Wes Porter

Raising your own vegetables, herbs and fruit

Ready to join the growing numbers of wannabe food raising home farmers? After all if Michelle Obama can do it, why can’t you? This is her very first veggie garden too. And get this – it is all-organic, just like that Governor General Adrienne Clarkson established in 2001 at Rideau Hall, her Ottawa digs on Sussex Drive. It cost $2,483 and the assistance of the National Capital Commission.

May Gardening

May Day, celebrated on the first day of the month in many Western European countries, dates back to at least Roman times. Bona Dea, the "good goddess," was celebrated on 1^st May to assure fertility of both earth and women.

Proposed Pesticide Ban Presents Problems

The Cosmetic Pesticide Ban is making its way through the Ontario provincial legislature. Normally such would proceed with all the speed of cold molasses. Here, politicians and their bureaucratic accessories are moving with all the enthusiasm of dung beetles heading for an open sewer.

Son of a Betula – Its Birch Syrup

“Birch syrup,” she exclaimed. “You mean maple syrup, don’t you?”

Saint Patrick’s Cabbage

Apostle of Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh St. Patrick has given his name to many things. St. Patrick’s Purgatory, for example, was where the saint had a vision of purgatory, traditionally on tiny Station Isle in Lough Derg, southeast Donegal. Then there is St. Patrick’s Cabbage. No, not the mythical shamrock nor a member of the Brassicaceae but a Saxifraga.

Darwin’s Beagle – A Scientist’s Floating Laboratory

“You care for noting but shooting, dogs and rat-catching,” his father once told him, “and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.” It was not much of a comment on a man who had an enormous influence on the life sciences – and beyond.

March Gardening

Tired of winter? Suffering from a severe case of cabin fever? Cast a jaundiced eye on the pendulous forms of the local weeping willows. Their twigs have turned a bright yellow signalling the approach of spring. The more upright shoots of native black willow are orange coloured in similar anticipation. Time to remind ourselves of the old garden adage: When you fall through the bed I’ll meet you in the spring.

News of Interest to Gardeners

A roundup of news of interest to gardeners...

Richters 2009 Herb Catalogue & McFayden Spring ’09 Catalogue

Richters, Greenwood, Ontario Canada L0A 1A0 Phone 1:800:668:4372 Fax: 1:905:640:6641 Website: richters.com

Friday, 13th February, Scares Paraskavidekatriphobics

Last year it was 13th June. This year, it is 13th February, again in March and finally November that has both paraskavidekatriphobics and triskaidekaphobics running scared. The former fear Friday 13th while the latter are uptight over the number 13 itself.

Saturday, 14th February – Saint Valentine’s Day

Florists and greeting card makers both just love Valentine’s Day, 14th February. Stores decorate with cardboard cupids, hearts, even roses. Real roses command a price worthy of a prince’s ransom – well, perhaps a banker’s or automobile executive’s at least. Potted live orchid plants are offered for sale at more moderate prices.

Bicentenary of Birth of Charles Robert Darwin

Two men destined to change the world were born on 12 February 1809. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Indiana, U.S.A. Under considerably more upgrade circumstances, Charles Robert Darwin was born on that same day in Shrewsbury, England. This year will also mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s seminal work, On the Origin of Species.

February Gardening

The Toronto Congress Centre on Dixon Road offers a million square feet, eight acres, of exhibition activity. Every January, Landscape Ontario, the country's premier professional horticultural organization, conducts its annual congress and trade show there. Those in the business discover the shape of things to come. What is heading our way this season is going to be different ... very, very different.

Monday, 2nd February – Groundhog Day

Wiarton Willy, Punxsutawney Phil and their kith and kin are scientifically known as Marmota monax. Call them groundhogs, woodchucks, even marmots if you wish; all are equally correct.

Grimo Nut Nursery 2009 Catalog

Grimo Nut Nursery, 979 Lakeshore Road, RR#3, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Canada L0S 1J0 grimonut.com

Chinese Year of the Ox and Gifts of Citrus

Last year it was the Year of the Rat. This year, according to the Chinese Zodiac, it is the Year of the Ox. Over much of East Asia, it is time for ushering in the Chinese New Year. As in the Western festive season, it is a time for celebration. Traditional gifts, especially to children, are red envelopes and, inside, cards concealing money.

January Gardening

The weather was, as the late Benny Hill was wont to observe about an entirely different subject, “not pretty – not horrible . . . pretty horrible.” An enviro-skeptic observed: “Why does Ontario have blizzards while B.C. has David Suzuki? – Ontario had first choice.”

Filling Space

Permanent colonies are planted on the Moon. A manned space probe takes off for Mars. Sound like science fiction? About the time you are preparing to leave high school and entering college, these will likely become a fact. Both the United States and China have announced plans for manned Moon bases and the U.S. for visiting Mars.

Oooo! That Wascally Wabbit!

“Is there anything rabbits don’t like?” enquired an exasperated acquaintance.

DIY Pesticides & Repellents

The three witches in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth may have had something going when they declaimed in their noisome Scottish cave:

Double, double toil and trouble Fires burn, and cauldron bubble.