Category: Plants

Fall Planting is Awesome!

September 20, 2023

Gardening, Landscape, Plants

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, Fall is coming upon us. ‘Tis the time for cozy sweaters, pumpkin everything, changing leaves and hot drinks! Farmers are bringing in their crops, vegetable gardens are being stripped. It is also an excellent time to plant or transplant in the garden.

Our plants have their own cycles. They are aware that winter approaches. They have noticed the shorter days, the cooler evening temperatures. In our hardy plants, they have done their work: they have grown, flowered, made seed or fruit. It is time to rest. Leaves start to change colour and will soon drop.

Soils, however, will stay warm for quite some time. Even after the first snowfall, soils will be warm. If you are familiar with the geothermal effect it is kind of related. The bulk of the Earth has absorbed the rays of the sun all summer. The Earth will hold that heat and release it slowly. Since your hardy plants don’t need to grow or flower, they have nothing to do but root.

It’s a fantastic time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials. It’s also a good time to sod or seed a lawn, plant bulbs like garlic or tulips. If you have perennials in your garden that seem to be flagging it is a good time to divide them and replant. It’s a good time to move a tree or shrub, better even after a frost or two when we know that the plants are heading to dormancy. The biggest tip I can offer is that the soil level that exists on the plant should be the same on re-planting. Never bury the wood stems of trees and shrubs!

My other absolutely favourite thing about a Fall planting? Your local garden centers probably have some steep discounts on plant material. They would prefer not to go the the work of over-wintering the plants. Don’t look to the box stores: they probably closed their garden centers in June or July and have already moved in snow blowers! Support your local garden center which has undoubtedly been taking good care of their nursery stock all summer! And who doesn’t like a good sale on plants?

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I Beg You, Don’t Clean Up Your Garden

September 13, 2023

Design, Environment, Landscape, Mother Nature, Plants

Photo by Laura Paredis on Pexels.com

September has arrived and here in Manitoba the temperatures have already slid downward. Monday evening the temperature went down to 2^o Celsius (35^o F.) Very glad I had taken my basil inside! It would not have appreciated that chill and it’s doing very well right now. There is lots more good eating to come from that plant. When I’m home it can go out for the day but pretty soon it will become a houseplant, under grow lights.

Many people are already looking forward to cleaning up the garden and largely not thinking about it until Spring. May I suggest an alternative? I think people should relax and enjoy the Fall. Sit in the sun, even if a down vest is required, enjoy a beverage, admire the changing leaves, watch the birds gather to migrate.

There are a number of good reasons to leave your garden. First, for those of us in cold climates, snow is our best blanket and insulator for roots and crowns. With the foliage up, plants will trap snow; it will shield the soil from temperature fluctuations right through until Spring. It also means that spring melt will offer extra moisture right where you need it: at your plants’ roots.

Second, from a design point of view, I find that the foliage of perennials and shrubs peeking from the snow to be far more interesting to the eye than a bland bank of snow. Of course trees are standing tall but something more at knee height offers easy views. The colourful twigs of dogwoods (Cornus), the persistent berries of chokeberry (Aronia) or the tan blooms of hydrangea (Hydrangea) are all interesting in a sea of whiteness.

Perhaps the most important reason to leave your garden: it will protect our pollinators and native insects. Many bugs over-winter in the foliage of plants, near the roots or just under the soil surface. They survive as eggs, larvae or pupae, as well as adults. Yes, some may be ‘bad’ bugs but most will be benign if not beneficial. Here’s an excellent article from the Manitoba Museum on plants and insects surviving our frigid winter. Another plus: many of these blooms and berries will provide food for birds through a cold winter, bringing life to the garden.

Can you do it? Can you leave your garden to Mother Nature’s care?

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Bad Advice

September 11, 2023

Design, Gardening, Plants

I almost can’t bear it! Sometimes I want to get off social media. Especially social media for gardeners of Manitoba. I am a member of a number of different Facebook pages for Manitoba gardeners. Some days I have to grit my teeth at the nonsense being spread.

Photo via Bing

Recent case in point: a person posted that they had planted a plum tree and an apple tree last year. The garden centre they bought from said they would pollinate each other. (And, yes, let’s get it out there that garden centres have trouble finding trained, knowledgeable, experienced people.) The person had read something that made them doubt the veracity of that statement so they posted the question to the Manitoba Gardeners Facebook page.

Somebody immediately jumped on saying the plum and apple can absolutely pollinate each other. Well, NO THEY CAN’T! Ain’t never going to happen; it’s like cats and dogs. Yes, they both have four legs, a tail and two ears but they are not breeding and producing ‘puptens’ or ‘kitpies’. Somebody else then commented with a link to an article on pollinators for plums from a website on the Pacific Coast of America naming plums that aren’t hardy for us. Somebody else then commented that they had one of each and got fruit . They clearly do not understand the biology of fruit trees, but they must be in a city or town where there were pollinators in the neighbourhood. If an acceptable pollinator is within five or six city blocks, the bees, moths and other insects will do the job!

This one, I entered the discussion. I told the truth, then posted a link to a great pollinator chart from Aubin’s Nursery in Carmen, Manitoba. I am really passionate about Manitoba gardeners succeeding, especially young families growing their own food or starting their landscaping. There are a few hard truths that people need to accept. Gardening advice on the internet is fraught with misinformation and so-called experts that really don’t know much. If the original poster had Googled ‘Can a plum tree pollinate an apple tree’ they would have had the correct answer in two seconds or less. If they Googled a question about plum pollinators they should include ‘Manitoba’ in the query or they will get suggestions for plums that will grow in Florida, but not here.

