Understanding Fertilizer

Home gardeners at some point will turn to using a fertilizer.  If growing in containers indoors or outdoors, the use of a fertilizer is a must.  The reason being, the nutrients in the soil in the container become depleted by the growing plant so they must be replaced.  There are two main categories of fertilizers: organic and inorganic.  Many home gardeners concerned only with the vegetable/fruit yield or those growing ornamentals turn to inorganic fertilizers.  Those concerned about growing organic, pesticide free vegetables and fruits use only organic fertilizers on edible plants but may or may not use inorganic fertilizers on ornamental plants.  If they use inorganic fertilizers they are careful to not use them where any run-off could contaminate their organically grown fruits and vegetables.

Fertilizers are normally labeled organic if they are organic but inorganic fertilizers don't have any indication that they are inorganic.  There are three numbers on the label in the form of, for example 8-7-6.  This indicates the nitrogen (N)-phosphorus (P)-potassium (K) contents so using the example that fertilizer has 8% N, 7% P and 6% K.  Nitrogen is needed for the growth of leaves; phosphorus is for the growth of roots and fruit development; and potassium is for flower colour and size.  While you could use a general, all-purpose fertilizer (eg. 10-10-10) it is better to tailor the N-P-K to meet the needs of the plant.  If you are growing vegetables, a fertilizer higher in P is preferred for fruiting vegetables (eg. tomatoes, peppers) but a fertilizer higher in N is used for leafy vegetables (eg. lettuces, chards).  If you are growing flowering ornamentals then use a fertilizer with a higher K content.  In addition to N, P and K there are three additional macronutrients needed for healthy plant growth.  They are calcium, magnesium and sulfur (S).  These macronutrients are usually included in fertilizer compounds.  Sometimes the S content is indicated by a fourth number on the label in the form of N-P-K-S.  Fertilizers often contain micronutrients needed for healthy plant growth.  These are boron, chlorine, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

Tips for Using Self-Watering Planters

Using self-watering planter for houseplants, on the patio or deck and in the garden makes a lot of sense.  They result is healthier, stress-free plants that are better equipped in warding of disease and infestations.  I have been busy repotting all of my houseplants and starting planted pots for outdoors using self-watering planters.  Here's a few tips for using self-watering planters:

• size of self-watering planter  - If repotting a plant, choose a size of self-watering planter about 1" to 2" diameter bigger than the pot the plant is currently in.  For example if the plant is in a 4" pot, choose a 6" or 7" self-watering planter. 
• soil - Use a good quality potting mix or mix your own using sterilized soil, vermiculite, and peat moss.   The soil should be light and fluffy but with a bit of body to it.
• fertilizing - By the time most plants need repotting, they are a bit stressed.  Use a fortified (.14-.14-.14) potting mix for non-edible plants or fertilize after repotting.  Organic fer
• watering - Do not water or fill the reservoir before placing the plant where you want it!  Place the potted plant on a plate, charger or floor protector.  The reservoir can overflow if filled beyond it's capacity.  Place the plant in a manner that there is easy access to the reservoir fill hole.  Water the plant from the top until the entire soil surface is wet.  Let the plant sit for 15 minutes before filling the reservoir.  This allows any excess water to go into the reservoir and helps to prevent overflowing.  Use a small curve spout watering can to fill the reservoir.  If the reservoir has a float system, stop filling when the float pops up.  If the reservoir does not have a float system, use your finger as a guide to fill until the reservoir hits your finger just slightly below the opening.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

Why Use Self-Watering Planters?

There is a wide range of self-watering planters available or you can make your own.  Basically a self-watering planter consists of two chambers.  The upper chamber is the potting chamber.  There is a series of slits in the bottom of the upper chamber allowing water to be drawn from the lower chamber (water reservoir) by the plant roots using capillary action.  There is some type of hole at the top of the lower chamber where you can add more water as needed.  Inexpensive versions consist of the two chambers but more expensive versions have a water float in the reservoir and some type of wick on the bottom or even going up the side of the upper chamber. 

