A Last Minute Chance to Invest in a Fabulous Spring.

For over 50 years our family owned and ran a small chain of retail garden centres in Toronto. ‘Weall and Cullen’ was what my Dad ‘did’ when I was a kid. It was, like so many family businesses in this land, what we ate, drank and breathed as an entire family for so much of the year.

So it came as no surprise when Dad showed up sometime just before Christmas with a bunch of unsold tulips in the trunk of his Chevy. He called them ‘excess inventory’ otherwise known as waste, had he not put them to good use.

Which brings me to this: today there is ‘excess inventory at your local garden retailer in the form of spring flowering bulbs. I am here to save you money, help you to create a fabulous garden and encourage you to use what remaining time there is left before the winter sets in for earnest….. That is, as long as you can dig the soil, there is potential for a great spring. Cheap.

Do all spring flowering bulbs produce when planted this late?

No. I discourage the planting of daffodils and narcissus beyond Thanksgiving. You will notice that the remaining bulbs of this ilk are often not very firm when squeezed. If they are dry and soft, they are blanks. Nothing good will come of them.
Even if they do have what I call ‘viability’ they will likely rot in the ground because there just isn’t enough time for them to put down the roots that they need before the hard freeze up.

You dummy – where I live the frost is in the ground and the snow is on it!!

If you live in the great white north or the great Canadian prairie, I understand that you may well be under some of our famous snow.
That does not mean that the tulips for sale at a remarkable price at your local retailer are no good. Bring them home and put them in pots filled with quality potting mix and put them in a cold area…. About 8 to 10 degrees C works great. Water them from time to time, keeping the soil only moist and not ‘wet’ and wait for the growth to begin to poke through the soil surface.

Bring these upstairs into the living area of your home where it is warm – one or two pots at a time so that they do not bloom all at once.
Give them away at Christmas. Your family will think that YOU were the one born with the green thumb. Your friends will spread very complimentary rumours about your generosity and about how clever you are.

How 'bout crocus, Scylla, grape hyacinths and the like? Will they grow and bloom if I plant this late?

Yes, likely. But tulips – ALL tulips – are foolproof in this regard.
Seems that they don’t need the time in the fall to put down roots: they will do this come spring as the ground eventually thaws (remember that it does not thaw in one day……).

What kinds of tulips are best?

Chances are that the pickings at your retailer will be so slim about now, that it you won’t have much choice. However, I like the early flowering Darwin Hybrids best of all. They give the best early show. Early flowering bulbs provide colour for an extended period of time as they are blooming during the cool part of the season. The cooler the weather (to a point) the longer the blooms last.
This works in reverse, of course, for late blooming bulbs.

Do I need special soil?

Not really: just well drained soil. If your soil is heavy with clay, add lots (50% by volume) of sharp sand to improve the drainage and do not plant as deeply as you would normally.

Do I need to feed bulbs this time of year?

Fact is, all of the goodness that a bulb needs to bloom and please come spring is right in the bulb itself. However, there are two special products that do provide nutrition to the bulb when it is needed most: when the bulb has finished blooming and the foliage is building up the roots for the upcoming season of blooms.
These two products are:
- bone meal
- Holland Bulb Booster (http://www.vigoro.on.ca/)

Drive over to your favourite bulb supplier this weekend and see for yourself… and check out the selection of Amaryllis bulbs which just arrived. Once again, the newest and the best selection is available early in the selling season.

Keep your knees dirty!

Mark
http://www.markcullen.com/

Nature tells us everything.

Last week I remarked that I had not taken many ‘walks in the woods’ this autumn as I had hoped.
This weekend I began to right the situation.
Mary and I walked to the back of the farm, about a kilometer, to have a look at the small hardwood bush that we have standing back there. I had been cutting up a fallen green ash tree that was 97 years old, as per the number of rings that I counted. Wow. That is a lot of struggling to push through the undergrowth and reaching past its’ fellow hardwood trees for sunlight.
Not to mention that it survived the rigors of wind, thunder and rain, ice and squirrels (just thought that I would throw that in). I believe that the old ash has earned a special place in my woodpile, where it will fuel the fires of our air-tight stove this winter on many a cold evening.

