Plant selection criteria

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Chrystal

My selection criteria for plants and husbands are similar: (1) low maintenance (2) good-looking (3) robust (4) not too expensive. I should probably clarify that I only have, or have ever had, one husband and that is probably because he fulfills my selection criteria exactly.

But back to plants. Many of the plants in our garden were planted my my in-laws, and I don’t know what they are called or how they are best cared for and maintained. However, these plants have managed to survive and thrive, despite the neglect.

Last week one of my neighbors, Edith, lent me Marjorie Harris’ book, Favorite Flowering Shrubs. The book features short chapters about each of her favorite shrubs, with lots of pictures, pruning and care tips. I was very surprised to recognize many of the plants in the book, and quite delighted to finally learn their names. No surprise, most of Marjorie’s favorites are low maintenance varieties, although she doesn’t explicitly state that. Here are a few notes from her book about plants in my yard.

Japanese Maple (Acer palmatrum). Mine is a weeping type, so no pruning is needed. The plant needs to stay moist and requires mulching. I have a number of other self-seeded Japanese Maples throughout the yard and when it gets cool, I want to dig them up and put them in better locations.

Chinese Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa Chinensis). This one is right in the middle of the front yard. Although I was initially disappointed that it wasn’t a pink dogwood, I have grown to love it. It should not be pruned. Needs moisture. *LOW MAINTENANCE*.

Rockspray cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis). This is the lovely plant with the red berries that I put in vases in the winter. This plant requires very little pruning other than to take out branches and maintain shape. *LOW MAINTENANCE*.

Mountain lauryl (Kalmia latifolia). These are the unusual pink flowers in the front. Remove the faded flowers. They need lots of moisture and can’t stand a lot of competition in the immediate area. Responds well to pruning, but seldom needs it. Prune after flowering.

Hydrangeas. These need to be mulched.  They need to be cut back to a point just above the base of the previous years growth after flowering. Cut the stems just above the round pair of leaves below the flower heads. Every year take out 1/3 of the old branches. Mine is doing spectacularly this year (see photo below).

Holly barberry, oregon grape. (Mahonia aquifolium).  Red stems and holly-like flowers. I actually hate this plant, and so of course it seems to be coming up everywhere. Extremely low maintenance. Figures.

Viburnum.  I have a lot of these in the front and in the back. No regular pruning is necessary. Cut the oldest stems at the base. Flowers bloom on previous seasons growth. *LOW MAINTENANCE*.

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Speckled lettuce

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Chrystal

One of the best reasons to shop at farmers markets is to find new or different vegetables. Last year, I fell in love with the speckled lettuce at the UBC farmers market and so this year I decided to grow my own.

Here, in addition to romaine, I planted red sails, rouge d’hiver, speckled butterhead and freckles. Right now, the lettuce has finally reached the sustainability phase, and I am able to  harvest a large salad every second day.  I started a row of mixed greens last week in one of the other boxes, so hopefully we will soon be adding that to our salads as well.

Here is the view of the garden in the early morning when I water:

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Rhodo health issues

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Chrystal

Rhododendrons used to be one of my favorite plants, as they are both beautiful and low maintenance….or so I thought. For the last several weeks I have been gradually deadheading the ones in my yard and am starting to share my experienced gardener friend’s point of view: ” I just hate them. And their sticky, messy claws.” Being up close and personal with the plants on a daily basis has allowed me to notice that many of mine  are not all doing well at all.

Luckily, one of my neighbors lent me a lovely brochure called “EB-1229 – How to Identify Rhododendron and Azalea Problems“, which is also available online.  It is full of informative colored photos and descriptions of many of most common illnesses that afflict rhodos and azaleas, lists of symptoms, possible causes and how to solve it. Some of these illnesses are similar to people:  nutrient deficiencies, wet feet, viruses, insects, fungus, chemicals, sunburn. After a  few pages into this brochure I started to feel the same crazy buzz I get when self-diagnosing myself with rare diseases on the internet.

I have summarized a few  highlights below for future reference.

Problem Symptom Cause
Marginal leaf necrosis Upper leaves brown, burned back from tips and or edge towards the middle rib or middle of the leaf Cold damage, drought, high amts of salts in the soil caused by excessive use of soluble fertilizers, root damage, nutrient deficiency.
Iron or manganese deficiency Marked yellowing, on leaf parts, especially between veins of new leaves. Overly alkaline soil, lack of iron or manganese in soil, lack of sufficient air space, poor drainage/compressed soil
Heat damage Brown indistinct blotches, mostly on the central portions of top leaves. Sun scald*
Viral diseases Bright yellow to red-brown rings, spots and blotches on leaves. No cure! Replace plant!
Nitrogen deficiency/wet feet Overall yellowing of leaves, generally more prevalent on older and lower leaves Nitrogen deficiency, wet feet, early symptom of poor drainage.
Leaf senescence Older leaves will turn yellow and or brown and fall off the plant. NORMAL!  Loose leaves 1 – 3 yeears after they first emerge.
Chemical injury A variety of leaf discolorations. Herbicides and other chemicals.
Cold response/leaves Drooping, rolled leaves Cold weather
Indementum Matted wooliness present on the surface of the leaves (often the underside) or twigs. Normal!