It is also quite possible to make your own self-watering planters.  There are many, many designs and instructions available online to suit every need.  When it comes to houseplants and smaller patio plants, the purchased self-watering planters are likely less expensive than homemade but larger containers (eg. plastic totes) used to grow vegetables on the patio are less expensive if you make them yourself.  The question is, why should you use self-watering planters?  Here are a few of my reasons:

• healthier plants - Self-watering planters eliminate over watering and drying out.  The moisture is consistently provided as the plant needs it so plant stress is greatly reduced.  
• fewer infestations and diseases - Healthier plants ultimately means fewer infestations (eg. aphids, white flies)  and diseases (eg. fungus, dampening off, leaf mold).  While this is less of a concern indoors, it can be a problem for any container plant grown in the garden, on decks or patios.  A healthy plant can tolerate an infestation better than a stressed plant.
• reduced time watering - If you have houseplants in every room of your house as you should as well as container plants outdoors you can easily spend an hour or so water plants each week.  Each self-watering planter reservoir holds enough water to water the plant for 2 to 4 weeks.  Instead of watering houseplants every other day or every week, the timing is cut in half to a quarter by using a self-watering planter. 
• plant friendly - The reality is most home gardeners water according to their schedule not on the plant's schedule.  A self-watering planter keeps the soil moist as needed but doesn't over or under water. 
• easy fertilizing - All container plants require fertilization on a regular basis because they deplete the soil nutrients quickly.  Simply use an organic liquid fertilizer added to the water in the reservoir.  The plant will use it as the nutrients are needed without the fear of fertilizer burn.  
• worry free - One of the biggest concerns anyone who grows plants in containers, indoors or outdoor is what to do when you go on away for an extended period of time.  I know I have called family on more than one occasion when we decided to stay away longer than expected asking them to check my container plants because I couldn't remember if I had watered them before we left.  I have an excellent network of family and friends to come to my rescue but not everyone has this.  The self-watering planters remove this worry.  As long as you keep water in the reservoir you know your container plants will be fine for 2 to 4 weeks.  This will be a huge relief for those growing on patios too as patio plants can dry out quickly on a hot day.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

Arboricola Bush in EEZY-GRO Self-Watering Planter

Arboricola Bush

(Umbrella Plant)

One of our local grocery stores was selling gorgeous floor plants in 10" pots for $9.99 so I bought a few.  Plants breath life into a room but at the same time help clean the air so they should be included in every room of the house.  Floor plants are wonderful for adding that extra touch without spending a lot of money. Pictured is the Arboricola bush I bought then repotted in and EEZY-GRO self-watering planter.

We are away from home for extended periods of time when we are at our vacation home.  Our last house was in a rural location with no access other than secondary roads that are not plowed out as fast as the main roads.  Rather than ask family and friends to come out to water my houseplants I turned to using automatic watering globes.  The local dollar store sells the smaller ones 2/$1.25 and the larger ones at $2 each.  I've been using them over a year now as an inexpensive yet effective alternative for keeping houseplants watered.  There are three downsides to the watering globes.  First they are made of glass so breakage is always a concern.  The second downside is potential overheating if used outdoors and the final downside is at best a filled water globe will provide water between 5 and 8 days, or at least that has been my experience.  I am moving towards self-watering planters for all of my houseplants and will be using them for various container plants in the garden and on the decks.

I was at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago checking out their houseplant selection.  I decided to try an EEZY-GRO self-watering planter.  These planters are made by Apollo Plastics Ltd.in Mississauga, Ontario.  There is a water reservoir on the base of the planter and a wick on the bottom of the planter.  Once the plant is potted, you water the top as you would normally.  Then you fill the water reservoir through the opening.  There is a small float device just inside the opening.  The plant roots draw water up through the roots using capillary action as needed.  The planter is designed in such a manner that the roots are not constantly standing in water making this an ideal planter for patio plants.  This planter is designed to water the plant for 2 to 4 weeks depending on the conditions.

