant do other people under-use?

I’m primarily a vegetable gardener so I’d rather than pick a plant that people over-use. In a related answer I’d suggest that food gardeners try something new every year.

We love our cucamelons, ground cherries, burr gherkins, snake gourds, soybeans, and zaatar. This was the topic of my latest book, Veggie Garden Remix and one that is near and dear to my heart as I’ve discovered so many wonderful new-to-me vegetables through my Lebanese in-laws.

Digging in the garden one day, you find a lamp; you rub it and a genie appears. What do you wish for?

Garden related? A crew to dig up new landscape beds and build more trellises and tunnels. Or maybe to travel to beautiful gardens around the world. The possibilities are limitless! h Issue 1

2019 • 9

Photo by Jack Smith, courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.

Liberation 75 tulip bulbs

Dutch children riding on a Sherman tank of Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), Harderwijk, Netherlands, 19 April 1945.

W

hen you’re putting in bulbs this fall, why not put in a few Liberation 75 tulips in support of the 1.1-million Canadians who served in World War II? Next year, 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands and the end of the war.

Canada has had a special relationship with the Netherlands since World War II, when Princess Juliana and her children stayed in Canada. Her third child, Princess Magriet, was born in Ottawa Civic Hospital; the rooms the princesses were in were declared by Parliament to be “extraterritorial” for the occasion so that the baby would not have Canadian citizenship, which would have made her ineligible to be in the royal line of succession. Princess Juliana, who would become Queen Juliana in 1948, showed her gratitude to Canada when she returned home by sending 100,000 tulip bulbs 10 • 2019

to Ottawa. The royal family and the Dutch Bulb Growers Association have added 20,000 per year since then.

The Canadian Garden Council, along with the Canadian Legion, Dutch airline KLM and a handful of garden-related organizations, is offering bags of a tulip dubbed Liberation 75 this year. The aim is to get 1.1 million of these tulips planted this fall: a bulb for each Canadian who served in WWII. To help get people inspired, KLM is giving away a package of 2 tickets to Amsterdam and $2,000 cash.

You get one entry to win this prize for every bag of 15 bulbs that you buy. You can add to your chances by uploading photos of you planting the bulbs to Facebook or Instagram and by posting more photos, next spring, of the finished product.

(Use hashtags: #PlantingLib75 and #BloomingLib75.)

Issue 1

The Liberation 75 tulips celebrate the 75th anniversary of

Scan me

Find out all about the Liberation 75 tulips. https://liberation75.ca/

In addition, $1 from every $15-bag of bulbs goes toward the Canadian Legion. The remaining funds from the sales will go toward the Canadian Tulip Festival. h localgardener.net

Photo by Steven Bemelman, courtesy of iBulb.

the liberation of the Netherlands.

Photo © Visions BV, Netherlands / Jaap Westland | Exclusivity Elburg Media.

Too late for bulbs?

Help plant a bulb for each Canadian who served in WWII. localgardener.net

Issue 1

F

irst, if you can get a spade into the soil you can plant tulips. But if the ground has frozen early or if you are reading this article late, plant your tulips in big pots with lots of soil and keep them in an unheated garage or shed through the winter. Water them monthly. When spring comes, bring your pots outside, give them a good watering and your tulips will grow and bloom.

2019 • 11

String of pearls plant

12 • 2019

Photo by Forest and Kim Starr.

I

f you think of container plants as thrillers, spillers and fillers, string of pearls fits the bill as both a spiller and a thriller. This charming emerald green plant grows strings of little balls that, in their natural habitat, spread along the ground and grow in mats. You will grow them in a pot, though, where they will spill over the edge and thrill with their uncommon form.

The problem is that string of pearls is not a filler. Those new to the plant will wonder why there is so little going on at the pot surface level; the plants give nothing on top. If you’re looking for a plant to bring to someone new to houseplants, this is not it. But if you’re looking for something for a plant addict, look no further than string of pearls.

Water It is easy to take care of when it lives and difficult when it dies.

Outdoors in hot places it probably does better; sources say it doesn’t need watering more than once per month. Indoors, it is not super drought tolerant but will rot if it is over-watered. One solution is to plant it in sandy soil and make sure it is in a free-draining pot. Watering depends on your household humidity, but probably every two or three weeks is enough. And do not mist.

Food Once per year is often enough for feeding string of pearls. Be cautious what feed you use on it, too, because high salts will burn the roots. This plant is a succulent and succulents don’t need much fertilizing. Liquid kelp or fish emulsion are a couple of good choices.

Light You’ll know your string of pearls is healthy and happy when the pearls are fat and there are a lot of them at the top of the plant. If they get a little stretched out in the summer; try keeping them further from the window. String of pearls does not look for direct sunlight, but it does need a bright space to do well. Ideally, it should be kept in a room with a south or west exposure

It’s easy to see why Senecio rowleyanus is known as the string of pearls plant.

but not placed in the window.

Propagation You can make more of these plants to keep or give away by pinching off about four inches of the plant and rooting it in moist soil. Alternatively, lay the entire piece on top of the Issue 1

soil; roots should grow from each node.

Once you have this plant in a situation where it is happy, you may be blessed with little white flowers that smell like honey and cinnamon.

Heaven! h localgardener.net

Photo by Forest and Kim Starr.

Like many succulents, it’s ‘leaves’ are very unique.

Edmonton Horticultural Society Inspire, support and celebrate: more gardeners; more gardens; more gardening for all.

From beginners to expert gardeners, our members benefit through:

Photo by Leonora Enking.

09

ce 19

 garden competitions  garden tours  and more!

er sin

We also offer:

eth

G r o wi

 informative newsletters  discounts on plants and services  exclusive open gardens  plant exchanges and sales  year-round speaker series  volunteer opportunities ng tog  special events

Join us today!

Call 780-456-3324 or visit edmontonhort.com

If you treat it right, you will be rewarded with blossoms. localgardener.net

Issue 1

2019 • 13

Salvia farinacea, mealy cup sage. This is a great plant for colour into September.

S

Salvia the sage

alvia is really sage. And sometimes sage isn’t really salvia or sage.

Confused?

Common sage and diviner’s sage are both Salvia, but Russian sage is Perovskia and Jerusalem sage is Phlomis. Salvia, Perovskia and Phlomis are all members of the Lamiacea family, also known as the mint family. It’s the true salvias we’ll consider here, though, and their versatility in the garden.

Floral sage Salvia farinacea, or mealy cup sage, is a reliable bloomer, sending out lovely spikes of blue, both powder blue and heavenly dark blue. The leaves on this one are different from most in that they are smooth and even glossy. The flowers look a little like lavender. It is perennial in its native home of Mexico and the southern US but grow it as an annual here in Canada. One favourite cultivar is ‘Victoria’.

Salvia splendens, or scarlet sage, is another salvia that paints great swathes of crimson in formal plantings. It comes from Brazil and has been widely cultivated in the past few 14 • 2019

Salvia splendens, or scarlet sage.

hundred years. You can now get S. splendens in red, purple, peach, white and pink. It’s another perennial that we grow as an annual.

Salvia sclerea, or clary sage, has interesting flower bracts that fade from a light base to a dark pink or mauve tip. Hailing from the Mediterranean basin, where it is biennial, clary has a long history in the herbal compendiums of European medicine.

It is also used in aromatherapy. You can grow it from seed directly sown into your garden in early spring.

Salvia viridis, sometimes called painted sage or annual clary sage, is prized for its beautiful leafy bracts of veined pink, purple or white. It comes from the Middle East and is an annual everywhere. The colourful bracts are excellent for dried arrangements. It may self-seed in your garden, so you’ll get it year after year.

Salvia guaranitica, fascinating and beautiful, was made famous by its cultivar called ‘Black and Blue’.

Extraordinarily drought tolerant, this salvia is perennial in its home of South America, but annual here. ‘Black and Blue’ is notable for its bottle-blue Issue 1

flowers encased in a black calyx. Once it starts flowering in mid-summer, it will keep going right until frost.

Salvia nemerosa comes from Central Europe and is the parent of many cultivars. It is hardier than most other perennial sages, maybe to Zone 3. Look for light blue ‘Bumblesky’ or the darker ‘Sensation Deep Blue’.

