Wes Porter

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.

Corky-Fruited Water Dropwort Shoots Down Missiles

“To every thing there is a season” according to Ecclesiastes 3:1. And an insane season it is as London, England, gears up for the Olympics. Plans to use surface-to-air missiles to protect the skies over London during the Olympic could be thwarted – because they will disturb the habitat of a rare wildflower, The Mail on Sunday summed it up.

Plants to Protect Your Property

The first commandment should be obvious: Though shalt not covet, much less steal, thy neighbour's tomatoes, cucumbers or peppers. But people do.” Robert Finn, The New York Times.

All of the Latest Poop on Compost

“It’s hard to compost in a hotel room,” Bette Midler observed last year in a fit of green gloom. Equally difficult, although some taxpayers might not believe this, for their representatives at city hall. But at least in Toronto, councillors can buy the stuff to give away to rapturous residents – using their office budget, of course. Last year, for example, Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker spent $5,500 on compost to constituents, no small portion of his total 2011 spending of $31,077.34.

Gardeners Welcome New Season

A tip of the gardening hat to Wiarton Willie the mammalian meteorologist. Emerging from his winter quarters in that Ontario community on 2 February, the groundhog predicted an early spring. Willie was right on the money.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Patches on Lawns

The snow disappears and the frost comes out of the ground to reveal a front lawn in sad shape. Patches of dead turf splatter an otherwise rapidly greening expanse of grass.

April Fools Day, Gardening Style

Fooled you . . . or did we? Okay, maybe it’s still March but we figure you need plenty of time to prepare for the glorious First of April, when we dig up past idiocies. Or did they really take place? As a good gardener, you doubtlessly can separate the wheat from the chaff – or the fertilizer from the compost. But can the black thumb brigade?

Growing a Gigantic Gourd Depends On the Preparation

According to a study by Queen’s University in Ontario, it is true: in spring, a young man’s (and woman’s) fancy turns to thoughts of love: teenagers, the researchers found, are more likely than adults to conceive during the month of March. The thoughts of gardeners, ever ready to march to a different drumbeat, turn to growing one of those enormous pumpkins that grace the pages of the tabloids early every fall.

Landscaping Loses Ground In Canada

“At least he cuts it up into stove lengths,” Grandfather Thurnow, quoted by Paul Hiebert (1947). And, lo and behold, that is what is happening to horticulture in Canada.

Celebrating St. Patrick’s with green

May the blessings of St. Patrick be upon you, as they say across the sea in the Emerald Isle, for the 17th March ‘tis the day upon which we celebrate everything Hibernian. This brings to mind the Irish-Canadian botanist who crossed a shamrock with poison ivy – and got a rash of good luck.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Hormone Rooting Powder

Artificial rooting powders have been in widespread use for over half a century. The plant hormones auxin and cytokinin, usually naphthalene acetic acid (a-NAA), are often part of commercial rooting preparations.