The winter seems to drag on and on this time of year for the avid gardeners in Southern Ontario who can hardly wait to get outside to work at one of their favorite hobbies. But don’t despair, there is a very pleasant way to extend our all too short growing season by starting your own
If you were told that beaver, bees, an oak tree and a purple sea star were keystone species, you might wonder, “What does that mean?” Simply stated, this means that each of these species fills a critical niche in its ecosystem which no other species can. This makes them vital to the function of the
Now that the days are getting shorter and cooler, it’s time to think about bringing some herbs inside for the winter. What herbs make the best candidates for coming inside? I bring in tender plants that would not survive outdoors such as rosemary and lemon verbena. I also bring in the fresh herbs I like
Your first job would be to decide if your flowering deciduous shrub needs pruning, You will need to step back and look at your shrub and determine what kind of look do you want. Do you want a compact, bushier, one that produces more flowers, blooms longer, or a shrub that has a more natural
Here are a few guidelines to follow when pruning deciduous trees. The tools needed to properly prune trees are a pair of sharp bypass pruners, a pair of loppers for thicker branches, and a pruning saw for larger branches. Tools should be sharp to prevent ragged cuts. The ideal time to prune trees is in
In the past, the idea of ‘putting the garden to bed’ for winter meant cutting everything down, pulling out all the annuals, raking every leaf and disposing of them off-site, spreading a load of compost on the beds and labouring to work it into the earth. Too much work! Here’s an environmentally friendly alternative: wait