Greenscapes by Design

Great suggestions: https://laidbackgardener.blog//fall-is-the-perfect-time-t/. Happy planting.

Garden Maintenance DIY Spring is a great time to remove dead foliage, flowers, and stems from your gardenscautiously. Some plants are slow to emerge in the spring, and squashing the tender new shoots will stunt them. This is especially true of plants growing in the shade, Hosta being the prime example. The same perennial in a heavily shaded location might emerge 2 weeks later than the same perennial planted in a location receiving full sun exposure. Much of the dead foliage... and stems can be broken or removed with a light tug or finger snap. Some plants like sedum and asters need pruners to cut the dead stem from the live root system, since a light tug can remove baby plants at the base of a dry stem. Leaves from deciduous trees like Maple and Oak are perfect as a natural mulch that will slowly leach valuable nutrients back into your garden soil. If any of these leaves are still around, rake them onto your flower beds where they won’t smother perennials or into a vegetable garden. The leaves will become less visible as your perennials grow. They will conserve soil moisture, discourage weeds, cool the soil, and provide a reservoir of moisture for your garden plants. One necessary aspect of spring and fall cleaning is the removal of tree seedlings. In the fall they are easy to spot, with one or two leaves still clinging to the small woody stem, maybe 2 inches or more in height. In spring, the woody stem without leaves is more difficult to see. If you run your hand 2 inches above the soil surface your hand will be able to detect resistance from a woody stem. Once detected, firmly grasp the stem close to the soil surface and pull up. The usually damp soil of spring will release the tree seedling easily. If left to grow for a few more years, removal will require a shovel and much more effort. Contrary to popular belief, tree seedlings cannot be discouraged by pruning off the stems or trunks above the soil. If the tree trunk is cut off, the tree continues to grow underground, creating a strong root mass that will become increasingly difficult to remove. Desirable tree seedlings like Serviceberry, Oak, or Red/Sugar Maple could be transplanted to another location, but there are many pest/nuisance trees that should not be replanted- my least favourite being the Buckthorn tree. It is considered an alien invasive by Ontario’s invading species awareness program: http://www.invadingspecies.com/common-buckthorn/. A gnarly nest of black roots and bright orange tissue just under the outer bark. The bark can be scraped with pruners to reveal this orange colour. In the summer it is a fairly non-descript, small tree, with has small lack berries, round, dark green leaves with few veins that arch parallel to each other and the leaf margin. 1 pic: flower & seed capsules of Britt-Marie Crawford Ligularia 2 pics: Buckthorn leaves & berries; Buckthorn seedling.

Salad Greens & Sprouts You can start plants from seed indoors, and you can also plant some vegetables outside, even now. Many vegetables are recommended for planting outside as soon as the ground can be worked. These frost-friendly vegetables include: snow/snap/shelling peas, lettuce, arugula, bok choy, corn salad, kale, swiss chard, and collards. Basically, any of the salad greens prefer cool, damp weather, and can be planted early in the spring. All other vegetables, herbs ...and flowers are cold-sensitive, and need a head start indoors before planting outside. If you don’t have garden space, you can use any large pots or planters that are often used to grow annual flowers. The salad greens don’t need much root space so any shallow container will be good. Once the hot weather arrives, the lettuces and arugula have a tendency to bolt- send up flowers and produce seed. Bolting brings out the bitter flavour. Peas and bok choy will mature later in June, while kale, collards and swiss chard continue to grow until late in the fall. These three late-season greens taste even sweeter after some frost. Collards and kale can even continue to produce edible leaves after snow has fallen. Sprouts are another possibility. Some of the seed companies already mentioned like West Coast Seeds (westcostseeds.com) sell may seeds intended for sprouting and sprouters. Other seed order companies also sell sprouters, from simple to complex. As grocery shopping has become more complicated and time consuming, growing your own greens at home might be the answer for super fresh and health edibles. Try a sandwich with hard-boiled egg and zingy, spicy radish sprouts. A new edible adventure awaits.

No social/physical distancing requirements among plants or between plants and people. A mindfulness distraction, and a productive activity, nurturing, and greening. What more could you ask for? Start some seeds this spring. The possibilities are enormous: trees, shrubs, perennials, ornamental grasses, and of course annual vegetables and flowers like tomatoes, marigolds and zinnias. Squash seeds can be started last, about the 2nd week of May. By then, they can germinate in a... pop-up plastic greenhouse or outside. For best results, use Pro-Mix or another soil-less potting mix specific to starting seeds. This avoids problems like damping off that can kill tender seedlings and wipe out entire trays. Fortunately hardware stores such as Home Depot are still open and often stock large square bags/bales of Pro-Mix. You can use shelves, full-spectrum fluorescent tubes or the new LED grow-lights. A 3-tier plant stand can be expensive unless you find a used one, but even a 3 foot wide metal/wood shelf can be a start. Or stick with a flat table top. A sunny window can be enough for some plants and once the weather is consistently above 5 degrees C at night the plants can go outside. Hardening off will be a later topic. Some seed companies have supplies available online such as starter trays and pots. Lee Valley also has seed starting supplies. Most companies provide free catalogues and take orders online from their website. You may have to phone to find out how backed up their orders are. A selection of Seed Companies: westcoastseeds.com, damseeds.com, chilternseeds.co.uk, rareseeds.com, veseys.com, stokeseeds.com, richters.com. Veseys & Richters will even ship out starter plants- herbs, veggies and flowers. Check them out. Have fun! Coming up: Grow your own SALAD GREENS....Starting Now.

Welcome to Garden by Design.

Art in the Garden- an annual event on Father's Day weekend in Perth ON. Inspiring art and gardens. http://kiwigardens.ca/aig.html