So, we think we know something about competition.
Well, if the trees in the forest could only talk, eh?

We had the large trees on our 10 acre garden fertilized this past week. Jim Mastin of Noble Tree Service remarked that the mulch that my guy Rudy had mounded around the base of the trees was a few inches too deep. You can actually smother a tree to death by covering up the bottom couple of inches of bark on the main trunk.

“Look at what Mother Nature does in the forest, if you want to know how to mulch trees. Note that the leaves on the ground never extend past the flare of the root at the base of the tree” he said.

Standing in our small bush we could see that he is dead on.

This reminds me of something that I have heard and repeated many times, while talking about the principles of great gardening: When in doubt, look to Mother Nature for the answers.

On another topic, I was in Shediac, New Brunswick 2 years ago, about this time, with CTV and Home Hardware. We were celebrating the new backyard improvements of Wilt and Andree: the winners of the $50,000 Ultimate Backyard Makeover contest that we ran last spring.
It is amazing what $50,000 can buy you in outdoor improvements. The winners chose to include an extended deck made of a new composite cedar/plastic material that will never need painting, does not require nails or surface screws and is guaranteed for 25 years. Cool.

The backyard makeover also included a new gazebo, otherwise known as the ‘west nile room’ as it is completely mosquito free. It has electrical service, insulation and double glazed windows too. It is really a ‘3 season’ room. And a great ‘doghouse’ for Wilf for those days when his beloved needs a wide berth. Don’t get me wrong, Wilf seems like a very nice guy and Andree a delightful person who, I am sure is very easy to get along with. But I have learned in 28 years of marriage that we all need our space, from time to time.

I was reminded while in Shediac, where old man winter is inching closer, faster than he is at my home in Stouffville, Ont. Now is the ideal time of year to protect your young fruit trees from rodent damage with one meter long plastic spirals. The enemy in this case consists of mice, rabbits and rats that will find a meal of tree bark on an apple, pear, peach or you name it, including many ornamental trees like crabapples are quite tasty come mid winter.
These critters will get so desperate for sustenance come January that the bark of a tree that is 5 years or younger is mighty tempting indeed. Put your spirals on before the snow seriously gets going in your area.

Upright evergreens need protection from wind and sun. Wrap up in two layers of burlap. Or the newly redesigned Mark’s Choice Mummy Wrap at Home Hardware. (item# 5094-519)

A reminder that rhododendrons and yews (taxus) need to be protected from wind and sun too. The burlap treatment is useful, plus I recommend that you spray them with an anti-desiccant called ‘Wiltpruf’. (item# 5097-806)

Also, this is a good time to feed the birds, if you are not already doing it. Who, after all, does not have an unused bird feeder in the garage or basement? Get to it now, while you still have a chance to influence the choice of feeding stations that your neighbourhood song birds will frequent come mid winter.
Yes, our fine feathered friends are creatures of habit, much like ourselves.
You won’t regret your decision when the snow is lying hip-deep.

Have you winterized your roses yet? A reminder (yes, I mentioned this last week) to get to it before the Grey Cup game, if only to reward yourself by settling down into the couch with a beverage of choice while watching whoever smash up someone else whose name you do not know, unless of course you were watching the CFL before the final game of the season. The point is that wasting some time in front of the tube is your reward for doing something useful in the garden when it is generally not very tempting to be out there doing physical work.

Note that the snow has not really fallen in earnest (i.e. it hasn’t stuck to the ground much) in most parts of the country. You have the opportunity to look out of the window of your favourite room in the house and observe the space in your imagination. Take some snap shots of it in your mind as you imagine how it will look come spring. And summer. And for years to come. Imagine a sequence of colour from one end of the gardening season to the other. Imagine bird song and butterflies. Imagine entertaining guests, “Oh yes, it was nothing really. Just years of planning, digging, weeding, deadheading, extravagant expense and the divorce over it all was just a bump in the road.”
o.k. – don’t get carried away with this.

Just remember the rule, “Look to Mother Nature for cues.”
It works every time.

