Canada's Local Gardener Volume 2 Issue 3 by PegasusPublicationsInc

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Issue 3

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Contents volume 2

Canada’s local Gardener

ISSUE 3, 2021

Dear gardeners!......................................................... 4

Can you beat peat?.................................................30

Letters to the editor.................................................... 5

Maple syrup production.........................................32

2022 is Canada’s Year of the Garden....................... 6

Companion planting flowers in the

Plant a yellow garden for Hope is Growing!........... 7

vegetable garden..................................................34

Get smarter by gardening........................................ 8

All about woodpeckers............................................38

Off the Wall pictures in the garden.......................... 9

Two Olde Dawgs: Putting together a Vegepod..... 41

Wildflowers and weeds: Bladder campion........... 10

Beautiful Gardens:

Vegetable gardening the easy way........................ 12

Helen Stewart, Vancouver Island........................42

Newest plants for 2021........................................... 14

Kim and Jim Sinclair, Winnipeg..........................46

Ancient hydrangea..................................................22

Jay and Diane Wesley, Halifax............................53

Growing peanuts.....................................................27

How to get started...................................................61

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2021 • 3

Hello gardeners!

on’t you just want to get out there and plant something? Or maybe you already have. This spring holds so much promise, more than any I can recall. This is the issue with our picks for new plant varieties being marketed this year. One that I’m really excited about is the hanging blueberry. As someone who gave up on planting acid-loving blueberries in my more pH-balanced garden years ago, I can hardly wait to get my hands on a couple. Container-grown corn is another that intrigues me, and I quite like the look of ‘Ice Cream Dream’ Shasta daisy. I acquired a Vegepod over the winter, the raised bed with a self-watering system and an air-permeable cover that is taking the world by storm. I was inspired by the Two Olde Dawgs building one in this issue. The Vegepod is sitting on my porch right now and I can hardly wait to fill it with tomatoes. The weather has been so promising, but I’m determined to wait until May to plant them. Kevin Twomey told me to hold off on planting tomatoes in Episode 2 of the Canada’s Local Gardener Podcast (which you can listen to on our website; follow the QR code below). Another possibility would be to put some peanuts in the Vegepod; I’ve written a story on growing peanuts for this issue and Toronto is a good place to try it. We definitely get enough heat here, but even in my hometown of Winnipeg it would be worth a try. Nothing ventured nothing gained, right? I’m also longing to start new gardens by planting potatoes and mulch over grass and weeds, but my entire yard is already garden, so I’ll have to wait until I’ve moved into a new place with a bit of uncultivated land. Greg Auton tells us how to do it in this issue and between the article and his videos, I’m eager to give it a go. Sherrie Versluis, also known as the Bird Girl in Winnipeg, has a story all about woodpeckers for us, and Dorothy Dobbie has written about peat and other soil helpers. Dorothy also has a story on a garden in Victoria, built by painter Helen Stewart. I’ve rounded out the issue with stories on two of my very favourite gardens: Kim Sinclair’s in Winnipeg, which I visited almost two years ago, and Jay Wesley’s Japanese-inspired garden in Halifax, of which I’ve only seen pictures. This country is full of absolutely amazing gardeners. I’m looking forward (fingers crossed) to visiting more of these beautiful gardens this summer if I can travel across the country. I already have my flights booked to go out west, and my plans are solidifying to drive through Quebec and the Maritimes for the first time this year. If you’d like me to visit your garden, give me a shout by email. I’d love to hear from you!

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 and Layout Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net General Manager Ian Leatt ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net Contributors Greg Auton, Jennifer Cole, Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie, Susan Ellis, Michael Rosen, Jay Wesley. Editorial Advisory Board Greg Auton, John Barrett, Todd Boland, Darryl Cheng, Ben Cullen, Mario Doiron, Michel Gauthier, Larry Hodgson, Jan Pedersen, Stephanie Rose, Michael Rosen and Aldona Satterthwaite. Advertising Sales 1.888.680.2008 Subscriptions Write, email or call Canada’s Local Gardener, 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8 Phone (204) 940-2700 Fax (204) 940-2727 Toll Free 1 (888) 680-2008 subscribe@localgardener.net One year (four issues): $35.85 Two years (eight issues): $71.70 Three years (twelve issues): $107.55 Single copy: $10.95; Beautiful Gardens: $14.95 150 years of Gardening in Canada copy: $12.95 Plus applicable taxes. Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Circulation Department Pegasus Publications Inc. 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8 Canadian Publications mail product Sales agreement #40027604 ISSN 2563-6405

Shauna Dobbie Editor shauna@pegasuspublications.net

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.

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Letters to the editor

irst, I want to say how much I enjoy the Local Gardener Magazine and that is why I was re-reading the issue from last year Volume 2: Issue 1 There is an error in the identification of a plant on page 28. No doubt somebody else caught this months ago, but just in case. You label the plant "Canadian wild ginger" but it is actually a white violet plant. Wild ginger leaves look similar to that, but the flower is red and at ground level, very inconspicuous. Marjorie Hughes Winnipeg and Pinawa, MB

a garden is a garden. The whole article regarding their place, did not belong, in my opinion, in a Beautiful Gardens magazine. It should have been in a cottage, or regular home magazine. Given that, it was awesome though. Having said that, the following article by Victoria Beattie in Calgary more than made up for the other! Now that is gardening! Flowers, shrubs, hostas, wisteria, that lady rocks gardening, and takes it to soaring heights! Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun. Keep up the beautiful work, Victoria!! And God bless Helen Hogue You have an eagle eye, Marjofor her flowers, et cetera, but rie Hughes! Thank you for the mainly for being guardian of correction. butterflies, and teaching about Shauna them! Beautiful flowers! This white violet was misidentified as Canadian wild Finally, Roy Morris's place! icked up the magazine ginger in a previous issue. The foliage is very similar, Gorgeous! My kind of landat the grocery store and but… mea culpa. scape! happily read it, front to All in all, I will purchase the the feature from Durham, Ontarback! Nice. You asked for feedback. io, The Knowlton's place. Yes, it magazine again, keep up the good Well, I have to admit that I was was beautiful and relaxing but so work, Shauna! Stay safe! really, really, really not pleased with miscategorised!! A forest is a forest, Catherine Knox, Kelowna BC r

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2021 • 5

2022 is Canada’s Year of the Garden I

t’s official! In Canada, 2022 will be the Year of the Garden. It’s the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association next year, which started horticultural minds in Canada thinking about ways to acknowledge it. When the pandemic hit and so many people started gardening, the idea was cemented. So, what does it mean? You can take advantage of the special promotions and events that garden professionals will be offering throughout the year and be inspired by the works of landscape professionals. You can learn about garden traditions, such as First Nations living in harmony with plants, of historic sites like Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia, and the garden culture of people who have come to Canada from every nation. If your local school doesn’t already have a garden, you can work to get one started. Gardens Canada is hoping to have a garden in every school. You can also take part in volunteer opportunities in community gardening efforts in your area. To keep abreast of what’s going on

with the initiative, get on the mailing list at the QR code to the right. According to a recent Nanos poll, four out of five Canadians are in favour of designating 2022 as the Year of the Garden. The same poll found that 95 per cent of Canadians believe that gardening can improve the mental and physical health and 93 per cent believe that gardens improve the quality of life. We always knew this, and it’s nice to see that so many folks back us up. As you get your garden growing this year, think about how you can be part

Scan me Find out more about The Year of the Garden 2022 https://gardenscanada.ca/year-of-the-garden/

of the Year of the Garden next year. There are many ideas to be finalized and a whole lot of initiatives coming your way. Get ready to celebrate! r

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Plant a yellow garden for Hope is Growing! I

s it just me, or have you felt an earthy need to get yourself back to the garden, too? We have collectively witnessed vast global changes in the past 2 ½ decades as extreme weather occurrences have increased. Wildfires, floods, tornados, hurricanes, droughts and pandemics have wreaked havoc around the world and there are few places that have not been impacted by climate change. At Communities in Bloom (CiB), as we face these new challenges, we’ve changed as well. In the past year, we have hit the refresh button on our program to ensure that it remains relevant and continues to be a critical guide for our communities to use as they weather the storms and work to provide safe, secure, and sustainable communities for all residents and businesses. CiB and its partners, including the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, Garden Centres Canada, Scotts Canada, the National Capital Commission, the Canadian Garden Council, Come Alive Outside, the Green Cities Foundation, Wentworth Landscapes, Brydges Landscape Architecture, Mark and Ben Cullen, Compost Council of Canada and Nutrients for Life are working together to summon everyone to create Hope Gardens for 2021. We acknowledge the difficulties that have been faced and recognize that people are ready for positive, peaceful change, and opportunities to bring brightness and light into their lives. Most people associate hope with a situation that they wish would end and that they could move past. Desmond Tutu once said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness. Hope whispers that things will get better.” The international colour for hope is yellow. Yellow is the colour of sunshine and it is often associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy. It has also been declared localgardener.net

By Susan Ellis

Scan me Find out more about Communities in Bloom on their website. https://www.communitiesinbloom.ca/

the Pantone colour for the year for 2021. CiB has created the Hope is Growing Campaign as a rallying point that is simple, inclusive, easy and fun with a positive outcome for whoever participates. After all, the garden is where Hope is Growing! Between March and August, Issue 3

anyone and everyone, including municipalities, organizations, schools, churches, colleges and universities, clubs, businesses, and individuals can participate by planting a Hope Garden with yellow as the primary colour. It can be as simple as a hanging basket, a barrel, a window box, a border, or a balcony container. And it’s not just flowers. Fruits, shrubs, vegetables can all be used as well. Gardening experts, Mark and Ben Cullen recently presented their suggestions for easy to grow yellow plants that included their top six favourites: forsythia, sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, Jerusalem artichokes, yellow zucchini, and marigolds. The complete article can be found on the Communities in Bloom website. There you can also find a link to a recent webinar with Paul Brydges and Mark and Ben Cullen that is full of suggestions of what to grow, and great tips for success. To participate, simply go to HopeisGrowing.ca to register, place yourself on our map, and then share photos of your gardens on CiB’s social media platforms with the hashtag #hopeisgrowing. You will also receive a downloadable Hope Garden sign, and information about hardy plants and growing tips for success. And if you enjoy a little friendly competition you can also enter your Hope Garden into a contest to become eligible for national recognition for your efforts! We want to see Canada awash with yellow this summer, so please join us and be a beacon leading the way to create HOPE across Canada and around the world! r A graduate of Guelph, Western, and Waterloo Universities, Susan has enjoyed a multi-facetted career as an educator, marketing and advertising consultant, and municipal manager of economic development, recreation and tourism. Susan is a member of the board of directors of CiB. 2021 • 7

Get smarter by gardening

f you are one of the people who started gardening in response to the pandemic, congratulations: you are over 5 per cent smarter than you were a year ago. That’s according to a study conducted by diys.com. For the study, diys.com asked almost 5,000 volunteers in July 2020 which hobbies they would like to take up during the pandemic. They then asked them to take an IQ test. The participants engaged in their desired activities, and six months later were asked to take the IQ test again. Gardening ranked 7th on the list. Learning a new instrument and read-

