Calgary Garden Coach

swamped!

If you've sent me an email in the last few days, I promise to reply in the next few days!

espaliered apple trees in 'England' - check!

Things don't happen very fast around my garden.  Last week-end I finally got around to putting some wire up, and starting to espalier these young, dwarf apple trees along the side of the edible garden area that my family calls 'England' (I know, you can barely see them!  They'll look better when they're leafed out.)  But my point is, this was a long time coming:

3 years ago in March 2009, I posted this sketch showing my idea for espaliered trees and raised beds along the fence:

Then in August 2010 we built some raised beds in the middle of the area, which is a former RV parking pad:

...and last summer we had our first real veggie garden since we moved to this house, and finally I planted the little baby dwarf apple trees last fall.

You can go to the Edible Gardens section of this blog and scroll down if you'd like to see how this garden has progressed over the years. I still have several things to get done, including building more raised beds between the trees against the fence, planting more groundcovers around and between the stepping stones, and maybe even adding a decoration or two to the fence. 

So my second point is, if the idea of transforming your yard into a place of beauty and bounty is feeling a little overwhelming, remember that you don't have to do it all in one year.  But it is good to have a plan!

 

Calgary Garden Coach's February 2012 garden to-do list

This weather has been great for getting outside!  What with the warm weather, and the new space opened up in my front yard, I can't help starting to think about gardening!  Believe it or not, there is plenty you can do in February in Calgary.

Garden planning

I've already written about my plans for the patio I need to build in front of the new trellis, and the front yard entry garden I will be planting this year.  For more articles on gardening planning from my archives, try:

• How do I get rid of my lawn?
• How to make a large, new perennial garden on a budget.
• Garden planning: front yard garden design.
• My favourite plants for a sunny, low-maintenance front yard garden.
• What can you do in a Calgary zone 3 garden in mid-March?

Seeds and Vegetables

• I've almost finished my seed shopping but it's not too late to start if you haven't yet!
• Stifle the urge to start seeds too early.  Look at the package for recommendations regarding how long before the last frost date (May 23, for us Calgarians) to start seeds and calculate backwards. Organize seeds packs according to planting date.
• See my previous posts: vegetable gardening in Calgary 101, and  when to plant vegetable seeds in Calgary
• I am trying a few slower-growing plants this year so will be starting iceland poppy 'solar fire', salvia 'marble arch', and bunny tail (lagurus) indoors sometime this month.
• See this post on how to winter sow for an alternative, zero-energy, low-maintenance way to start seeds.

Houseplants

•  with the days getting longer, house plants are starting to wake up now.  I'll gradually increase watering and start light fertilizing of houseplants next month.

Trees and Shrubs

• Right now is prime pruning time for most deciduous trees and shrubs (but not spring-blooming shrubs such as lilacs!)  I plan to get outside this week-end to do a little pruning of overgrown branches here and there. 

• February (and March) are good times to prune.

• I don't get the prune-shrubs-into-a-ball-shape thing.
• Since I keep my shrubs in a natural form, pruning mostly involves cutting back a few older or overgrown branches at ground level and doing some minor re-shaping each year.  See this post on thinning and rejuvenating shrubs.

 

If you would like a beautiful and successful garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

spreading compost - the single best thing you can do for your garden

 

I can't tell you how many garden consults I did this year where people complained "My plants just don't seem to be doing very well.  I want a more lush look."  In particular, I had a lot of clients who had their gardens professionally landscaped 2-4 years ago and are not happy with the performance of their plants.  When I ask them what they do to fertilize, they say "nothing."  Many seem to think that putting bark mulch on top of their soil is enough.  It is not.  (For the people who had their gardens done 1-2 years ago, I also question the quality of soil that their landscaping companies supplied, but that is a subject for another post.)

Plants need food too! And by far the best way to feed your plants is to feed your soil.  In terms of doing minimal work for optimal gain, I suggest putting a topdressing of 1-2" of compost on top of your garden as frequently as once a year if you can get to it, or at least every other year (let's be realistic here, we're all busy!) It just so happens that compost looks nice too - like beautiful, rich, dark soil.

When should I spread compost?

I find the easiest time to do this is in late late May/ early June, when all the plants are up and growing, but there is still enough space between them to make putting down compost an easy task.  But really, it can be done anytime.  I just did my front Shade Garden (above) this past week-end, because that's when I got around to it. (This area was newly planted this spring and yes I know it is a little bare still - it is a work in progress but at least it is easy to spread compost here!)

What about mulch?

Compost also acts as a fairly good mulch, in terms of helping to retain moisture in the soil, regulating temperatures and keeping down weeds.  But bark mulch is better for that.  If you have bark mulch, you can rake it off to the side, put down the compost, and rake the bark mulch back.  Or, if you prefer to take the path of minimal work (this is what I would do!), there is nothing wrong with just putting the compost on top of the mulch.  The compost will gradually decompose and work its way down through the mulch. Alternatively, whenever you are going to top up your mulch (this needs to be done every few years), put some compost down first then new mulch on top (I don't like this method only because it means you need to do 2 big jobs at the same time rather than spreading out the work - pun intended!)

If you have rock/gravel mulch, well then we have a problem.  Compost on top of rock mulch is not going to look so nice.  This is why I never recommend rock mulch to people unless they really, really like the look.  It is just not as low maintenance as people think.  If this is your situation, then perhaps pull back the rocks from around each plant and put some compost down around each plant - being careful not to have it touching the stems or leaves - then put the rocks back.  Or get a water soluble, organic fertilizer and fertilize your garden that way.  It's not optimal, but it's better than nothing.

I don't make enough to cover my garden.  Where do I get compost?

Lots of places deliver by the cubic yard.  Or you can pick up in bulk.  I like Western Canada Compost in particular (they are not paying me to say this!)  I talked to lots of people this year who were very unhappy with Burnco's compost, but that's second-hand information.

back from holidays!

I'm just back from 10 beautiful days out of town and offline, near beautiful Nakusp, BC.  Thanks to my garden fairies (Mom and Dad) for watering the pots and veggies, and even staining the patio furniture for me while I was gone!!!  (Am I lucky or what?)

There is a lot of catching up to do -raspberries and cherries to pick, lettuce, peas, zucchini and kohlrabi to harvest, and yes, a few weeds to pull.  So I will respond to your comments and emails shortly... and maybe even post a few holidays pics... 

In the meantime, I gotta say that driftwood is very useful for filling an empty spot in the back shade garden where nothing is growing!

hail protection advice?

Hello Janice!  First I would like to say thank you for running your website – I find it very helpful and pictures from your garden are so inspiring!

 I wanted to ask you advice on something. I am planning to put all my annuals and perennials out in the beginning of June and then I would be away for a week. Knowing that June our rainiest months with possible thunder-storms and hail I thought that covering my plants would be a great idea. But I can’t find anything what can be used as hail protection. I have checked in the stores like LOWES and Canadian tire (their garden departments) and nobody never heard about any kind of hail protection. They all saying: just cover plants with empty pots, and it would be fine if I would be at home….

 Then I searched internet and I was able to see some websites which offered very fine plastic nets which you stretch above plants, so sun light and rain go through but hail doesn’t. Great idea, but they only sell it for major growers, farms, vineries, etc. So, the amount of your purchase needs to be in hundreds of meters of that net, unfortunately lots in Calgary are not that big J

 Soooo, may be you can advise me from your own experience what can be used for protecting plants from hail damage….I am scared that all my hard work will just go wasted and when I come back I would be in tears.

 Thank you very much in advance and have a great spring!

 Sincerely, Kseniya.

Hi Kseniya,

 Thanks for the feedback and you are smart to think ahead!  Actually, I haven't ever used anything that is specific for hail protection so I can't speak from experience - but the hail we get here can be so strong that in some cases it is hard to imagine a thin screening material being able to protect plants without getting shredded itself or else the supports not being able to hold the load.  You could try window screening material as long as it is well supported.  That said, I haven't tried it, so maybe someone else will chime in...?

I tend to grow my most tender things in pots that can be moved, so if I am going away in the summertime (or if hail threatens) I put them all in a sheltered spot in the yard (eg. east facing).  The sheltered spot is also partly shady so the pots don't dry out as fast either, if you're going to be away for a while, meaning they don't have to be watered as often.  I think you're more likely to get help from a neighbour to water every couple of days rather than asking them to be responsible to run out and shelter your plants at any sign of bad weather.

Does that help?  If anyone else out there has advice, please chime in!

Janice

Calgary Garden Coach is quoted in the Globe & Mail!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/gardening/gardening-trends/need-a-hand-garden-coaches-coax-a-harvest-from-the-seeds/article2016998/

the time to plant veggie seeds outdoors is almost here!

Ack!  Considering I just had the first 4 days of decent gardening weather so far this year, it is hard to believe it's amost time to start direct-seeding certain vegetables outside. (Actually I probably could have done it this past week-end if I'd been ready but I wasn't.)