Keep your knees dirty,

Mark

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas is only a few weeks away and they will be playing this song ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ on the radio until we are very glad that December 26th has rolled around.

I argue that THIS is the most wonderful time of the year because of another miracle: compost.

You may think that I am nuts and you would not be alone. Join the line up right over here behind my kids. Truth is, I am not alone either.

Talk to my friend Lorraine Johnson, with whom I co-wrote a book called The Real Dirt, The Complete Guide to Composting in Canada. It is out of print, but is still used in some post secondary schools as text for the subject. Lorraine is a passionate composter.

So is my friend Susan Antler. She is the executive director of the Composting Council of Canada and while she is very enthusiastic by nature, she reserves her greatest output of exuberance for the subject of composting. http://www.compost.org/


Yes, we are out there. The crazy composting community stretches far and wide across this great land.
So, it is fitting that you do two things this time of year to celebrate the great composting season:
#1. Empty your composter if you have not done it since last fall.
#2. Fill it again.

Empty it.

When you remove the composted material from your composting unit (or pile…) be sure NOT to spread it like salt and pepper all over your yard. Compost is not a condiment. It is the meat in the sandwich. It provides the lifeblood for all plant life in your garden by feeding the micro organisms that support the perennials, annuals, vegetables etc. that you plant out there.

I spread finished compost 3 to 5 cm thick (1 to 2 inches) all over my garden this time of year. In most cases this means that the contents of your composting unit will not go very far. That is o.k. as you can buy more or spread next years’ compost supply over another part of your yard next fall.

Fill it.

Put a shovel full of finished compost in the bottom of the composter. This will help to ‘get the party started’ - in other words, the beneficial bacteria in the compost will initiate the decomposition process.
‘Layer’ your compost beginning with a thick layer (10 to 15 cm, scrunched down) of ‘brown stuff’ – fallen leaves is the #1 brown stuff of choice. You can use shredded newspaper if leaves are scarce in your area.
Next layer is ½ as thick of ‘green stuff’. Finished tomato plants, annuals, grass clippings or kitchen scraps will do the trick.
Continue to alternate a thick layer of ‘brown’ with a ½ layer of ‘green’, pushing the contents into the composting unit as you go to maximize the volume in it.
Add water as you go….. It is only in the presence of moisture that decomposition takes place. Pity the poor people in the desert that try this….
Add Green Earth Compost Accelerator (www.greenearth.ca) every 2 to 3 layers to speed up the decomposition process.
If your composter has a lid, put it on the unit but only if you have pre-moistened the contents! Remember, dry stuff just sits there! If your composter does not have a lid, no worries. I don’t really get the point of the lid anyway, except that it ‘neatens’ up the look of the unit.

Siting your compost.

Position your compost in as much sun as possible and close to the kitchen door, for convenience. You can add compost all winter long, regardless of where you live in Canada. While it will freeze solid in most regions, it will also thaw in time and when it does, the greatest decomposition occurs. The frost ‘rips and tears’ the cell structure of the organics that you place there: the warmth of spring will activate the ‘good guys’ that do the breaking down of the works.

What to put in: Anything organic, providing that it is NOT any of the following:
- meat or meat byproducts
- cat and dog droppings (or any meat eater, for that matter)
- dairy products
- wood, bark, metal or plastic
- weeds that have gone to seed (though, I break this rule all of the time)

The Foot Soldiers arrive!!

Back to the beginning: when you spread finished compost over the surface of your garden you encourage earthworms to come up and pull the compost down into the soil. They eat this stuff; convert it into organic, nitrogen rich earthworm castings that feed the soil. Earthworms also open up the soil, allowing oxygen to flow to the root zone of your plants. (Note: all plants need oxygen at their roots.)

And finally, there is the wonder and awe of watching what WAS something recognizable, like leaves, banana peels and grass clippings, convert into the most useful soil additive ever created. Your plants thrive: they grow faster, resist insects and disease and they produce flowers and fruit like never before. They are happy.

And all you did was organize ‘waste material’ into a pile or composting unit and wait.

THAT is the miracle of compost.

Keep your knees dirty!