Hybrids. There are also several notable hybrids of salvia that have gained prominence, none more so than ‘May Night’, which may overwinter in your garden. It prefers cooler nights, which will keep the bloom for longer. ‘Madeline’ is remarkable for its blue and white blooms. ‘Hotlips’ has red and white blooms that are beautifully startling.

And that would just be the beginning of the garden salvia possibilities.

But salvia is much more than just a star on the ornamental garden stage.

Herbal sage Salvia officinalis, known as common sage, is considered one of the essential herbs for British, North American, Italian and Middle Eastern cooks, used in such delicious foods as turkey stuffing and lasagna. Other localgardener.net

Salvia viridis.

varieties used for cooking include clary sage (S. sclarea) and pineapple sage (S. elegans).

You may not want to cook with diviner’s sage (S. divornum), which can be a little bit “trippy” because this sage contains a potent psychoactive compound. Native to Mexico, it has long been used by the Mazatec shamans to induce visions. It’s developed quite a following amongst the recreational drug-using segment of society since the rise in popularity of the Internet. It has low addictive properties, but several American states have criminalized its possession.

Diviner’s sage is often simply referred to as salvia, so be careful what you ask for. It is also used as a diuretic.

Sage is often used for smudging, a cleansing and healing ritual involving smoke and employed by several Indigenous cultures. It is among the four sacred plants: tobacco, sage, sweetgrass and cedar. But sage is not exclusive to native Americans. An ancient Arabian proverb asks, “How can a man die when he has sage in his garden?”

Salvia is linked to salvation and both words derive from the Latin word, “salvere” for “heal” or to feel well or healthy. A sage is a wise person. Sage has been credited with slowing down the aging process. Burning sage leaves localgardener.net

Salvia guaranitica.

Salvia officinalis, common sage.

is also said to attract money. If that doesn’t work, perhaps you can use it to protect yourself from the evil eye or reverse a spell.

A 2003 double-blind scientific study showed promising results from treating mild to moderate Alzheimer’s patients with extract of common sage.

After four months of daily treatment, patients treated with the sage extract showed better cognitive function.

Further studies done in 2012 with S. divornum have underlined these findings. Apparently, it also holds out promise for addictions. Further studies show that sage can improve memory, attention and executive function, alertness and mood.

Furthermore, common sage has been used for centuries to reduce Issue 1

Golden sage.

sweating, and no modern research has disproved its efficacy. In the twenties, people used sage to make tinctures and pour-ons to control night sweats for people with tuberculosis.

Sun-loving plants such as sage never truly thrive on a windowsill in winter because there simply isn’t enough light, but you can keep a sage plant going for several months. Give it all the direct light you can and don’t over water. h 2019 • 15

Have you ever tried growing mushrooms?

By Shauna Dobbie

16 • 2019

Photo by Tobi Kellman.

T

he Latin name for the common white button mushroom is Agaricus bisporus. Do you prefer the brown cremini mushrooms? Then you like… the same thing but of a different variety. Portabello mushrooms, on the other hand, are… well, they are the same darn thing, grown bigger and completely open.

But A. bisporus is just one type of over 10,000 mushrooms currently identified in the world today. If you love mushrooms but you’re tired of A. bisporus, there are a few others you can try, and a few you can try growing. Of course, there are a few you should avoid because they are deadly, but nobody is going to sell you mushrooms that can kill you.

There are some mushrooms that grow on decaying material; these are the easiest to cultivate. And there are some parasitic mushrooms, that will eventually kill the host plant or tree they are growing on. You can cultivate a few of these, too.

But then there are mycorrhizal mushrooms, which form a symbiotic relationship with a living host. These are most often collected from the wild; they include chanterelles and porcinis.

There are a few folks claiming you can grow porcinis in cardboard, but none of them are on the mushroom-growing websites. Aficionado mushroom growers all say they cannot be grown profitably.

You can purchase a mushroom kit.

This is a bag, box or log pre-inoculated with mycelium (mushroom roots, more or less) that you water and keep cool and moist until they grow mushrooms. It sounds simple, but it does take some effort. The company Back to Roots makes kits that seem to work for most people.

If you’d like to go a little further with your efforts and inoculate a growing medium to grow mushrooms, here is one way to do it. I gathered the details from freshcapmushrooms.com. It is an excellent resource if you would like to go further.

Mycelium is a threadlike collection of cells that mature into fruiting bodies, mushrooms.

Scan me Learn how to cultivate your own mushrooms at home. https://freshcapmushrooms.com/grow-mushrooms/

DIY The easiest mushrooms to grow are oyster mushrooms, so that is what we will do.

You will need “mushroom spawn” for this, which you can buy online from a mushroom-growing store.

Here’s a tip: when Googling anything to do with growing mushrooms, add “-magic” to the search terms so you don’t get pages of results for growing psilocybin mushrooms, the ones that get you stoned.

Oyster mushrooms (various species of Pleurotus) will grow in a wide variety of substrates: hardwood sawdust or woodchips, wheat straw, coffee grounds, cardboard and many others.

Issue 1

You must make sure the substrate is well sterilized, though, because you don’t want some other fungus to grow instead of your specific mushrooms.

Sterilization of the substrate is a challenge; you probably don’t want to boil hay. We’ll use hardwood sawdust pellets. These are sold by hardware stores for heating in a wood stove.

They have the advantage that they are pretty sterile to begin with.

You will need: 10 cups hardwood sawdust pellets 20 cups boiling water 1 plastic dishpan Plastic wrap New nitrile or latex gloves 1 quart/ 1 pound oyster mushroom spawn 1 spray bottle with water 3 ½ cups vermiculite 1 see-through plastic tote, big enough to surround the dishpan; drill ½-inch holes, 2 inches apart, on all six sides Technique: Measure 10 cups of sawdust pellets into the dishpan. Boil 20 cups of water and pour it into the pellets. Mix localgardener.net

Photo by Wendell Smith.

Oyster mushrooms growing from a paper bag.

ing up from below the vermiculite.

Watch them grow over the next few days: they will get bigger and when the caps start to turn upward, they are ready to harvest.

Grab a cluster of mushrooms at the base and give it a twist. It will come out. You can cut off the vermiculite and use the mushrooms as you wish.

Then put the dishpan back into the hole-y tote for a second flush.

After the second flush, they probably won’t produce again. You’ll need to start over, with new sawdust pellets and mushroom spawn.

If at any time in the process you see green mould start to form, your attempt has been contaminated.

Throw it out and start again. h

Photo by Pradejoniensis.

grow a white mist or chunks of white throughout. This is the mycelium, the root-like structure of the mushrooms. Your sawdust mush has been colonized!

Now it’s time to grow the mushroom fruit.

Remove the plastic wrap and throw it out. Make sure the substrate is moist; you may want to spray it to make sure. Pour the vermiculite evenly over top the colonized mixture and spray it with water. Put the dish pan into the hole-y plastic tote and cover it with the hole-y lid. Put them back on the shelf and check them every day.

You should see “pins” start to develop. These are tiny mushrooms push-

Photo by Lance Cheung.

it around a bit to loosen up the pellets if necessary. Cover the container with plastic wrap then wrap the whole thing in a blanket; this is to keep it warm longer.

When it has cooled completely, put on your nitrile gloves and break up your mushroom spawn into the wet sawdust. Break it up completely and mix it in well.

Lay plastic wrap directly on the mix, covering it completely. Poke holes in the plastic wrap with a knife.

Store it on a shelf out of direct sunlight where you can take a peek every day or so. If it’s dry in your house, mist it with a spray bottle to prevent drying out.

You should see the mix begin to

Shitake mushrooms growing on a sawdust and cereal log.

localgardener.net

To grow mushrooms, you will need the right growing conditions (temperature and light), mushroom spawn and a growing medium.

Issue 1

2019 • 17

Forest gardens

By Shauna Dobbie

18 • 2019

Archive photo.

A

s I started to research forest gardens, my hair started to grow long and my clothes all turned to homespun cotton. This is definitely a topic with hippie appeal.