Feeling slightly panicked, I just turned in 180L of vermiculite into my raised veggie beds on Monday, and then ordered some good quality "garden mix" from Western Canada Compost to top them up with this week-end so they are ready to plant.  I really should have done this last fall.

I hope to be planting beets, carrots, kale, lettuce, peas, spinach and chard outdoors next week.  How 'bout you?

For tips on growing vegetables in Calgary, see my previous posts:

• When to start planting vegetable seeds in Calgary
• Vegetable gardening in Calgary 101
• Vegetable gardening tips - notes from Square Foot Gardening
• What you need to know about building raised bed vegetable gardens
• resources specific to growing vegetables in Calgary
• preparing and amending vegetable garden soil

If you would like a beautiful and successful vegetable garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

preparing and amending vegetable garden soil

As I sat inside this past week-end staring out at my frozen raised vegetable beds, I at least got time to plan exactly what I am going to put in them once I get the chance... (I'm trying to look on the bright side, here!)  Since a few of you recently sent in questions regarding this topic, I thought it was worthy of a post.

 

Last spring I emptied the contents of my compost bins (which also contained quite a bit of soil) into these raised beds (above) and topped them up with leaves.  This spring I will be adding vermiculite, turning them over and then topping them up with good topsoil.  According to Mel Bartholomew, author of Square Foot Gardening, a good vegetable garden soil should be made up of at least 25% (up to 50%) of soil amendments such as compost or leaf mold.  Another good rule of thumb is to add 10 - 20% by volume of coarse vermiculite to a new vegetable garden for good moisture retention - vermiculite is like a sponge.

But once you've prepared your initial soil, how do you keep amending it each year to maximize production?  Mel Bartholomew has lots of recommendations.  He says (and I agree), "trying to grow crops in any kind of soil without constantly adding organic matter is sheer folloy and a waste of time, no matter how much fertilizer you add to it.  On the other hand, to garden in soil that is rich in organic matter but contains no added fertilizer is not only possible but also very practical."  He recommends:

• add a trowelful of compost or other organic soil builder after you harvest each plant in your garden - this will probably mean you are amending at least 2x per year, maybe even 3 or 4
• supplemental fertilizers to use during the growing season need only be of 2 types: a high nitrogen fertilizer for leaf crops (eg. lettuce, spinach, chard) and a high phosphorous and potassium fertilizer for root and fruit-bearing crops;
• you can add dry fertilizers when the soil is prepared for planting, plus once a month as crops are growing, in the form of a pre-packaged organic mix, or make your own, see recipes below
• heavy feeding crops (eg. brassicas) will also benefit from supplemental watering with compost tea, fish emulsion, or seaweed/kelp solutions

Basic, all-purpose fertilizer recipe

• 1 part bloodmeal
• 2 parts bonemeal
• 3 parts greensand
• 4 parts composted leaf mold
• approximate NPK value: 2.6 / 4.9 / 1.8

High-nitrogen fertilizer recipe

• 3 parts bloodmeal
• 2 parts bonemeal
• 3 parts greensand
• 4 parts leafmold
• approximate NPK value: 4.6 / 4.3 / 1.6

I haven't been nearly as diligent as I should have been in the past and still got decent results, but this year I am vowing to follow his recommendations to try to maximize my harvest. What do you do in your vegetable garden?  Please share in the comments section below.

For more tips on growing vegetables in Calgary, see my previous posts:

• When to start planting vegetable seeds in Calgary
• Vegetable gardening in Calgary 101
• Vegetable gardening tips - notes from Square Foot Gardening
• What you need to know about building raised bed vegetable gardens
• resources specific to growing vegetables in Calgary

If you would like a beautiful and successful vegetable garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

Upcoming workshop at the Calgary Horticultural Society - Gardening with Kids

I'm running this workshop for the Hort Society - should be tonnes of fun!  Hope to see some of you there.

Jun 04, 2011 9:30 - 12:00 at the Society office

register here

Janice will be your garden guide as you and your child help design and plant the “Children’s garden” display garden at the Horticultural Society office. Learn plenty of skills and creative ideas for you to implement in your own garden, and pot up some fun plants to take home with you too!

resources specific to vegetable gardening in Calgary?

I would like to find instructional resources specific to vegetable gardening in Calgary.  I live in the far north west and have a small garden on the north side of the backyard that is protected by a fence.  I have had reasonable success in the past but I don't seem to be able to get the hang of the timing and then how to properly harvest and not have to eat 15 lbs of carrots in one day before they go wilty.  I grow carrots, beets, peas, radishes, strawberries, lettuce nothing crazy.  I would also like to know about container gardens for vegetables and even herbs.

Hi Cindy,

You're smart to ask about information for Calgary, because as everyone who gardens here knows, there are some specific things you need to be aware of!  But the good news is, gardening here isn't difficult if you know the tricks (and have realistic expectations!)  I wrote a post recently Vegetable Gardening in Calgary 101 that has a few important links you could check out. 

But for a hard resource, the book The Calgary Gardener by the Calgary Horticultural Society (is not limited to vegetables but) has tonnes of information about timing of planting and techniques for extending the season, etc.  I recommend it as a good all-around resource. 

Also, the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew is extremely useful regarding general gardening techniques and skills that are appropriate anywhere, including planning succession planting so that you don't have everything ready to harvest at once.  Even if you don't plan to use a square planting pattern, this book is an excellent resource.

And you are in luck!  Donna Balzer and Steven Biggs' new book just came out: Garden Coaches Chat. No Guff. Lots of fun.  I haven't seen it yet except for a few page previews and it looks great.  Again, not exactly specific to Calgary but Donna does garden here and her perspective comes through.

Hope that helps and happy gardening!

 

Why snow at the end of March isn't such a bad thing... really!

Are you going a little stir crazy yet?  This is our second day in a row with icy fog, and it is currently snowing out there.  After a long winter with consistent snow cover since November, some Calgarians I know are getting just a wee bit impatient for nicer weather!  We haven't had any chinooks this past winter that were strong or long enough to get rid of the snow for at least short periods, which is unusual for Calgary.  As a gardener I don't really love the chinooks, but the lack of them did make for a long winter, I admit.

But the ice crystals out there right now are so pretty, aren't they?  And actually snow cover on the garden all winter long is a very good thing in terms of insulation against temperature swings and our dry winter winds.  It's too early to do any work in the garden anyway, so I'm just as happy to have snow cover protecting my plants a little bit longer. 

And by the way, my oldest daughter (7 years old) has invented two new seasons which should replace the typical "spring" that other parts of the country have: sprinter and sprummer!  If you've lived in Calgary for a while then you know what she's talking about! 

So while I'm sure you are looking forward to sprinter, please enjoy some pictures I took of the icy beauty in my yard this morning:

Above: the front Welcome Garden.

 
Above: teasel in the front Welcome Garden.

Above: stipa tenuissima in a pot on the front step.  I had originally planned to overwinter it in the coldroom in the basement but I never got around to bringing it inside last fall!  Oops (and that reminds me, I should probably bring in the Christmas arrangement by the front door sometime soon as well...)

Above: Karl Foerster in the back Shade Garden.

Above: another view of Karl.

Above: a sedge in another pot in the back garden.  It looks like a wig, don't you think?

 

Ask Jim Hole a gardening question and everybody wins!

To promote the Calgary Horticultural Society's upcoming garden show, they have lined up Jim Hole to do a guest post on this blog regarding a frequently asked Calgary gardening question.  Yes, Jim Hole.  I'm so excited!  Jim is a HUGE name in Alberta gardening (as if you didn’t know) and is, of course, the son of the late Lois Hole.  He publishes books including the What Grows Here series, answers gardening questions on CBC radio, and will be one of the guest speakers at the Hort Society’s Garden Show on April 9 and 10.  It will be an honour to have him post on my blog.   

But this isn't about me, it's about you!  What's your burning question about gardening in Calgary?

How it works

Submit your gardening questions in the comments below or by sending me an e-mail to me directly. Your question will enter you into a draw for two free passes to the Garden Show.  On Sunday April 3, I'll choose the winning question based on the frequency of that question's submission as well as its relevance to gardening in Calgary.  Jim Hole's answer to that question will be posted on this blog a couple days later.

Many thanks to the Calgary Hort Society for organizing this!