Mark

http://www.markcullen.com/

Frost is on the Pumpkins

Well the frost is on the pumpkins now…. The girl at the gas station said that they are calling for snow in Ottawa.
Note to self: contact brother Peter in Kanata and give him a hard time.

Our home in Stouffville Ontario (about one hour north of Toronto) is not immune from the ravages of an early winter.

Snow may be cold and it may remind us of Christmas, but for gardeners it is a great motivator to get those things done that we have been putting off.

The good news is that the first few snow falls generally don’t last. Thank goodness for temperatures above freezing. This is the redemption that nature sends our way after reminding us that winter is coming.

I had been putting off planting the rest of my spring flowering bulbs….. Tulips and crocus are finally put to bed. I would recommend that you do the same, even though technically you can wait with the tulip planting until Christmas. This is only true if you can dig a hole. If the ground is frozen, my experience tells me that you will have trouble.

This is a great week to wrap your upright evergreens. Junipers will benefit from a double layer –one to prevent sun burn (which usually occurs at the end of winter) another to break the wind. No, not that wind. The north and west wind that dries out the foliage and turns it brown. Check out the new Mark’s Choice ‘Mummie Wrap’ for this purpose at Home Hardware (item #5094-519). We improved on the original product by making the width broader.

Broad Leafed Plants.

Same advice for yews and (if you are lucky enough to have any) rhododendrons.
Apply a coat of ‘Wilt-Pruf’ (sorry for the spelling but it is an American product so we don’t need to take credit for some marketing person attempting to be clever here in Canada). This stuff really does work by insulating the moisture inside of the foliage of evergreens while still allowing the foliage to breathe. Wilt-Pruf is effective on boxwood too. And it makes a great Christmas tree preservative. Available at independent garden centres and Home Hardware (item #5097-806).

Fruit trees are very susceptible to rodent damage over winter. Think rats, mice and rabbits primarily. The best deterrent (and easiest to deal with) is to wrap a spiral plastic trunk protector from the bottom up. When you buy these get the biggest ones as the snow can mound deep and rabbits can stand on their hind legs if they really want to make a meal of your fruit tree bark.

Fruit trees only need rodent protection for the first 5 to 7 years or until the circumference of the trunk is about 8 to 10 cm thick. They are not interested in mature bark, just the young stuff.

I know that I have reminded you recently that this is the most important time of year for applying a good quality lawn fertilizer but it IS important. So, this is another reminder.

Indoors I wish to note that the new amaryllis crop is in. Yes, you can find all kinds of great looking amaryllis at garden centres and of course some hardware stores.
The best way to tell if you are buying a good quality amaryllis bulb is to look at the measure of its circumference. If the package indicates that it is smaller than a 26 cm bulb you are buying a small one and you will get small results. Fewer blooms, smaller blooms.

A ‘top sized’ amaryllis bulb is 27cm or bigger. More blooms: bigger blooms. Look for the new top sized Mark’s Choice Amaryllis at Home Hardware (item# 5029-303 red, 5029-304 striped). And yes, you can buy cheaper amaryllis elsewhere: that is not the point. Our competition who sell the undersized bulbs do not have customers sending them pictures of 3 stem plants loaded with up to 12 blooms…. I do.
Keep in mind that there some excellent varieties of amaryllis that are worthy of growing that are small by nature. Look them over and note that many of them are quite expensive (a really large amaryllis or one that is rare can run you $15 to $25).

If you are looking for a broad selection of truly exotic amaryllis go to http://www.gardenimport.com/ and look over Dugald Cameron’s offerings. His bulbs always inspire me.

Christmas Presents!

I buy about 20 amaryllis this time of year and pot them up in new clay pots. I then put them in the basement and water them. It is cool down there and they are slow to grow. Which is what I want as most of them will end up as Christmas gifts. Great for a house warming and much longer lasting than a bottle of wine (though less intoxicating). Your hosts will think of you all winter; mostly in a good way as the show lasts for up to 6 weeks. Late in the winter a lazy gardener may wish that you would just show up and take it away as the leaves are not the most attractive thing. But that is a minor point.

