Category Archives: Vegetable Gardening

Garden Design, Perennials, Planting, Shrubs & Trees, Soil, Vegetable Gardening

Garden Seminars & Workshops: Every Gardener’s Should-Do List

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By Lee Edwards, Master Gardener

As Gardeners, we already know that gardening has many benefits including improving our health and connecting us with nature, to name just a few.  That said, did you know that attending gardening seminars and workshops can also improve your health- brain gain, ramp up your gardening skills, get you out meeting others with similar interests, and increase your communication abilities?  Even more, seminars and workshops add new ideas to your horticultural know-how, empower your confidence in gardening, and help to propel you to new gardening heights.

So, what does a gardening seminar or workshop look like?  Well, unlike lectures, they tend to be short, interesting, educational talks or demonstrations usually featuring a speaker engaged with a small group of attendees focused on garden topics of interest to the attendees.  During the event attendees typically get the opportunity to ask questions, participate in hands-on activities if any, learn something new, connect with speakers and increase their existing knowledge.

Indeed, during the cold winter as outdoor gardening slows down, attending a garden seminar or workshop is a great way to break up the long winter months away from the garden while remaining involved in garden goings-on and being amongst gardening enthusiasts.  The lively energy and creative atmosphere that permeates these events are infectious to everyone, worth the time and fee to attend, not to mention downright fun most-times.  Truly, garden seminars and workshops should be on every gardener’s yearly to-do list.  If you’ve never been to a garden seminar or workshop, now may be the time to try one, to investment in yourself, inspire your creative growth and add to your gardening knowledge.

Did you know that the Peterborough & Area Master Gardeners annually present a wonderfully fun and informative gardening seminar called “A Day for Gardeners?”

2019 Save the Date

A Day For Gardeners Seminars by Peterborough & Area Master Gardeners

A day of fun, friendship, food and learning.  Select 3 of 6 seminars presented by Master Gardeners and speakers on topics of interest to both new and experienced gardeners.

Date:   Saturday, March 2nd, 2019
Place:  Activity Haven Centre – 180 Barnardo Ave, Peterborough, ON K9H 5V3
Time:  10:00am – 3:00pm
Price:   $35 – EARLY BIRD (register and pay by February 2nd, 2019)
$40 – after February 2nd.
Includes lunch.  Walk-ins on day of seminars are welcome if room is available.

Have Fun Gardening!

 

Vegetable Gardening

Protecting my Tomatoes

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By Judy Bernard, Master Gardener

I love tomatoes, especially the ones I can pick fresh from the vine.

Last week I was anxiously awaiting my first tomato. I could see it slowly ripening. Two or three more days and it would be perfect. When I went to pick it, it had small bite marks in it. I feel the most likely culprit is a chipmunk. The bite sizes were about right.

I read somewhere that  old rose canes cut into short pieces 5-10cm sprinkled on the ground will keep cats from digging in the garden. Maybe they will deter chipmunks so  I put them around my tomato plants. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will work.tomatoes-879441_640

I’ve also seen large bites taken out of the tomato. They were deer size. To keep them away, I’ve put plastic webbing around my tomatoes, making sure none were within easy reach.

Slugs also like to eat ripening tomatoes. I went outside with my flashlight one night last year and the tomatoes, the ones that were just the right colour, were covered with slugs. This year, I’ve been collecting my egg shells to mash up fine. They’re going to be spread on the ground around the tomato plants hoping to keep the slugs off. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

The tomato plants in my raised beds 60-70cm high haven’t seen any critter damage (yet). I’ve also got a couple of plants that came up from seed that aren’t protected. I’m willing to share and hopefully the other plants will come through unscathed.

Fruits, Vegetable Gardening

Back to the Garden…

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By Vince Picchiello, Master Gardener in Training

It wasn’t long ago that Joni Mitchell sang about making it to Woodstock. In these last few years though, there is a more serious and vibrant movement when the subject turns to the foods we eat and their genetic composition. Additionally, there are real concerns about the lack of nutrition and vitamins that exist in many of the fruits and vegetables that we purchase at our local supermarkets what with the deteriorating state of soils that are infested with herbicides and pesticides. Hence, the return to our own gardens for fresh organic fruits and vegetables.