Vegetable gardening in Calgary 101

I am putting together a set of links to some of my previous posts related to starting a new vegetable garden.  I was originally just going to e-mail them to a client who is planning a new raised bed front yard vegetable garden, but then I figured others might find them useful too.  So here it is, the minimum required reading if you're new to vegetable gardening in Calgary:

•  What you need to know about building raised bed vegetable gardens - this post includes the basics of how and why, plus some links at the end to some very inspiring designs.
• Vegetable gardening tips - notes from Square Foot Gardening - this post gets into a little more detail regarding planting including very useful information on plant spacing (an important factor for success!)
• When can I start planting vegetable seeds in Calgary? - this post has been one of my most popular ever.  Modified from a chart in the Calgary Gardener book, this post is all about timing (an even more important factor for success!)
• My seed-starting setup - This post describes what I do to start seeds, and the how and why of it all.  But if you're new to vegetable gardening, don't be intimidated!  Check the when-to-start link above and remember that anything that can be direct-seeded outside does not have to be started early (inside) with any kind of extra equipment!  Direct-seeding outside is probably the easiest option in terms of work as long as you don't overseed (you'll have to thin later) and as long as you keep those seeds moist until they germinate.
• Cold frame inspiration - I don't have cold frames (yet...) but they're great for extending the season if you're really serious about maximizing your production. They could be as simple as a movable wooden frame with some plastic resting on top that you can put away when not needed, or they could be a permanent structure like some of the ones shown in this post.

Most of the posts above also have links to other posts - my own and others' as well.  So do a little research, a little planning, and be creative and have fun with your vegetable garden this year! 

If you would like a beautiful and successful vegetable garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

What is Integrated Pest Management?

I'm giving a talk on vegetable gardening soon and therefore am reviewing some of my notes on Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which BTW is not as complicated as it sounds.  Basically it refers to traditional, common sense methods of maintaining a healthy garden with minimal pesticide use (as a last resort, or not at all depending on your own beliefs.) The "integrated" part of IPM is so-called because it involves using many strategies together: cultural methods, plant selection, and physical and biological controls.

Most gardeners have become more and more aware these days that pesticides can kill beneficial organisms in the garden as well as pests, and thus create an imbalance in an ecosystem.  In many cases, an outbreak of pests is a result of an unhealthy landscape.  That said, a garden is a manipulated environment and sometimes requires more help than the checks and balances that nature can provide.  Here are some quick pointers on things you can do to prevent problems:

Cultural Controls

• Healthy soil is the most practical way to prevent problems. 
• Pair plants with the soil conditions they require to prevent stress and increase disease-resistance.  For most plants including vegetables, quality soil rich in organic matter is usually ideal (some mediterranean and desert plants prefer lean soil)
• Rotating food crops will help balance soil nutrient demands and prevent reoccurring crop-specific problems and pests.  Alternating heavy feeders (such as brassicas) with light feeders (such as onions and root crops) will also help keep soil nutrients balanced.
• Replenish your soil regularly with nutritious organic material (compost)
• Weeds will compete for sunlight, water and nutrients with desirable plants, and should be hand-pulled as soon as possible.  Preventing them from going to seed and applying an organic mulch will minimize future work.  Avoid disturbing and exposing the soil as much as possible as this brings new weed seeds to the surface where they will germinate. This means no tilling!
• Preventing over-crowding and nighttime or excessive watering can help discourage fungus and mildew problems (see my previous post notes from Square Foot Gardening for plant spacing for common vegetables.)

Know your friends (Biological Controls)

• Many insects are harmless or beneficial to the garden
• Tolerate a few pests to maintain a healthy ecosystem - otherwise what will their natural predators have to eat?
• Attract birds to the garden with water, fruit and nesting places - flickers, wrens, chickadees and warblers are all desirable birds which nest in cavities or shrubs
• Ladybugs and their larvae, dragonflies, ground beetles and lacewing larvae are all useful predators in the garden
• Parasites, nematodes and micro-organisms can be purchased and unleashed against certain pests; there are specific ones for each pest and their residues break down quickly making them relatively safe. Do your research - yes, you may actually have to learn something to be a gardener!

Know your enemies

• Inspect the garden regularly before pests become an overwhelming problem
• When you discover damage to plants, identify the pest and consider its life cycle before deciding whether it needs to be dealt with.  If you catch it early, you can probably just physically remove the pest (wash or pick it off.)
• A strong spray of water repeated several days in a row can knock down aphid populations
• Slugs love damp places so can be trapped under a board laid in the garden and collected in the early mornings
• Soaps and oils such as neem oil and dormant oils are considered safe if used properly; use insecticidal soap not just any household soap against aphids, spider mites, mealy bugs and whiteflies; dormant oil gets sprayed on trees during the winter to kill eggs of pests but can damage trees after they have leafed out
• Diatomaceous earth can be sprinkled on the ground to deter aphids, slugs and spider mites but may also harm worms.

If you would like a beautiful and successful garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

first garden consult of the year tonight...

Excellent weather for my first garden consult of the year tonight. -24^oC (-11^oF) and almost zero visibility due to falling snow! LOL!

2-hour garden projects for kids?

I'm working on a Parents and Kids gardening workshop for the Calgary Horticultural Society.  Currently the plan is a 2-hour workshop for a 6-8 year old accompanied by a parent.  This is totally exciting to me but also a little petrifying - my experience with gardening with kids comes only from my own family and a few friends.  I've never worked with a larger group before!

If you were attending such a workshop, what would you and your child be interested in learning/doing? 

This post also reminds me of a few links that friend/reader Paula sent me a while ago and I keep forgetting to post.  They are for great (adult and/or kid) projects that could be done at home:

• Pollinator Observation complete with observation sheets and tonnes more links
• Plant Watch Alberta with online data sheets - I think I'm going to do this myself this year!

If you would like a beautiful and kid-friendly garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

Calgary is garden-crazy!

Wow!  2 calls this week for consults and 2 more for upcoming talks.  This is the earliest in the year I've ever started receiving calls for garden coaching.  Glad to know I'm not the only one thinking about spring!

Have a great long week-end everyone!

for the record - first seeds planted!

painted sage, cleome and alpine strawberry seeds planted as of Feb 7.

Ah, it feels good to be playing in dirt again!  (OK, growing mix is not real dirt but let's not get technical at this point...)

from the archives:

• How to winter sow seeds in a milk jug
• seeds I've ordered for 2011
• When to plant vegetable seeds in Calgary

Other resources:

• How to winter sow seeds from Urban Sustainable Living
• sowing seeds indoors from Urban Sustainable Living
• 10 Seed-starting tips from Fine Gardening magazine
• Seed-starting strategies from Vegetable Gardener magazine
• Estimating viability - how long do seeds last? from A Way to Garden

If you would like a beautiful and successful garden that nourishes body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

garden design principle - contrasting plant forms

This is the first design principle I talk about when I'm giving people advice about designing their own ornamental gardens.  For low maintenance purposes, I mostly recommend perennials over annuals, but the thing people need to be aware of is that most perennials flower for a much shorter period than annuals, which generally flower all summer long.  So to make your garden look interesting even when some things are not in flower, it's important to consider the plant's form i.e. its shape or outline. 

Round, mounding plants:
cushion spurge, artemesia 'Silver Mound', perennial geraniums
Arching
Some ornamental grasses, daylilies
Upright
snakeroot, spiked veronica, obedient plant, delphiniums, verbascum
Fanning
astilbes, hostas, columbine, meadow rue, bleeding hearts

...and some plants are combinations of these shapes depending on whether or not they are flowering.

Here are some examples of forms that work well together in my garden:

Above: a mounding euphorbia (cushion spurge) behind upright, spiky bearded iris looks brilliant in June but the contrasting form is interesting for the rest of the season too.

Above: arching helictotrichon (blue oat grass), rounded but spiky bearded iris, upright liatris spicata, fanning, flat-topped yarrow, and more!

Above: fanning hosta and broad, rounded fans of bergenia with arching, spiky blue fescue (a combination that looks great all season long even when nothing's in bloom, I might add!)

Above: rounded sedum 'Matrona' with arching daylilies and blue oat grass.

 Above: upright lamb's ears with low, spreading dianthus.

 Above: fanning peony in front of upright delphiniums (they don't bloom at the same time but I like this combination because the peony hides the shabby bottom of the delphinium later in the season)

 Above: upright calamagrostis (feather reed grass) 'Karl Foerster' with, well, pretty much anything!

• mounding geraniums in front of upright siberian irises or fanning peonies
• arching daylilies next to upright spiked veronica (these also bloom at the same time)
• tall, upright to arching grasses behind fanning astilbe (warning: astilbe is a moisture-lover!)
• upright mulleins with the billowing roundness of bearded irises
• spiky perennial salvia next to fanning, flat-topped yarrow
• broad fans of bergenia leaves in front of arching daylilies or ornamental grasses
• fanning hostas in front of upright snakeroot

You'll notice there are also contrasting textures in a lot of these plant combinations.  Although foliage colour also makes things interesting, it is secondary to texture.  A great way to check for a good plant combination is to look at the picture in black and white and see if it still looks interesting:

For more great perennial plant combinations, check out the post I wrote about Piet Oudolf-inspired plants for Calgary sustainable gardens, which was published in the Calgary Horticultural Society's magazine last year.

If you would like an urban paradise that rejoices the eye and refreshes the spirit, view My Services for consultation details.

vegetable gardening tips - notes from Square Foot Gardening

This is the year I will finally have a substantial amount of veggie growing space.  Since I moved from a house with a large vegetable garden almost 7 years ago, I have been without much space for vegetables because of my heavily-treed lot (veggies need sun!)  In 2010 I finally got around to cleaning out the "parking pad" in the back corner of our yard, built some raised beds, and got ready to plant in 2011.