For the ambitious reader I will tell you how to re-bloom your amaryllis in a later blog. Stay tuned.

Much ,much more to come. Gardening is the song that never ends… the tune just keeps changing.

Keep your knees dirty and remember that it ain’t over yet out of doors…even for Prairie gardeners.

Mark
http://www.markcullen.com/

Perennials: Some you cut down, some you leave standing.

The questions about what to cut down in your perennial garden and what to leave standing just keep coming.
I think that we need a ‘rule of thumb’ or something – a guide – so that when you are out there in your garden you can make an intelligent decision, “THIS is getting its head cut off, and this one will stand for the winter.”

Here is the best ‘guide’ that I can come up with:
IF it has a seed head on it that is mature or has not yet matured (one that birds might enjoy chowing down on) – leave it standing.
IF it has a rigid stem and will not blow over in winter winds – leave it standing.
IF it is an ornamental grass (Calamagrostis, Miscanthus, etc.) leave it standing.

However:
IF it has floppy foliage that has already turned yellow or brown and looks poorly in your garden – cut it back and throw the leaves into your compost (e.g. daylilies and peonies).
IF it is ugly and you don’t like the look of it – cut it back.
IF the birds have had their time with the seed heads and there are no seeds left (like with many of my Echinacea) cut it back.
I am including this picture of my front yard as an illustration of what I decided to cut back and not….. Notice that ALL of the Shasta Daisies were cut back to about 5 cm. Some of the blue Veronica was cut back because it was full of an aggressive clematis – gone wild! – And I wanted to comb it out before winter. Other Veronica was left standing because it has seed heads on it that the birds will like.
Truth is there is no harm to cutting herbaceous perennials back to the ground or leaving them standing. I like some left upright for the winter for winter interest. Yes, the snow will fall on them instead of all of it falling on the ground and that can be interesting. Right now you may be thinking that that does not sound too attractive. But you have forgotten how desperate we Canadians become when winter really hits home.

Believe me – we are the people who escape from the indoors at the first sign of spring to hose down the driveway (the garden still has snow on it) and this feels like a trip to Florida.

The only danger of leaving them flat to the ground come spring is that they can rot there and can encourage the same thing to move through the crown or root structure of the plant.

For the most part Mother Nature takes care of the thing.

We are not all that far away from trick-or-treat time and you will likely be acquiring a pumpkin.

This is good. For one, the pumpkin is now our 7th most popular agricultural table crop and farmers need the money. Not that long ago pumpkins were hardly on the radar.

The odd thing is that many Canadians (dare I say, urban ones?) don’t view the pumpkin as a ‘food’ crop at all. I think that many actually believe that it is just another disposable commodity, like disposable diapers and Dixie cups. Truth is a pumpkin is 99% water.

So tell me, why is it that so many of us leave the pumpkin out for the trash pick up, like so much ‘garbage’?

Here is a much better idea: put it in your compost pile or your bin. Cut it up to make it ‘break down’ faster and it will take up much less room there.

Don’t have a compost? O.k. – just leave it on the surface of the soil – anywhere! – But not where the kids will be tempted to pick it up and throw it on the road.

Frost will come and it will go. We will get some thaws and then more frost. Your pumpkin will melt – before your eyes! - And you will be left with a thin – VERY thin – layer of orange pumpkin skin on the soil. You can dig this in come spring or break it up with a hoe.

That is it! You have saved some water from being dumped in the land fill (think of the trucking costs that you will save!) and your soil will be marginally better off for it.

Short list of things to do in the garden:
- Fertilize your lawn – this is the most important application of the year. Use a slow release nitrogen product for best results.
- Cut your lawn (maybe for the last time!) about 2 ½ inches or 6 cm high.
- Dig your carrots, leeks, left over potatoes etc. and store in bushel baskets ½ full of pure, dry sand. Put in your basement or fruit cellar.
- Yank out your annuals and finished veggie plants like tomatoes. Put them in your composter or compost pile.
- Plant Holland tulips and crocus.
- Prune cedar hedges.
- Begin thinking about winterizing your roses that are not of the ‘shrub’ type. Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Floribundas etc. will need about 50 cm (1 ½ feet) of fresh triple mix piled up from the bottom. If you live on the Prairies, now is a good time to do this. In central Canada and the Maritimes the best time is just before the Grey Cup game – the game is your reward for doing the job!
- Clean and sharpen your lawn mower before you put it away.

