Container Gardening

Are your grass clippings and yard trimmings still ending up in the landfill?

Why not compost and improve your garden soil. The decomposition of plant remains, and other once living materials, makes a dark crumbly substance that is excellent for enriching your container garden soil. It is also a way to recycle your yard and kitchen waste.

Composting is not new, in the natural world composting happens as leaves pile up in the forest and begin to decay. The rotting leaves are returned to the soil where living plants can finish the recycling process by reclaiming the nutrients from the decomposed leaves.

There are a lot of options for containing your compost. You can use bins, boxes or a less formal binless method of composting by using the compost heap if you have access to a large yard.

The benefits of compost is that it enriches soil, has the ability to help regenerate poor soil, and can reduce the need for water and fertilizer.

A compost pile makes desirable compost only if conditions are proper. The temperature of the pile should be between 35 and 70 degrees celcius, larger piles usually work better, it needs to be damp, and it needs air. Turn the compost pile regularly to add air. Don’t add weeds from your garden if they have gone to seed, nor diseased plants because this will cause future garden problems.

What to compost: coffee grounds, manure, wood chips, eggshells, yard trimmings, leaves, grass clippings, tea bags, fruit and vegetable peelings.

What not to compost: dairy products, diseased plants, weeds that have gone to seed, fat, meat, and pet waste.

Let me know what products work for you.

Lori

Tags: composting

Summer is here and now is the time to relax and enjoy your garden. This is my front garden. As you can see it is in full Summer bloom.

There are still some gardening maintenance tasks but they can be done at a leisurely pace. Water your container plants in the evening during hot dry weather so the plants have the cool of the night to absorb the moisture.

Deadhead your flowers (picking of the spent flowers) to keep your flowers looking great all summer. It will not only spruce up the look of the container, it will often encourage the plant to produce more flowers.

If certain plants get too large, don’t be afraid to cut them back by half or more. Other than lilies or peonies, most perennials will respond well to pruning during the summer. Tall growing plants might need to be staked. This is easiest to do when the plants are first planted because they can be be firmly fastened to the support as they grow taller.

Enjoy the fruits of your Spring labour.

Lori

Tags: gardening

Having humming birds in my garden is a great enjoyment. From their perch, these tiny birds keep a constant eye on their surroundings. With agility and speed, hummingbirds launch at any intruder and after a quick battle the birds return to their perch and are on the lookout again.

A hummingbird’s speed and agility, squeaky chatter, and buzzing sound make them unique and amazing. They are guided by visual means and are attracted to certain shades of red as many red coloured flowers happen to be good sources of nectar.

The following plants are some of the hummingbird’s favourites:

Annuals: Begonia, impatients, canna (red), cosmos, zinnia, petunia, salvia (red), fuschia

Perennials: Columbine, bleeding heart, hollyhock (red), delphinium (dark colours), bee balm

Shrubs: Buddleia, Weigelia

Vines: Honey suckle, red morning glory (annual fast growing vine which produces flowers throughout summer), cardinal climber (annual)

Also, think of adding water, a waterfall with its trickling and splashing water sounds will act like a magnet for humming birds.

By making these changes to your garden you too can enjoy watching humming birds dart in and out of the flowers drinking your morning coffee.

Lori

Tags: attracting humming birds, gardening, humming birds

Butterflies exist naturally over most of the areas of our continent, although species vary from region to region.

By planting flowering plants that are their favourite food sources we can easily attract the local population of butterflies to become regular visitors to our gardens. Butterflies are guided by scents and smells. Certain flowers give off a fragrance that butterflies find attractive. A welcoming garden for butterflies should include some of the following:

Annuals: Petunia, nasturtium, heliotrope, snapdragon, sweet alyssum, verbena, and nicotania
Perennials: Yarrow, columbine, lavender, coreopsis, dianthus, echinacea, and globe thistle

Remember, a butterfly is the adult stage of an insect that starts as a caterpillar, so remember no caterpillar no butterfly. If you use insecticide in your garden you may kill caterpillars.

If they don’t show up right away, don’t give up looking. In the mean time enjoy the flowers.

Good luck and have fun!

Lori

Tags: butterflies

Selecting the right plants for your landscape projects will greatly reduce frustration and maintenance requirements. Consider the following points when choosing plants for your garden:

* Select hardy, pest and disease-resistant varieties for minimal maintenance.
* Choose plants suited to your area’s climate zone. The Okanagan Valley zone is 4/5.
* Carefully consider the various sites in your garden (sun exposure, soil type, drainage and rainfall), then select plants that will thrive in each environment.
* Determine the mature size of the plant before you position it in your garden to ensure it has adequate space to grow to full size, and consider whether the mature plant will be appropriate for your long-term landscape plan.
* Consider the plants’ seasonal aspects: bulbs are spectacular in the spring; annuals, perennials and flowering shrubs show best in the summer; and maples provide dazzling colour in the fall. Try to create seasonal balance in your landscape.
*Native plants are increasingly being used in home landscapes. Planted in appropriate sun exposure, soil and moisture conditions, native plants also provide habitat for many other organisms, conserve water and soil, and are low maintenance.

Lastly, consider purchasing local grown plant materials as they are generally better acclimatized than imported plants.

Garden quote:

"Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity."

Lori

Tags: plant selection

This article is written for all of you confused about what the numbers mean on the side of your fertilizer purchase.