I must admit I've been a fairly lazy vegetable gardener in the past.  I only grow the things that are super easy to grow in Calgary and that truly taste much better fresh from the garden: peas, beans, beets, chard, lettuce, spinach, squash, carrots and of course, tomatoes.  But I typically have done only one spring planting of each vegetable, which is not enough effort to maximize a garden's production.  This year I am feeling greedy - I have much more space and I'm going to use it, dammit! 

And so, I recently re-read Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.  I recommend it to any vegetable gardener, by the way, even if you don't plan to grow things in squares, because it has tonnes of useful information.  The technique, invented and made famous by Mel, was developed to maximize garden production as well as minimize work.  Vegetable gardens aren't low maintenance by any means, but using these methods can certainly minimize your work with maximum success.  Here are some of my notes:

Why have a vegetable garden?

• once you have tried homegrown flavour, you can't go back!
• you get great satisfaction from growing your own
• you can save money
• it is a very pleasurable hobby
• you have control over what you eat
• you can't get any more local than your own yard or community garden!

Benefits of the "square" design

• divide your garden into square sections - Mel uses 4ft x 4ft squares with paths in between but my raised beds are 4ft x 8ft
• mark and plant each 1ft x 1ft square with different plants
• this places limits on how much you grow so you're not overwhelmed at harvest time
• a well-designated spot for veggies prevents you from walking on the soil
• planting density is easy to calculate (see below)
• each square can have a different vegetable, flower or herb
• it is easier to maintain
• it looks well organized and attractive

Planting and maintenance techniques

• rather than overseeding and then having to thin later in the season, only plant exactly as many seeds as the number of plants you intend to grow (or if you're worried about germination rates, perhaps plant 2 seeds per hole and then you only have to thin a few plants at most)
• for each seed, poke a hole with your finger, half fill the hole with vermiculite, place one seed (or two, as above) and cover with vermiculite
• how many seeds to plant in a one-foot-square depends on the full-grown size of the plant (see below)
• interplant fast growing crops such as radishes, scallions and leaf lettuce between regularly-spaced slow-growing plants and harvest the former before the latter get big
• make a depression around each planting hole to direct water to the roots of the plants
• after harvesting a square, add a trowel of compost to rejuvenate the soil, then plant with something different - this takes care of crop rotation and interplanting (two techniques for pest & disease prevention) automatically!
• once a week, take note of what will be ready for final harvest in a few weeks, and start seeds for a new crop (of a different vegetable) at that time, so they'll be ready to transplant when the other crop is finished (tomatoes, chard, parsley, chives and flowers need only one planting in spring and will grow all summer)

Tools required

• once the garden is prepared, all you need is a trowel, spade, bucket and watering can!

Plant density and placement

• to fill up one 1-ft square, plant 4 plants that get about 6" wide, 9 plants that get about 4" wide, or 16 plants that get about 3" wide
• this typically means per 1-ft square:
• 16 beets, onions, radishes, or carrots
• 9 bush beans, spinach, garlic, chives
• 8 peas, pole beans
• 4 swiss chard, lettuce, parsley, annual flowers
• 2 cucumber
• 1 cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, pepper, eggplant, potato, tomato
• a typical zucchini plant will take up a 3ft x 3ft square
• plant taller plants on the north side of the garden
• plant tomato, cucumber and squash on trellises to maximize space
• pole beans can be planted in a double row, 3 in. apart in each square
• typically, smaller growing varieties of vegetables will give you a bigger yield per sq. ft. of gardening space

 Planting times

• in general, cool weather veggies are fast growing and can be planted both spring and fall (eg. lettuce and greens, root vegetables, cabbage family)
• in general, hot weather veggies are slow growers and get planted in late spring (eg. bush beans, zucchini)
• see my previous post: when to plant vegetable seeds in Calgary
• beans can be planted one new square every month over the summer

If you're really energetic and serious about organic gardening and extending the season, there are also lots of tips in the book about building cages, covers and cold frames, as well as building your own vertical supports out of 1/2 in. pipe, etc. If you're preparing a new garden bed, you'll also find the information on soil preparation and amendments very useful.  I could go on, but why don't you just get the book?

From the archives:

• what you need to know about building raised bed vegetable gardens
• seeds I've ordered for 2011
• herbs for Calgary gardens

Other resources:

• estimating viability - how long do seeds last?
• sun ray vegetable garden design
• successful home vegetable gardening by the Renegade Gardener

If you would like a beautiful and successful vegetable garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

hardy, low maintenance roses in my Calgary garden

When I first started gardening I didn't dare try to grow roses, as I thought they were temperamental divas that were difficult to grow.  That is true of tea roses, but not hardy shrub roses, some of which thrive on neglect and are perfectly hardy here in dry, windy zone 3.  Now I'm addicted and I have quite a few in my garden.  In fact, I probably have too many and when they get larger I'm going to have to decide which ones to keep or do some major pruning!

Rugosa Roses
I highly recommend rugosa roses for low-maintenance gardens as they are very hardy (to extreme cold as well as intense heat), very disease resistant, drought-tolerant, and can handle light shade, salt spray, strong winds, and neglect.  They are easily recognized by their deep green, wrinkled foliage which is very healthy and should never be sprayed with chemicals.  They usually bloom repeatedly throughout the summer, and even better - most have scent.  Most also have attractive hips that extend their show into fall and winter.

Hansa grows in my Adventure Garden and is hardy to zone 2 and very robust. It is a tall classic hybrid with flowers that are large, vibrant purlish-red and double, with a powerful clove fragrance.
It has repeat blooms with two strong showings - early summer and in fall. 

It has large hips which turn deep scarlet in late fall.  Mine is fairly new and still small but it will  reach a height and spread of just over 2m.  Warning: it has tough, very prickly branches so place accordingly.

 

Therese Bugnet is one of my favourites and I recommend it to friends and clients often.  It is similar to Hansa in its size and fragrande.  Hardy to zone 2, it is a tall, vase-shaped shrub with intense pink, double very fragrant flowers, and is repeat-blooming.

It is extremely cold tolerant - mine is in a very exposed section at the top of my adventure garden and she doesn't seem to mind at all. 

The main reason it is my favourite is because of her gorgeous deep red canes which add interest to the winter landscape.

Blanc Double de Coubert is also hardy to zone 2, and is of medium size (about 1.5mx1.2m or 5x4').  It also grows in my Adventure Garden.  It is a true classic with flowers that are white, semi-double, richly fragrant, and repeat blooming, and dark green wrinkled foliage.  It sets a few large hips but mostly I grow it for its colour and fragrance.

Snow Pavement
Pavement roses don't sound very glamorous but they are called this because they are perfect for planting along walkways.  Pavement roses are as hardy as nails, are the most tolerant of salt, are fragrant repeat bloomers and are fairly small, reaching a mature size of about 1 m high and wide.  They have small but profuse semi-double flowers with prominent gold stamens which don't need deadheading.Snow Pavement has very pale pink blooms with a wonderful fragrance, and it also has a great show of large hips in the fall.  It also grows in my Adventure Garden (hmmm, maybe I should call it the rose garden?)

Wild Rose
The wild rose is technically not a rugosa but it is super hardy, of course.  I found a little seedling in my yard a year ago (a gift from the birds?) and transplanted it into the Adventure Garden.  It is a tad invasive so I guess I wouldn't call it low maintenance, but I'm OK with that.  It is delightfully fragrant, with delicate pink petals soaked with a heady perfume.  And you can't get more sustainable than growing Alberta's own wild rose in your backyard!

Frau Dagmar Hastrup is a rugosa that I am growing in my front Welcome Garden.  Also hardy to zone 2, it has a short, spreading habit (0.2x1.2m or 3x4'). Its flowers are large, silvery pink, and single (reminiscent of the wild rose), and moderately fragrant.  It supposedly blooms continuously until frost but I got mine as a little cutting a few years ago and it has yet to take off.  This past year it had only one or two blooms on it. I'm hoping for better things once it gets a bit more mature.  It supposedly sets many huge bright red hips and its foliage turns a bright gold in fall.

Parkland roses
Parkland roses were bred for the prairies and are cold hardy, repeat blooming shrub roses.  They often tip-kill in the spring, but grow back quickly to bloom on new wood.

Morden Sunrise, hardy to zone 3, is a very short rose and is another one of my faves because of its unique colour.  It grows near the front of my Adventure Garden.

Its flowers are a blend of yellow and pink and are semi-double, but I don't find them strongly fragrant. 

It repeat blooms and in fact was the last rose blooming in my garden this past fall.

 

Morden Centennial is a medium shrub rose that has clusters of double, bright pink blooms all summer.  Also growing in the Adventure Garden.  The canes of this rose are also quite red in colour so it is another good choice for winter interest.