* interestingly, the rhodos on the north of the house, formerly shaded by the hemlocks, have this. Hopefully they will survive….

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Yard Waste Collection Day

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Chrystal

Want to trade the space in your yard waste bin for a jar of my homemade jam?

Yard waste collection day is one of my favorite things. Although we have several big compost bins at the  back of the garden, things like logs, bug branches, dog poo, cedar clippings and weeds can’t go in the compost but need to be taken away. We have refined the art of “compaction filling”, which means that one of my assistants steps into the full bin and jumps up and down to compress the material so that more material can fit into the bin. By the time the bin is full, it is extremely heavy and I often imagine our yard waste traveling from the bin to the truck and beyond in a single, huge block.

We never have enough space in our own yard waste bins for all the junk from our yard so we end up storing our yard waste in a bunch of garbage cans in the back until there is enough space.  I recently realized that many of our neighbors don’t fully utilize their yard waste bins, which is an excellent opportunity for us. I just needed to figure out how to create a strong incentive for sharing that space.

It  just so happens that the Martha Stewart of Dunbar (MSD)* is e-tutoring me to make jam. How it works is that every time I try to can anything, I describe the dilemma (jam is too watery,…etc) take pictures on my phone and email them to the MSD.  She then tells me what to do and it usually solves the problem. So far, I have successfully made marmalade as well as raspberry/strawberry jam with fruit from our garden. I am hoping to do more berry jam as things ripen.

The raspberry/strawberry jam in progress…the white things are albino strawberries.

Okay, but I digress…  Two weeks ago I traded a jar of marmalade to my friends down the street for the use of their bin. This morning I borrowed my next door neighbor’s bin and left it full, by the curb and deposited a jar of jam on their doorstep.  Hope you like it. Brush your teeth after though…it’s full of sugar.

……

(*Okay, maybe MSD isn’t exactly like Martha Stewart, but if you had a scale with Martha Stewart as a “10” and my friend Roxy from the “House of Toast” as a 1, then I would be about a 6.5 and Mrs. Dunbar would be about an 8. Or 9.)

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A recent tomato ah-ha moment

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Chrystal

Artificially inseminated patio tomatoes enjoying the tomato cage….right side up.

Last year was a big tomato year. I planted about 35 tomato plants in the new sunny part of the rock garden and by the end of the wet summer we were left with thousands – and I do mean thousands – of green tomatoes. I tried a number of different ripening techniques including: tomatoes in the dark, tomatoes on a sunny windowsill, tomatoes wrapped in newsprint, tomatoes at room temperature, and tomatoes in a cool, dark garage.  Gradually, most turned brown and then fuzzy and a few managed to stay hard and green for months. I’ve also tried a number of green tomato recipes including: green tomato relish, fried green tomatoes (several ways), and green tomato curry. Sadly, none of these recipes are suitable for serving to guests or to family.

Last year we actually had some spectacular tomato plants that sprouted spontaneously in the front yard. On late fall afternoon I asked my assistant to pull up the plants and put them in the compost. As he pulled them up and carried them around the house, several hundred hard green tomatoes broke free, rolled down our driveway and into the street. The next morning I was pretty surprised by all the squished green tomatoes squished on the road and in the gutter.

This year, I’m hoping things will be different. I planted a few patio varieties in pots on my deck. They seem to be growing well and getting lots of flowers, but after the flowers bloom, they fall off instead of forming fruit. I don’t think the bees are pollinating the tomatoes, so I am trying to fertilize the flowers with a small dry paintbrush. Hopefully that will work better….

And the ah-ha moment….last fall I bought a few tomato cages which spent the winter in the garage. When I first planted the tomatoes I tried to put the tomato cages in the pots, but the wire circles wouldn’t fit in the pots so I thought “Just as well, those sharp wires sticking out the top are going to poke one of my assistants’ eyes out!”  So, I used the tomato cages for the climbing beans, but they kept falling over. Today I figured out that the stupid tomato cages were upside down, and the sharp wires sticking out the tops are used to anchor the cages in the soil.  DUH. So, I took the cages out of the beans, turned them over and inserted them into the tomato pots where they belong. And I feel like an idiot…

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Garlic advice from the master gardeners

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Chrystal

Today was fabulously sunny, so Small Guy and I stopped for lunch at the Kitsilano Farmers Market. We dropped our bikes off at the bike valet and then wandered through the stalls to look at all the veggies and people. The Kitsilano Market has most of the same vendors as the Trout Lake Market, but with far fewer people, so it is easier to see everything and you don’t have to stand in line as often.

