Gardening Life articles from March 2001

Gardening Life archives from March 2001

Greentalk: news and information for the gardener.
March 1, 2001... let us pray "O Lord, grant that in some way it may rain every day, say from about midnight until three o'clock in the morning, but, you see, it must be gentle and warm so that it can soak in; grant that at the same time it would not rain...

Greenthumb tips for the hands-on gardener.
March 1, 2001... how to LIGHTEN UP YOUR JAPANESE MAPLE 1 This Japanese maple should be pruned to improve its air circulation and give it a lighter feeling in the garder. 2 To begin pruning, Toronto arborist Trevor Whiteside recommends removing the...

Greenhouse: great stuff for the garderner's home.
March 1, 2001... easy as 1-2-3 To create this triple-threat arrangement by floral designer Heather Cameron, you may have to set out on a treasure hunt for the perfect tiered stand (Heather found a whimsical Victorian version). 1 Line your stand with...

Ask Marjorie (your gardening questions).
March 1, 2001... THE COY CLEMATIS I have had a clematis for approximately eight years. It has lots of foliage and grows eight to 10 feet high but has never flowered. I was told by my local nursery to give it magnesium sulfate twice a season, but it only...

'Shroom to grow: ... the praises of deliciously nutritious mushwoom manure.
March 1, 2001... ONE OF THE MOST REWARDING THINGS I DO FOR MY GARDEN IS TOP-DRESS every square inch with mushroom manure. I skip only paved areas and the lawn, spreading an even layer on all garden beds and even tossing some in my pots, which are nearly all...

Wanted: dead or alive. One woman's love-hate relationship with weeds.
March 1, 2001... UNTIL I WAS 14, I WAS CONVINCED THAT MY PARENTS DECIDED TO HAVE children just to have help weeding the garden. My sister and I spent hours pulling weeds from the vegetable garden, perennial borders and front lawn. Instead of discouraging us...

To do: Gardening Life's task list for March and April.
March 1, 2001... march [] START YOUR VEGETABLE GARDEN INDOORS. Plastic one-litre milk bags are great containers for starting tomato plants. Begin by folding the two opposite bottom corners together to make a square base. Fasten with masking tape and cut...

Toolshed: pruning shears.
March 1, 2001... With Ted Johnston choosing, only the best make the final cut WHATEVER YOU CALL THEM--pruning shears, hand pruners or (if you want get fancy about it) secateurs--every gardener should own a good pair. Designed for light pruning of woody...

Consider the daylilies: a guide to creating your own personal hybrids.
March 1, 2001... ONE GREAT JOY OF DAYLILIES IS THAT IT IS SO EASY to create your own hybrids. By breeding plants, you can create new plants that have enhanced or even new features just to your own personal liking. The actual technique of hybridizing daylilies...

Well urned: create a spring planter with punch.
March 1, 2001... ITCHING TO GO OUTSIDE, GET YOUR HANDS IN THE DIRT AND PLAY WITH some of your favourite plants? Make one of your first projects a spring planter: visit your local garden centre and pick up some of those spring flowers you've been thinking...

25 tulip tips: from bulb to bloom.
March 1, 2001... 1 Modest snowdrops and crocuses may bloom earlier, but cheeky and flamboyant tulips coming at you in every colour of the rainbow are truly the banners of springtime. Let them unfurl and flutter--all orange and yellow and red and purple;...

First loves: the world will pardon my mush, I've got a crush on these tough and tender spring plants.
March 1, 2001... There is a moment when I feel that my heart will burst I'm so happy. I sniff the air and there is something ineffable: it is filled with new scents that hold the promise of thawing. Patches of exposed soil reveal minute, thrusting tips; and...

Positively blooking: ... everything's coming up roses and poppies and peonies and more.
March 1, 2001... Asked how she would characterize herself as a gardener, Heather Cameron answers with a smile, "Young and very inexperienced." A vivacious 32-year-old, she has recently slipped into the gardening life through the back door of floral arranging....

Tree peonies.
March 1, 2001... john simkins thinks that he shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree peony From sixth-century China to 21st-century Oakville, the tree peony has come a long way. But it hasn't come as far as John Simkins, the "tree peony guy," would...

Fancy free: trends, shmends, though Susan and Geoffrey Dyer pay attention to gardening gurus, when it coms to their downtown Toronto oasis, they do their own merry way.
March 1, 2001... Susan Dyer loves to discuss her passion for colour and fragrance in the garden. But don't ask her about "drifts." "Drifts," she snorts. "The experts are always telling us we must plant everything in these great big drifts. But really"--her...

Rhubarb: technically a vegetable, though an honorary fruit, the rhubarb rules the stalk market.
March 1, 2001... R is for Rhubarb, and also Responsibility. When my Swedish friends decided to return to Scandinavia after 10 years in Toronto, they left me a parting gift: an earth-packed tangle of rhubarb root so large I could only just get my arms around...

What's on: a report on events, lectures, and garden tours.
March 1, 2001... dynamic duo Don't miss this extraordinary double bill. Esteemed British garden writer Christopher Lloyd and his head gardener, Fergus Garrett, come to Toronto on Sunday, May 13 to speak on the essentials of garden design. Lloyd's garden,...

Mayday! Mayday! It's may, not april, that is the cruellest month.
March 1, 2001... THE WAY I FIGURE IT, T.S. ELIOT WAS NO GARDENER. ALL THAT stuff about April being the cruellest month was nothing more than a load of hooey. As every gardener who has ever stuck a trowel into a slimy compost heap knows, April is the month of...