Explorer Roses

John Cabot is a hardy shrub rose that grows long canes so it can be tied to a trellis as a "climber".  It produces clusters of bright, cherry pink semi-double flowers all summer.  I grow mine on a trellis in the Butterfly Potager garden paired with a 'Polish Spirit' clematis.

John Davis is another tall rose which can be tied to a support and grown as a "climber".  It has dark red canes and delicate, semi-double light pink flowers with a spicy scent.  Mine grows on another trellis in the Butterfly Potager and is paired with another clematis.

Rosa Glauca

I don't actually have rosa glauca (red-leaf rose) in my garden but if I were ever to find just a wee bit more space, I would want to add it!  It is hardy to zone 2, and is grown for its beautiful foliage which is greenish-grey-blue on top, and reddish purple underneath.  It has starry flowers that are small, single, bright pink with a white eye, and moderately fragrant.  Since it is a species rose, it only blooms once per season but its foliage is interesting enough to make up for that.  It produces small hips and has excellent disease resistance.

Pruning roses

Pruning roses also sounds intimidating but it's not if you grow shrub roses. In Calgary, pruning is typically done just after they start to leaf out in spring.

For groundcovers such as Frau Dagmar Hartrup (above), you simply need to remove old wood and shorten overgrown canes, then deadhead faded flowers during the season.

For shrub roses, remove dead wood and shorten the canes by one-half to one third. Vary the length of the canes to give the bush a more natural appearance. Remove older, woody, unproductive canes completely by cutting to ground level to allow vigorous new canes to develop.To promote flowering, cut back by half, one of every two or three long stems and tip-prune the side shoots.

For climbers/ramblers, keep the growth as near to horizontal as possible, because if canes are allowed to grow directly upward they will flower only at their tops.  To do this, take the side-shoots from the tall stems and tie them so they grow horizontally across a trellis.  Tying down side-shoots induces the buds in the leaf axils to break into flower-bearing shoots.

If you would like an urban paradise that rejoices the eye and refreshes the soul, view My Services for consultation details.

Eating roses

Do you eat your roses?  I haven't yet but I'm intrigued...  and since I have so many I feel I should try! 

Rose hips are chock-full of Vitamin C and many other good things.  They sound a little high maintenance to harvest, but I may try someday.  Here's what I've read:

To harvest rose hips, wait until the hips turn red, which usually happens just after the first light frost.  They should be soft but not mushy.  Cut off the ends, slice in half and using the point of a sharp knife, remove all the seeds (important!  seeds have little hooks that can lodge in the intestine - this is the part that sounds like lots of work to me!)  Spread on a cookie sheet covered with a clean dry cloth and dry completely before storing.  Store dried hips in glass jars in a pantry or keep in plastic bags or containers in the freezer.

Rose Hip Tea
Pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 tsp dried rose hips or 3-4 fresh rose hips.  Steep up to 30 minutes, depending on how strong you like your tea.

While harvesting hips sounds like a fair amount of work, I'm sure I can handle harvesting rose petals. They can be sprinkled on a tossed salad or on top of desserts, or mashed into honey, cream cheese or butter and used as a sandwhich spread.  Voila, serve these and impress your friends! 

The following recipes that I found in the August 2009 edition of Gardens West also look yummy, unique and fairly easy:

Rose Syrup
1 cup fragrant pink or red rose petals with white parts removed if bitter
1 cup filtered spring or bottled water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 whole cloves
Combine rose petals and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 mintues. add sugar and cloves.  Simmer only until sugar dissolves; strain and discard petals.  Store in a jar in the fridge or freezer.  Serve over plain sponge cake, add several fresh rose petals and decorate with three or four fresh raspberries.  Makes about 1 2/3 cups.

Black Tea and Rose Sorbet
4 cups water
1 tea bag black tea
1/2 cup sugar
juice of one freshly squeezed lemon
2 tbsp rose syrup
2 tbsp chopped fresh rose petals
Bring water to a boil, add the tea bag and remove from heat.  Let steep 30 mintues.  Remove tea bag and discard.  Add other ingredients  Stirring well.  Chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge.  Pour into an ice cream freezer and freeze.  Serve with fresh rose petals scattered on top.

 

colour in the late season garden

Yes, Calgary has a very short "growing season".  If you define the season from the last frost in the spring to the first frost in the fall.  But perennials last much longer than that and of course, shrubs, trees and evergreens extend the season even further.  This late fall has been glorious - the first Hallowe'en the kids didn't have to try to squeeze their costumes over winter coats and mitts!  There are many shrubs and perennials still looking very colourful in the garden right now. 

Since my two main criteria for choosing plants is that they must be low maintenance and must have a long season of interest, it just so happens that many of the plants still looking good right now happen to be many of my overall favourites:

Above: sedum 'Matrona' and helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass);

 

Above: blue oat grass again with my new barberry 'Rose Glow' in front;

 

Above: the same blue oat grass from another angle, with ornamental allium seed head in front and sedum, nepeta (catmint) and lamb's ears adding texture and colour in the background;

 

Above: many of the roses still have leaves on them and this one, 'Snow Pavement' also has extra large hips;

 

Above: asters still blooming with a rose, artemesia 'Silver Mound', a purple sedum and perovskia (russian sage) in the background;

 

Above: lonicera 'Scarlet Trumpet' honeysuckle still blooming;

 

Above: scarlet trumpet honeysuckle with perovskia (russian sage) and liatris;

 

Above: ninebark 'Diabolo' at the back of the Adventure Garden;

 

Above: lamb's ears, nepeta (catmint), sedum 'Matrona', bergenia, festuca glauca and calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' still providing colour and texture;

 

Above: sedum 'Autumn Joy' (this particular specimen is getting a little leggy due to its warm location on the west side of the house, so it probably needs dividing next spring);

 

Above: sedum 'Autumn Joy' in more exposed locations in the front Welcome Garden stay more compact;

 

Above: sedum 'Autumn Joy' in front of calamagrostis (feather reed grass) 'Karl Foerster';

 

Above: teasel and feather reed grass in the front Welcome Garden seem to glow when backlit;

 

Above: another specimen of 'Karl Foerster' that I enjoy viewing from the kitchen window all year long;

 

Above: the leaves in hte strawberry patch are turning brilliant colours in front of dwart Alberta spruce (a plant I don't recommend for Calgary, BTW) and calamagrostis (feather reed grass) 'Overdam';

 

Above: and finally, many of my tough, dry, shade-tolerant perennials such as lamiastrum (shown) and epimedium are still looking green and healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

more on collecting leaves for the garden

In my October garden to-do list I mentioned saving/stealing leaves for mulching the garden.  Really, this is such a cheap, easy, and beneficial thing to do for the garden, I have no idea why everybody doesn't do it! And don't just take my word for it: Donna Balzer recently wrote about how leaves have more nutrients than manure and Nora Bryan recently wrote about how NOT cleaning up the garden is best practice in Calgary's climate because the plants left standing and the leaf mulch will catch the snow and also insulate our gardens against Calgary's drastic winter temperature changes and dryness (Chinooks).

If you haven't started, it's not too late to save leaves for the garden!  Here are some tips to consider:

• If you have lots of your own leaves, save them!  Rake them onto the garden.  It's better to wait until the perennials have died back so the plants don't smother under too many leaves, but a few leaves in between the still-growing perennials shouldn't hurt anything.
• If you've got extra, start a dedicated compost bin of just leaves, or do the almost zero-work method of turning them into leaf mold that I described in this post last year.  If you've got a lawn mower or mulcher, chop of the leaves first for faster decomposition, but it's not necessary if the leaves are small (see below.)
• If you don't have enough of your own leaves (that's me!), steal them!  I've taken bagged leaves from people's back alleys and also from leaf drop locations (before the leaf drop signs were up so technically that's not stealing, right?)  I am even picky about the leaves I take - pre-chopped leaves are best (you can tell because the bag will be at least five times heavier than a bag of unchopped leaves), and also clear bags are preferable because you can see what's inside (you want nothing but leaves, and smaller, curly leaves such as birch and elm are better than big, flat leaves such as poplar because the big leaves get matted down and don't make as light and fluffy of a mulch as the smaller ones do.)

I'm currently saving bags of stolen leaves to gradually mulch the whole garden as the perennials die back, and I've filled one cubic-yard-sized compost bin as well.  I think I've "rescued" at least 30 bags!  My friends and family think I'm crazy...  Do you?

More reading:

There is also some good information posted at Fine Gardening on this topic:

Fall Leaves Make a Great Garden Mulch

Get an Early Start for your Spring Garden

Improve your soil by Raking Less

favourite perennials for late-season colour

It has been a great fall for the perennial garden in Calgary!  Things were blooming a little late after our cool (read: crappy!) summer, but after all that moisture in early September and now this great weather, many things are still looking fresh.