Rewards

ing came in 1st and 2nd, increasing IQ by 9.71 per cent and 9.68 per cent. Exercising came in 3rd, at 7.37 per cent, edging out reading at 7.07 per cent. Meditation (6.38 per cent) and learning a new language (5.88 per cent) came in 5th and 6th. Gardening raised IQs by 5.1 percentage points. The study didn’t look at how much smarter people who’ve been gardening for years are, but we’re pretty sure the number is off the charts. We also wonder what kind of numbers they’d have got if they did the measurements from, say, April to September, when people can garden outdoors more. r

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8 • 2021

Issue 3 CHCA21_Canada Local Gardener_4.6x3.4.indd 1

localgardener.net 09/12/2020 4:32:50 PM

Off the Wall pictures in the garden By Shauna Dobbie

John Hizroth and Lisa Hartley in their back yard.

hen you think of garden décor, you might think of statues or figurines or maybe pots of flowers. Have you considered pictures though? Big and bright, mounted on a wall or fence, photographs or art that can withstand the weather of the seasons and keep on looking as bright and beautiful as the day you mounted them. This is the idea behind Off the Wall On the Fence, an enterprise started in the Beaches area of Toronto. Lisa Hartley and her team have found a way to print on weatherproof material with lightfast inks. The result is artwork that looks great from the day you put it up and keeps looking great through wind and rain and snow and blazing sun. In fact, there is a fiveyear warranty on the product. With the pandemic a lot of people have been fixing up their outdoor spaces to enjoy staycations. That’s why it’s so hard to buy seeds right now. To enhance your enjoyment of the garden, you put in furniture, the comfier the better. Lighting is another element you add. People add carpets and cushions. Outdoor prints

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Scan me Find out more about Off the Wall On the Fence https://offthewallonthefence.com/

are an obvious addition to the list. The company has a lot of images to choose from. They also work with a handful of Canadian artists, whose images you can choose from. You can go with Michael Peech’s cubistlooking art or more abstract pieces of billowy colour from Fiona Debell, Issue 3

as well as other painters and photographers. On the stock art side, you can theme your space with pictures of flamingos and toucans, or choose shades of pink in cherry blossoms, roses and peonies. Looking for something less… um… serene? Choose a series of metallic skulls on black backgrounds. Or you can go more serene with a series of statues of Buddha. And if you can’t find one that suits the style of your garden, you can always upload pictures of your own. I don’t think there is anyone else anywhere doing this kind of work. This could be the start of a new trend. r 2021 • 9

Wildflowers and weeds: Bladder campion

Bladder campion.

n its own, bladder campion is a pretty plant with branching stems, narrow lanceolate leaves and panicles of nodding white or pinkish flowers with five triangular, split “petals” emerging from a swollen papery, veined calyx which gives the flowers its descriptor name “bladder”. There are three stamens or styles that extend beyond the petals or “teeth” in a pleasing way. The flowers emerge on stems one to three feet high that are smooth to the touch. 10 • 2021

Beloved as a food in some Mediterranean countries, the young leaves are used in salads, omelettes and even pastas. The leaves are high in vitamins K, E, B9 and C as well as manganese. They taste a little like a bitter green pea. The plants contain saponin, a soapy substance, which is mildly toxic, but can be safely eaten cooked. Pick the leaves before the plant flowers for the best taste. It is a preferred plant of a couple of insects, but most mammals will opt for other plants because of the sapoIssue 3

nin. If there is nothing else to forage, though, animals will eat bladder campion. The nectar is sweet and enticing for long-tongued insects and birds and that is how it is pollinated. Bladder campion has many names: maiden’s tears, sea pink, bubble poppy and birds’ eggs, to name just a few. Its Latin name is Silene vulgaris and it is named for Silenus, the fosterfather of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. Silenus is typically depicted as covered in sea foam, which relates to localgardener.net

Photo by Matt Lavin.

Bladder campion seed head.

Moss campion.

the saponin of the plant. Imported to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, bladder campion has been most successful in the eastern part of the continent but can be found in most areas except the far north. Some regions consider it to be a wildflower. Others see it as a weed, but it is a mild offender. Although a good self-sower, it has a tap root that can be readily pulled. It prefers sandy, rocky, chalky soil so mainly proliferates on road allowances, or in open woods, waste lands

Maltese cross.

and pastures over cultivated fields. It blooms June to August. There are cultivated flowers in the same genus: Silene chalcedonica, or Maltese cross, and S. aucalis, or moss campion. While you can buy seed for bladder campion, though more so in Europe than Canada, there are no cultivars of the plant that we could find. It has some minor use medicinally. Roots can be mixed into milk and used and an emetic to counter poisoning or as a mild laxative for

constipation pains. Infusions have been used to relieve itch and the juice of the plant has been used to treat conjunctivitis or eye inflammation. Bladder campion is also known to be highly tolerant of heavy metals, making it useful in cleaning up sites contaminated with the stuff, particularly zinc. The plant sequesters zinc and other problematic substances, but to use it for its metal-eating purposes, the plant must be pulled and deposited elsewhere after it’s done its job. r

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Issue 3

2021 • 11

Vegetable gardening the easy way By Greg Auton

From July onwards, Greg rarely needs to water his garden.

few years ago, I came across a short video on YouTube called Ruth Stout’s Garden. The 23-minute video, filmed in 1976, contains an interview with a 92-year-old woman who maintains a 2,500-square-foot garden like mine all by herself. As you might imagine, I was intrigued. After a little investigation, I found out that Ruth Stout was an author of many books on the topic of gardening, and the method she used for managing her garden was so intriguing to so many, that it is now referred to as the Ruth Stout Method. Gardening should not be hard work Ruth was a champion for the argument that keeping a garden should be easy if you are doing it right. Indeed, this was basically the title of a number 12 • 2021

of her books, such as her 1963 book Gardening Without Work: For the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent. Her ability to maintain her garden into her 90s speaks volumes to the validity of that argument. In the video, she explains that on any given day, after waking up whenever she feels like it (though usually by eight-ish), then having a leisurely breakfast and answering all her handwritten mail and doing all her housework, her gardening for the day would be done by 11 a.m. In essence, she implies that she spends far less than an hour each day in her garden. I have had much the same experience in my 50-by-50-foot heavily mulched garden. People often tell me that gardening is a lot of work, but like Ruth, I have found that not to be the case. On any given day, I only spend 15 Issue 3

minutes or less in my garden and there are plenty of days during the height of the growing season where I do nothing. I never till the garden, hardly need to water it, spend very little time weeding, and don’t need fertilizer. The Ruth Stout Method Ruth Stout’s method exemplifies everything I value in an approach to gardening. It’s cheap, easy, organic, and it works. Ruth, like me, employed a heavy mulch system in her garden, where the soil is never left exposed. Ruth was partial to using hay as a mulch, but was not insistent on that being the only option. I use whatever I can get easily, which is mostly leaves and other types of yard waste. These are easy to source because people are in the habit of leaving them in nice bags at the end of their driveways. By keeping all of the soil covered localgardener.net

No fertilizer needed here. The soil organisms break the mulch down and the plants get what they need.

with an organic mulch that is in a constant state of decomposition, the soil organisms are constantly being supplied with what they need to go about their business: living, sometimes moving, eating, excreting, and dying. All of that activity keeps your soil loose and replenishes the nutrients in the soil, which benefits your plant. A side effect of the mulch always being on top of the soil is that there is less evaporation of water from the soil so there is less need to water. In addition, many types of weeds are suppressed by mulching, so there’s that added bonus as well! As a result, the weeding, watering and fertilizing are kept to a minimum, and for large stretches at the height of the season, the only activity that might be required in the garden is collecting food. How to start If you already have a garden, just start mulching using something that will compost. That can be almost anything you would add to a compost pile. To date, I have used leaves, straw, hay, grass clippings, various weeds, cardboard, paper, and seaweed. Very large stuff can be run over with a lawn mower and collected if you want, but in many instances even this step is not needed. For most garden beds, two to three inches is all that’s needed. To sow just move the mulch aside and localgardener.net

These three 4-by-8-foot potato beds took less than 30 minutes to plant.

plant. Once the seedlings are about six inches high, move the mulch back to completely cover the soil. For transplants, just plug them into the soil. If you want to start a new bed over unprepared soil like a lawn, the easiest way is to grow potatoes in the first year. In a matter of minutes you can have a four-by-eight potato garden planted that will yield buckets of potatoes in August or September. Throw more mulch on it in October, having harvested earlier, and forget about it. The following year you will have a garden in which you can grow anything. Here’s how to do it: 1) mow down the grass or weeds 2) put down about three to four inches of soil 3) space out the seed potatoes and jam them in the soil 4) pile mulch about a foot high over the whole thing Issue 3

5) do nothing for two or three months 6) pick and eat your delicious potatoes once the plants seem dead. You will notice a miraculous transformation when you are digging out your potatoes a few months later: all the grass and sod will be gone. Having been smothered out by the heavy mulch, it decomposes, turns into compost, and feeds your potatoes, leaving beautiful rich soil behind. What an easy way to claim new soil! Final thoughts I’m amazed that this and other similar information has been out there for years, and people are still growing their food in bare earth, with the perpetual watering, weeding, and fertilizing that is needed with such an approach. These chores are all dramatically reduced or eliminated when you start working with nature to build healthy soil, and that means laying down a cover of some kind to protect and feed the entities that live there. They ask so little and give so much! So this spring, when you see people raking up all the leaves and yard waste that they neglected to address last fall, pull over, grab a few bags and give the Ruth Stout Method a try this growing season. r Greg Auton is a podcaster and YouTuber for The Maritime Gardener. He lives in Nova Scotia. 2021 • 13

Photo courtesy of Fleuroselect.

Photo courtesy of Botanical Interests.

Photo courtesy of Syngenta Flowers.

African daisy ‘Tradewinds Sunset’.

Black-eyed Susan ‘Amarillo Gold’.

Ageratum ‘Blue Planet’.

Newest plants for 2021 By Shauna Dobbie

Black-eyed Susan vine ‘Susie White’. 14 • 2021

Photo courtesy of PlantHaven International.

Photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company.

African daisy ‘Tradewinds Sunset’ (Osteospermum ecklonis). Gorgeous new colour. Orange to pink flowers bloom in spring and carry on through summer. Grows to a foot high. Syngenta. Ageratum ‘Blue Planet’ (Ageratum houstonianum). A tall ageratum with non-stop flowering power that doesn't require deadheading. Gets 2 to 3 feet high. Botanical Interests. Black-eyed Susan ‘Amarillo Gold’ (Rudbeckia hirta). A shorter plant, growing about a foot high, with orangeyellow rays around a bright green eye. Wow! Ernst Benary of America. Black-eyed Susan vine ‘Susie White’ (Thunbergia alata). Beautiful white flowers with dark centres, just like the name. The flowers are big and fresh-looking. The vine

grows to over 3 feet. It will climb up a trellis or ramble over the ground as an annual groundcover. Garden Trends. Cigar flower ‘Hummingbird's Lunch’ (Cuphea ignea). Elongated 2-inch cherry-red flowers tipped in yellow bloom from spring through fall. These are great for when you want people to say “what's that?!” Keep it fed and it will delight through to frost. Grows to 12 to 18 inches tall. PlantHaven International. Cineraria ‘Senetti Magic Salmon’ (Pericallis hybrid). So, the bloom will only last through the spring, but this one has to be included for its beautiful colour. It will live in a pot in your home until you bring it outdoors, where it will survive low temperatures but not frost. But my goodness, the purple petals on this daisy-like plant, which fade to pink toward the centre with yellow eyes... it's beautiful. The trick will be to find a nursery selling them. Proven Winners.