Originating in tropical areas such as India and Indonesia, forest gardening was adapted to temperate climates in the 1980s by Robert Hart. The idea is to grow many different types of food and other useful plants and trees in the same area. Food crops should be perennials or at least selfseeding annuals. You can maintain small animals that have a symbiotic relationship with the garden in this area too, such as chickens and bees.

By gardening this way, you use less human energy to sustain your diet.

Hart was able to produce enough fruits, nuts and leafy vegetables for himself and his brother (vegans) on a 0.12-acre plot of land.

The idea hasn’t really caught on.

After all, do you know of anyone who has a forest garden in your neighbourhood? But there are several people in Canada who are market-farming using at least some of the principles of forest gardens. And some of the principles may work for you, particularly in a home garden.

We’ll start with the largest of the forest-gardening plants, the trees.

In cooler areas, you are unlikely to have large nut trees; even in southern Ontario, Zone 6 is the cut-off for Persian walnuts, chestnuts and largersized European hazel nuts. The smaller-nutted native hazels, hardy across Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, are smaller shrubs.

The largest food-producing trees are likely to be pears and apples, at about 30 feet high, and plums, cherries, saskatoons and apricots a little shorter. The arrangement of these trees would depend on your space, but it is best to plant them to the north of your other things.

Just south of your apple trees, you would have raspberry and gooseberry shrubs; this is where you would grow hazelnuts as well.

South of the hazelnuts and berries, you can grow asparagus, walking onions, chives, sorrel and rhubarb.

Forest gardening.

And south of these you can grow strawberries.

These are some of the plants that will feed you, but you also need to feed the soil. The tree leaves will drop and the plants will die in the fall and return to the earth. You should also plant nitrogen-fixing plants. You can either plant vetch and lupins, which are inedible legumes, or you can plant Issue 1

beans and peas, which you’ll have to replant each year.

To make your garden a food forest, you can’t plant everything in rows.

You need to space the trees and shrubs out and you will grow the smaller plants around them.

You will need to install paths so that you can access the food, because you shouldn’t trample the soil. This isn’t localgardener.net

Illustration by Graham Burnett.

The seven layers of a forest garden

1. Canopy layer (large mature fruit and nut trees) 2. Low tree layer (dwarf fruit trees) 3. Shrub layer (currants, berries) 4. Herbaceous layer (perennial vegetables, herbs and grains)

for spiritual reasons; trampling the soil condenses it, undoing all the hard work done by earthworms and their ilk.

In concept, everything in your food forest works together. Beneficial insects, birds and animals come to control pests. Dead plant matter decomposes, feeding the garden. If you add some chickens, they will also eat bugs and poop out fertilizer. You plant thickly enough so that the occasional weed that comes up you can just leave because it surely does something to support pollinators or attract other insects.

In its purest form, the forest garden sounds like Eden. In temperate climates, it doesn’t function in its purest form though, and thank goodness; I couldn’t live on a constant diet of chicken, apples, rhubarb and sorrel.

Most people would want to add some annual vegetables to the mix— or at least vegetables we grow as annuals here—like corn, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes and potatoes. You would need an area you are willing to dig in at least a little bit to do that.

I do wonder about “not planting in rows”. Why couldn’t you plant

5. Rhizosphere (root layer) 6. Groundcover layer (soil surface) 7. Vertical layer (climbing plants)

rows, even circular rows, of veg in front of shrubs? The reason that “nature doesn’t do that” isn’t compelling enough. Nature doesn’t group human-edible foods together either.

The reason that “any kind of order requires unnecessary energy” makes more sense, but I know people who would spend more energy upset about the lack of order than what energy they’d put into imposing some.

There is an article by Graham Strouts, a Welshman trained as an agroforester, online, in which he is quite critical of forest gardening.

He has designed several and visited others, he says, and never found them living up to his expectations. He makes some good arguments. Several replies to his post make the case for forest gardening despite his criticisms.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter so much what anyone else thinks. If some or all of the ideas of edible forest gardening appeal to you, go ahead and give it a try. If not, on to the next idea. h Do you have a food forest garden? We’d like to hear from you. Write to shauna@ pegasuspublications.net. I’ll come for a visit next summer to find out more!

Scan me What is a forest garden?

Find out more info here. www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/ what-forest-garden.html

localgardener.net

Permaculture and the edible forest garden: a critical analysis. https://theculturalwilderness.wordpress. com/2016/03/26/permaculture-and-the-edibleforest-garden-a-critical-analysis/ Issue 1

2019 • 19

C

herries, plums and apricots.

Prunus is the tree that gives so many fruits to the world after a brief period of breathtaking bloom.

Peaches and nectarines (which are a type of peach) also come from the genus Prunus in Ontario and BC and almonds grow in warmer climes. If you garden for strictly ornamental reasons, there are flowering cherries and plums available that don’t produce fruit.

Canada has a few native cherries and plums. Chokecherries (P. virginiana) and black cherries (P. serotina) are from the prunus genre, though both are too sour for most people to eat out of hand. They are delicious cooked with sugar into jams and pies. For plums there are the Canada plum (P. nigra) and the American plum (P. americana), which are quite lovely when fully ripe.

They also make fantastic pies, jams and other sweets. Sand cherries (P. pumila) are native to much of Canada as well and edible, though not many people bother. There are some recipes online.

Planting All fruit trees should be planted in a position where they will get plenty of sun. If you cannot get full sun exposure, choose an eastern exposure first, western second. It isn’t a good idea to plant a fruit tree to the north of a building where it will be in shadow for most or all of the day.

They are not too fussy about soil pH and like average moisture and humus.

When you plant them, keep them watered well for the first year, while they get established. Choose a site sheltered from the wind.

Pruning When it comes to pruning, there are several websites with articles specific to prunus trees. Make sure you are consulting a Canadian one because requirements can differ between Canadian Zone 2 and USDA Zone 8.

In general, though, except for peaches and sweet cherries, you will prune your prunus in the very late winter, while the trees are still bare.

This will prevent them from putting energy into branches you’re going to cut off without leaving the cut wound un-healed for too long. With peaches and sweet cherries, the cut wounds will not heal below 15 degrees Celsius, so you should prune when tempera20 • 2019

Prunus

Prunus virginiana ‘Chokecherry’.

tures are in this range.

You can prune in spring or summer, which will slow the growth of your tree. This can be good if your tree is already at or beyond the size you want it to be.

You should never prune in fall unless it is to be rid of dead or diseased wood. You can and should prune dead or diseased branches out at any time.

On a new tree, prune to direct growth. Let it grow as it is for the first six to nine months until it is late winter.

First, get rid of all branches less than three feet above the soil. Then choose main branches growing outward, at least 12 inches apart, going east, west, north and south. (The directions are Issue 1

not specific; you can choose branches going north-west, south-east, northeast and south-west, or whatever.

Just choose your lowest good branch above three feet and alternate directions from there.)

Look for good branches with a wide crotch, the spot where the branch joins the trunk. A wide crotch is one that is more than 35 degrees from the trunk.

A crotch of less than 35 degrees will be weak.

Cut off all the branches between these main branches. This will keep the tree open, allowing sunlight to get in.

There will probably be a leader branch or trunk on a young tree. Let localgardener.net

Photo by Glysiak.

‘Pembina’ plum.

‘Valor’ plum.

‘Stanley’ plum.

this grow until the tree is tall enough for you, then cut it back to the first lateral branch.

Plums Plums in Canada tend to be descended from the Canadian natives. European plums are more blue or purple and meatier. You can grow the European plums here too. The thing to remember is that most plums descended from Canadian natives require a Canadian native to fertilize them. European plums cannot be fertilized by Canadian plums but aren’t too fussy about which Europeans fertilize them. Asian plums are a whole other kettle of fish, each one requiring specific pollinators.

Recommended plums ‘Pembina’ is probably the mostgrown plum in Western Canada. It is thin-skinned and red on the outside, localgardener.net

‘Evans’ cherry.

Scan here for a link to our delicious plum streusel cake recipe! https://localgardener.net/plum-cake/

yellow inside. Requires wild plum for pollination, either P. nigra or P. americana. Zone 2.

‘Brookred’ has rosy-red skin and yellow flesh. It is good for eating out of hand, but the skin is sour and the sourness intensifies when cooked.