All these pictures were taken Oct 10.  Clockwise from top left: purple asters just starting to bloom (Donna Balzer just wrote about how this is a great plant for the bees); clematis 'Polish Spirit'; raspberry monarda, golden hyssop and purple liatris (and you can just make out the white bloom of a relatively new (to this garden) hydrangea 'Annabelle' in the background); sedum 'Matrona' mixed with annual borage and perennial nepeta, lamb's ears and yellow rudbeckia 'Golden Glow' way at the top of the photo; honeysuckle 'Scarlet Trumpet' still blooming while the leaves are turning; more sedum 'Matrona' with ornamental grass helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass), purple liatris and some dark pink achillea (yarrow) in the background.

do you plan for fall foliage when choosing trees and shrubs? you should!

Check out this photo of one of my neighbour's yards a few days ago.  Gawd, don't you just love fall?

Normally I don't really like the look of shrubs and trees planted in the middle of lawns with no connection between them - they are each their own little island floating adrift in a sea of turf grass.  But right now they look spectacular and all is forgiven!  From left to right in the photo above:

a red viburnum; an orangey-red hedge of cotoneaster in the background; a green lilac just starting to change colour; a yellow nanking cherry; and a red crabapple (probably Thunderchild?)

Here's one more view 'cause they're just so godd#m gorgeous right now:

What are your favourite plants for fall foliage? 

Some more of mine (in addition to the ones above) include the Sorbus spp. (Mountain Ash tree), Aesculus glabra (Ohio buckeye), Acer ginnala (Amur maple), Acer tataricum (Tatarian maple), Euonymus alata (winged burning bush), Euonymus nana 'Turkestanica' (Turkestan burning bush) and Cornus spp. (dogwoods).

Close-ups of leaves help if you're trying to identify something, so also check out this post at Gardening zone 3b.

on mixing rock and bark mulch

I've talked before about the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of mulch.  In short, rock mulch is difficult to use in a garden because it prevents you from amending the soil with compost and it gets dirty with fallen leaves etc.  I prefer shredded bark mulch in a garden - this does great things for your plants!  It moderates soil temperature, keeps in moisture, and minimizes weeds.  It does need to be topped up every few years because it slowly decomposes, but that's a good thing because it feeds the soil as it breaks down.  So I always recommend bark mulch in a garden, but rocks have their place too.

In my brother's front yard makeover, we're doing a mix - bark mulch in the garden and rock mulch in the unplanted areas.  Rocks can be arranged to look like a dry stream bed, with larger rocks on the "shoulder" and smaller rocks in the middle, to look very natural.  Since my brother is in the process of preparing his yard for mulching and is doing it all himself (with the help of family and friends, of course), I took a few pictures of gardens I've notice recently that have done a good job of mixing rock and bark mulch.

These are for you, Doug!  Cheers, and keep digging!  :-)

doomed to fail

This is not my garden, but I walk by it approximately 400 times per year.  And every time I wince.

Every year these people plant something new between their two spruce trees.  Every year that something dies.  And I won't even go into the problems of rock mulch and little circles around the bottom of spruce trees.  Ew.  These people need help!  For the cost of hiring a garden coach for one hour they could have saved themselves a lot of money on cedars and countless other poor, tortured shrubs!

From the archives:

What to plant under a spruce tree?

What kind of mulch should I use?

Why hire a garden coach?

my brother's front yard makeover - take 2, part 2

So my brother finished removing all the grass from his front yard last week-end.  We're ready for step 2 - the overall layout.  Here's what it looked like before and here's my rough plan:

Normally I would do a scale drawing for a client but this is just my brother (!), so I'm being a little less accurate than I normally would since I will be working with him throughout the whole makeover (and he's not paying me!)

A few details about the sketch:

• they want super low maintenance so I didn't want to design a large area to plant.  The gravel area will not be planted at all and the surrounding areas will be planted and mulched with bark.  There are some existing shrubs I haven't shown here that will be worked into the design;
• the X marks the existing tree.  It's in an awkward place and I'd never put one there if I was doing a design from scratch, but we can work with it;
• the gravel area is meant to add a nice diagonal through an otherwise very square layout and to provide some negative space;
• the stepping stones and the gravel areas will provide several ways to travel through the yard and several circular routes - which is fun for kids!
• the gravel area will need to be dug out a little so that once we put down landscape fabric and 2 inches of gravel, the rocks will not be higher than the existing concrete.  The soil that is dug out can be used to make the berm;
• I have a few ideas for plants so more detail coming soon...  but we will definitely use the Karl Foerster grasses to provide a privacy screen around the patio.

So what is the next step in replacing a front lawn with a low-maintenance garden?  We'll use spray paint to finalize the edge between the gravel and garden areas, then start digging out the gravel area.  Stay tuned...

my brother's front yard makeover - take 2

I helped my brother and his family re-do their very small front lawn a few years ago.  I lost sleep planning a beautiful  little garden filled with low maintenance, high impact plants.  It looked awesome.  Then they moved.

So they asked me to do it again.  Well, at least this means they liked what I did last time!  But this time their front yard is huge.  Quite a different challenge.  They had planned to start a year or so ago but decided to redo the concrete first.  Now that's done and this is what things look like to start with:

View from the street:

View from the house:

They want to remove all the grass right away, but they're OK with planting in stages to distribute the cost over a period of time.  So, here's what to do first:

• Remove the rest of the grass.  For that much grass I'd say it's best to rent a sod cutter.
• Have compost delivered.  Figure out how much it will take to spread about 2 inches of compost over the entire yard (need help with the math, dear brother?).  Have it delivered, spread it, and turn it in with a fork.
• Fill in the hole in the hedge with a few more cotoneaster bushes.  *Sunnyside has some for a discount if you buy more than one.

We'll also have bark mulch delivered but we must have a plan first because we might re-contour the yard a little.  Stay tuned...

Related posts:

Why should I get rid of my lawn?

How do I get rid of my lawn?

Design for winter interest

How to re-design a perennial bed.

a garden consultation for Christmas

Garden consulting is something I do part-time over the summers, mostly just because I enjoy talking about gardening with anyone who will listen.  So I haven't really thought much about the business lately, but I recently got an inquiry from someone asking if I did gift certificates for Christmas.

Sure, why not?  And it occurred to me that this would be the perfect Christmas gift!  I certainly would have appreciated such a gift when I first started gardening.  Plus it wasn't made in China, doesn't involve any plastic, and won't eventually end up in the landfill.  Not to mention that if the recipient ends up adding a few drought tolerant and/or edible plants to their garden, we could end up increasing the sustainability and biodiversity of their local little environment.  How great is that?

For all you gardeners out there, why not make up your own little gift certificates to give to family and friends?  Just a thought.

firepit design revisited

  This client had some trees removed downhill of this firepit last year, in order to get a better view of the city.  What to replace them with?

We didn't want anything too tall that would block the view again, but there is a hill that slopes downward immediately behind the firepit so anything too short wouldn't be visible either.  The client is also a fan of orange flowers, and specified NOT PINK.  This is what we came up with:

It's hard to see but imagine this in a couple years when the plants are bigger: a hedge of 5 yellow 'Dart's Gold' ninebark shrubs around the back of the firepit, a drought-tolerant garden of ornamental grass, gaillardia, iris germanica and cushion spurge on the left, and a 'Diabolo' ninebark and dwarf globe blue spruce on the right for year-round colour, plus some daylilies and sedum 'Autumn Joy'.

Here's a close-up of the left-hand side.  There is cushion spurge and iris germanica for spring colour, 3 catmints along the front for summer colour, 3 gaillardia 'Frenzy' for summer/fall orange-ish bloom colour, and an ornamental grass for season-long interest. (We still need to finish topping up the bark mulch.)

To the right of the golden hedge are 3 orange daylilies 'Frans Haal', and a dwarf globe blue spruce for year-round colour.

And on the far right, a 'Diabolo' ninebark to contrast with the blue spruce and repeat the burgandy foliage colour that exists elsewhere in the yard, plus 3 sedum 'Autumn Joy' for textural contrast with the daylilies and fall bloom colour.

Whaddya think?

Happy birthday, blog! ... and why am I blogging, anyway?

Actually, I missed my blog's birthday by a week.  Oh well, this is in keeping with my blogging patterns anyway - I have way more ideas about things I want to post than I have time to write about them. 

Over the last year I have several times re-evaluated why I am blogging.  My original idea was to build up a website with lots of content that would be helpful for people who want to have low-maintenance, environmentally friendly and/or kid-friendly gardens in zone 3.  But quickly I realized that I do not have the time for such an ambitious venture.  I down-sized my goals to mostly posting about what I am doing in my own garden, but writing about it in such a way that I might offer a few useful tips or inspirations to anyone who might be reading.  This is much more do-able and fun.

The other reason I started the blog was to drum up business for my new garden-coaching business.  Almost immediately after starting this site, I was contacted by several people looking for advice.  Wow, I thought!  All you have to do is start up a website, call yourself an expert in something, and people start calling!  Amazing!  But seriously, since I don't have any formal training and all my gardening knowledge is from either experience or reading books & magazines, I needed to have something to show people to prove I know what I'm talking about.