First and foremost of concern is the introduction of foods that are Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO’s. Genetically modified foods are organisms that have had their characteristics changed through the modification of their own DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). GMO’s have had their genomes (organisms that contain the complete set of genetic instructions) changed in a way that doesn’t happen naturally.banner4-min

In the United States, in large scale agricultural crops, at least 90% of soy, cotton, canola, corn and sugar beets have been genetically engineered. In Canada, canola, soy beans, corn and sugar beet are crops that are genetically modified. However, most of these foods are exported. The lingering issue is whether these foods have any health issues now or in the future. The Center for Food Safety is of the opinion that not enough information has been gathered to deem these foods safe for consumption in the long term. Regardless of the debates, there is an awakening among consumers of the foods we eat.

Obviously, not everyone has access to a garden and some only have room for container plants but the awareness arises from the quality and certainty of the foods we eat. It becomes about choices. We can choose to shop at our local farmers markets whereby we can engage directly with the lovely people who sell their foods. We can ask about farming techniques; whether they use pesticides or herbicides, whether their soil is certified organic or if they use GMOs. Alternatively, for those of us blessed with space on our properties we can slowly begin to amend our soils and start our own self-sustaining journey.

Not to be forgotten through this movement to the garden is our choice of using heirloom seeds in order to preserve some of our declining specimens of fruits and vegetables that have been marginalized by corporate “farmers” in their quest for profitable crops.

Finally, not only is gardening a rewarding endeavour that enhances our health, it attracts nature with the butterflies and bees and the multitude of insects that cultivate our soils, ultimately we get to enjoy the fruits of our labour with pure authentic produce. Back to the garden is a reality that is picking up steam. Why not join us!

Annuals, Perennials, Vegetable Gardening

Summer Deadheading

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by Christine Freeburn, Master Gardener

After spring cleaning in your garden, when you have been weeding and digging and transplanting and prepping flower beds, July gives you time to really enjoy your gardens. But don’t spend all your time sitting in your muskoka chair admiring all your work. Deadheading perennials and annuals keeps them neat and tidy and in many instances, brings back more blooms.

The definition of deadheading from Barron’s Complete Gardener’s Dictionary states “Removing spent blooms before they form seeds. This tends to lengthen bloom season because it encourages many plants to produce more flower buds.”

Deadheading Annualsdeadheading

When taking spent blooms off most annuals, don’t just snap off the blossom. Follow the stem right down to where it meets another branch and break it there. Otherwise you will leave on a stem that will just turn brown and be ugly. Annuals like geraniums, large petunias, marigolds, daisies, and cosmos to name a few, will continue to produce more flowers if they are regularly deadheaded. When plants like alyssum, diascia, bacopa and other trailers have lots of dead blooms, use scissors to trim back, removing the dead parts like giving a hair trim. Coleus grow seed heads which should be broken off to encourage more leaf growth. Most annuals will love it when you cut them back and will bloom again looking bushier and healthier.

In the Perennial Gardensharleenpratt

Perennials also benefit from deadheading. Again, do not just cut off the spent flower head, but go down the stem. If the flowers are en masse, like creeping thyme, take a pair of grass shears and give the plant a hair cut to make it neater. Deadheading also stops unwanted seeds from dropping to the earth and reseeding where you don’t want them.

In the Vegetable Garden

In your vegetable garden, you may want to leave on those peas and beans that got away on you and have become over ripe. You can let these seed pods dry out and ‘harvest’ those seeds to plant next season. Peas plants are a great source of nitrogen, so you can leave them in your garden to die back naturally before you compost, allowing the nutrient to go back into the soil.

When you keep up with the removal of spent blooms, you keep your garden looking tidier, don’t invite disease from rotting blossoms and spread out the fall clean up.

So, grab your wine glass in one hand and get close and personal in your garden to deadhead.

Compost, Soil, Vegetable Gardening

Trench or “Hole” Composting

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By Suzanne Seryck,  Peterborough Master Gardener

After squirrels chewed through my black plastic compost bins 2 years in a row, I decided it was time to try something new. Trench or hole composting is a relatively simple, easy and cheap way to compost kitchen and yard waste. The plants are fed at the roots, where they need it the most, producing healthier plants with strong root systems.