More next week folks!
Enjoy the harvest season ….. We can see the end of it on the horizon so get out and breathe deep!

Keep your knees dirty,

Mark

A Final Fall Checklist as Winter Approaches

Here in my zone 5 garden we have turned a significant page in the gardening year. Last night we experienced our first killing frost. Luckily I put bed sheets over my tropicals: the hibiscus will bloom another day. The bananas are not so lucky as they are too big to drape sheets over them. The frost has done some damage but nothing permanent, according to Rudy, my right hand man. He is a native of the island of Grenada and knows his bananas. By next spring they will be good as new, he tells me. All of this activity draws to our attention the fact that we are well into the autumn season, regardless of what growing zone you happen to live in. That means that we need to be thinking of the jobs that are ahead of us that must be done before the really cold winter arrives. Winter (oh how I hate to use the ‘w’ word already!) is a wall for gardeners: miss the deadline that it conveniently provides and bingo, your garden is susceptible to goodness knows what. Rabbits, mice, frost, freeze/thaw cycles. They play their role in challenging the gardener to sharpen our focus on the issues that really matter.
- Putting the spiral plastic collars on young fruit trees to protect them from rodent damage.
- Spraying the broad-leafed evergreens with Wiltpruf (an anti-desiccant) to prevent the drying effects of winter wind.
- Fertilizing your lawn for the last time with CIL Winterizer (the most important application of the year).
- Sharpening the lawn mower, cleaning out the cutting deck and changing the oil: draining it of gas, after the last cut.
- Wiping down all of your digging and cutting tools with an oily cloth.
- Finally (I leave this to the end) hilling up the roses for winter to prevent damage from freeze/thaw cycles.

All of this provides a gentle reminder that now is a great time to plant spring colour in the form of spring flowering bulbs. Don’t do it now and you could be in for a dull early spring. Do it now and the colour that results will put a spring in your step, a smile on your face; it will lighten your burden and remind you that winter was just a necessary stop in our annual journey around the calendar. Without it we would not appreciate the beauty of spring nearly so much.
Keep your knees dirty.

Mark

http://www.markcullen.com/

No one could have predicted 5 years ago where the ‘local food’ movement would go. Or that there would even be a ‘local food movement’! For Canadian gardeners the idea of eating food that is grown within 100 miles/kilometers or meters from home is very exciting. Perhaps the very message of eating locally grown fruits and veggies is preaching to the choir – but in any case – gardeners are fully on board, you can be sure.

The benefits of eating locally produced food cannot be overstated: generally fewer chemicals (or none at all!) are needed to produce great food that does not have to endure long distances to get to market, it tastes better, is better for you and it supports the local economy.

I might add that growing your own food is a great way to bring people together too. It is a poorly kept secret that gardeners are generous with information. Ask an experienced gardener how to grow most anything and you will gain the benefit of his or her knowledge without prodding. Conversation flows between gardeners with a shared interest in food gardening. In short you could say that the activity of gardening cures shyness!

As you gather round the Thanksgiving table next week, give the abundance of Canadian gardens some thought.

And be thankful that we live in a country where our soil and climate generally lends itself to feeding the nation. Right from our own backyards.

As we focus on the harvest and the success of our crop

s, let us not forget the beauty of these edible plants. Growing food plants in the garden provides us with sustenance – to be sure. But have you thought about feeding the soul with food plants? Put another way, the ‘look’ of food plants can provide an appearance that draws people into your garden just as a flowering shrub or flowering perennial can. Truth is, there is a lot of colour in the new Swiss Chard varieties that anyone will find attractive. Not to mention the textured blue leaves of a Savoy Cabbage (how are they any different from a large leafed Hosta, from this point of view?), the fine leaves of a carrot could be mistaken for a fern (in the sun, no less!), the flowers of your runner beans are as ornamental as a clematis, when you get down to it.

