Greenhouse: Andrina Tomatoes

This heirloom cherry tomato originated in Russia and is one of the earliest tomatoes there is. The plants are extremely dwarf reaching 6" high and produce good yields of tasty cherry sized fruit. Great for containers! Determinate. (60-65 days from transplant)

Planted today (2017-05-17 in Greenhouse

What to Grow?

Over the years I have designed and grown a wide range of gardens from a one pot with tomatoes and basil on my balcony to a 1 acre commercial operation. One reoccurring question raised through all these various gardens’ projects over a 17 year period is whether to grow flowers or not.

I am not talking about edible flowers but flowers that are grown purely for ornamental or ascetic purposes either as cut flowers for the table or bouquets or dried flowers for various craft purposes.

To clarify the discussion further, I am not discussing commercial growing of cut flowers or flowers for drying, both of which could be solid business opportunities, but rather flowers grown purely for personal use and ascetic qualities.

There are gardeners and then there are gardeners; some will only grow food and scoff at those who grow, for example, gladiolas. Te glad has no edible value but it perhaps one of the most beautiful flowers that I have seen.

I have grown glads in containers on my balcony and in the backyard just so I could have them to cut and bring inside to admire.

I remember on evening some years back I was sitting on my balcony looking up at the sky when I noticed a small bird hover near the deep red glads growing in the container. It was a hummingbird. It paused in its flight and gave me a look that said hey what you are doing here this my space.

The hummingbird bird came back at approximately the same time every night for a week. Now that is what I call a good reason to grow flowers; to attract these winged jewels.

The group of gardeners who want to grow only food; or plant trees will argue that growing flowers for purely aesthetic purposes is a waste of time and resources (soil, water) but I simply cannot agree.

Beauty is a function and one that deserves our respect and attention. Spend, even20 minutes, in a backyard near the flower garden, feel the sun warming your face, hear the hum of the bees and watch the butterflies float from plant to plant and you will see the value that beauty brings. The dance of life is taking place before your eyes.

Besides a cut flower garden can attract the beneficial friends, (bees and other insects) to you garden that will help you do the work.

My perspective is this; if you have enough space for a garden then take a diverse approach, grow the vegetables that you want for your table but add a few herbs and a few cut flowers into the mix so that your garden will not only provide a greater bounty for your table but so that you set out a portion for your garden helpers.

The successful gardener does not work alone. Another saying that is worth remembering here is that we do not live by bread alone; vegetables will feed your hunger but flowers will feed your heart.

Preparing Balcony Garden

This garden is located on the third-floor balcony, only 3 hours of the sun per day and only near the edge.

Getting Balcony Ready

Good day, well tomorrow will be the first mild and sunny day in awhile so I will be getting the balcony planters ready. The upper balcony is my ornamental garden,. this year morning glories and nasturtiums will be the stars.

Bees

I was leaving Sobeys the other day when a reader stopped me and asked if I would write a column about bees. I encourage my readers to make suggestions about the column so here it is, bees and what we can do to keep them buzzing.

Honey bees provide us with much more than honey.  The honey bee is a major pollinator of many of our food crops, almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon and many other crops all rely on honey bees.

When the honey bee is threatened, our food supply is threatened and we are also threatened. Fortunately, there are actions we can take to reduce the threat. One is to include in your home gardens plants that will attract and support the honey bee.

The second is to provide an environment for other bees so that our gardens do not rely solely on the honey bee.  The bumble bee and the blue orchard mason bee, among others, also provide pollination services. They do not produce honey.

The honey bee came to North America in the 17^th century. Some may have been intentionally brought over by people who intended to grow the fruit and vegetables they were familiar with in their new location.

Prior to the settlers’ arrival there were a number of bee species already here.  Some sources say there were as many as 4,000 native species spread across North America. Their source of nectar were the native plants.

If you are concerned about bees in general, then the best way to make sure they survive and thrive is to plant a mixed garden.

A mixed garden will contain plants that appeal to honey bees, bumble bees and other garden helpers.  The most effective way to create this mixed plant garden is to use succession planting. Succession planting involves selecting plants that will bloom throughout the gardening season.

To bring the bees in in the spring plant crocus, hyacinth, borage, and calendula.  To keep the bees happy through the summer, add bee balm, cosmos, coneflower, snapdragons foxglove, and hostas. Asters and sunflowers keep the bees feeding when fall arrives.

Plant the flowers in the vegetable garden bed either in the border or better place them amongst the vegetables. The early blooming flowers will bring in the first bees who are hungry and seeking sustenance.

Herbs are also powerful bee magnets. Chives, sage, thyme, borage and summer savoury are all good choices.  Borage with its bright blue flowers is a personal favourite.

Dandelions and clovers will also draw bees to the yard. Both are edible plants and this we will talk about another day. 

An added value of clovers and dandelions is there is no need to plant them in the garden bed. Most lawns will provide all of these two plants the bees need.

The first step to taking advantage of both clovers and dandelions is to stop thinking about them as the enemy and accept them for the many garden services they provide. So, until next week, happy gardening.

Annuals

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers and dies in one year. 

Some love annuals because they make excellent cut flowers; some because annuals are easy to grow; some love them for their brilliant colours while others just love to create a new garden every spring. 

The reasons do not matter as they are all sound; if you love to garden and enjoy bright vivid colours then annuals will satisfy your needs. I am very fond of annuals and cannot imagine a garden that does not have a few. 

They enlarge the palette but perhaps, more importantly, they enable me to make simple but noticeable changes to my garden and perhaps even better, they give me a reason to get out in the garden.

You can add annuals to your garden, throughout the growing season.

Annuals bloom continuously and produce prolific amounts of seed and this requires the production of many flowers; all making a win-win situation for any gardener.

May 1, 2017