Invoke St. Gertrude for Gardens

All good Irish along with many other envious mortals celebrate 17^th March as St. Patrick's Day. Even the English agriculturalist William Cobett admitted, "The Irish people are brave, generous, hospitable, laborious, and full of genius." Better still for the horticultural fraternity, it is also the day dedicated to St. Gertrude of Nivelles (d.659) virgin and abbess whose name is invoked for gardens. Ask then, as they did in Finian's Rainbow, 'How Are Things in Glocca Morra?' and maybe, just maybe, leprechauns like Og will answer, or so maintains Irish tribal folklore

Diversion No. 1 A few minutes of gardening helps cut risk of dying early, suggests The Times. The Daily Mail elaborates: Just 30 minutes of mowing the lawn or walking the dog cuts the risk of an early death by 17 percent. Research led by academics at University College London reveals any exercise at all is good for the elderly, no matter how light. Easter comes early this year, but which woods are associated with the event? According to St. Matthew, Judas, following his betraying of Jesus, hung himself. Tradition has it that he committed suicide thus from the branches a redbud tree (Cercis siliquastrum). Native to the eastern Mediterranean region, this small tree is closely related to its northeastern North American cousin and, like it, the flowers appear before the foliage--according to legend in shame of its association with the arch betrayer. A dissenting opinion has it that the hanging tree involved was the elder (Sambucus). This was, however, likely because these trees--or large shrubs--were sacred to the Druids, arch rivals to Christianity and so to be blamed for such calamities. But if indeed it was an elder upon which Judas took his life, he must have been a very small man. It was also one of the trees alleged to have been used to construct the cross. These include oak and pine (favourites) but also mountain ash, cypress, cedar, holly, and aspen Diversion No. 2 An international team of researchers led by Jong-Sheong Kug at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) has shown that the warmer Arctic has triggered cooler winters and springs in North America, which in turn has weakened vegetation growth and lowered carbon uptake capacity in its ecosystems. This achievement has been published in the world-renowned Nature Geoscience. When pruning this month--or for that matter in any month--the question regularly arises: to seal or not to seal the resulting wound. The traditional practice has been to paint over pruning cuts with anything from left-over house paint to specially formulated antiseptic tree pastes, observed the NZ Gardener. The theory is that the paint seals the wound and prevents entry of water and disease. Some horticulturalists question this practice. If pruning is done correctly, the tree needs nothing else, says the magazine. Of course, some do question this, namely the manufacturers of such gunge.

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Diversion No. 3 Eastern Europeans are 10 times faster at picking cabbages than young Brits. A documentary shows UK youngsters complaining about the cold and the fact they can't wear makeup. In the filmed test the group from Plymouth, aged 18 to 23, were working for Southern England Farms Ltd. [The Daily Mail] Is there a sugar maple tree in your garden? To the Algonquins of northeastern North America, March as the time of the Sap Moon. When the tree has reached 25cm to30cm (10 to 12-inches) and probably 35 to 60 years old, it is ready for a single tap. Maple sap averages three percent sugar, 30-40 gallons are required for a single gallon of syrup. What then is the catch? Try boiling it down in the home kitchen and you'll find everything covered with a fine, sticky film. Then you'll know why professionally it is done in a sugaring house. Diversion No. 4 Does a G&T ward off mozzies? Many myths surround the food and drink that may keep mosquitoes at bay but, when it coms to the science behind these theories, it all becomes a bit too hard to swallow, writes Cameron Webb in The Conversation [ABC News] March has been a good month for gardeners and horticulturists in general. Some of our most famed were born this month: 5 March: Luther Burbank (1849-1926) American plant hybridizer 6 March: Pehr Kalm (1716-79) early botanist in Canada under direction of Linnaeus 12 March: Andre LeNoire (1613-1700) French landscape gardener at Versailles 15 March: Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954) American botanist, horticulturist 23 March: John Bartram (1699-1777) the American Philadelphia-based botanist If you happen to be in the vicinity of Goodwood, Ontario a short drive northeast of Toronto, check out Richters free seminar Saturday 2-3 pm afternoon 18 March: The Fave 15 Culinary, Medicinal and Aromatic Herbs with Daisy Moore, agriculturalist, writer and consultant, University of Guelph; more at Richters.com