Fallen

New Garden: Day One

Greening site

Greening Project

I met with the City today and the greening project has moved to the next phase. City approval could come within the week. I'll post some pics of the site tomorrow.

Digital Photo Exhibition

Africa54

is hosting a digital photgraphic exhibit. the categories are, Food, Water, Your Backyard and Your Neighbourhood. Stay tuned for details

Seeking a Greener Garden?

Drop by this CBC site and fnd out how you can green your garden.

Buying Plants

We took a tour of three plant centres to see what they are stocking this year. There is a frost warning in effect for tonight, so we have not yet bought anything but can't resist looking anyway.

The centres are really just begining to set up for the season. This weekend is the May long weekend, Queen Victoria's birthday, popularlly known as the May 24.

This is the big weekend for anybody selling retail plants. The racks of annuals are out but covered up so we could not see much. We'll go go back next week. I am looking for a few perennials for the backyard and the greening project next door.

Finding the right plant.

Looking for how to put the right plant in the right place visit the shak.

Songbirds

Now that Spring is blooming and warm Summer days are looming, I can wake each morning to one of my favouite sounds, the songbirds are returning to their Summer habitat.

Gardening is for Everyone

Growing your own herbs, flowers and vegetables is a wonderful way to reconnect with Nature, relax, enjoy tasty, healthy food, and maybe even lose a few pounds. Gardens can be designed to match anyone's needs.

An accessible garden creates an area where people of all ages and abilities can garden. All you need are a few simple adaptations to the area, methods, and equipment.

Raised beds are one way to increase your garden's accessibility. Build raised beds as large as possible, making sure that you can reach all areas of the bed. The increase in size adds minimal cost to the bed, while adding valuable garden area. Bed width should be a maximum of 5 feet if it is accessible from all sides, or 2.5 feet if used from only one side. If using extended tools, you can add inches to the bed. Seating ledges should be from 8 to 18 inches wide.

In the design do not forget to plan for dry conditions. The lack of water can delay the ability of a plant to develop the seeds that are essential for the next generation of plants to grow. Now, of course, you could just go out and buy new seeds every year, but if you are really interested in developing your relationship to the plants you grow and saving a few bucks at the same time, then I suggest that you need to ensure that a percentage of your garden produces seeds.

You can control the quality of your seeds because you will select the plants which have the characteristics you most seek and save their seeds.

A healthy ecosystem can take care of itself. The gardener's role is to develop a balance in the back or front yard, between food needs, need for flowers, and the needs of all the other creatures who may live there. You are not alone in your work, so be sure that you have created the conditions that lend themselves to long term survival and vital living.

Birds, bees, butterflies, earthworms and ever smaller beings are essential members of your garden community. Each plays a role and the health and longevity of your garden depends upon their presence.

If you wish to achieve or at least enhance your family's food security, then you will need to open your growing space to the creatures that enable you to create a naturally, thriving ecosystem. We thrive in co-operation and wallow in competition. Select plants because they serve%2

Bee balm

The wikipedia has this to say: Monarda (bee balm, horsemint, oswego tea, or bergamot) is a genus consisting of roughly 16 species of erect, herbaceous annual or perennial plants in the Lamiaceae, indigenous to North America.

Bee balm not only attracts bees and butterflies to your site but it looks great as well. It is another plant that I rely on when planning a greening project.

The Learning Garden

The Learning Garden was launched in March of 2001. Since then it has quickly become one of the country’s largest and most successful school gardens.

Education: What's eating our trees?

Thsi is a good link for teachers and homeschoolers, all about pests and trees.

Yarrow

Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, is one of my favourite plants to use in a greening project. It can take care of itself, after settling in, so much so, that it borders on invasive, so be careful if you use it in your garden. You could plant it in containers on a deck or patio.

Selecting Native Plants

Picking the right native plant for the right place in your garden requires you to not only know your garden but which plants are native. I get considerable assistance from the folks at Evergreen. Their Native Plant database gives me lists of shrubs, trees, grasses and wildflowers that are native to New Brunswick.

The database has a search engine that helps you select the plant(s) that you are looking for, unfortunately not all the selections have pictures but the descriptions are helpful and so are the latin names.

The big problem that I still have is finding a local source for seedlings or seeds.

A Greening Project

I am planning to start a small greening project in a vacant lot next door to the house that we are living in. The plot is mostly sand and rock with hard pan only an inch down. So there is some amending to do. I'll be working with perennial native plants on two small plots just to get something established and show what can be done.

I have not yet decided what I'll plant, I am meeting with the City first and get the go ahead. I need to see what is available locally. I'll need some compost and am looking for shallow rooted plants that can handle dry conditions. I do not want to have to water after the plants are established. I'll let you know what I pick once I have the go ahead.

The Community Garden

Some people do not have their own place to garden. This does not mean that they have to be denied the pleasure of growing whatever it is they wish to grow.

The community garden provides gardners without a garden; the opportunity to engage in the oldest profession, gardening. The community garden also enables people to become neighbours, not just people who live on the same street or nearby but people who stop and say hi, share a few minutes with one another.

To be a neighbour requires more than just living side by side or across the street, it involves interaction and not just a quick nod because you don't know what else to do and would rather avoid doing anything. You are making a connection with another person and developing a relationship.

Gardening can teach us a lot about being good neighbours. A successful garden relies on the interactions of all the elements that make up a garden. Plants, insects, soil, sun, water, birds, butterflies and, of course, the gardener, all working together to create a thriving plot. A plot that produces food and/or flowers for all the members of the garden's community, not just the humans.

The Community Garden

Some people do not have their onw place to garden. This does not mean that they have to be denied the pleasure of growing whatever it is they wish to grow.

The community garden provides gardners without a garden; the opportunity to engage in the oldest profession, gardening. The community garden also enables people to become neighbours, not just people who live on the same street or nearby but people who stop and say hi, share a few minutes with one another.

To be a neighbour requires more than just living side by side or across the street, it involves interaction and not just a quick nod because you don't know what else to do and would rather avoid doing anything. You are making a connection with another person and developing a relationship.

Gardening can teach us a lot about being good neighbours. A successful garden relies on the interactions of all the elements that make up a garden. Plants, insects, soil, sun, water, birds, butterflies and, of course, the gardener, all working together to create a thriving plot. A plot that produces food and/or for all the members of the garden's community, not just the humans.

Flower photo tour

Treat yourself.

Heritage Seeds

Looking for heritage seeds for the garden? Try Terra Edibles.
I have been using their seeds for 4 years now and I am impressed with the product, the selection and the service.

Right Plant Right Place

One of the basic guidelines for designing a great garden is the simple, put the right plant in the right place rule. Match the plant to your garden and it will thrive.

This blog will help you get the garden you want with a minimum of work and a maximum of beauty, form and function. We will look at plants, all plants.

We will also explore the hardscape elements of your garden and talk about outdoor living areas.

The garden is where nature and civilization come together. The gardener facilitates this meeting. Make you back and front yard a place of beauty, fun and a welcome additon to your living space. Landscaping adds value to your property in many ways.

Your questions and comments are encouraged.