Two Four Time

This is it, the traditional spring planting time in this part of the world, but if you don’t get around to planting because of other exciting two four stuff, don’t worry. There’s plenty of time left for planting.

Once upon a time, most annuals were sold in tiny cell packs and it created an urgency to get them into the garden early to ensure they started growing, even though they wouldn’t budge until the soil warmed up. Now, with a trend towards larger, more mature plants in individual pots, timing is less critical.

Whether you plant this weekend or wait until early June, there is one thing that will help your flowers and vegetables when they have to face blazing hot summer days, and that’s mulch. In nature, there’s always mulch on the surface of the soil, usually in the form of a leafy layer.

Plants expect to be surrounded by mulch; bare soil is not normal. Covering soil conserves moisture, keeps down weeds, and if organic, it slowly adds nutrients to the soil as it breaks down. Over the years, I’ve used a variety of materials as mulch: leaves, manure, mushroom compost, wood chips, straw, shredded bark, and cocoa bean husks.

Anything that covers the soil surface while allowing moisture to penetrate does the trick. I’ll even use clippings from evergreen shrubs, and I always make use of my ornamental grasses crop. It does a fine job in the veggie garden. As they break down, they all help feed the soil, which is so important.

Wood chips or shredded bark are popular, especially on flower beds in front yard gardens. A few bags may be all you need, but if you’re a heavy user, consider ordering in bulk. When spreading mulch from four to eight centimetres deep, which is usually sufficient, a big bag will go a long way.

There has been a concern that as wood based mulches break down, they can deplete the nitrogen in the soil, but this only occurs in the uppermost layer and isn’t as much of a problem as was once believed.

As mulch slowly decomposes, nutrients and organic matter are absorbed, feeding the organisms in the soil. This is a natural process, but it is far more complex than it appears, especially to anyone who dismisses soil as dirt — dirt is what you get on your pants after sitting in soil.

Soil is not inert brown stuff, devoid of life, although it may well be if it’s been regularly doused with chemical fertilizers. It is teaming with an incredible number of life forms, each of which has a role to play. Worms and soil insects are easy to spot, but it’s what we don’t see that’s tremendously important:  microscopic insects, fungi, bacteria (good and bad) all play a role. They form symbiotic relationships with each other and with the roots of plants and trees, processing organic matter and minerals, converting them into nutrients in a form that plants can use.

Healthy soil is essential, the source of the life above ground that we can see. As you plant like crazy over the next few weeks, give a thought to what’s going on below — and spread the mulch.

You don’t need a license to grow trilliums

I can’t say the now defunct design of the new Ontario licence plates concerned me particularly, but it was nice to see the trillium featured on them. I also liked the reference to gardening with the statement that Ontario is a place to grow. The trillium has been Ontario's floral emblem since 1937, and as I’m sure everyone knows, that funny little symbol with three points does represent our provincial flower.

The trillium is also the state wildflower of Ohio, but they don’t honor it the way we do in Ontario. During World War I, the Ottawa Horticultural Society suggested the gentle white trillium should be planted on the graves of Canadian soldiers to signify the homeland left behind, however it was never pursued.

I have a trillium flowering in my garden now, despite suggestions circulating that anyone with a trillium must have plucked it from the wild and in doing so broke the law.

I’m happy to report that I have not, nor am I likely to end up in jail or even be arrested. That’s because it is not against the law to pick or remove trilliums from woodland, unless of course the location is private land. With a slow spring this year, trillium blooms are peaking, or may have passed further south, after lighting up the forest floor. With so many in bloom it’s not surprising that someone is tempted to scoop a few blooms, or even dig up the whole plant.

Although not protected by law perhaps they should be, as should all our precious wildflowers. Picking the trillium for its flower causes damage to the leaves and stems that are essential to future growth. Trilliums don’t transplant at all well from a woodland, and besides harming the plants, it removes the enjoyment for others.

Fortunately, you can grow them in your own garden because they can be purchased from many nurseries that specialize in, and propagate, wildflowers. The trillium you most likely see growing everywhere is Trillium grandiflorum, although according to Ontario Parks, there are another four species.  There’s the red trillium, the painted trillium, the drooping trillium (listed as at risk) and the nodding trillium — I’m not sure I’d be able to tell the difference between the drooping and the nodding.