The rules of what materials you can compost using this method are similar to that of a compost bin or pile:

  • Dead leaves
  • Kitchen Scraps
  • Newsprint
  • Coffee Grounds
  • Paper
  • Fresh Garden Waste
  • Wood chips
  • Vegetable waste
  • Corrugated cardboard
  • Fresh grass clippings
  • Sawdust
  • Manure
  • Corn Stalks
  • Hay
  • Dry Straw

For more information on what to use look at this Planet Natural article

In just 2 years of composting using this method I have already noticed a difference in the health of my soil, my plants and especially in the number of earth worms.

Trench composting works well in larger vegetable gardens and involves digging a trench approximately 12 to 18 inches deep, filling it with roughly 4 to 6 inches of yard waste and/or kitchen scraps and then back filling with the soil you removed. Trenches can be used either in a rotation cycle, where you would divide the garden into zones, an actively growing zone, a path and a trench composting zone. Each year you would rotate the zones, allowing you to compost the whole vegetable garden in 3 years. The second method is to dig trenches in between the vegetable rows, this method works well if you grow your vegetables in evenly spaced rows. Over time as everything breaks down the compost will then nourish the plants nearby.

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However for my small city garden, I found the trench composting system did not work well. I don’t plant in rows and whilst I do practice crop rotation (which is a method of rotating your crops each year to manage soil fertility and help control pests and diseases) I like to use almost every available space in my vegetable garden. Instead I practice “Hole composting”, which works in all types of garden, vegetable, perennial and shrub, just about anywhere where you can dig a 12 to 18 inch hole.

It is especially good if you do not have room for a composter or do not have a sunny location to place a compost bin or pile. Basically you dig a hole, put in the kitchen and/or yard waste, again about 4 to 6 inches and fill the hole in. It really does not get any easier than that. Over time the waste is turned into decomposed organic matter or humus along with millions of microorganisms and there is nothing better for your plants. This type of composting is invisible, does not produce odours, takes very little effort (you don’t have to turn and layer as you would using a compost pile), it costs nothing, and you don’t have to buy other soil amendments or plant fertilizers.

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During the active growing season, I dig holes in my perennial garden and bury my kitchen and yard waste. However, in the fall after I harvest the vegetables I also practice this in my vegetable garden, in particular the areas where I have grown heavy feeders, like corn or squash. The following spring most of the material has decomposed and you are ready to plant. In just 2 years of composting using this method I have already noticed a difference in the health of my soil, my plants and especially in the number of earth worms.

Additional information on trench or hole composting here

 

Annuals, Perennials, Seeds, Soil, Vegetable Gardening

Frost Dates and Pushing the Limits

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By Chris Freeburn, Master Gardener

Many of us have grown up with the rule of planting the vegetable garden on Victoria Day (May 24th) long weekend. With the changing weather, hardier plants and stretching the limits, we have realized that many plants can go into the ground well before that date, while others do need the soil to be warmer.spinach-3368254_640

Cool Weather Crops

Cold weather crops like lettuce, spinach, pea, beet and carrot seeds can be planted well before that mystical date. They actually like a cooler temperature to germinate. If you plant them the first week of May, you should have sprouts coming up by the time you plant other seeds.

Warm Weather Crops

Ground temperatures need to be warm for beans and cucurbits such as squash, pumpkin, cucumber and zucchini. Mid May to early June is probably best for putting actual plants in the ground, if you are in an area that does not get frost. Check your weather network for overnight lows. If the temperatures drop and the night sky is clear, chances of frost are better than on a cloudy night. If the air is still, colder air will settle close to the ground and damage plants. If your property is on a slope or higher ground, the cold air will settle around you in the valleys and you may not be touched by a light frost. Being closer to water often draws the cooler air away. If you have planted tomatoes and peppers and there is a frost warning, go out and cover your tender plants with sheets.

Basil and cilantro do not like cool nights, so leave these tender herbs in pots to bring in overnight or do not plant until June.

Annuals

pansy-3373732_640Some annuals such as pansies, dusty miller and english daisies are cold tolerant while others like potato vine and impatiens do not like temperature changes. Do not plant the latter 2 choices into the ground until all danger of frost has passed and the soil temperature has warmed. If the nights temperatures are dropping, bring your pots into your garage or cover with an old sheet to protect.