The EEZY-GRO self-watering planters are available in limited range of colours but should meet most gardening needs.  There are versions available for hanging plants as well.  I paid $7.49 for the 14 - inch diameter pots and $6.49 for the 7 - inch diameter pot.  In perspective, if these pots keep my houseplants happy and healthy while reducing the number of times I have to water as well as eliminate the danger of potted plants drying out, it will be money well spent!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

Protecting Saved Seeds

As a home gardener I am also a seed saver.  Seeds can be saved from any plant but heirlooms are preferred as they breed true unlike seeds from hybrid plants.  Really from a genetic perspective if you cross two hybrids you have a 25% chance of the resulting plant being true for either of the homozygous traits but a 50% chance of it it being nothing like the parental plant.  I grow and save heirloom seeds from plants that were grown using organic practices.  I also buy seed from companies where I know they use organic growing practices.  What many new gardeners do not realize aside of the quality of the seed (eg. heirloom, organic) is seeds are living entities.  During storage, seeds collected from your garden or purchased need a bit of protection to ensure a good germination rate.    The germination rate is determined over a certain number of seeds.  Let's say you plant 100 seeds and 5 germinate into seedlings.  The germination rate if 5% which by any measurement is close to a waste of time and energy BUT in some cases that 5% may be the best you are ever going to get.

In general, seeds should be stored in such a manner that you have enough to plant two seasons' worth of garden.  Seeds should be properly stored in your pantry protected from light, heat, insects and rodents.  Store in vacuum sealed glass mason jars to protect against these threats.  Light, moisture and heat can cause sprouting and/or moulding.  Insects and rodents can quickly eat through your supply of stored seeds.  Properly stored seeds will keep for at least two years and longer but longer storage may result in lower germination rates. 

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

A Busy Garden Year Ahead

I have a very busy garden year planned for 2012.  Aside of doing a bit of clean-up work on the existing ornamental garden beds after moving here in September of 2011, we had done only basic yard maintenance and planning.  So far, we have determined the ornamental garden beds have to be completely revamped.  The two umbrella trees and arbor trumpet vine need to be replaced with something less likely to maim.  I am definitely leaning towards morning glory for the arbor and silver birch trees.  The hard, jagged rock bordering some of the ornamental beds is coming out.  I think it is ugly and a safety hazard as does my husband.  The ornamental beds will be mulched with red cedar as an accent colour that will go nice with the colour of our house while providing a bit of natural insect deterrent.  We will prune the fruit trees then it will be ready to get the vegetable and herb gardens going.

This is a smaller property so the vegetable and herb beds will be raised, planted in the square foot garden method.  I am considering making the beds a bit deeper and using something a bit more elegant than plain pine, perhaps with a nice finished ledge along the top for additional potted plants or sitting.  Deeper beds will allow some of the vining fruit and vegetable plants to tumble over as well, softening the look a bit. 

I need to establish the following long term beds: rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries and herbs.  These will be the first beds to go in and aside of the herbs, do not have to be raised or planted in the square foot garden method.  I would really like to work in some raspberry canes and a few blueberry bushes but that is going to be iffy since the pool takes up a good portion of our backyard.  I have picked out a spot for a grapes too.

I know these are a lot of plans and some won't get finished this year.  I will be happy getting the long term beds in along with the raised beds built and filled.  My husband is talking of replacing the fence so I need to keep that in mind as well.  All in all it should be an exciting but very busy year for gardening here!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

Replenishing My Seed Supply

When I first started growing a vegetable garden years ago, I bought mainly plants and very few seeds.  As my gardens become larger and more complex, seeds entered into the picture.  Now I turn to seeds I have collected from the gardens as well as buying seeds and some plants.  As most gardeners experience from time to time is the only way to get plants outside of the normal limited range of quite often hybrid plants and seeds is to order seed from a seed company or participate in a seed exchange. 

My seed supply is rather low because our house was on the market for the last two growing seasons which translated into growing less.  This ultimately meant I had less plants to save seed from so my own, known to be organically produced seed is almost used up.  When I buy vegetable seed or plants, I look for seed from organic growers who have been certified organic (eg.  The Centre for Systems Integration certification).  I want to be sure the seeds and plants used for my edible garden is not GMO (genetically modified organisms) or chemically treated as well.  Thankfully, heirloom seeds and certified organic seed is easily available through the seed and plant companies I deal with.  This year I expect the new raised beds and other garden beds to be fairly productive so I will be able to replenish my seed supply further. 

Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

Another Winter Lacking Snowfall

Normally we have a light snowfall in late October, a bit heavier in November and quite often snow for Christmas.  We had just enough snow so far to barely coat the grass but it was gone in a flash.  The temperatures have been quite mild as well especially this past week with temperatures above the freezing mark.  In fact, we have yet to have a hard frost which translates into a lot of mud and illnesses.  Last year was a bad year for snowfall as well.  Lack of snowfall usually means a hotter than average summer but it also creates a lot of problems for local farmers and home gardeners.  Yet this year, unlike last we have had a fair amount of rain, even a couple of record setting downpours.  It snowed a bit last night and is trying today but really there isn't much accumulation.  Here's hoping for a bit more snowfall before our attention turns to planting season!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

Garden Seeds are Appearing in the Stores

I was at Home Hardware today picking up paint for the bathroom.  As I went to the check-out I noticed two large displays of garden seeds!  I popped a packet of Little Marvel peas in with my painting supplies.  I am planning on painted every room in the house this winter but you can bet I will still make time to get my seedlings ready for the new gardens.  It won't be long now :)

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2012

The First of My Seed Catalogues Have Arrived

We left on December 4 for our winter vacation, spending a couple of days in chilly Wisconsin before heading to our vacation home in the warm and sunny south.  We returned home in the late evening hours on December 22.  It was a wonderful break and while we could have stayed longer I wanted to be home to spend Christmas with the kids and grandkids.

There wasn't a lot to do in the garden at the vacation home.  We hired a gardener to look after them when we aren't there as weeds can quickly get out of hand in Florida.  We have rented the vacation home out for January through April but can't expect our tenants to do any gardening.  We dealt with fire ants for the first time and let me tell you that wasn't pleasant!  Our pest control service came out to take care of that problem.  We spread more red cedar mulch on the gardens as well.  I can't believe the difference in price.  Here (southwestern Ontario) a bag of red cedar mulch costs $8 but there (Florida) it only costs $3.  The red cedar mulch gives a nice splash of colour while conserving water in the soil and it has natural pest deterrent oils that help control centipedes, millipedes, spiders, pill bugs and ants.

On the homeside, I lost a few of my indoor herbs while away.  They were fairly new, still suffering a bit from the transit and although they were being cared for a couple dried out.  The geraniums are looking good but need a bit of cleaning up.  The first of the seed catalogues arrived while we were away so I'm already excited at the prospect of starting my new gardens.  I will be placing my first order for seeds shortly.  We have just enough ice and snow on the ground to not quite cover the grass but the never ending grey days of November are long gone.  We are seeing more bright, sunny days which makes the anticipation for being out in the garden a bit stronger.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Ordering Seed Catalogues

It's that time of year!  I have a lot of plans for my new gardens in the spring so I spent a bit of time ordering seed catalogues today.  This was triggered by receiving my shipment of potted herbs from Richters (Goodwood, ON) and the first snow flurry of the season.  I focused on those seed companies located in Ontario, Canada offering seeds and/or plants.  It is very important for me that any edible plants were grown organically, free of synthetic chemicals and pesticides.  We live in beautiful Ontario so when I order from an Ontario based seed company or grower, I am supporting our local economy.  The nice thing is when I order live plants they arrive within a day or two resulting in a lot less stress for them.  Here's a few seed companies and growers I recommend:

• Ritchters (Goodwood, ON) - superb quality and pesticide free medicinal, culinary and aromatic herbs
• OSC Seeds (Waterloo, ON) - high quality herb, vegetable, flower and tree seeds
• Stokes (Thorold, ON) - high quality seed and plants for all gardening needs including heirloom varieties
• Dominion Seed House (Georgetown, ON) - high quality seeds, plants and bulbs by mail order
• AgroHaiti (Lynden, ON) - specializing in Oriental vegetable seeds [online catalogue only]
• Florabunda Seeds (Indian River, ON) - specializing in heirloom varieties for cottage gardens
• Terra Edibles (Foxboro, ON) - organically grown heirloom seeds

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata 'Bostoniensis')

Boston Fern

(Nephrolepis exaltata 'Bostoniensis')

I have had a Boston fern in every home we have had.  My oldest Boston fern was acquired during our early newlywed days, moved with us from Ontario to Alberta and back, then graced our first four owned homes.  It had a long, long history and really was more like a family member.  I was devastated when it failed to thrive at our last house.  As mentioned earlier, that house had serious bad karma with respect to houseplants! 