Cigar flower ‘Hummingbird’s Lunch’. Issue 3

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

Annuals

Cineraria ‘Senetti Magic Salmon’. localgardener.net

Echeveria ‘Frosty’.

Elephant’s ear ‘Coffee Cups’.

Delphinium ‘Jenny's Pearl Blue’ (Delphinium grandiflorum). This shorter delph, growing to a maximum of 24 inches, has gorgeous big blue blooms. It's suitable for pots, but we'll plant it in borders to see if it self-sows, like other D. grandiflorum. Cross your fingers! Also comes in ‘Jenny's Pearl Pink’. American Takii. Echeveria ‘Frosty’ (Echevaria pulvinata). A fuzzy succulent sure to steal the hearts of succulent lovers. This little guy will grow to 6 inches high by up to 12 inches wide. It is a perennial way down south, and it will adapt itself to live in your home. Part sun to sun. Proven Winners. Elephant's ear ‘Coffee Cups’ (Colocasia esculenta). This is interesting. Apparently, the cupped foliage of this plant collects rainwater and, when there’s enough water to bend the stem, pours it out. Blooms all summer and can get to 5 feet high by 4 feet wide, though that's in USDA 8a, where it is perennial. Proven Winners.

localgardener.net

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

Photo courtesy of Concept Plants.

Photo courtesy of National Garden Bureau.

Astilbe ‘Mighty Chocolate Cherry’ (Astilbe). Doesn't bloom until mid-summer, taking over when other astilbes

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

fade. The colour is the real star here: raspberry blooms, dark red stems and maroon-tinged foliage. Breathtaking, good for cutting, and it grows to 4 feet or higher. Longfield Gardens. USDA 3. Clematis ‘Little Lemons’ (Clematis tangutica). Because it won't grow beyond 24 inches this cheery yellow clematis has our hearts. You can keep it in a pot which can be kept in a protected spot for winter if you live below Canadian Zone 6. This little beauty is a bee magnet. Concept Plants. USDA 5. Clematis ‘Sparky’ (Clematis hybrid). Take your pick of ‘Sparky Blue’, ‘Sparky Pink’ and ‘Sparky Purple’, three very pretty clematises that bloom on old wood (which means you don't need to prune and if you do, do it in spring after flowering). The petals are long and narrow, looking quite spiky. They like to keep their roots cooler than their tops, so plant in a spot where the roots are shaded but the flowers get some sun. Height and spread of 6 feet. Proven Winners. USDA 5. Heuchera ‘Dolce Toffee Tart’ (Heuchera). There must be a heuchera every year, and this year it's this beauty, starting with amber leaves that mature to ginger. The flowers are creamy white. Gets to 10 inches tall by 18 inches wide. Proven Winners. USDA 4.

Perennials

Astilbe ‘Mighty Chocolate Cherry’. Clematis ‘Little Lemons’.

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

Photo courtesy of American Takii.

Delphinium ‘Jenny’s Pearl Blue’.

Clematis ‘Sparky’. Issue 3

Heuchera ‘Dolce Toffee Tart’. 2021 • 15

Rose ‘Aurora Borealis’.

Siberian iris ‘Black Joker’.

Roses

16 • 2021

Photo courtesy of Austin Roses.

Photo courtesy of National Garden Bureau.

Rose ‘Aurora Borealis’ (Rosa). Declared the Canada Blooms Plant of the Year for 2021, this dark pink beauty blooms all summer long, is resistant to black spot and is hardy right down to -40. Grows to 3 feet by 3 feet. Vineland. Zone 2.

Rose ‘Enchanted Peace’ (Rosa). Creamy centre double hybrid tea that melds into pink. This disease-resistant new variety smells divine and will grow quite happily in a container so it can be enjoyed by anyone who can provide a safe place to overwinter, as long as you have a container that can handle a 5-foot high by 3-foot wide rose. Star Roses and Plants. USDA 5. Rose ‘Eustacia Vye’ (Rosa). Very full pale pink with a delicate yet strong fruity scent. Grows to 4 feet high by 3 feet wide. David Austin. USDA 4. Rose ‘Funny Face’ (Rosa). A semi-double pink with white centre and tips and a kind of casual habit –we're not sure how else to describe this changing beauty! Three feet high and wide with fragrant blooms. Easy Elegance. USDA 4. Rose ‘Gabriel Oak’ (Rosa). A deep, deep pink with the outer petals fading into red with age. These big beauties have an over-abundance of petals and repeat bloom. Gets to 4 feet wide and high. David Austin. USDA 4.

Photo courtesy of Easy Elegance.

Shasta daisy ‘Ice Cream Dream’ (Leucanthemum superbum). A very frilly shasta daisy! With white petals and a yellow disc, this daisy requires full sun to bloom from early summer to midsummer. Grows to 12 inches in height and 18 inches in width. Walters Gardens. USDA 5. Siberian iris ‘Black Joker’ (Iris sibirica). Such pretty colours. The inner petals are the lightest shade of bluepurple with the falls a deeper blackish purple with yellow veins. Truly remarkable. Grows to 5 feet tall. Valleybrook Nursery. USDA 2.

Rose ‘Enchanted Peace’.

Photo courtesy of Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.

Photo courtesy of Valleybrook Nursery.

Photo courtesy of Walters Garden.

Shasta daisy ‘Ice Cream Dream’.

Rose ‘Funny Face’.

Rose ‘Eustacia Vye’. Issue 3

localgardener.net

Abelia ‘Vintage Charm’.

Shrubs

localgardener.net

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

Abelia ‘Vintage Charm’ (Abelia hybrida). Pretty shrub with flowers that go from white to pink to tan. More blooms per branch in a smaller stature than other abelias, topping out at 3 feet high. Gardener’s Confidence. USDA 6. Azalea ‘Echo’ (Rhododendron x ‘Rut Rodi’). A vigourous and floriferous reblooming azalea, but probably only for the West Coast and the very southern part of Ontario. Blooms in spring and then again in late summer. Bright fuchsia flowers. Height of 6 feet plus. Gardener's Confidence. USDA 7. Buckthorn ‘Fine Line Improved’ (Rhamnus frangula). Lush and full from top to bottom. This new variety bears few fruits, most of them sterile. Tall and thin, it will achieve a height of 5 to 7 feet and a width of 2 to 3 feet. Proven Winners. USDA 2. Chokeberry ‘Ground Hog’ (Aronia melanocarpa). Beautiful and small shrub that gets to be no more than

Photo courtesy of Gardeners Confidence.

Rose ‘Petite Knock Out’ (Rosa). Rosarians will be pleased to hear that they've finally managed to miniaturize a ‘Knock Out’ rose. Bright red double blooms on a shrub that tops out at 18 inches high. Blooms get to about 1 ½ inches in size. Star Roses and Plants. USDA 5. Rose ‘Ringo All-Star’ (Rosa). This single rose starts out in a melon shade with a red centre and matures into lavender and pink. It blooms well all season and you don't even need to deadhead. Grows to 3 feet high and wide. Proven Winners. USDA 4. Rose ‘Sitting Pretty’ (Rosa). Big pink blooms on a grandiflora with the heavenly scent of a damask rose. Four feet high and wide. Star Roses and Plants. USDA 4. Rose ‘Sunset Horizon’ (Rosa). This floribunda gives the impression of a hot, hot summer when it first blooms in bright yellow with hints of cherry red. The bloom fades with age. Up to 4 feet high. Star Roses and Plants. USDA 5.

Azalea ‘Echo’.

Photo courtesy of Garsdeners Confidence.

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

Photo courtesy of Austin Roses.

Rose ‘Ringo All-Star’.

Rose ‘Gabriel Oak’.

Buckthorn ‘Fine Line Improved’. Issue 3

Chokeberry ‘Ground Hog’. 2021 • 17

18 • 2021

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

lilac that blooms in bright pink. Tops out at 5 feet high by 4 feet wide and does not sucker. Northern Garden. Zone 2. Mockorange ‘Illuminati Arch’ (Philadelphus coronarious). If you love the romantic white flowers with orangeblossom fragrance of mockorange but aren't crazy about how ratty and messy they can become, here's a shrub for you. It's smaller but has cleaner foliage and blooming. Grows to 4 feet high and wide. Proven Winners. USDA 4. Osier dogwood ‘Arctic Fire Yellow’ (Cornus stolonifera). Not the first yellow-twig dogwood, but it is a good-looking one. Grows to 5 feet high and wide with white flowers that turn to white berries among dark green foliage. Proven Winners. USDA 2. Sand cherry ‘Jade Parade’ (Prunus pumila). We're not convinced that this shrub poops out at USDA 3, particularly since sand cherries grow wild to Canadian Zone 2a. This one is low-growing and spreading but with upward-arching branches. It's covered by ½-inch white blooms in spring and blue-green foliage in summer, which turns yellow, orange and red in fall. Grows to 3 feet high and is very tolerant of

Photo courtesy of Jeffries Nurseries.

Lilac ‘Pinktini’.

Lilac ‘Little Lady’.

Hydrangea ‘Diamond Rouge’.

2 feet high. The glossy green leaves turn red in fall. In summer, it has white flowers all over. Proven Winners. Zone 3. False spirea ‘Matcha Ball’ (Sorbaria sorbifolia). This little guy grows into a ball-shaped shrub just 4 feet high and wide. The leaves are tinged with peach in spring, turn bright green all summer until fall, when they go yellow. First Editions. Zone 3. Hydrangea ‘Diamond Rouge’ (Hydrangea paniculata). You want wine-coloured hydrangea blooms that last and last? This is it. Up to 5 feet high by 4 feet wide. First Editions. Zone 3. Lilac ‘Baby Kim’ (Syringa). Let's start with dimensions: 2 to 3 feet high and wide. This is PW's smallest hydrangea yet! You never need to prune it and the flowers keep their light lilac shade. Proven Winners. USDA 3. Lilac ‘Little Lady’ (Syringa). Fragrant lilac that gets to be 5 feet high and wide. It has large flower panicles but a compact habit. Northern Garden. Zone 2. Lilac ‘Pinktini' (Syringa x prestoniae). A smaller statured

Photo courtesy of First Editions.

Photo courtesy of Walters Garden.

False spirea ‘Matcha Ball’.

Mockorange ‘Illuminati Arch’. Issue 3

Osier dogwood ‘Arctic Fire Yellow’. localgardener.net

Yew ‘Stonehenge Skinny’.

Vegetables

Blueberry ‘Midnight Cascade’ (Vaccinium corymbosum). Are you sitting down? Because this is a hanging blueberry. Yeah. Which gets rid of the problem of acidifying your garden soil when it comes to growing blueberries. With a sprawly sort of habit, it gets to 18 to 24 inches. Hardiness is only USDA 5, but maybe it can be brought into a less-cold spot for winter? Star Roses and Plants. USDA 5. Cauliflower ‘Multi-Head’ (Brassica oleracea botrytis). If you've grown cauliflower (successfully) before, you already know that it's possible to harvest secondary but smaller offshoots as heads. This variety is chosen for extra side-head vigour. Ready 75 days from sowing. Each one requires 20-inches square. Pure Line Seeds. Corn ‘On Deck’ (Zea mays). Think you haven't got room for corn? This tops out at 5 feet high and will grow beautifully in a pot. Each stalk gives you 2 or 3 ears of 8 inches. Days to maturity from active growing in the garden is 61. Burpee.

