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We have Hope.....Spring is Coming!
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Welcome to 2022, Canada’s designated Year of the Garden!
Set to officially launch on the first day of spring, March 20, 2022, Canadian gardeners are invited to celebrate ‘everything garden and gardening related in Canada’. You can join in the celebration!
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Start thinking about ways you can join in the fun:
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- Plant red to show your Canadian Gardening Pride
- Sign up your garden as a 2022 Celebration Garden
- Celebrate your Municipal Proclamation
- Celebrate your Garden Heroes
Places to go, things to see and do. The Year of the Garden 2022 will be an exciting time to experience and celebrate why Canada is known as a nation of gardeners and gardens.
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- Garden Days June 11 to 19 and National Garden Day June 18, 2022
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Canada’s Garden Route featuring Public Gardens, Parks Canada heritage gardens, Communities in Bloom / Fleurons du Québec municipalities, and Garden Network and Trails
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Participate in the numerous garden and gardening festivals, events, and activities organized by members of the Garden-Family across the country.
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Join us at Seedy Saturday -
April 23, 2022
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There is something for everyone at Seedy Saturday.
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Learn from 3 talks about the best growing practices. Shop the marketplace for high-quality, rare, and organic seeds, garden supplies, local food, decor, and more.
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Check out what our terrific community groups are doing too.
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If you love gardening, this is the event you won’t want to miss!
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Did you Know?
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Cool Season Veggies - get ready to direct-sow outdoors
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Some like it cold! March is a great time to get cool-season veggies started in the garden. Asparagus, carrots, onion sets, radish, turnip, spinach, peas, and parsnip all love the cool weather and many of these plants will bolt or taste bitter once it gets hot. As soon as the soil can be worked, plants these cool-season veggies out in the soil for an early harvest.
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Seed Starting Indoors - time to start some now!
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We’re getting a jump on spring and starting our seeds. Many easy-to-grow annuals can be started now for planting out in May. Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and annuals like zinnias, dahlias, cosmos, and alyssum can all be started 6-8 weeks before the last frost date (which is May 10 in our area). Cucumbers, melons, zucchini, and morning glories should be started 3-4 weeks before the last frost date. They can also be sown directly outside in May
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Didn’t get around to buying seeds? Join us at our annual garden celebration; Seedy Saturday and head to the seed swap table. Bring some to share too!
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Spring Ephemerals
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The Trillium is one of a dozen or so spring ephemerals that call Ontario home. These plants grow quickly, sending up foliage and flowers in spring. Ephemerals cover our forest floors with jewel-like blooms at a time of year when everything else is just waking up. However, you need to be out early to see them - by summer their blooms and foliage will disappear for another year. They're best planted with other plants that will fill in the bare areas as these die back.
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Some favourite places to see spring woodland flowers (PLEASE don't pick them) :
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There are so many terrific spring ephemerals (image below is courtesy of Justin Lewis, Ontario Native Plant Gardening Facebook page) For more about 35 native wildflowers click here
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Struggling to choose the best native plants? We can help!
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What do Master Gardeners do when it's cold outside? We dream of our spring garden of course! When we met this January to share our 2022 goals, the overwhelming consensus was that we wanted to do more to support the birds, bees, butterflies, and other life that share our yards. Many of us plan to do this by adding native plants that offer food and shelter.
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Want something attractive, suitable for your soil, sun/shade situation, in a certain colour and height? There's help! Find the perfect native to tuck into your yard, with one of these great tools:
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- Keystone Natives for our ecoregion "Eastern Temperate forest" - Keystone plants are native plants critical to the food web and necessary for many wildlife species to complete their life cycle. Without keystone plants in the landscape, butterflies, native bees, and birds will not thrive. 96% of our terrestrial birds rely on insects supported by keystone plants.
- Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Centre offers this tool that allows you to search by province, and choose based on growth habit, bloom time, height, and more!
- Want to know exactly what plants were grown in your area before European settlers arrived? This tool allows you to search by postal code for a list of plants native to your area.
- Birds are your focus? Use this tool to find native plants that will specifically support birds. Search by plant type, soil type, sun exposure, and moisture needs.
- Really just want to find a certain native plant? The Canadian Wildlife Federation has an encyclopedia of native plants including habitat and benefits specific to Canada. A favourite USA-based resource is Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder.
- Need an easy visual to see lots of options? St Williams offers attractively summarized native plant images and information about their habitat.
- Want to learn the ins and outs of growing a Pollinator garden? Here's a great post from Toronto Master Gardeners including a significant list of good resources
Add a few native plants and you'll soon have a garden full of life!
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Start a Tasty Tradition
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I can’t exactly call the red fruit we buy at the grocery store in winter a tomato. It just doesn’t taste like one! This fall, I decided to take matters into my own hands and try growing tomatoes under my fluorescent lights. I chose tomato seeds for small, patio-sized plants and started them in the basement. Getting a balanced indoor fertilizer for tomatoes is important as they are hungry plants. Tomatoes are wind-pollinated, so I give them a light shake every few days to move the pollen from the stamens to the pistil. Right now they are covered in blooms and small green tomatoes. I may have a better harvest from my basement than I did outside! Check out this article from Utah State University about winter tomato growing.
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NO-NO of the Month
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Stay off moist or wet soil!
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If you have to wear boots, it's too wet to work in the garden, or even walk on the lawn. Compacted soil not only makes it harder for plant roots to grow and spread; it also reduces the soil’s ability to absorb water, which can lead to runoff and increased soil erosion. Learn More
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Caterpillars in the garden - a good thing I can live with!
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Today I'm pondering my love/hate relationship with caterpillars in the garden. But if I want to watch the birds and butterflies, I need them. I'm learning to let nature find its balance.
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Fungus gnats - Winter houseplant pests
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Nope - those are not fruit flies. They're called Fungus Gnats. And they're coming from the soil of your houseplants. Learn several ways to deal with the flies and their larvae and ban these little pests from your home.
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How do red leaves photosynthesize? - lack of chlorophyll? No
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Most plants use light, water, and carbon dioxide to produce energy through photosynthesis which occurs in plants' chlorophyll (green) pigment. Here are a few basics about leaf colour, and the truth about what we see. A quick read and you can wow your friends with your knowledge!
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Buying a Fruit Tree - a little research will pay off!
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As the winter winds still howl outside, I like to curl up and dream of my garden to come and browse nursery catalogs.
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Buying a fruit tree isn’t like picking out perennial flowers though. It's a larger investment and needs special care.
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Use these great tips to buy the right trees.
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Locally adapt seed? Understand myth vs. fact
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One myth I often run across is that we gardeners can locally adapt seeds and plants. You grow seeds in your garden. You save some every year and plant it the next. Over time, shouldn’t that variety adapt to your garden and yield a strain well suited? NO
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Save the Right Seeds - For the best vegetables!
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Are you a vegetable gardener who scans seed catalogs each winter and regularly buys a shocking amount of new varieties of seeds? Do you actually prefer your old favourite varieties, but struggle to find them and are hoping the seed companies don't stop offering them? You would benefit from learning to save the right seeds!
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Lots of online learning! (some have a small fee):
Mar 10: Sean James | Layered Designs for Natural Gardens
April 14: Cathy Kavassalis | Small Trees for Small Spaces
May 12: Dr. Victoria MacPhail | Native Plants for Pollinators
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We love to hear from gardeners and answer questions. Don't be shy.
We were all new to this once!
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