I bought a new Boston fern for my office at our new house.  It sits in the corner where I can enjoy it while on the computer.  Boston ferns are an age old low maintenance plant that graced the parlors of many a home.  This is a medium light plant that does well in filtered to partial sunlight.  A trick I learned eons ago was to water my Boston fern wih a little milk.  By little I mean putting a bit of water into an empty milk bag then water the fern.  Done once a month and this little tip will keep your Boston fern happy and healthy.  The second trick with Boston ferns is humidity so mist the foliage  couple of times a week.  The foliage will fade if the plant is not getting enough water.  Keep the soil most.  I'm using a watering globe to make sure the fern gets the right amount of water that it needs.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Houseplants and Watering Globes

Dollarama is likely quite happy with me!  I discovered their watering globes back in May of 2010 and have been experimenting with them ever since.  We spend upwards of five weeks at a time away from our permanent residence to enjoy our vacation home.  That leaves the dilemna of houseplant watering.  In our case, this is not a huge issue as our kids look after the house while we are away but I'm working on re-establishing my extensive houseplant collection in our new home.  Watering globes make perfect sense!

The watering globes I'm buying come in two sizes with the large one costing $2 and two of the smaller ones costing the same price.  The watering bulbs will keep each plant watered up to two weeks.  That means instead of the kids having to water my houseplants weekly they will only need to refill the watering bulb once during a four week period.  This is a lot less work for them!  There will still be a few trays of houseplants that will need to be watered individually but for the most part the watering the kids will need to do will be minimum.  Next I will be working on a self watering DIY system for my houseplants.  That way they will be rather self sufficient when we are away!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Mother-in-Law's Tongue (Sansevieria)

Sansevieria

Sansevieria is commonly called Mother-in-Law's Tongue.  It is a good air purifier that removes toxins such as formaldehyde, xylene and toulene all of which can occur in homes with laminate flooring, panelling, other manmade wood composite building materials, carpeting and upholsteried furniture.  The release of these chemicals is known as off-gassing, something quite common in newer homes. 

We have a lot of laminate flooring in our new home so I am being careful to include plants that act as air purifiers.  I bought a Sansevieria for our bedroom.  This plant, despite the benefits to indoor air quality, lives on neglect.  It prefers low light conditions, temperatures about 50ºF and moist soil.  Sansevieria is recommended for offices, bathrooms and other low light living areas.  Our bedroom has a northwest facing window so there is light but it is not a bright light.  I'm using a watering globe to ensure the plant doesn't dry out.  Other than that it is a very tolerant, low maintenance houseplant.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Epic Cordless, Electric Self-Propelled Mower

Our New Mower

My husband has been looking for a mower solution for quite sometime.  An electric mower was not a practical option for our last two rural properties.  Gasoline fumes triggered respiratory problems so for a couple of years we hired a lawn cutting service.  That had a lot of benefits especially when we were away.  Two years ago we bought a very nice gas powered mower and while it did save us money it was not a good solution for reducing our carbon footprint or reducing respiratory problems.  The reality is using a gas lawnmowers for one hour puts out the same amount of smog-forming emissions as 40 new automible do in an hour!  My husband finally found the ideal solution - a cordless, electric self-propelled mower for the new house.