Photo courtesy of National Garden Bureau.

Bean ‘Celine’ (Phaseolus vulgaris). A purple, stringless bush bean. Apparently they taste as good as they look! Maturity in 55 days. Osborne Quality Seeds. Bean ‘Python' (Phaseolus vulgaris). Long Asian beans that extend to 16 to 20 inches! Dark green and richly flavoured. Ready 80 days after direct seeding. Pure Line Seeds.

Bean ‘Celine’.

localgardener.net

Photo courtesy of National Garden Bureau.

full shade and dry conditions. Bailey Nurseries. USDA 3. Snowberry ‘Pinky Promise’ (Symphoricarpos doorenbosii). A diminutive shrub that gives a flashy display of pretty pink berries that cover a mint-green plant. It works in planters and will take just about any level of shade or sun. Size of 3 feet high and wide. Bloomin' Easy. Zone 3. Yew ‘Stonehenge Skinny’ (Taxus x media). You want a tall skinny evergreen? This one is only 12 to 18 inches wide but attains a height of up to 8 feet. Proven Winners. USDA 5.

Bean ‘Python’.

Photo courtesy of National Garden Bureau.

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners.

Photo courtesy of Bloomin’ Easy.

Snowberry ‘Pinky Promise’.

Blueberry ‘Midnight Cascade’. Issue 3

Cauliflower ‘Multi-Head’. 2021 • 19

Pepper ‘Pot-a-peno’.

Escarole ‘Eliance’.

Photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company.

Shallot ‘Crème Brulee’ (Allium cepa). These are sweet and tender bulbs that mature earlier than other shallots and have a lemony flavour raw. When you carmelize them, they are full of natural sugars to make a gorgeous and tasty colour. Maturity in 105 days. All-America Selections. Tatsoi ‘Red Cloud’ (Brassica rapa). Perfect for babyleaf salads. It's a deep burgundy, almost black leaf with crunchy bite and mild flavour. Takes 25 days to grow to baby size and 45 days to grow to full size. Johnny's Selected Seeds. Tomato ‘Siam’ (Solanum lycopersicum). These are perfect for a very sunny windowsill or the balcony. A very small-statured plant, it's part of the Kitchen Minis collection and it's meant for the tabletop. From transplant it’s 70 days to your first tomatoes. The plant gets to 12 inches wide and just 9 inches high and grows red cherry tomatoes. Ball Seed. Turnip ‘Silky Sweet’ (Brassica rapa). Beautiful white globes of crispy and sweet vitamin bombs. These should be direct sown for maturity in 65 days. Burpee. r

Photo courtesy of American All Selection.

Eggplant ‘Green Envy’ (Solanum melongena). A feast for the eyes! This light green eggplant has few seeds and is not bitter. It produces 6-inch oval fruits that can be harvested 65 days after transplant. Seeds by Design. Escarole ‘Eliance’ (Cichorium endivia). A heat-tolerant chicory that grows tender, smooth leaves. It has an upright, dense habit so you won't get bottom rot, and strong bolting tolerance. Compact 12-inch height. Harvest 75 days from seed, 45 days from transplant. Vitalis Organic Seeds. Pepper ‘Pot-a-peno’ (Capiscum annuum). A jalapeno pepper small enough to grow in a hanging basket. They mature faster than others. Eat them green for a punch of spice or wait until they're red for some lovely sweet heat. They're attractive, too, with dense foliage. Days from transplant to harvest is 50 for green and 65 for red. AllAmericas Selections. Radish ‘Nero Tondo’ (Raphanus sativus). As black on the outside as it is white on the inside. These radishes are hot! Maturity 50 days after direct seeding. Johnny's Selected Seeds.

Photo courtesy of American All Selection.

Photo courtesy of National Garden Bureau.

Eggplant ‘Green Envy’.

Radish ‘Nero Tondo’. 20 • 2021

Tomato ‘Siam’.

Shallot ‘Crème Brulee’. Issue 3

localgardener.net

A note on hardiness

he hardiness included here is strictly what the grower will attest to. This year, we have given USDA hardiness numbers for American companies and Zone numbers for Canadian companies. Do not let the Zone number turn you off trying a plant. If it is available at a nursery in your area, then you should be able to grow it. If it is hardy in your area, your nursery should tell you so; they may not offer a guarantee on that plant. If you

aren’t sure, please ask at your garden centre. A Zone is the number given to an area to reflect how cold it will get through the year. The USDA is strictly about temperature whereas the Canadian Zone number takes into account wind and frost-free days and rainfall as well. Most gardeners say that the difference is one number; add one to the USDA Zone to get the Canadian Zone. It’s more complex than that, though, as is shown by the chart below, copied from Wikipedia.

City Canadian Zone USDA Zone Calgary 4a 4a Edmonton 4a 3b Halifax 6b 6a Montreal 6a 4b Ottawa 5b 4b Saskatoon 3b 3a St. John’s 6a 7a Toronto 7a 5b Vancouver 8b 8b Winnipeg 4a 3b Yellowknife 0a 2a

Scan me To find your Canadian Zone http://www.planthardiness.gc.ca/images/ PHZ_2014_CFS_Map_30M.pdf

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Scan me

To find your USDA Zone http://www.planthardiness.gc.ca/images/ PHZ_2014_USDA_Map_30M.pdf

Issue 3

2021 • 21

Some of Jenn Cole’s favourite hydrangeas.

Ancient hydrangea

t’s the middle of August: the height of the summer heat is beginning to wane. The slightly cooler nights send a signal to the white cone-shaped panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) to turn deep rosy pink. My love of these stalwarts of the summer garden is limitless. When put into context of their ancient history they become even more alluring. In the 1920s, hydrangea fossils were found in rock samples taken from Jaw Mountain, Alaska. The samples dated back 40 to 65 million years. Other fossilized samples of the same age have been found in Oregon, California, China, Japan, and the Philippines. In 1736, hydrangeas growing wild in Pennsylvania were brought back to Europe for cultivation. Carolus Linnaeus, the botanist responsible for today’s plant naming system, labelled them Hydrangea arborescens. Translated from Greek, hydro means water, and angeion, means pitcher 22 • 2021

By Jennifer Cole because the blooms were thought to look like water pitchers. The species, arborescens, means tree-like. At the same time botanist Philibert Commerson found hydrangeas in Chinese gardens and took them to France. In 1830, the Asian plant took the name Hydrangea macrophylla. As time pressed forward so has the popularity of hydrangeas, mostly attributed to their large blooms that last all summer. They’re also relatively easy to care for. Panicle hydrangeas can be pruned back hard in the fall, or early spring and will come back as strong and as big as previous seasons. Blooming on new wood, they thrive. Other varieties are a bit trickier. Unlike H. paniculata, the majority of mophead hydrangea will only bloom on the previous year’s growth. No shrinking violets, some species of hydrangea (see sidebar) are hardy to Zone 3. They will withstand cold and, as noted, wet without flinching. Even if Issue 3

in containers, they just don’t mind. Bury the container for the winter and your shrub will survive. You can even manipulate the colour of some hydrangeas. If you plant a mophead in acidic soil usually found beside an azalea or rhododendron bush it will produce blue flowers. If planted in alkaline soil you get pink flowers. I have even managed to change the colour of ones in containers. I mixed rhododendron leaves and azalea cuttings, both known for their acidity, and dug them just below the surface of my potted plant. Sadly, hydrangeas have not always been thought of kindly. In Victorian times they represented vanity: too many blooms and no seeds to share. However, they can be divided through cuttings or by digging out a small part of new growth and capturing some of the root. I found this method a bit dicey as there is a risk of damage to the existing larger root. Once established they really localgardener.net

don’t like to be moved or disturbed. It’s not impossible to transplant a hydrangea, but in my experience it may take several years for the plant to recover and re-bloom. This may not be such a disaster considering they have a lifespan of up to 50 years. One of my favourite hydrangea factoids is the cultivation of ‘Annabelle’, a panicle hydrangea with big beautiful mopheadlike balls of white glory. In 1910, Harriet Kirkpatrick discovered it growing wild in Illinois. Like all gardeners who find an interesting plant, she dug it up and planted it in her garden. As it grew, she gave cuttings to her neighbours. A legend was born. And as if all that isn’t enough, hydrangeas even have their own day: January 5. Although why this glory of summer is celebrated in the middle of winter is a bit of a twist. Each summer I fall in love with these ancient plants. It only adds to their fascination that their distant relatives were friends with and outlived the woolly mammoth. r Jennifer Cole has a BA with a focus on History, is a freelance writer and avid gardener. She lives in Vancouver. localgardener.net

Why won’t my hydrangea bloom?

verybody talks about what easy-care shrubs hydrangeas are, but you just can’t agree with their sentiment if your hydrangea hasn’t bloomed, never bloomed, or blooms only sometimes. What’s the deal? If you have smooth or panicle hydrangeas, H. arborescens or H. paniculata: • give them two years to start blooming • they bloom in summer, so don’t expect them to bloom in spring • they bloom on new wood; prune them in fall or late winter • they need more than four hours of sun per day • deer may have eaten the buds If you have bigleaf or mountain hydrangeas, H. macrophylla or H. serrata: • don’t prune them • if you do prune them, don’t expect Issue 3

the same amount of bloom that year • a late overnight freeze may have killed flower buds • deer may have eaten the buds If you have climbing or oakleaf hydrangeas, H. petiolaris or H. quercifolia: • give them at least five years to start blooming • don’t prune them • if you do prune them, don’t expect the same amount of bloom that year • they need at least four hours of sun per day • not appetizing to most deer, but you never know… All hydrangeas: • plant them in well-draining soil; they cannot tolerate wet feet • water them frequently; they have shallow roots • give them two to three inches of bark mulch 2021 • 23

Hydrangea types By Shauna Dobbie

Panicle hydrangea ‘Zinfin Doll’.

All photos are courtesy of Proven Winners.

Smooth hydrangea ‘Incrediball’.

Bigleaf hydrangea ‘Let’s Dance Blue Jangles’.