You get the point.

Of course, this is coming from a guy who prefers to travel the back roads of the country vs. highways so that I can get a look at many of the fine vegetable gardens on Canadian farms and rural properties. To me, the straight rows of edibles equal the vision of a flowering perennial garden. The look is different, to be sure. But given that much of the food that we eat comes from the garden, our appreciation for the sight of it should be deeper.

Mark Cullen

Goodbye September, Hello Fall!

Any semblance of ‘summer’ is about to slip between the tines of my manure fork. September is on its way out the garden gate and I still have lots that I want to do in the garden. For one, I have not started to plant any fall ‘Holland’ bulbs. And I am not worried.

There is about 6 weeks in my zone 5 garden to wrap things up before the winter wind blows and I batten down the hatches for 4 months of bad hockey (you guessed it, I am a Leafs fan!). For the next month and a half I have to move quickly to get all the stuff done that I want to do out there in the yard and garden: time to make a list.

For this week:
- Get a start on bulb planting. Daffodils and narcissus like to be planted ‘early’ in the fall season vs. hyacinths and tulips which are simply not very fussy about when you plant them. When my Dad was a garden retailer he would bring home all of the left over tulips the week before Christmas and they reliably put on a great show come spring.

- If you have been feeding the hummingbirds, be sure to bring in and wash out your feeders after the first frost as you do not want to encourage the little hummers to stick around.
- Pick the remaining tomatoes and put them in a cool, well ventilated place. Notice that I did not say put them on the kitchen window sill: though, that would be fine if you want a convenient place to inspect them daily. They will ripen faster up there, to be sure. But be sure to save some for eating later – the later you can enjoy them the more you will enjoy them.
- Peppers, basil, corn and beans need to be harvested before the first frost.
- Brussels sprouts (you can actually eat these?) ‘improve’ with frost as does savory cabbage, leeks and most ‘brassicas’ – i.e. ‘gassy’ vegetables.
- Plant trees, shrubs and evergreens now. Such a great time of year to do it! They put down roots this time of year to support new growth come spring and often you will find good quality stock on sale as retailers like to move their plants now.

- Build a deck, stain the tool shed, etc. Before it gets too cold and wet.
- Mulch perennials and shrubs with bark mulch to protect them over the winter. A 5 or 6 cm layer over the roots will do the trick.
- If you have finished compost in your composter now is a great time of year to clean it out and spread the compost on the surface of the soil of your veggie or flower garden. No need to dig it in as the earth worms will do that for you before you plant next spring.
- Prepare to fill the composter with 4/5 fallen/shredded leaves and 1/5 ‘green’ stuff like the finished tomato plants and petunias and the like. This will get the microbial activity going.

That should do it for the week. Next week we can begin thinking about what to do with the fallen leaves, the cut down perennials (if you are cutting them down at all), the finished annuals, etc. I will explain.

In the mean time enjoy the temperature and the wonderful ‘harvest’ time of year. Visit a local farmers market and buy up lots of produce while it is cheap to store at home.

Until then, keep your knees dirty.

Mark

http://www.markcullen.com/

Home for the Harvest

“Seeds men reckon that their stock in trade is not seeds at all – it’s optimism”
~ Geoff Hamilton

Autumn breezes. Autumn frost.

A few ‘blogs’ ago I talked about all of the wonderful, redeeming features of the ‘harvest’ month in the Canadian garden.

You must think I am nuts.

Soon it will be Thanksgiving weekend and the kids are home from University and we are going to enjoy the finest turkey since, well, since last Thanksgiving.

Giving thanks for the bounty of our great land is reason enough to talk about the harvest. Let’s start with the frost tender stuff:

Tomatoes
Peppers
Cucumbers
Eggplant and the like.

If you are lucky enough to have some ripened ‘fruit’ in your veggie garden, you would be well advised to go pick it. Now. Don’t even finish this blog. If you don’t pick it and use it right away the birds will. Or it will rot.

Pick the unripe fruits too.
Immature peppers? They are just as good as the big ones, only smaller. Better still, ‘can’ them or ‘put them up’ in mason jars

Small cucumbers? Pickle them.
Egg plants? Mix with your ripe tomatoes for fabulous pesto sauce. BBQ them.