My son was looking for his favorite, the Chili Tank, but they weren’t at the market today. I wanted a buckwheat crepe, but there was a huge line up, so we ended up buying food from the Brat-Mobile. We both had a chicken sausages on a bun with caramelized onions and sauerkraut- most excellent.

I stopped at the Master Gardener’s table to ask some advice about my garlic. I harvested and made fabulous pesto sauce from the scapes several weeks ago, but I wanted to know when to harvest the bulbs. The MG suggested: (1) waiting to harvest until the end of July; (2) waiting until a long dry spell to harvest; and (3) brushing off the dirt and drying the bulbs in the garage until September.

We also chatted about rhodos and they said that I should probably deadhead immediately after blooming. Although my rhodos finished blooming almost a month ago, I am still going to continue to deadhead. We also talked about azaleas and chatted about the importance of keeping a gardening journal.

Since I had only a small backpack, I only bought two bunches of red radishes and two bunches of red russian kale (total: $8.50). Although the kale was lacking mojo when I bought it home, after I soaked the bunches in a bowl of water, it has come back to life.

Okay, time to head back into the garden for a few hours. I need to prune the Cornus kousa in the front because it is shading the chrysanthemums. I am going to cut down the aliums but will leave enough of the stem so that I can find the bulbs again in the fall so that I can move them. Most of the alium bulbs split, so now I have a huge number of flowers in a very small area so I want to spread them out more. Also, I need to pick more raspberries and freeze them while they are fresh to make jam later.

Post-script (What really happened). I checked a website that said that dogwoods should only be pruned in the fall. I did cut the aliums, and  left them displayed in a trash can in the back of the yard. And I didn’t freeze any raspberries, I just picked and ate them.

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Happy Belated Bill McNabb Day 2012

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Chrystal

My dad posing next to the fence he built around our yard in Edmonton, shortly after we moved there.

When I grew up, my parents always had a big vegetable garden. I remember one in every single house that we lived in: Wetaskawin, Fort St. John, Edmonton and Nanaimo. Every house we lived in had a flat, rectangular back yard with a few small trees, usually planted by my parents; Fort St. John was the only exception, with huge poplar trees along one side and a forest behind, where I first learned to smoke when I was seven.

In all of our houses, the vegetable gardens took up at least half the back yard. There were always raspberries at one side, strawberries and rhubarb at the front, rows of carrots, rows of beefsteak tomatoes which my dad always insisted on, green beans, peas and lots of potatoes. For some reason my parents always planted crab apple trees as well. As kids we were encouraged to help weed and water, and we were allowed to pick the berries, carrots and peas whenever we were hungry. Each summer we were each encouraged to grow one row of our own, and I always planted carrots, my favorite vegetable (they’re orange and start with a “C” -whats not to like?).

Last summer my brother Mannix, his wife Rhonda, myself and a selection of our kids went to see our old house in Edmonton and we walked around the block so we could look in the yard. Like they always say, our house and yard were both much smaller than we could remember, and there were more trees. In winter, my dad used to flood that vegetable garden with water and we used to skate and  play hockey on the surface. The garden was still there but it now had a steel fence instead of the wooden picket fence that our dad had built.

May dad passed away on July 6, 2001. Today I am belatedly celebrating Bill McNabb Day by eating cherries and planting a row of carrots. Thanks dad, for teaching me  how to garden.

My dad and me, kicking back with a good book. He drew the botanical pen and ink drawings above our heads; those pictures now hang in our home.

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Getting a buzz from Max and Eva

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Chrystal

Our neighborhood would be very quiet during the day if it wasn’t for the teams of gardeners coming and going, mowing, pruning, trimming and blowing, rain or shine. No one ever uses a broom or a rake, preferring instead to use mega-watt leaf blowers to dry and blow away the cut grass. Several of my neighbors are also focused on cleanliness, and frequently power wash, sometimes for hours and hours at a time.  Luckily, I am very good at blocking out noise when I work.

This evening was one of the first warm nights of the summer and from the sounds of it, everyone was outside eating and drinking, including us. When picked raspberries at the back of the yard (3 cups! Whoo Hoo!), I could hear conversations from several different neighbors. It was nice to feel that there were people nearby, relaxing and enjoying themselves.

But the raspberries…. The berries that started to mature in the last week are small, squishy, and impossible to pick. A few larger, sweeter ones are now getting red, and those are the ones I picked this evening. Although there are lots of hard green immature raspberries, I don’t see many new flowers and very few bees anymore.  A few weeks ago the canes were full of bumblebees, fertilizing the flowers.