Oakleaf hydrangea ‘Gatsby Pink’.

f you’re old enough, you might remember when you could get two types of hydrangea: ‘Annabelle’ or peegee. Those were about all that would bloom in the lower Zones of Canada, anyhow. Today, though… my goodness. New cultivars have been coming out every year and they show no sign of stopping. Here’s a guide to different types. Species Panicle hydrangeas, or Hydrangea paniculata, are also known as peegee hydrangeas and are the hardiest of the bunch, most doing well at Zone 3. They come in white, pink, and white turning to pink; you can’t change the colour based on the pH of the soil. They bloom reliably on new wood from summer through fall. ‘Limelight’, ‘Pinky Winky’ and ‘Little Lamb’ are examples of panicle hydrangeas. Smooth hydrangeas are H. arborescens. ‘Annabelle’, a natural hybrid, was discovered in 1910, and there have been several other hybrids developed since then. The species is native to North America and they are generally hardy to Zone 3. The ‘Invincibelle’ series and ‘Incrediball’ are smooth hydrangeas. Bigleaf hydrangeas are H. macrophylla. They are among the least hardy and originated in Japan. The ones you get in pots from the florist at Easter are these. Several newer hybrids, like the ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘Abracadabra’ and ‘Cityline’ 24 • 2021

Mountain hydrangea ‘Let’s Dance Cancan’.

series are, too. They are generally hardy to Zone 6 and up. Oakleaf is the common name for H. quercifolia. These have conical panicles of white flowers, pretty peeling bark and foliage shaped like—surprise—oak leaves. Like bigleaf, oakleaf are not hardy below Zone 6. They include the ‘Gatsby’ series. The species of oakleaf hydrangea is native to North America. Mountain hydrangeas are newer on the breeders’ horizon. They are hardy at Zone 6 and, like bigleaf hydrangeas, you can change their colour by changing the pH of the soil they are in. Climbing hydrangeas are H. anomala ssp. petiolaris. They get to 50 feet and even longer, but they are very slow to get going and start blooming. Once they are growing, though, they are vigorous. They are hardy to Zone 6, and I’m not aware of any hydbrids. Shape Mophead hydrangeas have big round heads. They are usually H. macrophylla but can be H. arborescens as well. Lacecap refers to what kind of flowers are in the inflorescence. The big, showy blooms are sterile, while the smaller ones, that look like they haven’t bloomed yet, are fertile. Lacecaps have more fertile flowers, giving the type a very attractive look. The lacecaps are all in the less-hardy varieties, Zones 6 and up. r Issue 3

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26 • 2021

Issue 3

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Growing peanuts By Shauna Dobbie

Did you know? Peanuts are legumes, not nuts!

ave you ever thought of growing peanuts? It’s not crazy if you live in Southern Ontario, where days are hot and the summer extends long enough. Nova Scotia is another spot where peanut growing has been successful. It’s more of a chore if you live on the West Coast, where the growing season is long but the daytime temperatures are more temperate. On the prairies, the shorter growing season is sure to be a challenge. Let’s look at how you can try to overcome your environmental challenges and grow some peanuts at home. How peanuts work First off, peanuts aren’t nuts. They’re legumes. Peanuts aren’t like any other plant you’ve likely grown in that they are geocarpic. This means that they flower above ground but produce their seeds underground.

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The plant produces bright yellow flowers that look like other legume flowers of beans or peas. Once that flower is pollinated—and it pollinates itself, not requiring wind or insects—a structure at the base of the flower grows longer, down toward the soil. This structure, called a peg, contains the pollinated ovary at the tip, which develops the peanut pod underground. That’s right: a peanut pod is like a bean pod except that it grows underground. This process is called geocarpy. A few plants reproduce like this, but the peanut is the best known. Peanuts originated in South America, probably in Argentina and Bolivia. When Linnaeus, the great namer of plants considered them, he gave them the Latin name Arachis hypogaea. The specific epithet hypogaea translates as “below the earth”, owing to peanuts developing their Issue 3

seeds in the ground. The genus name, which sounds like something to do with spiders (arachnids) is, in fact, the name of a plant called chickling vetch. Heat Peanuts require at least 95 days to reach maturity and most varieties require 120 or more. There are more than 95 frost-free days across the southern prairies, where most places enjoy a growing season from just before June through at least the beginning of September. But peanuts need 3,000 corn heat units (CHU) to mature. If they get less heat, they won’t mature to their full potential. You will get a reduced harvest. What is CHU? It’s a complex number based on maximum and minimum temperatures that accumulates from April 1 to October 31. A minimum of 3,000 CHU is reached in a few places in Canada, in 2021 • 27

Corn Heat Units

ome average corn heat units for a handful of cities across Canada. The information was taken from an organization called Farm West. Their data is not very complete east of Ontario. British Columbia Victoria 3229 Vancouver 3336 Kelowna 3564 Kamloops 3568 Prince George 2110

Saskatchewan Prince Albert 1627 Saskatoon 2678 Moose Jaw 2798 Regina 2750 Estevan 2721 Manitoba The Pas 2550 Dauphin 2750* Brandon 2686 Winnipeg 3386 Morden 3170 Ontario Sudbury 2914 Windsor 4170 London 3703 Toronto 4082 Kingston 3493 Ottawa 3466 Quebec Quebec City 2919 New Brunswick Moncton 2978 Saint John 2598 Nova Scotia Halifax 3084 Kentville 3184 Prince Edward Island Charlottetown 2939 Summerside 3006 Newfoundland St. John’s 2093 All numbers taken from farmwest. com/climate/calculators/corn-heat-units except: Dauphin, estimated from https:// www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/weather/ pubs/total-acc-chu.pdf

28 • 2021

Photo by H. Zell.

Alberta Edmonton 2640 Red Deer 2316 Calgary 2569 Lethbridge 2681 Medicine Hat 3046 Arachis hypogaea.

Southern Ontario. I’ll give you the equation, but if you aren’t into math and statistics, don’t worry: [1.8(daily minimum temperature in Celsius – 4.4) + 3.3 (daily maximum temperature in Celsius – 10) – 0.084 (daily maximum temperature in Celsius – 10)2]/2 = CHU Growing peanuts If your area has the right (or almost the right) amount of heat, or if you want to give it a try regardless, here’s what you need to do. Peanuts like sandy soil that is loose, so the pegs can get through the surface. Anything that tends to crust over won’t do because you shouldn’t hoe around peanuts. They also need as much sun as you can give them. You can start peanuts before the last frost indoors. It’s best to buy seeds because most in-shell peanuts marketed for food have been roasted or blanched. You can buy a strain developed for northern gardens from Annapolis Seeds in Nova Scotia. The owner has been growing peanuts since 2009, starting with saving seed from the most productive plants and planting them. He calls the resulting strain ‘Annapolis Select’. He started the process with Valencia seeds from OSC in Ontario. You plant the seed without the shell, but you leave the red, papery skin on. Space them about 4 to 6 inches apart if you’re direct sowing, a couple of weeks after the last frost, and thin them to 10 inches apart once the second set of leaves comes out. If you’re starting the seeds inside, give Issue 3

Scan me Growing peanuts in Nova Scotia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u9_ mHLgqOQandfeature=emb_logo

them plenty of room to grow because they grow fast and don’t like to be rootbound. If you plan to keep them in pots, remember that they need a good 6 inches of soil around the plant for pegging. They don’t need nitrogen because they fix nitrogen in the soil (as legumes), but they appreciate calcium, particularly when they’re pegging. You can get organic gypsum to apply when your peanuts bloom, around mid summer, to assist with calcium. Wait until the leaves have yellowed from a light frost in the fall then dig up your peanuts. If fall comes early in your part of the country, cover the plants with a frost cover to keep them in the ground as long as possible. Dig up the entire plant with a garden fork. Give them a shake to get excess soil off then tie them in bunches (a few plants per bunch) and hang them in a very dry place to cure for two or three weeks. Make sure wildlife can’t get to them wherever they are curing. After two or three weeks, remove the peanuts from the plants and localgardener.net

Photo by Dick Culbert.

Peanut flower.

Developing pods of peanuts.

put them on trays, one layer deep, indoors. Again, you want a dry spot. They can get moldy even if they seem dry so make sure they have plenty of air around them. After another four to six weeks, they should be ready. You can now roast them, either in or out of the shells. You can eat them before they’ve cured as well. Boil them in salt water like edamame.

Expanding the season What to do in a cooler area or shorter season • Preheat the soil with plastic; remove the plastic sheeting when the plant flowers • Use row covers at night • Start peanuts indoors • Grow them in a large container that you can move inside and outside in spring and fall. r

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Pegging peanuts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvxWO-WsM_Q

Honey roasted peanuts

Directions: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and non-stick spray. Mix the butter, honey, salt and any seasonings you are using in a microwavable bowl. Microwave for about 30 seconds, until the butter is melted. Stir to mix well. Stir in the peanuts, then dump the mixture on the baking sheet. The localgardener.net

Photo by Glane.

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter 1 /3 cup honey 1 teaspoon salt 3 cups raw, shelled peanuts, skins on or off ¼ cup sugar Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon cinnamon Or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

peanuts should be evenly spaced and a single layer deep. Bake for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and stir periodically to bake them evenly. Issue 3

Remove from the oven and let them cool for about two minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and toss them. You can eat them warm or let them cool first. 2021 • 29

Can you beat peat?

Photo by Ragesoss.

By Dorothy Dobbie

Sphagnum peat moss.

rom time immemorial, people have been using natural products to sustain and improve their lives, so it is interesting to note that we did not get around to using peat moss in our gardens until the 1960s. Peat moss has been used as a fuel since Roman times and maybe even earlier although its heat producing efficiency is only about one-tenth that of coal. Over the past few years, controversy has waged about the impact of using peat moss in horticulture because of concern about a negative impact on the environment. However only about 0.4 per cent of the 14 per cent of the world’s supply that is being used for any purpose is used in horticulture, and only 2 per cent of Canada’s reserves are mined commercially and under rules to encourage regeneration. The real issue for gardeners is whether the product is beneficial, and the obvious answer is yes, but that is a qualified yes. Peat does retain water, up to 20 times its dry weight; it traps air between its particles improving the tilth of soil, making it more friable and easier to use, especially in heavy, high-clay-content soils, and it adds substance to sandy soils. Peat is well loved by commercial growers as a seed starting medium. Not all peat is equal. The top layer of a peat bog is lighter in colour, spongy and good for water and air retention. It may contain bits of wood from roots, so is often used in larger containers. The next layer is darker in colour, more

30 • 2021

decomposed and finer. It is used for seed starting, and in consumer-potting materials sold in bales at garden centres. The lower level is the black material that is often used in the garden mixed with soil and other additives. There are several negatives about peat. It is acidic, with a pH of 3.5 to 4, and so is usually amended with lime. If you want to use peat to help grow blueberries or azaleas, check to see that it has not been pretreated. While peat moss will last for a few years in pots as a garden soil amendment, the life span is only about two years, so you are better off using leaves or compost. In containers, especially for indoor plants, it harbours fungus gnats. The remedy to that is to let the plant dry out, but the downside is that rehydration can be a challenge because dry peat repels water, although some suppliers add wetting agents. Peat can also carry a fungal spore that can infect humans. Sporothrix schenckii can be transmitted as sporotrichosis, which usually infects the skin through some opening or cut and, at its most serious, can result in a lung disease. Wear gloves when working with the product. Finally, peat used in patio plants has been known as the vector in fires caused by people butting their cigarettes in a dry plant container. So, what is a gardener to do? Use peat where appropriate. It is a good medium for seed starting and most commercial planters use it in their prepared containers, but know that you will have to fertilize frequently because it Issue 3

localgardener.net

Photo by by Kenpei.

Photo by by Fotokannan.

Perlite.

Photo by by Kenpei.

Coir fibers.