Requires wild plum for pollination, either P. nigra or P. americana. Zone 3, but try it in Zone 2.

‘Brookgold’ is yellow inside and out, with delicate skin. It’s sweet for eating out of hand but will can fairly well. Requires wild plum for pollinaIssue 1

tion, either P. nigra or P. americana.

Zone 2.

‘La Crescent’ looks like a cross between a plum and an apricot and tastes a little like it too! Great for all uses and makes lovely jam. Requires wild plum for pollination, either P. nigra or P. americana. Zone 4.

‘Patterson’ is another red-skinned, yellow-flesh tree but it takes a weeping form. Sweet and delicious, but better for jam than pie. Requires wild plum for pollination, either P. nigra or P. americana. Zone 2.

‘Black Ice’ is a big plum with red flesh and dark skin. Very sweet cross with a cherry plum. Requires wild plum for pollination, either P. nigra or P. americana. Zone 4.

‘Valor’ is a European plum that is excellent for fresh eating. Big and violet 2019 • 21

‘Scout’ apricot.

Scan here for a link to our delicious cherry pie recipe! https://localgardener.net/cherry-pie/

blue. Requires one of several plums, including ‘Stanley’ or ‘Violette’, for cross-pollination. Zone 5.

‘Violette’ is another European that is oblong and blue-black in colour.

The flesh is greenish-yellow. Requires cross-pollination by ‘Valor’ or ‘Stanley’. Zone 5.

‘Stanley’ is a third European plum.

It is the classic blue plum you see. Has yellow flesh. It is self-fertile but does better with another European, such as ‘Valor’ or ‘Violette’, for cross-pollination. Zone 6.

Cherries Europeans had two kinds of cherries, sour (P. cerasus) and sweet (P. avium). The sour cherries are all selffertile—yay! The sweet cherries are sometimes self-fertile, but they are less cold-hardy than the sour.

When you’re thinking about planting cherries, look for a spot that is sheltered from the winds while still getting plenty of sun. If you want to push climate zones with cherries, be prepared for failure and celebrate your successes heartily.

Recommended sour cherries ‘Evans’ is a dark red sour cherry that will get sweeter if they’re left on the tree longer. Developed in Alberta by Dr. Ieuan Evans. Self-fertile. Zone 3.

‘Romeo’ and ‘Juliet’ are two of the 22 • 2019

‘Harrow Diamond’ peach.

Romance series of cherries developed at the University of Saskatchewan.

They are descended from European sour cherries (P. cerasus) crossed with Siberian Mongolian cherries, resulting in these very hardy and quite sweet cherries. They only continue to be called sour cherries because of their parentage. Self-fertile. Zone 2.

‘Montmorency’ is the bright red sour cherry you’re probably buying at the farmers market. Self-fertile. Zone 4.

Recommended sweet cherries ‘Black Tartarian’ is dark and flavourful, growing on a tree that can reach 30 feet tall. The taste is truly exceptional. Requires cross-pollination from ‘Lapins’ or another sweet cherry that blooms at the same time.

Zone 5.

‘Lapins’ is full-flavoured and mahogany coloured. It has largely replaced ‘Bing’ as a favourite. Selffertile. Zone 4.

Apricots Yes, you can grow apricots in Alberta and Manitoba, and get fruit in some years. Originally, apricots were from P. armeniaca, but there are fruits from P. mandshurica, from northern China, that work well. The trees are hardy to Zone 2 or 3, but they will blossom at the slightest hint of a thaw, so the flowers are often done in by a subsequent frost.

Recommended apricots ‘Scout’ comes from the Morden Research Station in Manitoba, so it’s a good place to start if you’re in a cool zone. The fruits are blushed with red.

Issue 1

Scan here for a link to our delicious peach cobbler recipe! https://localgardener.net/peach-cobbler/

It is semi-self-fertile, so for best fruit production, get a ‘Debbie’s Gold’ as well. Zone 3.

‘Debbie’s Gold’ doesn’t have the red blush of ‘Scout’, but it is very sweet with no stringiness. It was developed

by Aubin Nurseries in Manitoba. Selffertile, but why not plant a ‘Scout’ as well? Zone 3.

‘Precious’ comes from a number of Russian trees brought to Ontario around 1900. The fruit is thickskinned and small but sweet and the pit contains an edible almond. Selffertile. Zone 4.

Peaches and nectarines Peaches are probably best left to southern Ontario. The ones we list are hardy to Zone 5. If you’re growing peaches in lower zones, tell us about it!

Recommended peaches and nectarines ‘Harrow Diamond’ peach is yellowfleshed and the earliest to harvest.

Freestone when fully ripe. Self-fertile.

Zone 5.

‘Reliance’ peach is medium-sized and yellow-green covered with a flush.

Yellow-fleshed and free-stone. Selffertile. Zone 5.

‘Hardired’ nectarine is on the larger side with good texture and flavour.

Has showy pink flowers! Self-fertile.

Zone 5. h localgardener.net

Wildflower or weed

Photo by Ed Ogle.

Strawberry blite (Chenopodium capitatum)

S

trawberry blight is a wildflower you may have noticed, in all it’s showy, red-berried beauty.

It is native across Canada and grows in the disturbed soil of roadsides and gravel pits and also in the fields and clearings in the woods.

You may have seen this plant and not known it because it only truly distinguishes itself when the fruits come out in their showy red whorls of berries around the stems. The berries were crushed and were used as dye by indigenous peoples. They are also edible, though there is a hard black seed in every one. The flavour is slightly sweet.

The flowers have green calyxes with no petals. They whorl around the stems like the berries. The leaves are shaped kind of like a goose’s foot, giving the plant its other name, strawberry goosefoot. The leaves have more renown as a food and can be eaten raw or cooked, like spinach, and are high in vitamins C localgardener.net

and A. Although strawberry blight is kind of weedy in its growth habits some people do cultivate it. It does best at the back or middle of the

Issue 1

border, where its 8 to 40 inches can go unnoticed until the berries come out. After the blooms and berries, whether in the first, second or third year, the plant dies. h

2019 • 23

Photo by Cheryl Reynolds, courtesy of Worth A Dam.

All about beavers

A young beaver grooming itself.

24 • 2019

Photo by Daderot.

B

eavers have shaped this land more than any animal except for humans. They have teeth fortified with iron that grow about four feet per year. Their front paws have almost-thumbs to help them grasp and manipulate things and their back paws are webbed.

The more you learn about these incredible creatures the more amazing they become.

And then a pair decide to set up house near your home or cottage. Oh boy.

They will gnaw down trees as thick as 12 inches and can snip through trees under 5 inches in minutes. They build dams to flood an area that may include a road or part of your yard.

The flooding will kill the trees in an area, leaving behind a graveyard of snags, stumps and water. And if you manage to trap the pair giving you trouble, a new pair will move in shortly. Take away the material they’re building into a dam and they’ll just rebuild after the sun goes down, again and again and again.

But you must have patience, dear landowner, because you will have to negotiate your space with the

The beaver’s teeth are so powerful that it can gnaw down a tree as thick 12 inches in minutes.

beavers. You will have to accept that their “destruction” gives new life to an area. And if their building is truly unacceptable, you will need to contact your provincial ministry responsible for sustainable development or natural resources. The regulations are different in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

Keystone species Beavers are a keystone species in Canada. They engineer environments around rivers and streams to suit their needs, drastically adjusting the flow of waterways and, in some cases, adding canals to get more trees to their lodges. They create wetlands.

Now, more wetlands may not be what you’re looking for. They aren’t conducive to much that humans do; Issue 1

you can’t even go for a walk in a wetland. But consider that almost half of the endangered and threatened species in Canada live in wetlands.

This includes songbirds, waterfowl, fish and amphibians.

Beaver dams clean the water, too.

By slowing the flow, more water seeps into the ground. The bottom of a beaver dam builds up bacteria that neutralizes pesticides and herbicides and also turns nitrates back into nitrogen gas, which returns it to the air.

Concerns about “beaver fever”, or giardiasis, should be allayed. Beavers are a vector for giardiasis, but so are humans, birds and cows.