I haven't decided how much garden coaching I'll take on this year - it is a lower priority for me than my family and my own gardening time.  I do it purely for fun (and a little extra cash to fund my gardening projects doesn't hurt).  But now I am addicted to blogging and have found this a very useful way to keep track of what is happening in my own garden.  The occasional comments from readers who have also found my blog useful helps keep me going.

So.  Happy birthday blog!  And here's to another gardening/blogging season starting soon!

what to do with clay soil?

Yikes.  This is the worst garden soil I have ever seen!  There is maybe 10-15 cm of topsoil in this garden, and underneath is pure Calgary clay.  Whoever landscaped this yard ripped the homeowner off.  Fortunately for me, it's not my soil.  But what to tell my client?

There are two ways to improve garden soil.  A good 30 cm of topsoil is required for plants to really thrive.  45 cm would be even better.  The best way is to get this is to get a Bobcat in to remove the existing soil down to at least 30 cm and have it replaced with good black loam.  This is great if you are starting from scratch (and if you are, then I highly recommend doing this!  You will not regret it), but if you already have an established yard or just want to add a few plants here and there, it's not very practical. 

The other option is to improve the soil as you dig each hole and plant each plant.  Faster in the short-term but possibly more work in the long-term.  So, in this garden, I dug each hole 3 times bigger than the size of the pot that the plant was in (what a workout!), and mixed lots of compost with the existing soil in each hole.  This will make space for each plant to grow its roots into without struggling in the hard clay.  Top-dressing the whole garden with 2-4" of compost each spring will also gradually help improve the garden soil.

a sunny, hot front garden part 2

Here again, the client decided to keep what she had, to add shrubs this fall, and more flowers next spring.  Here's what it looked like before.  She says she likes the look of bare soil, but wants colour, colour, colour.

Well, this is a start.  The 'Skyrocket' juniper is the narrowest upright juniper you can get, I think the the blue colour looks great in front of the gold wall, and it will echo the junipers on the other side of the walkway.  This one will eventually get 3 m high and only 75 cm wide.  We also added 3 potentillas (2 are 'Gold Drop' and the third was moved from the garden in the back), all with bright yellow flowers.  They will eventually form a nice, low-growing hedge in front of the bench.

I re-arranged the yuccas, heucheras and fescues, and added some daylilies, since she had too many on the other side of the walkway.  They all had to be moved anyway, to make space for the shrubs we added.  There are quite a few 'spiky'-shaped plants here, so I definately see some tall sedums in the future, as well as gaillardia, shasta daisies, cranesbill geranium...

Since the client likes the look of bare soil, I recommend top-dressing these beds with at least 2" of compost every spring.  It will help keep the weeds down, improve the soil, and fertilize the plants. 

screening an air conditioning unit part 2

This client wanted to screen the air conditioning unit, and have more colour.  She decided we would add shrubs this fall (a great time to plant!), and flowers in the spring.  Here is what it looked like before, and below is after I added the shrubs and re-arranged some of her existing perennials:

The new juniper 'Moonglow' will eventually get large enough to screen the view, without blocking access.  In the meantime, the ornamental grass 'Karl Foerster' will help block the view.

There's a Dart's Red spirea in the corner closest to the front door.  It will add flower colour in summer and have reddish-purple foliage in fall.

I also added 3 'Black Beauty' elderberries, whose purple-black foliage contrast well with the blue juniper and fescues.  They will eventually get 5 ft tall and wide.

The blue fescues were moved from the other side of the front sidewalk, and I also re-arranged the variegated grasses and yellow daylilies a little.

Also, the Karl Foerster grass will be big enough by next year to screen the view as you get closer to the house.

We haven't added any flowers yet and I think it already looks a lot better with the various colours and textures of foliage.

front yard garden instead of grass

This client was tired of looking at the garbage can when she pulled up to her house.  So, I had her take out the grass and prepare this new bed.  Then, I arrived with the following plants:

Shrubs: 

* blue spruce 'Montgomery', which will eventually get to 7 ft x 7 ft (to match one on the other side of the driveway)

* ninebark 'Center Glow'

* potentilla 'Abbotswood'

The key to placing shrubs is to space them so that they will not overcrowd each other when they are full size.  It's hard to imagine, but when these shrubs fill in they will all touch.  But in the meantime, the garden would look pretty sparse.  So here are the perennials that are designed to complement the shrubs and be low maintenance:

* 3 daylilies

* 3 bergenia cordifolia

* 1 calamagrostis 'Overdam'

* 1 perennial geranium 'Bloody cranesbill'

* 3 festuca glauca 'Elijah blue'

There!  The perennials will fill in much faster (2-3 years) and in the meantime some bark mulch between the plants wil keep moisture in and weeds down.  Besides adding some compost every year, the only other thing that needs to be done to this garden is a light pruning in spring.  And even though it will be a few years before the shrubs are big enough to actually screen the view of the garbage can, at least they are still more interesting to look at than lawn!!

planting to screen an airconditioning unit

This is the other side of the front entry.  Someone planted a few ornamental grasses, which are too small and see-through to screen the air conditioner.  Also, there are a gzillion daylilies (stella d'oro, I think) planted all along the walkway and around a tree on this side.  Despite the fact that I've seen daylilies on lists of deerproof plants, the flower buds on these daylilies keep getting eaten by deer. 

So, we need a screen, a welcoming entry, more variety and some deerproof plants here.  My suggestions:

* a juniper 'Moonglow' in front of the airconditioner.  It will match the other two already planted there, and echo the smaller 'Blue Arrow' on the other side .  It will get up to 1.5m wide, so it must be planted to ensure access to the air conditioning units.

* 3 ninebarks 'Centre Glow' or 'Coppertina' which will contrast nicely with the blue juniper and also echo the gold tones on the house

* a spirea 'Dart's Red' in the corner between the front patio and the walkway

* move and replant the daylilies so that they form more dense groups - one group in a semi-circle around the front of the shade tree, one group in a clump between the spirea and ninebark shrubs

* some groupings of bearded iris, festuca glauca and dwarf shasta daisies should be planted (more than once) to repeat the plantings on the other side

* other "deerproof" perennials to be added could include columbine, lamb's ears, penstemon 'Husker's Red', perennial geranium and sedum 'Matrona' as well as a variety of creeping sedums.  Remember the rules of plant combining here - these plants are selected for their variety of leaf colour/texture/shape and plant shape as well as their sun-loving qualities.

a sunny, hot front garden

This client has a south-facing front entry, and the heat reflected off the house and surrounding concrete makes this garden hot.  She hates the yucca and larger ornamental grasses (not to mention they are spaced too far apart even if you like the xeriscape look!).  There are also 3 purple heucheras that do not look happy. 

I think we need a few shrubs, including at least one evergreen, to provide some winter interest and balance the garden on the other side.  Although she didn't ask my advice on this aspect, I would put the bench in front of the stucco wall, rather than the window (and move the vases to either side).  The metal will stand out better against the solid colour, and the view from the inside will not be interrupted by the bench (the view will be nicer soon!).  The client stipulated she likes warm colours such as yellows and reds, not pinks or purples.  And finally, the plants should be hare and deer-proof, as much as possible.

[Update: Click here for stage 1 renovation.]

smaller trees, please!

The aspens on the left of this mixed tree and shrub bed are not doing well, and are blocking my client's view of downtown. 

I recommend taking them out and replacing with a Caragana 'Sutherland'.  This tree has a nice form, but is shorter and narrower than most.  It will still provide a vertical element in the bed, but not block the view.  It is also a drought-tolerant prairie tree and has yellow flowers in spring and interesting bark in winter.

The shrub on the right could also be taken out and replaced with a low-growing juniper such as 'Andorra' or 'Green Carpet'.

plants for a sunny, hot raised bed

Rock gardens are a great place to grow sun and heat-loving plants.  The rocks retain a lot of heat, keeping the soil warmer at night, allowing some plants to grow here that wouldn't grow in a regular garden in Calgary.

However, too much rock and not enough soil means a super hot, super dry garden where it is tough to get things to grow.  Like this one.  There is currently a coreopsis and a little patch of snow-in-summer surviving, and surprisingly a monkshood, plus a few poppies and creeping sedums recently put in.

I suggest filling it in with a variety of heights of plants around the bottom, and some spillers on the top (soil pockets not visible in this picture).  Obviously, all plants must be sun and heat tolerant.  Here are some perennial possibilities:

• creeping sedums of a variety of flower and leaf colour and variegations
• hens and chicks
• thymus (ornamental thymes of a variety of flower colours, textures and scents)
• satureja reptans (creeping savory)
• dwarf iris germanica
• achillea millefolium (yarrow, various flower colours)
• gaillardia (blanket flower) 
• lamb's ears 'Silver Carpet' (non-flowering variety)
• gypsophilia paniculata (baby's breath)
• nepeta (catmint) 'Walker's Low'
• artemesia 'Silver Mound' and 'Lambrook Silver'

And because they like the heat so much that replanting them every year would be worth it, these annuals could go in as well:

• portulaca, various colours
• verbena, various colours
• trailing nasturtiums

One important thing will be to water all the newly planted perennials daily for a few weeks.  They are only drought and heat-tolerant once they are established.