Okay, enough about the garden. I had some extremely inspiring and entertaining drinks with Max and Eva late this afternoon, where we talked about developing the creative voice, alternate careers, the importance of alternate identities, dance fights, the difference between make-believe and delusion, and cleavage.  They gave me many outstanding ideas, most of which won’t necessarily fit the format or style of this blog. Max even offered to rewrite my blog posts that that they are more “interesting”. I laughed, and sent him my fava bean post from last week…he did a great job.

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Kale report

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Chrystal

Overall, this has not been a stellar year for my vegetable garden.  I will spare you the drama* about seeds that may or may not have sprouted and sprouts that may or may not have been eaten by slugs or bugs. Suffice it to say, I have  a lot of unexpected empty space in my garden boxes.

Yesterday was the first day of really warm sunny weather, so I optimistically planted a few rows of kale: the last of the winterbor seeds, some lacinato and Vates blue curled scots.  Last year I had a huge crop of something called blue curly kale, which is the kale featured in my blog header photo. Regrettably, I didn’t save any seeds and was unable to find those seeds that fit that description this year.

All the kale that was planted in March was gone by the end of April, and the kale replanted in mid May is still only 2 centimeters tall, so won’t be ready to eat for quite some time. The small patch of “winter kale blend” planted last fall (see post) it suffered all winter and then bolted in the spring. Right now the red kale is actually doing quite well, but the green kale has all flowered and is going to seed (see below). Although the green kale is kind of flat and lacks texture, I am saving the seed “just in case”.

Yesterday I also planted the remaining seeds in the packet of black beauty zucchini, santo long standing cilantro (that was the one thing that did well in the winter), lots of mesculins, and three rows of basil. Thinking that basil will grow is beyond optimistic and is almost delusional.  But maybe that’s what it takes to maintain a gardener’s sanity in a year like this: lots of delusion.

A final note: it is 9:45 and it is still warm enough to sit on our deck and write this. Although the garden is dark, the sky is still very bright.

*”drama” is a relative term. Is there ever any real drama when it comes to gardening?

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Bad ideas for a rainy day

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Chrystal

Because yesterday was supposed to be the last day of rain for awhile, I decided to pump  water into the barrels at the back of the yard. We not only have a large rain barrel that collects from the roof, but several huge barrels at the back of the yard to store rainwater for the garden. When I went outside it started to rain heavily. I started to pump and then watched the rain sluice into the rain barrel.

Bad idea 1: Trying to measure how much rain comes off the roof. I put a 12 litre bucket under the rain pipe, looked at my watch, and in 28 seconds the bucket was full! Cool! Being the scientific sort, I decided to measure once more so I removed the bucket and in the process knocked the bottom two metres of drainpipe off the house into the basement window well, which is about 4 and a half feet deep.

Bad idea 2: Climbing down the window well. Leaving the drain pipe in the window well is not an option, because the water is running down the house – as I now know – at a rate of almost 26 litres a minute. So, I very carefully ease myself down into the window well and rescue the drainpipe.  Unfortunately, there is no one there to rescue me. I end up trying various different techniques and finally end up getting out of the well without damaging the window or myself.

Bad idea 3: Trying to re-attach the drain pipe while it is raining. Because I actually do have some knowledge about assessing mould and remediating mould-damaged buildings, the thought of water damage fills me with terror. So I try to reattach the drainpipe to the house, at a point which is waaay above my head. I stand on a chair and try to attach the drainpipe using the existing hardware (two screws and a wire holding the drainpipe to the wall) and the water is flowing (at a rate of 25 litres a minute) down into the sleeves of my gortex jacket and down my body and into my shoes. I feel it IN my shoes.

The pipe won’t stay in place by itself. I run and get a piece of plywood to lean against the house to divert some of the water. That only solves half the problem, because a lot of water is still flowing down the stucco into the window well. So I run back to the recently cleaned and tidy storage room and grab an old tarp from the piles of folded tarps (big thank you to The Man for that…) and use that to divert the water off the house into the yard.

After it is all over, I went in through the garage and the water just RAN off me and made a big puddle on the floor. When it stopped raining, The Man went outside and reattached the drain pipe. He also added a few additional supports that will prevent me from doing any kind of future “water quantification” experiments.

And finally: When I told my son about this at dinner, he looked at me funny and asked if I had noticed the bricks in the bottom of the window well.  I said “no…”  Apparently he has gotten stuck in the window well more than once, when he has gone down to retrieve balls or has been playing hide and seek. As a result, he put a few bricks in the window well to prevent him from being stuck….I didn’t even notice them.

The forecast for the next few days:

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