Mating for life Beavers mate for life and the young stay with the parents for two years, helping out through the birth of younger siblings. One litter of two to four or as many as six is born per year, usually in May or June.

The kits are born fully furred and with teeth, and their eyes open within a few hours, sometimes after being rubbed with their front paws. They may try out the water on their first day, but they stay in the lodge for up to five weeks. localgardener.net

Photo by Pierre Côté.

Beaver lodge.

They will try to gnaw on wood at about 11 days old. By three weeks old, they are eating mostly vegetation, but they do continue to nurse until they are about eight weeks old. At three months of age, the kits can walk and carry construction material at the same time.

The beaver body Beavers move pretty awkwardly on land, but in the water they are machines. They swim with their noses, eyes and ears above water but can survive for 15 minutes submerged.

Their webbed hind paws help them swim and their flat, leathery tails help them steer.

These animals can see underwater because they have an extra set of eyelids that are clear. They have flaps in their noses and ears that close to keep out water and their mouths are adapted to move tree branches in their teeth without swallowing the river. Their fur is also adapted for their semi-aquatic lifestyle. The coarse outer fur, which they slick down with fatty secretions, keeps water from getting to their inner fur and skin.

The forepaws are nimble, helping beavers manipulate foodstuffs, construction material and their young.

They don’t have thumbs, but they will carry mud and stones between their front paws and their chins.

Beaver teeth, as mentioned, are fortified with iron rather than magnesium. They are harder at the front than inside, which means the backs of the teeth wear down faster to create localgardener.net

Scan me

How beavers build dams. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=yJjaQExOPPY

a sharp edge. The teeth continue to grow four feet per year to counteract the wearing down from gnawing on trees.

Dams and lodges Beavers live in lodges but sometimes they build dams to create deeper ponds. They need a pond that is deep enough to stay unfrozen at the bottom through the winter.

They keep a cache of branches underwater, outside the lodge, to sustain them through the winter because they don’t hibernate. During the summer they eat a lot of fresh leaves and plants; in the winter, they eat the branches they’ve stored. Sometimes they’ll eat the roots of underwater plants. They are strictly vegetarian; they don’t eat fish.

The lodges they build are structurally made of tree trunks and branches and stones. They are filled in with bits of plants and mud. The mud is very important because it dries above the water, making the lodge very sturdy.

This protects the beavers from predators. Even bears can’t smash through the lodge. h Issue 1

Castoreum

T

wo sacs in a beaver’s pelvis contain castoreum, an oily liquid. The beaver uses it to mark its territory. People use it for medicine, perfume and to flavour foods.

Ancient Romans used to burn the oil in lamps and Roman women believed inhaling the fumes could induce an abortion. Medieval beekeepers used it to increase honey production, though not sure how.

These would be for the Eurasian beaver; Europeans didn’t know how much castoreum there was to be had in the world until they got to North America and found up to 90 million of the Canadian creatures, which they hunted nearly to extinction over 400 years. The trade in Canadian beavers goes a long way to explain European settlement of this cold land, largely for beaver pelts. The castoreum was a nice by-product.

Castoreum has an analgesic effect owing to the salicylic acid beavers ingest in the form of willows. It was used to lower fevers, reduce pain and to treat hysteria. Flavour-wise, it has at some point been added to foods to enhance the flavours of vanilla and strawberry. It is too expensive, though, to be used in widespread production.

In the perfume industry, it is used today in some high-end perfumes for the scent of leather or tobacco; only 300 pounds per year of castoreum are used in the commercial market.

2019 • 25

The secret life of ferns

By Shauna Dobbie

Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum v. pictum).

Photo by Harum Koh.

Photo by Cranbrook Museum.

There are all kinds of details about meiosis and mitosis and diploid and haploid; if you’re into biology, I urge you to look into it, because it’s fascinating. To skip as many of the technicalities as possible, though, it works something like this.

Sori If you look at the underside of a fern leaf, you may see dots, which

That is how new plants are born.

Except with ferns. There is no flower. (“Flowering ferns” are really just gloxinia with ferny leaves.) They do not produce seeds. They produce spores, and a spore doesn’t produce a baby fern either. It produces a gametophyte, which produces the male and female cells that must meet to produce a fern.

Photo by David Stang.

How they reproduce Ferns are a whole different kind of plant.

Grasses, orchids and most bulb plants start growing by sending up one leaf (monocot) and other plants send up two (dicots). Both have flowers (though they aren’t showy on grasses) that are fertilized, then the flowers turn to fruit and they set seed.

Ostrich fern (Matteucia struthiopteris).

Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).

Types of hardy ferns Shade lovers Northern maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) Zone 3 Dragon’s tail fern (Asplenium ebenoides) Zone 4 Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum v. pictum) Zone 4 Leather wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis) Zone 3 Rock fern (Polypodium virginianum) Zone 4 Braun’s holly fern (Polystichum braunii) Zone 4

26 • 2019

Appreciate a bit of sun Hart’s tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) Zone 4 Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) Zone 4 Male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) Zone 4 Ostrich fern (Matteucia struthiopteris) Zone 1 Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) Zone 2 Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) Zone 3 Interrupted fern (Osmunda claytonia) Zone 3 Royal fern (Osmunda regalis) Zone 3 Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) Zone 4 Issue 1

localgardener.net

are called sori. Sori are clusters of sporangia. Sporangia produce spores. Spores are a couple of microns across, so you can’t see them without an electron microscope. On some ferns, the sori will be different shapes; you might not see them at all. By the way, sporangia and sori are both plurals; the singular forms are sporangium and sorus.

Think of a spore like a seed. It isn’t a seed because it didn’t come from pollination, but it is like a seed in that it will be released from the ripened sporangium and blown on the air to a new spot. If the new spot is wet enough and warm enough, the spore will turn into a gametophyte.

In the case of ferns, the gametophyte is called a prothallus. You can use either term, though.

Prothallus The gametophyte/prothallus is a genetically unique plant; it isn’t the same as a fern. It is often heart-shaped and tiny, only 1/8 to 3/8 inches long. Its purpose is to produce the gametes of the plant, or the egg cell and the sperm cells, which it does through two different organs. In most types of fern, both the male and female organs are on one prothallus. In other types of fern, there are male prothalli and female prothalli.

ivide established ferns in early spring, when new growth is starting. Ferns should be thoroughly watered the day before dividing.

Dig up the roots. Depending on the type, it may have a rhizome (a long, horizontal root) or a bunch of roots growing down below a crown. You can wash the roots gently with water if you wish.

If it is rhizomatous, cut the rhizomes apart. Each new piece should have at least one frond growing from it.

If it is clumping, gently pull apart the root ball into smaller clumps.

You can cut the roots but cut as little as possible. Some ferns will have fronds that all come from a central plant; that plant will need to be cut in half at the top. If it’s a big fern, cut the top into quarters.

Replant the divisions immediately in a rich area, full of humus. Give it some water. Consider misting the plants every morning until they show growth.

Scan me Victorians had a craze for collecting ferns. Scan here to hear more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z9lugpuziI

Fertilization The egg cell stays in the prothallus.

The sperm cell, though, has a tail and it can swim, just like a human sperm.

But to swim, it needs water. If the surrounding area is wet enough, the

sperm cells can swim until they either find an egg cell (which can be from the same prothallus or, preferably, a different one) or die.

Once an egg is fertilized, it starts to grow into the fern. It remains attached to the prothallus, which has tiny rootlets in the ground. The prothallus feeds the fertilized egg for a bit and then dies, leaving the fern on its own to grow. This fern will grow and produce spores, sporangia and sori, and the life cycle starts over.

Ferns also reproduce by cloning themselves through underground runners, or rhizomes, in asexual reproduction. h

Fern fever

eople didn’t think too much about ferns until the Victorian era, when England went stark raving mad for them.

Starting around 1830 and really gaining steam around 1850, the craze piffled out around 1890.

During pteridomania, as it was known by Latin-loving Victorians Illustration of a fern (pterido- meaning feathfilled Wardian case. er), ferns became popular across the decorative arts, both in their real and imagined forms. People had potted ferns in their parlours and albums of pressed fern fronds. They An illustration depicting a fern-collecting expedition from the Victorian era in Britain. went on fern-collecting expeditions by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. This drawing rooms. The case was, apparin northern Great Britain and true was an enclosed glass container to ently, useful not only in bringing fanciers bought ferns from the Amer- grow ferns in, rather like a terrarium ferns to England from the Americas but more, well, Victorian. The Ward- aboard ships, but also in closing out icas.