The point is that you need to be responsible for your own research and knowledge. Use hashtags like ‘#Manitoba’ or ‘#Prairies’ or ‘#Zone 3’ in your searches to get information that is appropriate. Keep in mind that that the Canadian and US hardiness zones are completely different. Zone 3 in Canadian charts is actually a Zone 2 in US charts. So, a Zone 3 listing in the US is actually a Zone 4 for Canadians, not very hardy on the Prairies. Look to see where the information was produced: If it is from either coast, the garden belt around the Great Lakes in Ontario and Quebec, deep south or even most of middle America it is not the right information for Manitobans! Look for articles from universities, growers and content creators from a similar zone.

This article was originally publish in the magazine ‘Neighbours of 34th Street’. Reprinted with permission. The content was updated.

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Keep Annuals All Winter

August 13, 2023

Gardening, Plants, Propagating

Photo Author’s Own

Here in Manitoba, our first frost date this year is September 11, although we all know it can happen sooner. If you’d like to check your first frost date or Canadian Hardiness Zone check out this great link from Vesey’s Seeds. First frost signals the beginning of the end of the growing season, but not the gardening season. There are many chores we can (and should) accomplish right up until snowfall. Right now the priority is to preserve or save really tender plants that won’t tolerate frost.

A few weeks ago a container on my balcony fell over in the wind. Some coleus and cedar snapped off. I had a space on a shelf to fill so I stuck the pieces in a vase, outside, getting a couple hours of sun a day. About three weeks later I was topping up the water and noticed a lovely bunch of roots on the coleus. Yeah! I’ll be potting up that little baby!

Now, do notice the lovely roots on the coleus and no roots on the woody cedar. Water rooting is for fleshy, juicy plants: annuals, herbs and houseplants can do well. If you wish to propagate woody trees and shrubs you are better off getting some rooting hormone and putting them right in soil. (That’s a whole other blog post.)

The roots reminded me to start propagating other things I wish to keep. More coleus (Coleus), because it can make a lovely houseplant. The basil (Ocimum) for sure and I think I will try to root big-leaf wire vine (Muehlenbeckia). If you have fresh, soft tips on rosemary or lavender you can try water rooting, but you may be better served by doing woody cuttings.

Process is simple; I’ve taken three to four nodes (where the leaves emerge from the stem), stripped the leaves from the bottom sets of nodes and submerge the stem in water. When the roots are sufficient I will pot them into soil. You cannot expect much from these cuttings through the winter unless you put them under grow lights.

Potted plants can come right inside when the weather cools. Many tender herbs and annuals will not tolerate frost or cool temperatures at all. Geraniums (Pelargonium) do well, many herbs can come right inside, English ivy (Hedera) and spikes (Cordyline and Dracaena) to name a few. I do know people that let their geraniums get some frost then they remove them from the pots, trim them, clean the roots off and dry them bareroot. Some gardeners hanging from the root cellar ceiling or store them in paper bags. Bareroot needs to be cool but with some moisture in the environment.

Examine the plants for signs or symptoms of pests and disease and if you don’t find them, don’t freak about bugs. People do a lot of damage by re-potting, spraying roots with insecticides and all sorts of over-the-top techniques that often aren’t necessary. Perhaps segregate the cuttings or pots, if you’re nervous.

As our days get shorter, the plants know and will want to take a rest. Allow them this: don’t water much, don’t fertilize, keep them warm but away from hot drafts from furnaces or fireplaces. Then, with grow lights, you can bring them back into active growth in February or March. The basil I’m putting under grow lights right away because I always need fresh basil!

Will you be preserving any summer plants? Let me know in the comments!

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Your Roots Are Showing!

August 6, 2023

Gardening, Plants

Have you ever seen a mature tree that has fallen over? Ever notice that the roots are like a pancake beneath the tree? Very few trees hardy on the Canadian Prairies have deep tap roots: Pines, Oaks, Willows, Silver Maple, Walnuts, Amur Maple, Elms and Ash. In warmer climates Sweet Gum, Eastern Redbud, White Mulberry, Black Gum, Fig Tree and more.

Most tree roots (and shrubs) are in the top three to six feet of the soil, spreading widely to six to twenty feet beyond the branch spread. The spread is to allow the tree to take the most advantage of rainfall, without being hindered by its’ own canopy. It’s one of the reasons that it is hard to establish shrubs and perennials around mature trees. There is much competition for water from the tree roots.

Why do tree roots surface? Compaction of soil around the plant, for one. The young tree was probably planted in fluffy, newly amended soil. Over the years people, animals, lawn mowers and even rain have slowly tamped the soil down. Another reason tree roots are exposed is run-off, water from rain or snow melt simply moves the soil to a lower elevation.

The number one reason roots come to the surface is that the roots are seeking oxygen. Roots need oxygen to function. Good soil is a combination of air pores, organic matter, rock particles (minerals), little tiny creatures and retained water. Compaction and heavy clay soils eliminate air pockets, hence roots migrate upwards. Waterlogged soil has few air pockets, the tree in the picture is close to a river that has been known to flood. The water table can be very high here. Tree roots are powerful in their search; have you ever seen the roots of a tree buckle pavement? (Street trees being some of the most stressed trees on the planet. Harsh place to grow!)

So, what to do if your roots are showing? On a mature tree no need really to do anything, the tree has adapted. If it’s doing fine, don’t worry. Try not to damage the exposed roots as wounds can allow in pathogens. If you don’t like the look you can cover them with soil but only to the level where the roots flare out from the trunk. Never, ever, ever, never bury the trunk of tree! If you’re watering, remember the the most viable roots are out beyond the branches and water there.

Cheers! Hope you can find some shade in this summer heat!

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Category: Plants

Fall Planting is Awesome!

I Beg You, Don’t Clean Up Your Garden

Bad Advice

Keep Annuals All Winter

Your Roots Are Showing!