Perennials

Perennials have survived the winter frozen in the ground so a bit of frost will not hurt them. If you are buying perennials that have been grown and forced in a hot greenhouse, they will need to be pampered by slowly introducing them to seasonal temperatures. This is called hardening off. To harden off any plants that have been living in a warm greenhouse, put them outside in a shady area, protected from the wind for a few hours over several days. Bring them back into the warmth of your home or heated garage for the night. Increase the number of hours they are outside each day, until they are used to the outside temperatures.

According to the Farmers Almanac, the last frost date for Peterborough is May 14th, however the full moon is on the 28th. If the night of the full moon is clear and cool, we could see frost. Beware!

Annuals, Compost, Links, Soil, Vegetable Gardening

Preparing your garden beds for planting vegetables and annuals

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By Judy Bernard, Master Gardener

It’s spring. You’ve got a lot of the clean-up well underway. You’re starting to look at your annual and vegetable beds to get them ready for bedding plants and seeds.

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If you work the soil too early, it could be too wet and end up compacted. To test if it is time to prepare the soil, pick up a hand full and squeeze it into a ball. Then drop the ball from a height of about a meter or break it up with your fingers. If it shatters readily then it is ready to be worked. If it stays in clumps, then it is too wet and you need to wait a bit.

Can’t wait? Use a large flat board or two to step on. Move them around as you work. The board will distribute your weight and not compact the soil as much.

Remove any weeds that have sprouted over the winter.

If the soil is nice and light and easy to dig into, then all you need to do is add a good layer of compost and let the worms in the soil do the mixing for you. A healthy soil is moist, dark and crumbly with lots of organic matter. Compost is is full of all of the the nutrients the plants need which are released as the plants need them.fresh-2386786_640

Mulch the soil with some straw for the vegetable beds or shredded bark for the flower beds. This will discourage weeds and conserve moisture in the soil until it is time to plant. All you will need to do is to pull the mulch back, plant your plants, and put the mulch back in place.

For more information about soil check out this site:
https://www.planetnatural.com/garden-soil/

Happy Gardening!

Children, Perennials, Seeds, Soil, Vegetable Gardening

Benefits of Gardening for Kids

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By Amy Woodward, Master Gardener

Spring is upon us and summer is fast approaching…what a great time to introduce children to gardening.  During the spring, children can start planting seeds indoors or plant cool weather crops outdoors.  In the summer children can continue to plant and maintain the garden.  During the fall children can harvest and enjoy what has been sown.amy

As I child I can remember countless hours spent outside in the garden.  In this electronic age, many kids spend time indoors hidden behind a screen or television.  This summer, encourage your kids to limit the amount of screen time and get outdoors and try gardening.  Gardening is a healthy, fun activity that has many benefits for kids.  I would encourage anyone who has considered planting a garden with children to do so.

Why kids should garden:

  • Creates more family time
  • Reduces stress
  • Encourages children to eat more vegetables
  • It is educational & healthy
  • It is good exercise
  • Helps reduce waste
  • Teaches responsibility

Getting Children Interested in Gardening:pansy-2173208_640

  • Give children their own space such as a square foot garden or their own container
  • Supply children with their own tools
  • Plant flowers that attract insects
  • Grow interesting plants
  • Promote composting

Gardening activities:

  • Convert a sandbox into a garden
  • Set up a worm farm or make a bat house
  • Use eggshells to grown plants in
  • Plant in old rain boots
  • Make garden markers from rocks
  • Create a fairy garden
  • Make a small greenhouse

Recommended Gardening activities for kid’s websites:

https://kidsgardening.org/garden-activities/

https://www.kcedventures.com/gardening-with-kids

https://www.parenting.com/family-time/activities/10-inspired-gardening-projects-kids

Links, Seeds, Soil, Vegetable Gardening

Seeds: All of the Dirt

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By Judy Bernard, Master Gardener

Spring is almost here!

rucola-salad-plant-leaf
Home gardening by Kaboompics, 2015, used under CC0 1.0.