The Wardian case was developed ian case became a feature of many the smoky London air.

localgardener.net

Issue 1

2019 • 27

Illustration by Helen Allingham.

P

D

Dividing your ferns

Laura and Steve Lucyshyn

Beautiful Gardens Laura and Steve Lucyshyn Edmonton

T

Story by Dorothy Dobbie, photos by Shauna Dobbie

here is something about a small garden that demands scrupulous attention to detail that shows off every plant, every ornamental detail, to its greatest advantage.

Such is the garden of Laura and Steve Lucyshyn of Edmonton. Every detail, from the meticulously groomed tiny lawn of the front yard to the above-ground deck and border plantings in the back, has been planned and wisely executed. And the garden is kept this way in spite of the fact that the Lucyshyns provide daycare for their two young grandsons, Michael age five and Damian age six. Laura is a constant bundle of energy, pruning, pinching, tidying, not just her perfect jewel box of a garden, but that of her neighbours on either side!

28 • 2019

Issue 1

localgardener.net

The very front of the front border, with a dwarf blue spruce.

A black stone crane among the shrubbery. localgardener.net

The garden has annuals for colour, some in pots and some in the ground.

Issue 1

2019 • 29

Buddha in the centre of the back yard border.

Laura mixes annuals in pots like an expert.

A collection of evergreens front a healthy clematis.

Hydrangea, bergenia and lamium provide perennial permanence while pots of annuals offer seasonal colour.

30 • 2019

Issue 1

“I spend most of my time on my knees,” says Laura, who has been waiting for a hip operation. That means there isn’t a weed that dare look for existence in this garden under Laura’s close scrutiny. Laura learned her love of gardening from her mother on the farm. “She had to grow vegetables,” remarks Laura, “but she loved her flowers.” So, clearly, does Laura, although she makes very good use of foliage.

Steve is just as engaged. In fact, it was he who cornered the market on unique water fountains when a local garden centre was about to be closed.

The fountains were priced on sale for $50 each, but he couldn’t decide.

“Take them all,” said the owner, anxious to get the inventory cleared.

Steve was more than delighted to pick up four beautiful fountains in one swoop. One of the highlights on display in the front yard is a shimmering waterfall sliding over a curved silver backdrop that mirrors the garden and reflects its glowing colour back into the yard.

“Steve is my waterman,” declares Laura, adding, “I don’t know what I’d do without him. He digs all the holes and helps me plant.”

The garden glows. A perfectly trimmed flower bed is filled with carefully placed, mounded shrubs and annuals chosen for the shape, height, texture and colour. The sun-bright lime of ninebark ‘Lemon Candy’ contrasts with burgundy barberry and magenta petunias and geraniums, set off by the deeper blues and greens of dwarf conifers. Planters are elevated on pot stands for greater effect.

Important perennials such as peony, localgardener.net

Weigela.

Buddha in close-up.

Astrantia is always cheery.

Steve had the planters made. localgardener.net

Love.

Yellow petunias in all their glory.

Issue 1

2019 • 31

Petunias and calibracoa in front of red begonias and white bacopa.

A raised pot of petunias draws the eye among different foliage.

A dramatic shade plant Rodgersia pinnata ‘Elegans’.

An urn overflowing with pink petunias.

32 • 2019

A garden windmill provides support for some peonies.

Issue 1

heuchera and hydrangea are strategically placed. Shiny-leafed bergenia add a splash of bright pink in spring, their bold foliage absorbing sunlight throughout the summer. There’s a dark-leafed columnar apple, too.

On the other side of the driveway, dwarf evergreens, interspersed with bright annuals, create a natural fence to the neighbour’s yard, which looks much like Laura’s front yard—not surprisingly, since Laura planted much of it in good-neighbour fashion for the young woman who lives there but works and is no hand at the garden.

She is lucky to have Laura as a neighbour who so willing carves beauty out of this new neighbourhood. So is the fellow on the other side. New people have just moved in and are already looking to Laura for advice.

In spite of its perfection, the garden harbours wildlife and last year, Damian caught a rabbit with his bare hands! He let it go, but his hunter prowess has lent him a mature confidence that he calmly uses to lord over his little brother The back yard mirrors the front in its penchant for order and precision planting. Climbing plants and tall slender cedars, fruit and other columnar trees punctuate the grey-board fence. Clumps of bergenia, more lime coloured shrubs and the odd hosta flank a sitting Buddha, a lighted lamp on his lap. He seems happy to grant any favour requested.

Even though the garden is small, there is room for tomatoes and lettuces and onions which grow in deep metal containers along the fence where the soil is warm.

“I am so sorry it wasn’t up to its usual,” says Laura during our visit.

Her idea of perfection clearly has no boundaries, because it is hard to see what would be improved upon. h localgardener.net

Looking to grow your gardening skills?

Canada’s Local Gardener magazine puts what you need to know right at your fingertips!

With three localized digital editions available, you can choose the right one for you.

Download your regional app on your mobile device and discover the new digital editions of the Gardener! localgardener.net Issue 1 For more details go to localgardener.net • Connect with us

2019 • 33

J

Beautiful Gardens

Jacquie Derewianchuk and Mark Shurek Stonewall, Manitoba Story by Dorothy Dobbie, photos by Shauna Dobbie 34 • 2019

Issue 1

acquie Derewianchuk appreciates life. She revels in it and in all the things that symbolize the living of that life, including the plants and flowers that epitomize the beauty all around her. Jacquie, who is recovering from a serious illness, understands that joy is our anchor to this world and she does her best to express it.

That’s why her garden is more than a garden; it’s a way of living.

Set in a wide and calming expanse of land near Stonewall, the smooth, landscaped grounds set the stage for all the wonderful memorabilia and fascinating things that she has been collecting for many years. Each of these objects tells a story about who she is and how she values the contributions that people make while loving and respecting the natural world that is the stage for our human drama.

It is hard to believe that this garden is only in year two of its development, but then Jacquie is no novice gardener. She had an award winning garden in Stonewall (it took a provincial prize for the best garden in towns under 5,000), and it was the second time a garden she created was recognized. But this garden is different. It is located on a 30-plus acreage, so the scope is much larger.

“There was nothing here when we bought the land,” says Jacquie. “The localgardener.net

The undulating landscape was done by Todd Stephanyshyn.

A porch swing near the front door.

Details from the porch, with coleus in a pickling crock.

A place for the grandchildren to play!

Angel wing begonias and a yellow chair. localgardener.net

The vegetable beds are tidied away in the background.

Issue 1

2019 • 35

Jacquie Derewianchuk.

The greenhouse is a storage unit in the summer.

yard was a mess of weeds and the house was run down. But I bought the front porch and Mark bought the shed,” she laughs. Mark owns a franchise for Badger Daylighting, a company that builds and operates hydrovac trucks. It is a fascinating business that uses high pressure water and vacuum systems for excavation or to expose buried infrastructure. Mark also manufactures professional curling ice.

To help cope with the massive landscape challenge, Jacquie consulted a local landscape designer, Todd Stephanyshyn, now retired, but who had to his credit many wonderful gardens in East St. Paul and Southland. “He was wonderful,” said Jacquie, who set down a few criteria for the space. “He didn’t draw up all kinds of plans—just looked at the land and then started bulldozing.” She couldn’t be more pleased with the result. He created an undulating landscape that shows off Jacquie’s passion for hydrangeas to perfection.

The space around the house, behind the fence that the family erected to keep out deer, is Jacquie’s own. Here, Todd just did what he was told and the rest is up to her. It started with what she calls the garden shed, although it is much more than that. This structure, built by her husband and their friends to a design she found on the Internet, is a tiny retreat, where Jacquie can play house all summer, surrounded by her favourite things.

Among those favourite things is a vast collection of tea cups and teapots.

“I started collecting the cups because

Jacquie's soup pot, filled with hens and chicks.

Hold a garden in your hand!