Vermiculite.

does not contain or retain nutrients, except as is trapped in the water peat holds. What about coir? Consider other amendments such as coco husks, also known as coir. Coir also retains water well, up to 10 times its weight by volume, and holds onto it longer than peat. Coir contains no fungal contaminants, deters fungus gnats and doesn’t burn. It has a neutral pH and even contains some trace elements such as manganese, copper, iron, and zinc. For use in containers, it should be mixed with garden soil at 50 to 80 per cent coir with vermiculite, perlite, or coarse sand. A mixture of two parts coir to one part pumice (volcanic rock) makes an idea home for succulents. It breaks down more slowly than peat in the garden. If you choose coir, buy the bagged product over the bricks which are harder to rehydrate, although both are easier than dry peat. Both peat and coir come in different textures which can affect their ability to hold water. Other amendments in the garden Compost is ideal, of course, but many people simply do not have the time or the patience or maybe the room to compost, so here are some alternatives. Good old leaves from the lawn are a perfect treat for garden soils. Chop them up with your lawn mower and in no time at all, the earthworms and other microbes in the soil will incorporate them into their world, feeding plants localgardener.net

Straw.

and keeping the soil alive and healthy. Chopped leaves retain water and air, lightening soil texture. You can add them in fall or store them in paper bags. Add grass clippings to provide nitrogen and help with the decomposition. Adding water will help with decomposition. Leaves and leaf mould will restore nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and trace elements to garden soil. Wood chips and bark also break down over time and add organic life to garden soil. Perlite, which is puffed up volcanic rock, is inexpensive and often used in planters. Each tiny particle is filled with air pockets that retain both air and water. Vermiculite, another container soil amender, is made from super heated aluminum-iron magnesium silicates. It is sterile but due to its accordion shape is even better at retaining water than perlite, though not as good aeration. It fell out of favour when it was learned that it could contain small amounts of asbestos, however, it is still available. Newsprint is often used by vegetable gardeners to deter weeds between rows. If shredded, it breaks down eventually and adds useful organics to the soil. Bagged manures, straw, sawdust and wood ash are a few other choices. The key to soil amendments such as these is their ability to hold water and tap air in the soil as well as add organic materials to feed the millions of beneficial microbes and little insects that work to make nutrients available to plant roots. r Issue 3

2021 • 31

Maple syrup production I

f there is one food that is quintessentially Canadian, it’s maple syrup. Sold at every Canadian airport, given as gifts to famous visitors, there is not much else that screams “Canada” like it. Unfortunately, the maple tree and its syrup (like the Canadian flag) are too often relegated as being an Eastern thing without people realizing that maples grow in every province and how easy it is to grow one and to one day make your own maple syrup. In First Nations legends, squirrels licking wounds left by broken maple branches were the first indicators that the maple water may be sweet. Early explorers frequently mention maple syrup production by First Nations people and incorporated the practice, modifying it with buckets, spiles and wood-fired evaporators. About 85 per cent of the world’s maple syrup is produced in Canada and about 90 per cent of that comes from Québec. Production is generally measured in the number of taps, since one large tree can have many taps. In Quebec official producers must have (wait for this) at least 10,000 taps! But there are many, many producers literally right across Canada—Ontario and the Atlantic provinces for sure but also Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and B.C. I happen to be one of those producers with a grand total of 50 taps this year. Last year, my neighbour and I had 70 taps and made 37.65 litres of syrup or .537 litres per tap, which is way below the managed sugar bush average of 1 litre per tap. We don’t really manage the forest (I have one acre in the Gatineau Hills in Quebec) by spacing out the crowns and minimizing the poor producers and non-maples, and of the 50 taps on my property, only five are sugar maple. The others are red and silver maple whose sap is less sweet. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and black maple (A. nigrum) have the sweetest sap, at two to three per cent sugar. These are only found in eastern and southern Canada. Other maples, like Manitoba maple (A. negundo), red maple (A. rubrum), silver maple (A. saccharinum) 32 • 2021

By Michael Rosen

Michael next to a 25-year-old red maple that he planted and has now tapped.

and bigleaf maple (A. macrophylla) are found elsewhere and can definitely be tapped. Then there are the cold hardy cultivars of sugar maple, like the ‘Lord Selkirk’ or ‘Jefcan’ sugar maple that can grow in colder climes, down to Zone 3 as well. The biology of all this is well studied but still remains a little mysterious. Sugars manufactured by the leaves the summer before (remember your biology class) are sent to the roots for storage. With the longer days and higher temperatures of spring the tree calls on these sugar reserves to initiate Issue 3

bud expansion and hence a new set of leaves. When we tap the maple tree, we are technically tapping the xylem of the tree and withdrawing approximately seven per cent of the total sap. Maple trees will yield sap well into their 200th year with no long-term effects to the tree. Tapping is traditionally done by drilling a 7/16-inch hole each year about 2½ inches deep in trees at least 8 inches in diameter. The number of taps per tree increases with diameter. Really big trees (25 inches diameter) localgardener.net

Looking down on a spile and bucket.

Sap being evaporated.

Taffy on snow. Boil the sap a few degrees above the syrup stage to get the right consistency.

can easily take five taps. Traditionally a bucket with a lid is hung from a spile that is driven into the hole. From there the magic begins! A welldrilled tap in a sugar maple tree can easily yield one litre of finished syrup during the season. But this is not without a huge amount of collecting and boiling. Because the sap can spoil on warm days, it must be collected daily and either kept cold or sent to the evaporator. The ratio of sap to finished syrup is about 40 to 1 with sugar maple, and with other species of maple up to localgardener.net

Finished maple syrup.

90 to 1, so the amount of boiling is tremendous! Maple sap becomes maple syrup when the sugar density is 66.7-degree Brix (the measure of sugar content) or when the boiling point is four degrees Celsius above that of boiling water. Today, there are many technological innovations for serious producers such as pipeline systems and reverse osmosis. But for us backyard producers the bucket and boil method (by wood fire or propane) will probably always prevail. Besides, what a great way to connect with our historical Issue 3

traditions, to celebrate our heritage, to connect with nature, to hail the return of spring and to pretend, in a limited way, to live off the land. And the friends you will make when they see and smell that boiling sap! Incredible! So, enjoy the welcome of spring next year (it’s probably too late this year) by visiting a sugar bush with your friends or workmates, buying maple products, and plan in the future to produce the nectar of the gods on your own land, feeling proud to be a Canadian! r 2021 • 33

Companion planting flowers in the vegetable garden By Dorothy Dobbie

Nasturtium.

here are several reasons to plant flowers in the vegetable garden, and the reason may dictate what to plant. Flowers in the vegetable garden are a pleasure to look at and many produce chemicals that most bugs hate. Others act as attractive lures to pollinators and other beneficial insects. Mexican marigolds (Tagetes patula), for example, repel cabbage worms, aphids, whiteflies, slugs, and certain nematodes. This stubby little yellow and orange plant, deters harmful nematodes in the soil, but to benefit you need at least one season for roots to do the work needed under the surface. Mexican marigolds are reported to keep rabbits out of the garden! 34 • 2021

Tansy.

Rabbits also stay away from daffodils, cleome, monarda, and snapdragons. A border of sweet alyssum may just be enough to keep them out of the cabbage patch. As a rule, plants that have tough leaves, a strong odour, furry or prickly stems or a milky sap are avoided by deer and rabbits both. However, there is always the gourmet critter out there that ignores the rules and of course, if they are hungry enough, they will eat anything they can. The list of lovely flowering annuals that deter insects of all kinds is quite long and includes chrysanthemum, catnip, geranium, and nasturtiums. Cabbage worms are a bane to Issue 3

most gardeners. You probably know them best as little white butterflies with a couple of black spots on each wing. They go after all the brassica plants including broccoli and cauliflower. Nasturtiums act as a trap that attracts the butterflies to lay their eggs there instead of on the cabbages. Try planting thyme, tansy, or marigolds to keep cabbage worms at bay. Yarrow will attract good bugs that can do some of the fighting for you. Parasitic wasps, for example, lay their eggs in the larvae of cabbage butterflies and destroy them from the inside out. Good bugs include not only parasitic wasps, but ladybugs, lacewings, soldier beetles (mainly in the east), damsel flies, and localgardener.net

Geraniums.

Yarrow.

Cosmos.

dragonflies to name just some of our garden friends. Big eyed bugs occur widely in Canada and are great insect predators. There are about 800 species of ground beetles in Canada, many of which eat slugs. Amaranth plants (love lies bleeding) will attract ground beetles. Carrot family plants are attractive to parasitic wasps and include Queen Anne’s lace and cilantro. Asters attract predator insects such as ladybug and soldier beetles, as do goldenrods and zinnia. Soldier beetles love aphids. As larvae, they feed on other harmful insect eggs. Blanket flower (Gaillardia), cosmos, yarrow, sunflower, verbena bonariensis, lantana, lilac vervain, and tansy all attract beneficial localgardener.net

Daffodils.

insects. Pretty cosmos and bachelor buttons will attract pollinators, parasitic wasps, bees, and butterflies to the garden. There are also some worms you may or may not want to attract. I personally don’t mind a few tomato hornworms because I love their sphinx moths that look like hummingbirds among my flowers at dusk, but if you are a serious tomato grower, they may be the bane of your existence. Try planting borage with your tomato plants. This herb bears the prettiest little star-shaped flowers that are often used as garnish on gourmet plates. Basil is another useful deterrent and good old marigold is another ally. Issue 3

Finally, you need to know how to battle the dreaded potato bug, the striped menace to all members of the nightshade family, including petunias, peppers, and tomatoes. Catnip, cilantro, tansy and marigolds are all good deterrents. If you live anywhere in the vicinity of canola crops, be prepared for annual infestations of flea beetles which will attack a wide range of garden vegetables and other flowers. Nasturtiums can act as an attractant to lure flea beetles away from your prize plants and they adore cleome (sadly for cleome lovers) as well as stocks, alyssum, and anemone. Mint, catnip, and basil are unattractive to this nimble little black devil, which is named 2021 • 35

36 • 2021

Blanket flower.

Borage.

Sunflower.

Monarda.

Snapdragon.

Cleome.

flea beetle for its ability to jump. Other benefits to having flowers in the veggie plot? They can help keep weeds down. Sweet peas and lupines are leguminous and can help capture nitrogen in the soil in a form that vegetables and other plants can use. Flowers such as chamomile act as “nurse” plants and can encourage the development of oil content while

helping to improve pest resistance and increase yield. Chamomile is an insect deterrent, an antibacterial and makes a health-giving tea. Finally, growing lovely flowers, especially annuals, in the veggie garden is a great place to collect morning bouquets to brighten your days indoors or adorn an outdoor eating area. r

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localgardener.net

Plant

Attracts good to the garden

Amaranth

Ground beetles

Traps bad away from vegetables

Anemone

Flea beetles

Aster

Ladybugs, soldier beetles

Bachelor button

Parasitic wasps, pollinators Aphids, asparagus beetles, flies, mites, mosquitoes, tomato hornworm

Basil Blanket flower

Pollinators

Borage

Pollinators

Calendula

Bees, butterflies

Catnip

Parasitic wasps, pollinators

Chamomile (German)

Hoverflies, parasitoid wasps

Chrysanthemum

Parasitic wasps, tachinid flies

Cilantro

Predatory ground beetles

Cabbage worms, tomato hornworm Slugs

Aphids, flea beetles, Japanese beetles, nematodes, potato beetles, Aphids, asparagus beetles, potato beetles, squash bugs

Cabbage worms, potato bug

Cleome Cosmos

Repels

Flea beetles

Rabbits

Big-eyed bugs, damsel bugs, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, minute pirate bugs, parasitic wasps, spiders, tachinid flies

Daffodils

Rabbits

Geranium (pelargonium)

