Gardening gets underway again

“You may speak as you like of the weather/You may speak of the birds as they sing/But if you sit on a red-hot poker/It’s a sign of an early spring” suggested an unknown, anonymous versifier.

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Tradition has it that Victoria Day heralds the last risk of frost and hence the start of the gardening season. This is all very well for southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec. But in coastal B.C. said season never really ends, while on the Prairies below-freezing nights are still a very real risk. None of which deters the garden centres, emerging like bears from winter hibernation, but considerably less grumpy and looking for loot.

Diversion No. 1

Black Thumb? He had a compost heap called Uriah . . . it was a dickens of a size

A few fast tips for busy gardeners:

• Top-dress lawns with weed-free black loam or well-composted manure
• Unearth and prune roses when forsythia blooms
• Clip back half the new growth of conifers in late May to early June
• Plant annuals, perennials and bulbs in odd numbers for best effect
• Reds, oranges, rich yellows are exciting colours encouraging activity
• Blues, creams, light yellows and white are cool, relaxing colours
• Edge the vegetable bed with parsley and/or chives
• Mix fast-germinating radish seed with slower carrot, parsnip, parsley seeds to mark rows
• Sow seeds of cucumbers, squash, melons, pumpkins and beans in May
• Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants require warm soil, unlikely before early June
• Trim flower bed borders with a turf edger in spring and late summer
• Chock up planters or place nylon fly screen inside before filling to stop bugs entering
• Plant labels can be cut from empty bleach bottles
• Boiling water eliminates weeds under decks, in access way cracks
• Weekly cleaning birdbaths with a light bleach solution eliminates spread of disease

Diversion No. 2

Mountain pine beetles, Dendroctonus ponderosae, carry yeasts and Diana Six, a pony-tailed, bodybuilding, beer-brewing entomologist at the University of Montana, used one variety to home-brew a beer she called Six-Legged Ale according to Hillary Rosner writing in National Geographic.

How often should a lawn be fertilized and with what? A flyer from Canadian Tire, which proclaims it as ‘Canada’s Gardening Store,’ suggests: “To maintain your lawn, set your mower to 2” or higher, water regularly and fertilize monthly.” Yes and no. Mow the grass no shorter than two inches – right. Water regularly – try an inch every three days unless there is heavy rain. But fertilize monthly – no way. Apply a granulated fertilizer in May or early June and repeat in September or October. How were lawns maintained to perfection prior to the advent of modern fertilizers a half-century or so ago? They were top-dressed with carefully screened weed-free soil or well-composted manure (see above). Today, liquid lawn fertilizers are all the rage but they are expensive and have been implicated in lowering the soil pH and creating excessive thatch. Instead, try another old-time trick: apply an annual application of granulated lime. This latter also helps to discourage moss.

Diversion No. 3

Should you ever need to keep hungry elephants from ravaging your garden, British scientists think they have the solution. Until now electric fences and trenches have proved to be the most effective way of protecting farms and villages from nighttime raids by pestilent pachyderms. But researchers think they may have come up with another solution – the recorded sound of angry predators [Source: Oryx].

Spring has definitely arrived when Vineland Nurseries annual catalogue is dropped into the mailbox. It has done so for over a quarter-century as Jim and Simone Lounsbery were some of the last holdouts of the dubious delights of online action. No more though – for the past several years the catalogue of special plant for small spaces has been available at the proverbial click of a mouse at HYPERLINK "http://www.vinelandnurseries.com" www.vinelandnurseries.com. Those with aged eyes will bless this though – the catalogue typeface is, like the shrubs offered, verging on minute. Still, for the urban gardener with limited planting areas, or out in the suburb seeking to pack in as much as possible, the Lounsberys have the answer.

Diversion No. 4

It turns out that an apple a day won’t keep the doctor away but it may mean you use fewer prescription medications according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Weeds, bugs, even accumulating ice a problem? Not to worry U.S. company Ion Productions may soon have the answer for you. It is reportedly crowd funding the production of commercially available flamethrowers. And they are legal in 48 states with only California and Maryland banning their use. “Practical uses” for the eight-metre-spitting fire device according to the company’s website, are “eliminating weeds between pavement cracks,” and “a fun device to enjoy with friends.” However, “it should not be used as a weapon.”