Designer cell phone cases available now from Canada’s Local Gardener.

2495

$

each

Or for $29.95 personalize your cell phone case with your own image!

Cases are available for any cell phone model.

Makes a unique Christmas gift!

Go to localgardener.net 36 • 2019

Issue 1

localgardener.net

The garden shed is called Bubbee's Place. Inside and out, it is filled with teapots and teacups, flowers and antiques.

localgardener.net

Issue 1

2019 • 37

A ceramic ball invites butterflies to the garden, as does milkweed, above right.

they were so delicate and pretty, like flowers,” Jacquie says. She has so many that her son calls her Teacup!

Then she graduated to teapots and she has a collection of about 40 pieces, some protected indoors but others that spend their summers adorning the garden as displays in whatever way her fancy dictates each year.

“I am not a creature of habit,” she says, adding that one of her delights is creating a completely new landscape every spring, adding and subtracting and changing things each year.

“Except the butterfly chair. It has its own place,” she notes.

This favoured piece has pride of

place beside the garden shed (now named according to a sign on the side, Bubbee’s Place) in a garden she herself designed. The special chair is set on a flagstone patio which is interrupted by mounded clumps of flowers. A giant rock is a dramatic backdrop. Starring among the flowers here is the cheery Johnny-jumpup, the happy little viola that selfseeds so prolifically. Jacquie loves them. “How can nature create something so beautiful,” she asks with wonder. “They are so tiny, yet so perfect. They are first to bloom in the spring and keep on going until fall.” Like true friends, she feels they

Discover the gold standard in home improvement television with Emmywinner This Old House and its spin-off, Ask This Old House, airing back-to-back Thursdays at 7pm.

38 • 2019

Cable Channel 3

prairiepublic.org

Issue 1

are her constant companions in the garden. They aren’t her only companion, though. A robotic lawn mower zooms around the vast lawn, keeping it groomed and tidy and animating the scenery along with the birds and small animals.

There are so many interesting things in the garden and in Bubbee’s Place you could spend a full day just looking at each one, but an interesting highlight is a soup pot full of hens and chicks. “I keep it as a memory of something I loved,” she says. Jacquie was a caterer in a previous life. She ran a concession at the lake until, after much coaxing, she agreed to open a canteen at the local high school. “It took about three days to learn that this was my place,” Jacquie says. The pot now used as a planter was the same one she so happily filled with soup for hungry teenagers over eight years before she became ill.

Jacquie brought the pot with her when they moved here from Stonewall. She leaves it to the elements and each spring it appears that nothing will happen inside, but slowly, it begins to grow until it is filled to the brim with these charming plants. “I don’t know what it is,” she smiles.

“When I plant things they really grow.”

She recalls one of her awardwinning gardens that she populated with zinnias. “I learned that zinnias grew at all sort of heights,” she explains, “so I scoured the greenhouses far and wide until I found every type of zinnia grown for miles localgardener.net

"Mom's Garden" and a purple-leafed sedum.

around.” The flowers grew like magic and soon some of the varieties that were supposed to be 16 inches became 28 inches, but no matter, the display was stunning.

Jacquie also grows vegetables in raised beds: peppers, celery, beets, carrots, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers were started by early July.

Then she added several more beds to accommodate asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries. These are all “runners” and she hopes to contain them this way.

A bowl of echeveria and other succulents.

You might say she also grows children; her two and Mark’s two have become a well-blended family.

There are four grandchildren from one daughter and the kids spend as much time as possible with Bubbee in the garden each summer. Even the 12-year-old seems still to enjoy her time here.

Fall is Jacquie’s time of consignment as she begins dismantling her annual work of art. She begins in early September, washing and putting away her collection. Bubbee’s Place is

the storehouse for all these treasures ove the winter. She leaves them there, gathering hope, until the snow melts and she can start her labour of joy all over again.

And when it is finally time to go inside? Jacquie is not still. She likes to sew, read, cook and bake, and in between times, she volunteers at the library and the church and she travels with Mark.

Jacquie appreciates life. And she knows how to live it to the very fullest. h

watsongloves.com 1-800-663-9509

honoring our Canadian Forces #371 ELECTRA

Watson Gloves proudly supports our War Veterans by partnering with Wounded Warriors Canada™

localgardener.net

Issue 1

2019 • 39

Betty Trethewey.

Beautiful Gardens Betty Trethewey Orillia, Ontario Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

I

Heucheras at the base of a tree in the back yard.

40 • 2019

t’s hard to believe this garden is only in its second year when I visit it. Betty Trethewey lasagna gardened the grass out of the very front of the yard and left only enough grass as a winter resting place for dock sections and a boat lift in the back. There’s grass closer to the house in front, too. Where there isn’t grass, there are trees, shrubs and perennials in an artful mix.

This is Betty and Bob’s fifth house, located next to Lake Simcoe in Orillia. She’s put in gardens before.

They had a cottage, too, where she grew plants. (She tried growing vegetables at the cottage, but that was a constant war with the wildlife.) Before they had a house, for their first few years of marriage when they lived in an apartment, they had a community vegetable plot. She’s been tending plants since she was a little girl; her parents always had a big garden.

She doesn’t have any horticultural mentors; rather, she likes the camaraderie of other gardeners and the way the learn from one another, trading plants and tips. “I see something I like and I try it,” she says, adding: “I do lots of reading.”

Issue 1

localgardener.net

Hosta and chives, just inside the fence at the front.

Sedum and sweet woodruff, a few forget-me-nots and the fine strappy leaves of spent narcissus.

A view of the front garden between the street and the front fence. Can you believe it's only a year old?

The back garden along the lake.

Hostas and irises. localgardener.net

The tree likes what he sees!

Yellow archangel lamium.

Issue 1

2019 • 41

A delicious tangle of painted fern and sweet woodruff.

Forget-me-nots, ferns and hostas grow together in the front border.

Artemisia.

42 • 2019

The lot is 50 feet by 200, with much of it in the front.

They moved into the house in August of 2017, but Betty really got down to gardening in April of 2018.

She covered a huge section of the front yard with cardboard and newspaper, then put four to five inches of soil directly on that. She put plants into the soil right away and hasn’t worried about grass since. This is the lasagna method I mentioned earlier.

She had plants from her old home and her cottage to put in, plus those from plant sales held by gardeners. Using mature plants, rather than potted up seedlings you get from a garden centre, surely helped the garden look so settled in, though she did buy a few nursery plants as well. She plants things close together; “fat gardening” she calls it, a term coined by someone on a Facebook page. “You plant things close enough together that the weeds don’t make a lot of work for you, because they get crowded out.”

Betty is pleased that Orillia has become a Bee City.

This means the city consciously takes steps to increase pollinator habitats and encourage others to do the same.

(Check out the QR code to find out more about Bee

An old coffee table adds height in the front garden.

Issue 1

localgardener.net

Hostas and a few geraniums.

Chives lean forth.

More hostas.

An old stepladder provides focus and a shelf for pots.

Pretty pink fleabane.

localgardener.net

A basket of gloxinia.

Iris.

Issue 1

2019 • 43

A birdhouse.

Scan me

Find out about Bee City. https://beecitycanada.org Fuzzy thalictrum and ferns.

City Canada.) She gardens to keep the environment healthy for pollinators, including leaving plant debris at the end of the fall. She also uses comfrey tea to fertilize the garden.

Betty likes old-fashioned plants best. Roses and double feverfew, hostas, sedums and daisies. She has milkweed and a few volunteers, like goldenrod and mallow. “I don’t think I’ve met a plant that I don’t like,” she says. Then she adds: “Other than poison ivy!”

“It may sound strange, but I like touching plants,” she confesses. I think about the feel of a lamb’s ear or pussy willow. The soft, prickly hairs of echinacea.

The ridged stems of peony, and the fluffy, springy inside. “It’s very sensory. Just the feel of plants, the

smell, the textures. I’m very big on the textures. You know, some are smooth and others are bumpy….” It sounds heavenly.

“It’s exciting in the spring to see things popping up out of the ground. Summer, things are just magnificent. The whole gardening season is a lovely blur.”