Cabbageworms, Japanese beetles, leafhoppers, spider mites,

Goldenrod

Ladybugs, soldier beetles

Mint

Hoverflies, predatory wasps

Monarda

Bees, hummingbirds, parasitic flies and wasps

Nasturtiums

Ground beetles, pollinators, spiders

Queen Anne’s lace

Parasitic wasps

Aphids, cabbage moths, flea beetles, rabbits

Aphids, cabbage worms, flea beetles

Snapdragon

Rabbits

Stock

Flea beetles

Sunflower

Pollinators

Sweet alyssum

Ground beetles, pollinators, spiders

Tagetes

Hoverflies, parasitoid wasps

Flea beetles Cabbage worms, nematodes, potato bugs, tomato hornworm, aphids, slugs, rabbits, whiteflies

Tansy

Potato bugs

Yarrow

Hoverflies, ladybugs, parasitoid wasps

Zinnia

Ladybugs, soldier beetles

localgardener.net

Colorado potato beetles, cucumber beetles, squash beetles

Aphids

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2021 • 37

All about woodpeckers O

ne of the most popular and enjoyable birds to attract to the backyard is woodpeckers. These active birds are colourful and entertaining with most species being year-round visitors. They are part of the family Picidae and are found throughout the world excluding a few locales such as New Zealand, Madagascar, and New Guinea. There are over 250 species in this family that also includes sapsuckers and flickers. Less than 20 of them are found in Canada. The majority of woodpeckers dwell in mature forests and suburban areas while others are found in desert areas where cacti are their preferred habitat. They can be seen clinging to trees as they search for insects and rarely perch, but flickers spend most of their time on the ground. Woodpeckers range in size from as small as three inches in length up to 24 inches for the largest woodpecker in Canada, the amazing pileated woodpecker. The colors of most woodpeckers are typically black, white and red, although the flickers are brown and some also have yellow in their feathers. Most species have notable patterns to their plumage like barring, speckling, or banding. Of course their most notable trait is the long pointed bill, designed to chisel into the wood of dead trees. Their nostrils are covered by bristle-like hairs that protect them from debris as they hammer into the wood. They have unusual feet compared to other birds, two toes in the front and two in the back although some have three toes in the front like the appropriately named three-toed woodpecker. This design is to cater to their need to cling to trees. They also have strong tail feathers to help them maintain their balance and to help them propel through the trees. The diet of woodpeckers is mainly insects and their larvae. If you ever see a woodpecker ‘damaging’ a tree, sadly the damage is already done internally by insects. Woodpeckers have no interest in burrowing into healthy trees. Their purpose is to find the wood-boring insects that 38 • 2021

By Sherrie Versluis

Pileated woodpeckers.

damage or even kill our trees. Many trees may appear healthy but once the woodpeckers start their work, the damage the insects have already done is evident. They will also eat berries and seeds. After excavating a cavity in a dead tree, woodpeckers will lay two to eight eggs during nesting season. No actual nest is constructed and just the wood chips are used as bedding. The young are cared for by both parents and it is a common sight to see the whole family at birdfeeders once the young have fledged. Woodpeckers contribute to humans more than we may realize. Their consumption of nuisance insects is significant. Bark beetles cause extensive damage to trees and infestations can be catastrophic to large areas with the population of these beetles in the billions. When Issue 3

this happens, woodpeckers are observed in significant numbers in these areas eating the larvae which aids greatly in reducing the beetles numbers. Orchards are often plagued with codling moths and hairy woodpeckers are recognized for controlling these outbreaks. Concussions and other brain injuries are all too common in sports. Woodpeckers have contributed to the science in helping prevent these injuries. When woodpeckers drum on trees, it is recorded at 20 times per second and some may drum 8,000-12,000 times a day. The thought of that would give us humans a real headache but why not the woodpeckers? It does get pretty scientific but the basic protection factors include flexible skulls, a special bone called a hyoid bone that surrounds the inside of the skull to localgardener.net

Hairy woodpecker.

Northern flicker woodpecker.

Red-headed woodpecker.

Black-backed woodpecker.

protect the brain, and even their beak is designed to absorb some of the impact. This information has been, and continues to be used in designing helmets and other protective gear in sports. At birdfeeders, woodpeckers can be attracted all year long by offering suet, nuts, and seed cakes. There localgardener.net

are suitable types for each season to make them daily visitors. Look for suet that has more nuts than seeds. There are special feeders designed for shelled peanuts to cater to woodpeckers. Seed cakes are compressed blocks of seeds or nuts held together with gelatin and come in various shapes with accompanying feedIssue 3

ers. Select the more nutty versions. Some even have insects which are a great choice. Attracting these entertaining birds is easy and they also help us gardeners out by eating all the nuisance insects we can’t reach! Sherrie Versluis is the owner of The Preferred Perch in Winnipeg. 2021 • 39

Get growing with us! Grow your gardening skills with Canada’s Local Gardener Podcasts created for Canadian gardeners!

Available for free at localgardener.net

Canada’s Local Gardener Podcasts 40 • 2021

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Two Olde Dawgs: Putting together a Vegepod By Ian Leatt

Scan me Click here for a video by the Two Olde Dawgs in setting up their new Vegepod! https://www.localgardener.net/the-Vegepod/

ast fall, as I was outside raking still more leaves from the trees that provide beautiful shade in the summer, Gord came by with a new project: a Vegepod. I didn’t know that when I heard his truck pull up and his engine click to silent. All I knew was I’d have to keep on top of the leaves before the snow flew. “Yo, dog, you there?” he called. “In the back,” I responded. “I have a surprise for you!” he said, with a smile on his face. “Knowing you are always out here makes it a nice surprise. Come and give me a hand to get it out of the truck.” A surprise? This piqued my curiosity. We walked around to the back of his truck and there was a big box that said Vegepod. “What’s this?” “Well,” said Gord, “this is a gardening bed from Vegepod. You’re always in the garden, so I thought this might help you.” I waited for the other shoe to fall. It did: “And I could benefit from a share in your bounty.” There it was, he wanted a share of my tomatoes next year. But the concept of a raised bed was intriguing. “You can grow herbs, lettuce, carrots, beetroots, onions… just about anything. There’s a cover made of knitted mesh to protect your crop from UV. It also creates a microclimate to promote rapid growth. And it has a selfwatering system. All we have to do is put it together properly.” By this point, he didn’t need to explain; I was sold. And it was great to have the fruits of localgardener.net

The new Vegepod all set up.

our labours land in my yard instead of someone else’s! “Should we put it together now?” I asked, noticing my pile of leaves already reduced and scattering around the yard. “Sure, why not? It’s not like you have anything else to do,” he grinned. He knows I hate raking leaves. I put the rake away and we got started. The first decision was where to put the Vegepod. Veggies need lots of sunlight to ensure good growth, and the pod needed to be constructed on a hard level surface. The instructions were pretty easy to follow. All the pieces were clearly marked. You just snap them together. Issue 3

From start to finish, it took about two hours. The polyethylene mesh cover has a little hose in it, and it’s attached to the base with a unique kind of hinge. The whole thing goes on a stand to get it up to waist height. Easy-peasy. Once construction was completed, we filled it with a good peat moss mix and let it be, knowing it was ready for this spring to seed up and watch everything grow. I’m ready to get started as soon as the May 2-4 comes around! Watch this magazine to follow the performance. I’ve got to grow a lot, seeing as I’ll be sharing with Gord. That’s okay, though; he deserves it. r 2021 • 41

Beautiful Gardens Helen Stewart Vancouver Island Story by Dorothy Dobbie 42 • 2021

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localgardener.net

The valley soil was rich and the area blessed with gentle rains and long, lovely sunlit hours.

magine a wildflower paradise with stony pathways leading through billows of plantings, sheltered by ancient Garry oaks in a landscape pierced by Sitka spruce. This is the Vancouver Island paradise that is being shaped by Helen Stewart, an artist, gardener and writer. It has been her labour of love, of discovery and her imaginings for the past 30 years, since she and her family moved to the one-acre property, after leaving their localgardener.net

farm in Northern BC. Helen is a gardener by nature, an artist by training and a labourer of necessity, having had to learn to work hard in order to live in the wilderness of her married home on a farm near McBride, between Jasper and Prince George. “My husband wanted to raise sheep,” she said. What they had not considered was that this fertile land also nurtured “every wild animal that ate sheep.” The second challenge was Issue 3

inexperience in raising and shearing the animals. Their first attempt to do it themselves led to what Helen laughingly called “shameful sheep”. Added to the flock of sheep came five children, two of them adopted, and a half-acre vegetable garden. All this is more than enough for two people, but Helen’s husband soon got a job as a professor and was away teaching for a good part of the year. Born into a well-educated family 2021 • 43

A selection of illustrations from Helen Stewart’s book Drawn into the Garden.

and raised in the gentle hills of California, Helen was faced with a sharp learning curve. “I was young and healthy,” she says, and she was not afraid of hard work. The rewards were bountiful. The valley soil was rich and the area blessed with gentle rains and long, lovely sunlit hours. She grew “huge, juicy vegetables” which she preserved in jewel-like jars of abundance. In between, she drew, lovingly tracing the delicate patterns of the wildflowers and plants that sprang up everywhere in this untouched land. She made portraits of the fat cabbages and structured rows of vegetables. Weeding was a full-time job, but soon she came to love the “warm, rich soil, with the comforting sounds and smells of farm life, and the air itself, so fresh and clean.” Drawing led to keen observation and an intimacy with the plants that was very satisfying and full of wonder. The genetic gardening legacy she had 44 • 2021

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For more information on Helen Stewart, her art and her garden. https://www.hestewart.com

inherited from her great-grandfather (who managed a huge and important nursery in Rochester, New York) now also evolved, joining the artist’s sensibility inherited from her greatgrandmother who was an artist. The two merged in Helen Stewart, slowly developing the person she is today. “She brings light into other people’s darkness,” said Paul Destrooper, artistic director of Ballet Victoria, of this woman who shares her illumination with the community in which she now lives. The Victoria garden is being Issue 3

grown on a one-acre outcrop of rock, surrounding a 110-year-old home known as “Mossy Rocks”, which was, when Helen arrived, a tangle of “morning glory, brambles and ivy” five minutes from the ocean. Faint traces of the garden grown by the original owner, who had worked on the Butchart Gardens, were still discernible here and there, but little remained. When they first bought the home, the children were still young and helpful; they pulled ivy, built tree forts and pushed many a wheelbarrow along with their mom. It took many years just to get some soil into place. Helen started with heaps of chipped wood and leaves and truckload after truckload of soil. In her mind’s eye she saw each area as a picture and set about studying what plants to grow. “It was like creating a painting outside,” she said. She favours the delicate, airy plants such as gypsophila and plume poppy and butterfly bush. localgardener.net

She points out that there are no rhododendrons in her garden. “I only plant flowers I want to draw,” she says. Among these are roses, too difficult to grow on a northern farm. Now she revels in her ability to grow her favourite, ‘Cècile Brunner’. “This is the perfect rose,” Helen says. “It has few thorns and a lovely scent—even the leaves are scented.” It grows as a shrub or as a climber. But none of this came without more of that hard work Helen had grown so accustomed to. Then her grandfather came to her aide by leaving her a small legacy to accelerate the making of her garden. Now the work began in earnest, with a gardener, Chris Ball, to help move stones and establish the rocky pathways. The wood chips, leaves and soil began to meld, decaying with the help of some nitrogen and lots of rain. And layer by layer, the soil for localgardener.net

the garden-to-come was constructed. “You have to replenish layers every year,” said Helen, because at the bottom of all the layers is bare rock. Now the soil is six feet deep in some places. As time has gone on, gardening and drawing and gardening some more, Helen has become more in touch with and in tune with the very soil she so carefully constructs. The fact of using wood chips, learned from observing the natural work of the forest, she now sees as serendipitous; as they decompose, the chips encourage mould and fungus to grow. It is the network of fungal mycelium, as they break down organics, that helps bring life back to the soil. This allows for the growth of the millions of other organisms that are part of a healthy soil. Helen, who has written and illustrated a dozen books for children and about gardening, is now busy working on a book that will Issue 3

focus on what happens below the ground, a world that is every bit as exciting as that above, she says. She still works every day she can in the garden and when she is not gardening, she is drawing, half a day each. The garden is her place for solving problems and she always has a project at hand to work on. In the garden, she escapes to another place where time seems to stand still. “My garden has been a communal effort…. I like sharing my garden and my home. This has become a gathering place for parties, dances, charity events, art classes and concerts.” Her many friends know it is a place of repose and ref lection, a place to regain their spirit. And as Helen says, there is a bonus. “At any time of year, I am able to pick bouquets for drawing or for giving away!” What better reward for a life hard lived! r 2021 • 45

Overview of the vegetable garden with the cottage shed in the background.