The seed catalogues have arrived and been perused. Seed varieties have been chosen and ordered. Or not. It’s not too late. It’s almost never too late to buy and plant seeds as different things can be planted almost throughout the growing season.

In addition to Canadian gardening catalogues, you can buy seeds at hardware stores and garden centres. If you are looking for something different, Seedy Saturday or Seedy Sunday is a good option. In Peterborough, it is held on the second Sunday in March at the Emmanuel United (formerly George Street United) Church basement. Many local growers grow their own seeds including many heritage varieties and share/sell the extras they don’t need. There is also the Peterborough Garden Show in April where you can buy seeds not generally available elsewhere.

Let’s get started:

You can buy soil specially prepared for starting seeds. It had the best texture for small seeds to be able to put down roots. The soil should be damp like a wrung-out sponge. Using clean containers, fill them with the potting soil. Read the package carefully for the needs of the seeds. Label your seeds carefully so you will know what you are growing.

Spread the seeds on top of the soil, and then add a dusting of the soil mixture using a sieve to the recommended depth on the package for small seeds. Larger seeds can be pushed gently into the soil. Gently pat the soil, so the seeds are in good contact with the soil. Spray the top of the soil with water. Place a plastic cover lightly over the seeds, allowing for some air circulation.

Some seeds need light to germinate, others don’t. Again, follow the directions. Seeds germinate best with a little heat. The top of the refrigerator is a good place to put them. Once the seeds have their second pair of leaves they can be transplanted into bigger containers. The nice thing about starting seeds indoors is that it can extend the growing season for you and give you many vegetables (or flowers) earlier than you would otherwise have if you just planted them directly. Other plants like tomatoes and peppers need to be started early as they have a longer growing season for them to mature before frost takes them.

Here are some interesting websites which including Starting and Planting calendars:
http://littlecityfarm.blogspot.ca/2011/01/annual-seed-starting-planting-calendar.html

http://espacepourlavie.ca/en/seeding-and-planting-calendar-vegetables

https://www.almanac.com/content/starting-seeds-indoors

Bees & Pollinators, Compost, Garden Design, Vegetable Gardening

The Evolution of Gardening

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By Amy Woodward, Peterborough Master Gardener

Last year I went to the Master Gardener Technical Update at Toronto Botanical Gardens.  One of the keynote speakers was Mark Cullen and he was discussing how Canadian Gardening has evolved.  The way we garden is constantly changing by utilizing small spaces, composting and appreciating insects and the natural environment.

Gardening Spaces

Many in urban areas are limited to the space they can garden in.  There are numerous examples of minimal space gardens such as in apartments, community allotments, rental properties and new homes with smaller yards.  A change in my gardening pattern has been from the old fashion long vegetable rows to square foot gardening.   Mel Bartholomew, creator of square foot gardening, was disenchanted with long rows that took up too much space and involved too much weeding.  He came up with the square foot method of gardening that takes up much less space, less weeding and minimal maintenance.  This method is very popular amongst our Master Gardener Organization and for those short on space.  Other approaches to limited space are container gardening, rooftop gardening and lasagna layering.

Composting

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Leaves 1789120 by pixel2013, 2016, used under CC0 1.0

 

Although composting has been around for many years, we have seen changes in the way people compost.  For instance, in the past, leaves were known as a nuisance and people would rake them, bag them and wait for the municipality to pick them up.  Now it is recognized that leaves are a great addition to the compost pile.  Leaves are rich in carbon and balance out nitrogen rich green material.  You can also use leaves as mulch.  Simply rake leaves onto the garden and the leaves will keep the moisture in and weeds out.  Leafs are also used to improve soil texture and encourage earth worms to reside there.

Pollinators

 

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Nature 3076891 by hettyvanderzanden, 2015, used under CC0 1.0 

The public is now more educated and interested in how to save native pollinators such as flies, wasps, beetles, birds, butterflies and most importantly bees. Unfortunately, pollinator populations are decreasing.  A number of steps have been adopted to protect pollinators including choosing native plants, planting milkweed, decreasing pesticides and installing insect hotels.  The critical role that pollinators play is why the public is so concerned and methods of gardening are changing.

 

 

Overall, gardening continues to change and evolve.  It will be interesting to see what our future has in store for us.