The neighbour to one side prefers a nice lawn in front of a house and isn’t too pleased about her exuberance. Just about everyone else approves, though. “One of the things I like most about it is all the lovely people that I meet walking by who will stop and ask what a certain plant is or how did I get it to look like that.” She was honoured, too, with an award from the Orillia Hort Society for garden pride. h

Garden indoors with Nullam

Classifieds FLORABUNDA SEEDS Saving the Seeds of Our Past Heirloom Flowers, Vegetables, Herbs – Wildflower Mixes - Unusual Varieties A leader in heirloom seeds, gardeners count on us. Shop with us, we make it easy. www.florabundaseeds.com contact@florabundaseeds.com (P) – 705-295-6440 (F) – 705-295-4035 P.O. Box 38, Keene, ON K0L 2G0 Free catalogue available upon request.

Simple, elegant and stackable.

Three convenient sizes to choose from.

nullam.ca 44 • 2019

1-204-899-9425 Issue 1

BOB’S SUPERSTRONG GREENHOUSE PLASTICS. Pond liners, tarps.

Resists Canadian thunderstorms, yellowing, cats, branches, punctures. Custom sizes.

Samples. Box 1450-O-G, Altona, MB, R0G 0B0. Ph: 204-327-5540 Fax: 204-327-5527, www.northerngreenhouse.com. localgardener.net

Sedum and little carnations.

A girl contemplates a plate of hens and chicks.

Whorls of a hosta.

An iris.

Recipe for comfrey compost tea

A

ny of the plants that come from the genus Symphytum have the common name comfrey. Growing up to three feet tall with white, blue or purple bell-shaped flowers hanging down from the nodes of the leaves, it has a lot of traditional medicinal properties. You can use it to make powerful compost tea for the garden.

It isn’t North American and can be invasive, so you may have thought of it as a weed. It’s best to keep it contained. And the plants are covered in little hairs which may irritate your skin; use gloves.

Strip leaves off the plants to fill any sized container up half-way. Fill in the rest with water. You’ll probably want

localgardener.net

Comfrey in bloom.

to put a lid on this, because it will start to smell in a few days.

In three to six weeks, strain off the water and put the solids in the compost. Mix the liquid with water in a one-to-one ratio and use it to water your plants.

Issue 1

2019 • 45

How to get started

A

re you starting your very first garden? Congratulations!

There are several little details to take you from the idea to your first year of blooms or food. Here is a primer that will get you through with most plants. This guide will be printed at the back of every issue of Canada’s Local Gardener.

May you have a long future as a gardener, during which you add techniques from others and elements you discover that work for you.

Happy gardening!

How to start a garden 1. Make it smaller than you think you’ll need.

2. Mow the area, then lay down 7 to 10 sheets of newspaper over the grass or weeds.

3. Water the newspaper.

4. Pile on four to six inches of triple mix soil 5. If you want, pile on four inches of cedar mulch.

6. Plant bedding plants.

Containers 1. Outdoor containers should be larger; smaller ones will dry out too quickly.

2. Hanging containers will dry out faster than those on the ground.

3. Drainage is important. If there are no holes in the container and you can’t put holes in it, put plants in a 46 • 2019

plastic liner pot and into the container.

4. Use potting soil for containers, not triple mix.

5. Feed container plants something like liquid kelp or Miracle Gro. They’re different from in-ground plants.

Bedding plants 1. Water bedding plants the day before you plant them.

2. Dig a hole a little bigger than the pot the plant is in.

3. Remove the bedding plant from the pot. Squish the pot to get it out.

4. Gently spread out the root ball on the plant, put it into the hole and backfill around the root ball with soil.

5. Fibre pots: remove the plant and compost the pot.

6. Cell packs: if a plant comes in four or six attached plastic containers, they are four or six small plants, not one big one.

7. When you are done planting in a bed, water it well.

Fall bulbs 1. Fall bulbs bloom in spring. They include tulips, crocuses and daffodils.

You can plant them until the ground is frozen.

2. Plant bulbs in a hole that is three times the depth of the bulb. If a bulb is one inch high, plant it three inches deep. If it’s three inches high, plant it nine inches deep.

Issue 1

3. You can plant each bulb in one hole or plant more bulbs in a wider hole. Leave one to two bulb-widths between them.

4. If you have chipmunks or other animals that will disturb bulbs, put chicken wire over the bulbs before filling in the hole with soil.

Direct-sowing seeds 1. Prepare an existing bed by removing weeds and mixing in compost or topping with triple mix.

2. Either follow the directions on the seed packets, ask the person you got the seeds from, or follow the suggestions below.

3. Some seeds need light to germinate: ageratum, balloon flower, browallia, columbine, gaillardia, geranium, impatiens, lettuce, lobelia, nicotiana, osteospermum, petunias, poppies, savory, snapdragons.

4. Other seeds should be covered lightly with soil: alyssum, aster, balsam, beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celosia, corn, cosmos, cucumbers, dianthus, eggplant, marigold, melons, morning glory, nasturtium, peas, pepper, radish, spinach, squash, tomato, zinnia.

5. Plant seeds about as far apart as you imagine the grown plant will need. Or plant them less far apart then thin them when they are too close together. Thin seedlings by snipping them off so you don’t disturb the roots of neighbouring plants.

6. Water new seeds with the mister on your hose nozzle so they don’t wash localgardener.net

away, but water them thoroughly.

7. Keep seedlings in a damp bed until they are one to two inches high.

Weeding 1. Weed the day after it rains or the day after you water. It is easier to pull weeds from damp soil than from dry soil.

2. Hoe tiny weedlings in the spring.

3. If you don’t know what it is, wait until you do know before pulling it.

4. If you can’t pull a weed out, cut it off at ground level. Do this as often as needed, which could be daily. Eventually it should die from lack of sunlight.

5. Mulching can control weeds and make weeding easier.

Watering 1. Always water new plants gently but well.

2. Water more deeply and less often.

3. Water the soil, not the plant, but don’t worry about plants getting wet.

4. Watering in the morning is best, but time of day doesn’t matter that much.

5. Outdoor pots need water frequently, possibly every day.

Pests 1. Don’t treat for pests unless they are truly decimating your garden.

2. Many insects are beneficial to the garden. Several non-beneficial insects will attract beneficial insects to your garden.

3. Funguses and insect-eating plants will usually go away if treated with neem oil.

4. Aphids can be kept under control by spraying them off with water. It won’t kill them, but it will slow them down.

Sun 1. Six or more hours per day of localgardener.net

Scan me Explore Canada’s plant hardiness site. http://www.planthardiness.gc.ca/

direct sun qualifies as full sun.

2. Three to six hours qualifies as part sun.

3. Less than three hours qualifies as shade.

4. Dappled shade can be any of these, depending on how dappled the shade is and for how much of the day.

5. Full sun is necessary for most vegetables. Part sun is acceptable for leafy vegetables.

Issue 1

6. Pay attention to the tags on plants at the nursery. You can experiment with plants outside the recommended sun requirements, but be prepared for whatever the result is.

Zones 1. Hardiness Zone is a number given to your geographical area to indicate whether a plant will survive the winter. You can find the hardiness Zone for your area online at planthardiness.gc.ca. Or you can ask at your local garden centre what Zone you are in.

2. Zones don’t matter for annuals.

For perennials, they will give you an idea of what survives. For trees and shrubs, they are pretty accurate.

3. Canadian hardiness Zones and USDA hardiness Zones are different. A rule of thumb is to subtract one from the USDA Zone to get the Canadian Zone.

4. There are microclimates in every yard. Proximity to the house or a fence or position on a hill will change the climate.

5. Your local garden centre will not sell you plants that won’t thrive in your area. Or, if they do, they will issue a warning.

Fall clean-up 1. Rake leaves off lawns and into flower beds.

2. Remove very diseased plants.

Throw them out.

3. Everything else can be left for birds, insects and other animals.

Much of it will compost in the garden over the winter. h

2019 • 47

Revolutionize your yard

Patio Stones Patio Blocks Fire Pits

Retaining Walls Outdoor Living Rebar Bricks

Tel: 204-322-5332 | keystoneproducts.ca | Box 7, Warren MB R0C 3E0 | Like us on Facebook

48 • 2019

Issue 1

localgardener.net