Wes Porter

To Bee or Not to Bee . . .

“Despite these glorious shenanigans of blooms and birds and bees, plant sex is really plant-to-plant,” explained Susan Milius writing in a recent edition of Science News. Absolutely true, of course, but without bees to pollinate many of the world’s crops, we could be in deep trouble. In fact, say many researchers, we already are.

Munching on Mangoes May Cause an Allergy

Surf the web and you’ll discover a positive plethora of pills and potions based on mango allegedly assisting you to attain a more sylph-like dimension. Google alone features more than a million mentions.

You, Too, Can Shape Vegetables

A fun trick for children is to grow a cucumber inside a narrow-necked bottle. When the container is full of cucumber, it is removed from the vine and taken into school to challenge teachers how it got into the bottle.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Watering

It is going to be a hotter and drier summer than usual across the country. So predict Environment Canada’s weather wonks, safely ensconced in air-conditioned offices in the nation’s crapital.

Putting the Squeeze on Tomatoes

You say tomato and I say to-mah-to

Botanically, it’s a berry and therefore a fruit. But in most gardening and recipe books it is listed under vegetables. And by federal U.S. law that is what the tomato is – a vegetable, even though Arkansas, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee have declared Solanum lycopersicum to be the official state fruit.

Gardening is an active hobby

Summertime has been described as the season when there’s nothing much on radio, TV or most girls at the beach but the newspapers . . . ah yes, the newspapers. Did you know that pumpkins are a root vegetable? “With their tough skin and their odd shapes most home cooks have struggled to chop vegetables like pumpkins and swedes,” wrote Donna Bowater in Britain’s The Daily Telegraph, before continuing: “So it will come as no surprise that root foods have topped a poll of the most dangerous vegetables.” And lest those of Scandinavian descent flinch at being referred to as “swedes,’ such is what we more diplomatically know as rutabagas.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Natural Pest Control

“You have to be a scientist!” the woman at the garden centre exclaimed on learning how to apply nematodes to control white grubs on the lawn.

Cricket Matches Excite the Orient

The movie Tea House of the August Moon (1956 MGM) finds Okinawa, after 800 years of foreign occupation, in 1946 once again being occupied – this time by the Americans. Adapted from the Pulitzer-winning play by John Patrick, Captain Fisby (Glenn Ford) is presented with a gift cricket cage. Cricket brings good luck, explains his wily interpreter Sakini (Marlon Brando). But now he must catch his cricket, somewhat assisted by an organic farm loving army psychiatrist (Eddie Albert) and the geisha Lotus Blossom (Machiko Kyo).

Raising Giant Pumpkins

“I’d like to coin a new term: Cucurbitacean. A person who regards pumpkins and squashes with deep, often rapturous love.” Amy Goldman (Rebecca Rupp, 2011)

Like those other gifts of the New World, tomato and pepper, pumpkins are tropical denizens. So the giant or mammoth pumpkin, Cucurbita maxima, demands it warm if not downright hot – 20ºC plus air and soil temperatures – and 90 to 120 frost-free days to achieve its gigantic glory. Its bed as befits a behemoth may have been prepared eight or ten weeks ago, a large hole filled with compost. Now still more compost is added prior to planting, mixed with generous amounts of granulated bone and blood fertilizer.

Gardens of Health

“Where flowers degenerate man cannot live,” Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821

Gardeners are a notorious long-lived lot. Both Theophrastus of Athens and Cato the Censor, Sabine, lived to 85; Marcus Terentius Varro beat them by four years. George Russell, he of lupin fame made it to 94. Garden editor and keen plantsman William Robinson was 96 when he passed on to greener pastures while revered Gertrude Jekyll lived to celebrate her 89th birthday. In more recent times, actor James Whitmore, who died in 2009, was an enthusiastic garden for most of his 87 years.

Renovating a Lawn

“Use of good cultural practices, fertilization, irrigation, mowing, aeration, overseeding and topdressing will be more critical than ever to help customers maintain healthy lawns.” So advised Ontario provincial turfgrass expert Pam Charbonneau in trade periodical Horticulture Review.

Follow-Up on Aspirin

It is a maxim that immediately an article is published further research appears. So it was that after writing up the marvels of aspirin, New Scientist reported on a new study into the potent pill’s unexpected anti-cancer action.

Timely tips for June gardening

Those that have to mow lawns after dog owners have failed to clean up after their pets can hardly be blamed for erecting signs discouraging such antisocial activities. But residents around Main Square in Toronto were recently bemused by a sign reading, “Please keep dogs off grass.”

Questions We’re Often Asked: Soil vs. Dirt

“It’s like trying to become a gardener without touching the dirt,” Christopher Perillo, a science teacher in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was quoted as saying in New Scientist magazine. Perillo may be a science teacher but he would be a dubious gardener with that attitude. Soil is not dirt. Dirt is what politicians sweep under the carpet. Soil is what plants grow in and, ultimately, what feeds and shelters us – even politicians and science teachers.

The Strange Spice Vanilla

In the United States, the scent of vanilla is believed to represent comfort and warmth. In France that same scent becomes the symbol femininity and elegance.

29th May: Royal Oak Day

Once upon a time, 361 years ago on 29th May 1651 to be exact, a future king found shelter from his enemies up an immense oak tree after losing a disastrous battle. Nine years later, restored to his throne, he expressed his gratitude by decreeing that from henceforth the 29th May would be known as Royal Oak Day. Oak leaves, and if possible oak apples or galls, were worn in hats, branches hung over doors and windows and there was widespread partying.

Bug Extract a Natural Colouring?

Quelle horreur! Starbucks adds crushed bug extract to the strawberries-and-cream Frappuccino, it was recently revealed. A virtuous vegan barista employed by the well-known Coffea purveyor posted a picture of their ingredient list to a vegetarian blog.

Origins of Acetylsalicylic Acid, ASA

Taking a daily 81mg aspirin tablet has found favour for many males over age 50 as protection against cardiovascular disease. Now new evidence recently published in The Lancet suggests the same can prevent and possibly treat a range of cancers, including bowel, lung and prostate cancer.

Spring arrives—Canadian Style

Just as you fondly imagine spring has finally sprung, Mother Nature comes crashing down on your cranium.

It Isn’t All Plain Snailing for Munching Molluscs

A mild winter and a warm spring delighted gardeners. Unfortunately it also encourages some of the most ubiquitous pests endured by the green thumb brigade everywhere: slithery slugs and snails.