The red trillium is Trillium erectum, and it’s easy to spot when it pops up in the middle of a patch of white ones. It would even be easy to find one in the dark. Unlike the white variety, which has no fragrance, the red one has the delightful fragrance of day-old roadkill, perfectly designed to attract pollinating flies — and another valuable pollinator plant to add to the garden.

Despite being called the red trillium, the flower has a slightly more burgundy look about it. In fact, deep in the forest there have been reports of ones with slight variations in colour, even orange — I’m still looking. The common name for the red trillium is ‘wake robin’, said to have referred initially to the European robin. Both it and our native robin have similar colouring, and I’m only guessing, but as the breast colour of both birds leans toward orange rather than red, maybe an orange trillium was more common century or so ago.

There is another species of red trillium I’d like to try growing in my garden and that’s Trillium chloropetalum, the giant wake robin, and it’s a beauty, growing as high as forty-five centimetres high (18 inches). Although native to California, it is a zone six plant, making it just about hardy enough to grow here.

Wait, there are more. About fifty other species of trillium have been recorded, mostly in North America, though generally further south. So, do watch out for any unique species, but no picking. Unlike the new license plates, they’re not collectors’ items.

Bees Above Are Buzzing

Numerous studies in many parts of the world are showing a dramatic fall in insect numbers. They’re essential for agriculture, and essential in a garden where fruiting plants are grown, including our beloved tomatoes. Habitat loss, monoculture farming, and the widespread use of insecticides are among the reasons for this decline.

For a long time, many home gardens were unwelcoming to pollinators. We had monoculture lawns, heavily mulched and tidy flower beds, and until the pesticide act in 2008, there was regular spritzing and spraying of everything in sight, indiscriminately wiping out beneficent insects. This didn’t end pesticide use, only the formulas changed to comply with the law. Shelves are still filled with sprays and powders to rid gardens of pests, and beneficial insects can be killed just as effectively as before.

One of these important insects that specifically needs our help is the humble bee. Not including the honey bee, a non-native species, there are over 800 distinct types throughout the country, 400 of which can be found in Ontario.

But if it's honey you want, we rely on the honey bee. Did you know that a good part of your honey may have come from insect poop. Yes, you heard that right, and I apologise if you’re drizzling honey on your cereal right now. A study of the DNA in honey carried out by Noah Wilson-Rich, an entomologist who founded The Best Bees Company, revealed that fact and other valuable information. The study sampled urban hives in major cities across the US and the preliminary results are surprising.

We naturally assume that honey bees are busy collecting nectar and pollen from flowers, and we know they do because we watch them doing it. It’s a biased perception, however, as it’s easy to see the plants that bees are visiting in our gardens. We’ve not been paying attention to what they do at higher altitudes, and that’s one of the major discoveries that was made when the DNA in honey was studied.

The main sources of sugar in the honey tested did not come from wildflowers, but from trees, and not only from the blossoms; it also came from the excretions of sapsucking insects, particularly aphids, those pesky critters that drive gardeners wild when they find them munching away on plants.

What goes in one end of a hungry aphid is the sap that the plant depends on to grow and flourish. Too many aphids and the plant can die. It’s what comes out of the other end of the aphid that attracts the bees. It’s a sweet, sticky substance called honeydew. Besides nectar from flowers, honeybees are slurping up honeydew, and there’s often plenty of it. We might see only a few aphids on plants in our gardens; up in the treetops there can be tremendous numbers — easy picking for bees, and there’s even more food available when a tree is in bloom, far more than in a garden below.

Whether from nectar or from honeydew, the study determined that 75% of the sugar collected by honeybees came from trees and not from wildflowers, especially in an urban setting. Although more native wildflowers than ever are being introduced into urban gardens to benefit pollinators, there’s often a far wider range than is present in a natural, rural area. In Boston, where interest in urban beekeeping has grown dramatically, the honey sampled contained the DNA of 411 plant species. Because of this larger diversity of plants, the hives there appeared to be healthier and more productive than rural ones.

Another discovery made by the researchers was regarding the types of trees and flowers the honeybees preferred. Surprisingly, the flowers and trees favoured by them are not necessarily native ones. Honey bees don’t seem to care where lunch comes from. Even though coniferous trees are predominant in Seattle, the bees there favoured non-native linden and cypress trees.