In order for a plant to grow and thrive it needs nourishment. Nature provides plants their basic needs such as oxygen, sunlight and water (though we may have to top up the water needs of the plants). However, if you want a great garden you will have to provide the other nutrients needed for healthy plants throughout the season.

Many different nutrients are important for plant development. Fertilization will improve crop yield and plant performance. The three main nutrients in fertilizer which are important for plant development, and often lacking or depleted in soil, are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K).

#Nitrogen (N): This nutrient is responsible for the healthy green colour of your plants, nitrogen deficiencies result in a yellowing of leaves and slow down in growth.

# Phosphorus (P): Affects early vigour, promotes healthy root growth and flowering. Plants with a shortage of phosphorus are often stunted.

#Potassium (K): (Also called potash.) This nutrient promotes healthy plants and disease resistance.

The numbers on a bag of fertilizer are percentages of the composition of the main 3 nutrients that soil needs and that are in the bag. So, a bag of 10-15-10 fertilizer has 10 percent nitrogen, 15 percent phosphorus and 10 percent potassium and the rest is filler and has no value to the plants.

Lori

Begin transplanting when the first true leaves unfold, which is usually 2 to 3 weeks after sowing. As the seedlings grow, the cotyledons (the first leaf or one of the first pair or whorl of leaves developed by the embryo of a seed plant) will wither and what are called the first true leaves will form. This is when your seedlings begins actively photo-synthesizing.

Because the seedling is growing in a soilless mix, you will need to give it some supplemental feeding. I use a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen and potassium. This is to encourage good roots and healthy growth.

Before transplanting, water the seedlings well. This will aid the seedlings to easily separate when taken out of the container. Hold the seedlings carefully by the stem when transplanting, fill container with soil and set the seedling at the same level it was in the seedling flat. When firming the soil avoid injuring the tender stems.

Immediately, after transplanting, water each seedling container thoroughly. Wilting at this point can damage young plants severely.

Spacing is important. Plant quality suffers from crowding too many plants into a small area, crowded seedlings become weak and spindly and are more susceptible to disease. In this photo the tomato seedlings should be transplanted to a larger container. Wider spacing or larger containers permit stronger growth. As a rule of thumb, to produce high quality plants, space them so that the leaves of one plant do not touch those of another.

In researching what other had to say about damping-off diseases I came across the following site: http://tomclothier.hort.net/ . The web pages are not all that pretty but there sure is a great amount of detailed information. It was a very good and interesting read about germination, as well as being a good general gardening resource.

For many of you it’s fun to get a head start on the upcoming garden season by starting seedlings indoors. Sometimes, growing your own may be the only way to obtain the new or special variety you want.

A soil-less potting mix is best for germinating seeds. These mixes are made from peat and vermiculite or perlite and are mediums that are sterile and drain well. Using garden soil increases the likelihood of damping-off diseases that attack seedlings and should therefore be avoided. Look for soil mixes with terms like germination mix, plug mix, and starter mix.

Various containers can be used to germinate and grow transplants. Previously used flats, trays, and pots should be cleaned and disinfected before use. Wash and disinfect them in a solution of one part bleach and nine parts water.

When sowing seeds in flats, fill the containers with the growing medium to within 2 cm of the top, firm the medium and seed thinly, cover the seed only enough to make it disappear from view, rule of thumb is 2x their diameter, and water thoroughly. Cover the container with clear plastic and put in a warm place. Remove the plastic as soon germination occurs.

Once the seeds have germinated, move the seedlings to an area with slighter cooler temperatures and direct sun. Transplant the seedlings into individual containers when the first true leaves appear. To avoid leggy plants, supplement natural light available through windows by hanging one or two fluorescent light fixtures about six inches above the seedlings. As the plants grow, raise the fixtures. A mix of cool white and warm white bulbs will provide the right quality of light for plant growth. Or, you can also use grow lights.

Water your seedlings well before and after transplanting. Seedlings growing in soilless mixes need to be fertilized when the first true leaves appear. Feed at every other watering with a water-soluble starter fertilizer to encourage good roots and healthy growth.

Lori

Over the winter, I keep geraniums, one of each colour, on the windowsill. A great way to multiply the number of plants in your garden is to take cuttings of your current plants. This week I took cuttings of my geraniums. Geraniums are easy to grow and they stand up to the hot Okanagan summer.

To take a cutting, remove a 5 to 6 cm section of the plant’s stem with a sharp knife. Pinch off the leaves from the lower half of the cutting and dip the cut end into a rooting hormone. Rooting hormones are sold in powder or liquid form. I use the powder number 2 or number 3.

Stick the cuttings in a moist, well drained rooting media. Nothing beats a good commercial medium because it is sterile and free of unwanted weed seeds. I also like to put cuttings in individual pots.

Ideally, cuttings root best in a moist, warm environment. I don’t cover the cuttings because in my experience they rot if the humidity is too high. The pots should be placed in bright but indirect light. Check regularly to insure they remain moist and not too wet. If your medium is too wet your cuttings will also rot.

The cuttings will root in about 6 weeks. Pinch shoot tips back to force branching and prevent spindly growth. At this point, it is time to start fertilizing, choose a good liquid fertilizer and use a weak solution once a week. Fertilize only lightly. Excessive amounts of nitrogen will promote leaf growth at the expense of flowers.

Last Tip: *Geraniums in containers bloom better when they are slightly root bound.