He bought the Epic cordless electric self-propelled mower on sale a few days after we accepted the offer for the sale of our home.  This is a 19" full sized steel deck mower that uses the 24V Terra Phase Power System.  There is no gas, no oil, and no emissions.  According to the label we will save as much as $327 over the next 6 years in fuel and maintenance costs compared to a regular gas mower.  The mower has a push button start and rear wheel drive.  It mulches and there is a bagger (not pictured).  I've used it twice now and the most impressive feature is the noise level.  This is a very quiet mower!  You can barely tell the mower is going so we have greatly reduced the noise pollution we create through lawn maintenance.  The two batteries stay in the actual charger when the mower is not in use.  They only go into the mower compartment during use.  While we are currently charging the batteries using hydro, they can be charges via a solar panel and inverter.  One charge is enought to cut 7,000 to 10,000 square feet.  Our last property was 17,500 square feet so it would have taken two charges to cut the lawn but this lot is 11,500 square feet but buildings, gardens and pool reduce the square footage to under 10,000 square feet so we can cut the full lawn on one charge.  We will store the batteries indoors for the winter. 

With the purchase of this battery powered mower along with our battery powered trimmer/edger we have effectively eliminated the use of gasoline for any gardening equipment.  We have greatly reduced our carbon footprint as well as lessened noise pollution we produce.  I am rather pleased with this reduction!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Yardworks Cordless Grass Trimmer/Edger

Yardworks Cordless Grass Trimmer/Edger

Yards need weeding, trimming and edging even if you replace the grass with another ground cover.  My husband bought a Yardworks cordless grass trimmer/edger just before we sold our previous house so I had the opportunity to test it on a larger rural lot.  The beauty of this edger is it is battery powered.  Using battery powered yard maintenance equipment makes a lot of sense when moving towards living off the grid.  These devices can be charged using solar power and and inverter.  Even if we never get entirely off the grid which is less of a possibility now that we are living in town, we can still set up solar panels to recharge our lawn maintenance equipment as well as my husband's battery powered tools.  The removable battery sits just below the handle for easy removal to the charger. 

This trimmer can easily be turned into an edger by adjusting the handle knob.  I have to say that I am quite impressed with the performance!  There are no extension cords to worry about damaging and no gasoline fumes to have to deal with.  Unlike the gas powered trimmer, the battery powered one starts up with only a press of the button.  There is no fussing with the spool of cutter line either as all you do is pop it into place then it is automatic from there.   The battery lasts about 20 minutes which was more than sufficient to trim our larger rural property. 

I've used it twice in our new urban location without a problem.  As you can see we have a bricked drive so I even used it on edging mode to rid the cracks of weeds.  The first time, the trimmer was used here it lasted over the twenty minutes and that's with a bit more trimming than normal given I was cleaning up the driveway.  The nice thing about this battery powered trimmer/edger is I know it reduces our carbon footprint.  It is an environmentally conscious product that doesn't contribute to air pollution and it is quieter than electric and gas powered trimmers so reduces noise pollution.  That's always a good thing!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

My First New Houseplant at Our New Home

First New Houseplant at Our New Home

October 12, 2011

The beauty of houseplants is aside of adding life and vitality to a room while softening the hard edges of the room is they can be used to camouflage those little room idiosyncrasies that can be a bit annoying.  When the Bell satellite television installer ran our lines he made the assumption we would place the television in the corner thus hiding the large switch box.  The problem was there was no furniture in the room.  We want the television on the end wall, not in the corner so my husband straightened the wires then we did a bit of camouflaging with an endtable and larger plant.

The main television room is open to the dining room so it can carry a larger plant nicely.  A couple of the local stores have houseplants on sale so I've been taking advantage of the sales buying houseplants as I find a spot for them.  The first houseplant I bought was this beautiful tropical.  It is in the palm family but did not have a tag for positive identification.  The palm is about three and a half feet tall.  It  does just what it was intended to do, looking quite happy in it's new home.  Now I need to find a nice decorative pot for the palm to sit in.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Houseplant Problem at Our Last House

I have always had an abundance of houseplants in every home we've lived in.  I do mean an abundance too, with houseplants in pretty much every room.  Houseplants are a wonderful natural way to soften a room, bring interest and life into a room and improve air quality.  Our last hose was horrid for houseplants and yet I never did figure out what the problem was.  I honestly believe the house was veiled in bad karma!