The front of the house. 46 • 2021

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Beautiful Gardens Kim and Jim Sinclair Winnipeg Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

Kim and Jim Sinclair. localgardener.net

idden away on a curious little side spur of a partly industrial road in the Transcona area of Winnipeg is a 90-year-old house surrounded by a garden brimming with petunias and character under the stewardship of Kim Sinclair. You’d want to stay awhile and explore, absorbing the homey, comfortable feeling of existing in a well-loved place, and no doubt you’d be welcome. Kim and her husband Jim bought the house when they were young. Jim didn’t want it; he isn’t a handyman and saw only a world that needed fixing. Kim wasn’t a gardener then, but she loved the place from the start, with its tree-filled acre of a yard. It had been owned by a couple of generations of one family, and the care that family had taken showed. There were boards where there had been a vegetable garden, and the overgrown remains of a flower garden in the front. In fact, Kim didn’t start gardening for a couple of years, until a neighbour came by with a wagonload of bearded iris and told her she should. Well, she did. Since she got bitten by the gardening bug, she spends all her time at home outside from spring through fall, making changes every year. She adds things, and occasionally has to have a tree removed. Kim was off for four months last spring and summer owing to COVID-19; she’s a dental receptionist and hasn’t been shut down since. Her husband, who works for the federal government, was off for five months. During their time at home, they added privacy walls in spots where the trees didn’t block their neighbours’ sightlines into their yard. This spring, they’ll finally add a big deck off the side of the house. When it comes to gardening, Kim doesn’t like to bother with seed starting; she buys all her annuals and vegetables as plugs from the nursery. She loves old-fashioned annuals, like snapdragons, marigolds and petunias. For perennials, she is fond of peonies, yarrow, veronica and the like. Most years she haunts garden centres in the spring, picking up a few of what she likes in one place and a few in another. Last year

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Tomatoes between the head and foot of a bed.

Her sense of humour comes through. A couple of garden beds are in actual beds: one with a headboard and footboard and another with the springs of a bedstead separating rows of onions.

An old, old elm spreads its arms over the house and yard. 48 • 2021

didn’t afford that luxury. In Manitoba, the garden centres were declared an essential service, but you had to go through a store in a prescribed order, picking up what was left when you went by it; there was no going back to get something before heading to the cash register. She is an ornamental gardener first and foremost. Although she keeps a vegetable garden, it’s for the look of it. It goes with her cement cow and her tin chickens. The only things that actually get eaten are the tomatoes, by Jim, and the lettuce, by visiting rabbits. And it’s lovely. Her sense of humour comes through. A couple of garden beds are in actual beds: one with a headboard and footboard and another with the springs of a bedstead separating rows of onions. The pathways around the vegetable garden are topped with straw to keep things in order. She was warned about mice taking up residence in the straw, but she doesn’t Issue 3

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Deep blue is the colour here, in the reflecting globe and the blue cardinal flower, punctuated by yellow and orange.

Kim loves old-fashioned annuals like snapdragons.

A mass of gaura.

A quick DIY sculpture of terra cotta pots strung on a spike with lobelia ready to spill down from them.

Calibrachoa hide their pot. localgardener.net

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A beautiful planting of goutweed in the perennial bed.

Jim’s fire pit.

Full-blown peonies.

Yellow daylilies and red dianthus.

Astrantia. 50 • 2021

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Pink veronica behind orange Maltese cross.

mind; they’ve got to live somewhere, after all, and this garden is a good distance from the house. She plants lettuce to feed the bunnies through the summer and provides peanuts for the squirrels, who she knows eat the birdseed. She’s seen deer in the garden on occasion too; they come over from a nearby golf course. She figures “they were here before me”, and she doesn’t get fussed about it. There’s a cheery yellow garden shed backing these gardens, looking like a little cottage. In front of the shed she’s got a border mostly filled with goutweed, also known as bishop’s weed. Now, I’ve battled this stuff in my own garden and come to consider it a kind of cuss word, but I’d never seen it planted like this before. A great healthy swath of it in a contained area, blooming blissfully. It was, dare I say it, gorgeous. That’s the kind of gardener Kim is. She follows her own sense of what is beautiful, and once you see it through her eyes, you may find it beautiful too. About seven years ago, Jim had a stroke. He was pretty young for it, and he has recovered well, but during the time he was home he was bereft. Kim sent him out to the garden, where he was able to do as little, and increasingly as much as he could. Surrounded by beauty and nature and peace, he regained the use of his muscles. His doctor says gardening helped him through it. One of his special projects was to put in the fire pit at the side of the yard. It provided a place for their teenagers to hang out with friends and watch movies. Jim wired the place for sound. The kids are older now, but they’re back at home and they still have friends over for movie nights. The garden changes every year, depending on what annuals are available and what catches Kim’s interest at the garden centre. What doesn’t change, though, is the sense of heart that goes into the place. It truly is beautiful. r

Feverfew, fresh as a daisy.

Kim loves Halloween, as this flying witch weather vane attests. localgardener.net

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Ornaments

Ornaments from around the garden show Kim’s love of animals and her sense of whimsy.

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Beautiful Gardens Jay and Diane Wesley Halifax Story by Shauna Dobbie, photos by Jay Wesley

ay and Diane Wesley’s Japanese-style garden in Halifax is a very special place. Situated on a corner lot, the 70-by-130-foot space is green year-round, a mix of bamboos, evergreens and more than 50 varieties of rhododendron. When there’s no snow, you can barely tell that it’s winter from the pictures. In spring and summer, the vibrant shades of green are offset by the rare flower. Jay worked for the parks department for Halifax for 37 years, including 10 years as the supervisor of horticulture, but it was a trip to New Hampshire that inspired his design. “The story of the garden is anything but what I worked with,” he tells me. At Fuller Gardens in New Hampshire, Jay came across a small corner of the acreage dedicated to Japanese-style gardening. “For all the grandeur of the formal gardens, this little corner was so peaceful,” Jay says. “On my visits, I’d just sit there listening to the trickle of water and kind of gazing into all the shades of green.” He thought of his yard and what it would feel like to come home from work and sit in such a place. After researching some Japanese gardens, including the famous one in Portland, Oregon, and some in Japan, he set to work.

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From the deck it’s easier to get a good look at some of the

A stone lantern under a tall cloud tree.

A magnolia bloom rises above huge leaves.

The garden is shady with trees, many of which are pruned into “cloud trees” in the Japanese fashion. I rarely see this type of pruning in Canadian gardens. “One thing I liked about it when I first looked at these cloud-pruning type methods is that they clean out a lot of the dead needles and expose branching a little bit, which actually allows more light penetration to the lower branches.” Japanese tree care includes other methods as well, such as weighting tree branches and directing growth

The ground is layered with naturally grown moss. “It’s not hard to grow moss in Nova Scotia!” he says. “Everybody pulls moss out, I love moss. That’s one thing that caught my eye about Japanese gardens is moss and ferns.” These two things lend greenness to the floor of the garden in the shade. Another Japanese aspect is the number of rhododendrons. Folks in much of Canada would be impressed by these beautiful flowering trees in Jay’s garden; he has

54 • 2021

Scan me Find out how to prune a cloud tree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaSbyxADKJM

with poles. Jay has done a little of that too, but it’s more time consuming. Issue 3

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trees close up.

Perfectly bright red chairs on the deck during the January thaw.

“It’s not hard to grow moss in Nova Scotia!” Jay says. “Everybody pulls moss out, I love moss.”

Looking out over the yard, the view remains green year round, thanks to all the evergreens. localgardener.net

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The garden in miniature, with a water feature and some young trees.

A stepping-stone path through the cloud trees in summer.

Large wind Chime hung like a Japanese temple bell. 56 • 2021

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Rhododendrons bloom in the spring, punctuating the garden with colour.

more than 50, “If you’re in the right location here, you can just jab a rhododendron in and it will grow,” he says. They require acidic soil and the right amount of drainage. He’s seen them reach as high as 20 feet in Nova Scotia. About six years ago, they had a contractor friend visiting and he asked why they didn’t have a window from the sitting room to overlook the garden. Jay and Diane thought about it and realized that it was a great idea. A year later they had one installed, and now they can gaze at the garden all year, regardless of the weather. This has been a boon for Jay. Before the window, he seldom sat in the garden, he would always work in it, which isn’t to say that A young Japanese maple settles in. Some ferns have been transplanted here and will soon fill this area of the garden. localgardener.net

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the work wasn’t enjoyable. In addition to the window, in the last year, owing to some health trouble, he has been required to rest more, and he is finally taking time to enjoy the garden during warmer weather. The gardens have got some recognition, particularly now that he posts pictures on Facebook. He gave a tour of over 100 people and a virtual talk this winter to a garden club. I hazard a guess that more garden clubs will be asking for tours once the pandemic is over. The one thing you think when you see the pictures is, I want to go there. r It’s magical at dusk, too.

From inside, after a snowfall. 58 • 2021

The half-awake garden. Notice the whiteness of the birch trees. Issue 3

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Looking to grow your gardening skills?

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How to get started

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 plastic liner pot and into the container. 4. Use potting soil for containers, not triple mix. 5. Feed container plants something localgardener.net

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. 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 Issue 3

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 away, but water them thoroughly. 2021 • 61

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 direct sun qualifies as full sun. 62 • 2021

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

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. 6. Pay attention to the tags on plants

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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. r

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Canada's Local Gardener Volume 2 Issue 3

Articles inside

Beautiful Gardens: Jay and Diane Wesley, Halifax

Beautiful Gardens: Kim and Jim Sinclair, Winnipeg

Beautiful Gardens: Helen Stewart, Vancouver Island

All about woodpeckers

Companion planting flowers in the vegetable garden

How to get started

Two olde dawgs: Putting together a vegepod Beautiful Gardens:

Maple syrup production

ancient hydrangea

Growing peanuts

Can you beat peat?

newest plants for 2021

Vegetable gardening the easy way

Wildflowers and weeds: Bladder campion

Letters to the editor

Hello gardeners!

Off the Wall pictures in the garden

2022 is Canada’s Year of the Garden

Get smarter by gardening

Plant a yellow garden for Hope is Growing