 

sitting area with a view

This client has a gorgeous sitting area with a view over downtown, except you can't see it for the trees, which are growing on the slope below.  I suggested taking out all the trees that are interfering with the view, but leaving the shrubs (such as wolf willow) that are also growing wild on the slope. 

There is also a semi-circular, flattish area in front of, and to the left of the patio which is overgrown with weeds and needs to be cleaned out and replanted.  We don't want to plant anything tall enough to impede the view from sitting.  Also, it is an awkward area to get into so everything planted here should be very low maintenance.  My suggestions include:

• * A hedge of ninebark 'Dart's Gold' (probably 5) around the back of the semi-circle.  This will add a backdrop of colour that will draw attention to this area from anywhere in the yard.  If they get too tall, their size can be controlled by pruning or cutting to the ground when necessary.

* A ninebark 'diabolo' and a dwarf globe blue spruce on the left side for year-round colour contrast.  The nienbark will also add unity with some other diabolos planted elsewhere in the yard.

* Some low maintenance perennials and ground covers in front of the shrubs, with a variety of heights, some spilling over the edge of the rocks, including:

• perovskia atriplicifolia (russian sage)
• leucanthemum (shasta daisy) 'Becky'
• veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'
• iris germanica (bearded iris)
• euphorbia (cushion spurge)
• sedum 'Autumn Joy'
• daylily (spiller, kind of) 
• bergenia cordifolia
• nepeta (catmint) 'Walker's Low' (spiller)
• persicaria (fleeceflower) 'Darjeeling Red'
• festuca glauca
• lysimachia nummularia aurea (spiller)

my brother's front yard needs help

I have forgiven my brother for moving after I designed a new front yard for him at his old house.  This north-facing one needs even more help and I can't wait to get my hands dirty!

They are going to replace the walkway with exposed aggregate next spring, so we are going to come up with a design and prepare the soil this fall, so he's ready to plant as early as possible next year.

 

Yikes.  They limbed up that spruce and now there's a hole in the hedge where the spruce's lower branches used to be.  Hmm, what to do, what to do...

...and what to do with the bare spot now that the lower branches are gone?  Well, I do like a challenge.

This is the view from inside - an important consideration in design!

backyard border 1 makeover part 2 - the plants

I delivered the client's perennials yesterday in the pouring rain, so didn't take any pictures of them in situ yet.  Here's the before picture and I'll post some after pictures next time I go back.

After showing this client pictures of a variety of styles of gardens, she said she liked everything (my favourite kind of client, easy going!), but this picture from Gardens West magazine (March 2008) was the one that really caught her eye:

This kind of bountiful bloom can only be achieved from lots of annuals in the garden.  The only perennials I can make out are blue delphiniums and purple phlox, otherwise there's lots of petunias and allysum (the annuals).  The only problem with a garden like this is that in Calgary, it won't look like this until at least the end of July because it takes that long for the annuals to get big.  So for 3 months May-July you are just waiting for the garden to look good, and before mid-May you won't even have any annuals at all, you'll be looking at bare soil.

So I suggested planting a few key perennials throughout this client's border, and then filling in the spaces with wave petunias to achieve the riot of colour she likes so much.   The perennials chosen all had to have at least one of the following attributes, preferably two or three:

- they had to be large and fast-growing to provide some structure to the garden

- they had to be long blooming

- they had to provide early spring colour, so the garden looks good even before the annuals are planted

- they had to provide more than one season of interest - eg. foliage colour and texture when out of bloom, winter interest, etc.

So here's what I came up with:

goldmound spireas (spring, summer and fall colour)

monkshood (long blooming, structure)

garden phlox (fall colour, paired with monkshood)

liatris (fall colour, paired with monkshood)

catmint (long blooming)

lady's mantle (foliage, paired with catmint)

hosta (foliage)

veronica 'Sunny Border Blue' (long blooming, structure, winter interest)

shasta daisy 'Becky' (long blooming, paired with veronica)

daylily (structure, paired with veronica and shasta daisy)

blue oat grass (structure, foliage, year-round interest)

dwarf bearded iris (structure, early spring colour)

She also has some cranesbills, bleeding heart and lamium to divide and move around in the border, plus we are adding an Annabelle hydrangea in the shade.  Like I said, I'll post pictures after my next visit.

falling behind...

This year my plan was to post pictures and information about each plant in my garden, to help others find things that are easy to grow in Calgary's dry zone 3.  However, the gardening business, my own garden and the blog are a little too much to keep up with right now!  So I'm posting photos as things bloom, but will have to go back later to add my information and tips for growing each plant. 

Well, I need something to do in the winter months, don't I?

backyard border 1 makeover - before

This is the kind of garden design job I like best.  Sure, I like doing complete designs from scratch and providing drawings for people, but I don't do the actual work myself so I never get to see the end result!  Here is one of the borders of a client I will be working with over the summer.  She has given me a budget of $50 for compost and $200 for perennials & shrubs for this border, and I will deliver the plants and place them in the garden for her, ready to be planted.  This way I get to shop, pick the plants myself, and see them in their future home.  Fun!

This border is on the south side of her backyard, and goes from shade on the left to sun on the right.  There are a few shrubs and trees we can keep, and others that aren't doing so well.  I stuck a fork in the soil and it went in fairly easily to a depth of about 30 cm, so we decided not to dig out and replace the soil, just to amend it.  Here are the tasks I gave her to do before I bring the plants next week:

• Pull out the plastic edging in the middle of the garden bed.  Plants will better serve the purpose of holding the soil in the sloped bed.
• Pull weeds.  Watering the night before weeding will soften the soil and make this job easier.  Be sure to completely remove any weeds with flowers or seeds on them, and toss in garbage.  Any smaller seedlings can be composted.
• Turn the entire garden over with a fork, to a depth of 30 cm (or about the depth of the fork).  Remove any large rocks.  Do not dig too close to existing perennials or shrubs so as not to disturb roots.

garden makeover step-by-step

One problem with being a garden coach is that you only give tips, advice and designs, but don't do the actual makeover work yourself.  Therefore, besides my own ongoing garden makeover, I don't have any pictures to show of my work!

My brother and his wife have asked me to help them with their front yard again, so I will be taking photos of each stage of the makeover and posting tips along with them.  Keep in mind we both have young families and summer holidays coming up, so it is going to be a slow process! 

Oh the suspense! 

Keep checking back over the summer for more posts in this category.

the power of referrals

Ack!  Just got back to my office at my "real job" and have 6 new e-mails from people wanting a consult.  Thanks for the referrals, Melanie!

Will call you all this week-end if I'm not totally overwhelmed.  No seriously, it's going to rain so I won't be gardening - I should have time!  Ha ha.

why hire a garden coach?

I know what you think I'm going to say - hire a garden coach so you don't end up with tacky swan pots in your garden...!

But actually, that's the point.  You should plant what you like.  If you like plastic swan pots, then go for it.  This is the yard of an older couple in my neighbourhood, and while the garden style is certainly not trendy, they seem happy with it.

It's actually kind of cute - the pots move around occasionally.  Sometimes they're lined up tip-to-tail beside the driveway, sometimes they're swimming in a circle on the lawn.  Not my style, but cute.

Anyway, my point is, as a garden coach, I listen to what you like and not only help you accomplish it in your garden, but also maintain or improve it.  This is different from a landscape designer who will come up with a complete design and/or install it for you, but then you may have no idea how to take care of it, or be afraid to change something in a year or two.  Whether or not you spend big bucks on a professionally installed landscape, you still need to know a thing or two to keep it looking good year after year.

what to do before a garden coach comes

• Grab some gardening magazines and books from the library.  Gardens West is a great magazine because it features lots of Canadian prairie gardens (but also some from BC which will make you drool).  Canadian Gardening is also pretty good but very Ontario-centric ...not everything you see in it will grow here.  Fine Gardening is also very good but American so look at style but not necessarily specific plants.  If you find pictures of something you like of a garden somewhere else, you could always copy the style but substitute some of the plants for ones that grow well here.  It will help if you can show your designer some pics of things you like (and/or things you don't like).
• Watch your yard as much as you can to see which areas are sunny and which are shadey.  Full sun is considered 6 hours or more of direct sunlight.  Keep in mind the sun will get higher throughout the summer so an area that only gets 4 hours of sun now might get 6 hours of sun in the summer.
• Think honestly about how much time you want to spend maintaining your garden.  Low maintenance is not no maintenance.  There are flowers and shrubs that require little attention, and those that require lots - pruning, deadheading, staking etc.