We moved into that house in June of 2007.  Every houseplant I brought with us and there were a lot, was dead within three weeks with the exception of my variegated pothos.  Even the poor pothos looked like it was struggling though.  I lost my beautiful Boston fern, asparagus fern, several African violets, all of my indoor herbs and even the potted English ivy.  I spent close to $100 replenishing my houseplants figuring there was something with the move that affected the houseplants.  Within the following three weeks most of the new plants were dead.  Over the next four years, every single houseplant I brought into the house died while the poor pothos continued to struggle.  I brought in tomato plant clippings and herbs from the garden.  It was a struggle to keep them going throughout the winter at that house and yet I had been doing that successfully for years in our other houses.  I started cacti seeds from Nevada brought back from our spring vacation in 2008.  They germinated and survived but were struggling as well.  Of the four springs that I started seed trays, the majority failed.

It was not for lack of effort.  I tried to troubleshoot.  There were no signs of insect infestation or fungal problems in the house.  I used chamomile tea to ward off any dampening off for seedlings, fertilized houseplants, moved them into the sunporch during the nicer weather, nippped and tucked them, supplemented with plant lighting and still the houseplants failed to thrive.

We started moving in here September 1 of this year.  I brought the struggling potos and cacti, a sad statement of how bad that house was for growing houseplants.  Within a week both were looking quite healthy!  I went houseplant shopping, picking up a few here and there whenever I had to go shopping for something else.  It has been a little over six weeks now since we started moving in and the houseplants are looking marvelous.  I can't wait to share what I bought with you, the reader!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

The Huge Weed at Our Vacation Home

We have lived in I  beautiful Ontario, Canada most of our lives so we are used to gardening in Zone 6A.  We know what is considered weeds and what isn't.  Our vacation home is in US Hardiness Zone 9B.  We bought it in March of 2010 but did not see it until May of 2010.  The house had been empty for over a year so there was a bit of overgrowth.  While we have become accustomed to some of the plants at our vacation home, we are still very much newbies to gardeing in this zone.

We spent a couple of weeks in May at our vacation home.  A neighbour behind us mentioned we had a weed at the back of the house.  I looked at the 'weed' but it looked like a small tree to me so we left it.  When we arrived at our vacation home in September, the small tree was huge!  I honestly could not believe that a 'tree' that was about two feet tall when we left in May was well over ten feet tall .  To make matters worse there were a couple more of the free trees in our garden.  Apparently the rainy season was very generous to us!

Now, I still would have left this woody weed.  To me it looked like a tree.  We hired another resident in our resort community to clean-up our gardens.  He never told us what the plant was but he did confirm that it was indeed considered a weed.  We gave him full reign to remove any plant in the gardens that wasn't considered ornamental.  I picked his brains about the care and maintenance of the existing plants.

Pictured is the back of the house with the huge weed removed and bushes shaped.  He removed the stump the following day.  Now all of the bushes have been shaped we will be able to maintain the gardens easier.  The gentleman we hired was originally going to maintain the gardens each month but before we left he said he would not be able to due to increased reactions to fire ant bites.  We have not noticed any fire ants around our house.  At any rate we are now in the position of looking for another gardener to care for out property when we aren't there.

The reality is we spend about three months of the year at our vacation home but it is spread out two to five weeks at a time May, September and December.  We rent the property out January through April but the tenants do not do any yard work.  The resort does the yard mowing and trimming so at least we don't have to worry about that.   The rainy season is June through August precisely when we aren't there to catch any problems as they happen before they become big problems.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Turning Cold

It's turned rather cold here meaning that we aren't getting a lot done in the way of gardening at home or at the vacation home.  We left home in beautiful Ontario, Canada just before we had to turn on the furnace.  According to our kids who are housesitting and doing a bit of garden work there has been few days since we left that they could get anything done.  It was a balmy 90°F plus at our vacation home, so still using AC and staying out of the direct sun.   Despite the high temperatures we managed to get a lot of landscaping done, some of it hired out.  Then last Sunday it turned rather cold in the sunny south just in time for us to be heading back to Ontario yesterday.  With any luck we will have a nice Indian summer so I can get my crocuses planted.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011