As for the frost ‘hardy’ stuff, no panic.

But truth is your winter squash, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots etc. have reached their peek. There is little advantage to putting off the harvest now.

What to do with:

Carrots: as winter draws close dig all of the keepers and ‘replant’ in bushel baskets 2/3 full of clean, sharp sand (not beach sand) put in your garage until hard freezeup, using them as you please. Before they freeze hard in the damp sand, place them in the coolest part of your basement.

Potatoes: Cool storage (14 – 18 degrees C) dark and dry. The cold cellar seldom works as it is too damp.

Cabbage and Kale: cool as you can get it: without freezing. Your garage or shed works until hard frost occurs, when you will move them into the cellar. Keep your eye on them for signs of rot… roll them over every week to keep the bottom side from rotting.

Onions. Braid them if you can. Place in a cool, dark and dry place. Hanging them works best of all.

Leeks. Actually improve in flavour with late frost. Dig soon though, to avoid rotting. Either make potato/leek soup for the freezer or just puree the leeks for later use with potatoes. Store in the freezer.

There is a theme here – ‘cellar’ or ‘basement’. This is your autumn work out. As you go up and down those steps be sure to give thanks. We live in the greatest country on earth. If there is any doubt, imagine life without a harvest.

Eat well. Stay well.

And keep your knees dirty.

Mark
www.markcullen.com

Save money, save the planet: save seeds!

You planted them. You watered and nurtured them to maturity. Now, why not harvest them?

This is the best time of year to collect seeds from your favourite plants: clean them, sort them and save them for planting next year. For many of the plants in your garden, this is easy and great fun.

Annuals that will reproduce nicely from seed gathered from your garden include zinnias, many marigolds, portulaca (which self-sows at my place!), cosmos, 4 o’clock, euphorbia, some nicotiana, sunflowers and virtually all of the large seeded varieties that are not hybrids. The hybridized annuals that you planted this spring will not reproduce true in colour or growth habit to their parent plant. However, sometimes the results are interesting!

Vegetables that produce well from garden seed include beans, tomatoes, peas: most all ‘large seeded’ plants. The ‘hybrid rule’ mentioned above still applies.

My favourite perennials from garden seed include the native Echinacea, some rudbeckia, Russian Sage, Bee Balm (Monarda) and, once again, most of the large seeded plants that are not hybridized.

What to do:

1. Let them mature. The whole reason – the ONLY reason from the plants’ point of view – that a plant produces a bloom is to produce seed. And the only reason that it produces seed is to reproduce. It is a basic law of nature: plants, like animals, have an inherent need to multiply or, at least, to perpetuate the species.

2. Remove when dry. After the seed has dried (and before the birds eat it), remove the seed head (the finished blossom) from the plant and bring it indoors. Remove the seeds from the seed head or pod and place them on a screen or in a ceramic saucer. Do not use a paper towel as they will stick to it.

3. Place is a sunny window for 7 to 10 days.

4. Put the seed in an envelope, label it carefully (don’t skip this step or you will regret it next season…) and place in a tightly sealed jar.

5. Store in a cold cellar or in the veggie crisper in your fridge.

6. Most perennial seeds can be stored for a long time in the freezer. I do not recommend this for annual or vegetable seeds, though you can experiment with some and you may be surprised at the germination rate of the ‘frozen’ ones come spring.

How do you know when seed is ‘viable’ (will germinate)?

Place a few seeds in a glass of water and let stand over night. The seeds that are floating in the morning are the duds, the ones on the bottom of the glass are the viable ones. You can also do this experiment with pre-moistened paper towel by rolling the seeds up in the towel, keeping it wet for 7 to 10 days and unrolling it to see how many have germinated.

The ‘germination test’ is a good way of determining the % of seeds that will grow and therefore how densely you should sow them come late winter/early spring.

You can learn more at http://www.markcullen.com/, www.primalseeds.org/seedsaving and www.seedsave.org/issi/issi

Keep your knees dirty!

Mark
http://www.markcullen.com/