Preferences varied from city to city because of the popularity of particular plants in a specific region. For instance, in New York, where even luxury hotels keep rooftop hives, the top three plants were locust and linden trees, and the flowers of sedum. In Portland, Oregon, known as the city of roses, no surprise that roses were in the top three along with begonias and sweet chestnut trees.

In San Francisco, where non-native eucalyptus trees have become an invasive species, there’s currently a debate going on whether to fell them or give them protection. The honeybees are not fussy. They’re such generalists, they don’t care that the trees are from Australia. They love them. Making up their top three favourites there are pine trees and rosemary.

Next time you hear buzzing in your garden, remember to look up, way up.

Vegetable Garden

 

Survivor, the reality TV show, was so hugely popular that I'm surprised more people don't try it for real, that is, surviving on food grown in their own backyard. The concept might not seem as exciting, dramatic, or gripping as the TV show, although all the essential elements will be there — battles with nature, competition with wildlife, and even, perhaps, intense rivalry between friends and neighbours.

Okay, maybe growing vegetables doesn't sound quite so thrilling as browsing a salad bar, but if you've forgotten the taste of, or never even tasted, a perfect tomato or freshly popped peas, you'll be in for a treat. We're talking fresh! A shrink-wrapped lettuce shipped into the country crammed in the back of a truck can't compare with one from your own garden that traveled direct from veggie patch to table in mere minutes. Why, I've been known to take my sandwich down into the garden to add the lettuce right then and there. I know, I know, wash it first. I hear it all the time, but at least it hasn't been handled by countless strangers. Now that's fresh.

Growing your own vegetables is easy. With a little planning and a few minutes a day you can be dining on the finest vegetables ever grown — your own. Consider starting a small vegetable plot this spring. You don't have to start big. A large planter will provide a surprising amount of produce. Begin with easily grown things like peas, beans or tomatoes before moving on to the exotic stuff.

Here are the basics for vegetable growing:

Locate your vegetable garden where it will receive plenty of sunshine — at least six hours, preferably morning sun. Typically, a veggie bed is placed at the bottom of the yard, out of the way, but it will be much handier if it's closer to the house. Unless you intend growing competition sized vegetables, a soil depth of about 200mm is a good start, but make sure the bed is raised slightly above the surrounding ground to allow for good drainag, or build an enclosed, raised bed.

Best soil for vegetable growing is light and friable, especially if you're intending to grow root crops like carrots, beets or parsnips as they don't like having to force their way down into heavy clay soil. Test your soil by squishing a moist handful into a ball. Sandy soil will crumble easily while clay will clump. Clay or sandy, you can improve your soil immensely by digging in lots of organic matter — compost, shredded leaves, or aged manure.

Timing is important when sowing seeds as soil temperature affects the germination. Seed for lettuce, peas, and spinach can all be sown quite early, as early as mid to late April, depending on how warm this spring turns out to be, but that's far too soon for warm season plants like beans, corn, or zucchini. As for the true heat lovers like melons, peppers, cucumbers, and squash, June will be soon enough as no seeds will germinate until the required minimum temperature of the soil is reached. Fortunately, instructions for planting time, sowing depth, and spacing of seed are usually on the seed packets.

The directions on the packet usually call for quite wide spacing between rows. For instance, it's often suggested peas be planted in rows of over half a metre apart. This is mainly to allow access for picking, but the rows can be closer in a home garden.

Especially important is planting depth. A seed has only just enough energy packed into it to push a limited distance to the surface: Plant too deep and nothing will come up. Many seeds are tiny, making it difficult to space them precisely, so if that's the case, plant lots and thin them out as they begin to grow. Alternatively, you can forgo growing from seed and purchase actual vegetable plants. They're available at most garden centres these days, but then you'll miss the excitement of seeing those first sprouts pop up.

After planting, avoid walking on the garden whenever possible as this will only compact the soil. I always keep a couple of boards handy to lay across the bed if I need to get in there for weeding or picking.

Once the plants are up and growing, it's a good idea to mulch between rows. Mulch can be almost any organic material such as leaves, straw, or grass clippings. Not only do mulches cut down on weeds, they help the soil retain moisture.

Moisture is essential for success, so plan on watering your vegetable garden regularly. There will be weeds to pull occasionally, too, and you may be challenged by insect pests, but with a little diligence, you, and your vegetable garden, will fight off all challengers to survive and reap the rewards. Imagine the glory of that first tomato!