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"I have a rock garden.
Last week three of them died."
~ Richard Duran
Welcome to October in the garden.
This is the frosty one. All of your frost tender stuff is going to bite the dust this month, most leaves will fall and harvesting what you have left in the garden should be on your mind.
As the petunias and impatiens make their exit the spaces that the dead and removed plants produce will provide an excellent opportunity to plant spring flowering bulbs.
Planting the bulbs will expose you to bird song, reminding you that this is the most important time of year to fill the feeders if you want to encourage the songsters to stick around.
Feeding the birds will draw your attention to the bird houses where the swallows and sparrows and the like raised a brood or two this season: let me remind you to remove the nests before winter so that a nice clean house is theirs for the nesting come spring.
Cleaning out the bird houses is not a lot different than cleaning up your garden this time of year: either you do it soon or just forget it 'til spring. I emphasize the need to take it easy in this department - do not sanitize your garden, just give it some attention.
Details on all of the above right here:
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Holland Bulbs
Seeing as I didn't get around to it in September I will be planting all 3,000 of my bulbs in October. Perfect. Nice month to do it.
For a good selection of tulips, hyacinths, crocus, narcissus and the like, get to your retailer soon. Or wait for the dredges and buy them on sale. That can work too.
Plant all bulbs 3 times as deep as the bulb is thick, when you measure it from top to bottom.
By the way not all 'Holland Bulbs' are from the Netherlands (Holland being a province in that country, not the country itself). Many, if not most, daffodils that we sell in Canada are grown in British Columbia. It is a huge net export crop, with most of it going south to the U.S.
Just thought you would like to know.
If the truth were to be told, the Dutch are the greatest marketers of flowering bulbs in the world, but are not always the growers.
For a neat 3 min video on the subject go to www.ctv.ca/canadaam/gardening and watch the segment dated September 22.
Speaking of Canada AM, we are presenting some interesting information for you this month on the subject of locally grown food, from the Veggie Village at The Royal Botanical Garden. Don't miss Jeff and I as we walk you through it Wednesdays as 8:45 am (EST).
Later in the month we talk about ornamental grasses and pruning - evergreens in particular.
In the Toronto Star my columns for October feature: The 'New' Ornamental Grasses (October 2), Bringing in the Harvest (October 9), Leaves: Yard Waste or Valuable Resource (October 16), and Saving Seeds (October 23).
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Fall Cankerworm Round-Up
If you live anywhere in North America, you've probably seen them: small, greenish worms - also called inchworms, loopers, or measuringworms - that infest many species of trees including ash, basswood, beech, black cherry, red maple, sugar maple, red oak, white oak, apple, birch, boxelder, dogwood, elm, and hickory.
Fall cankerworms emerge from the soil as adult moths, usually in late October or early November. Mating takes place as the females crawl up tree trunks in search of areas to lay their eggs. When the caterpillars hatch in the spring, they will feast on and often decimate a tree's foliage.
To protect your trees from fall cankerworms, apply Tree Tanglefoot in October. Tanglefoot is a non-toxic, sticky substance that stops crawling insects from reaching the leaves. Do not apply Tree Tanglefoot directly to the trunk - use paper tree wrap or another type of banding material for easy removal. Remove and replace bands when they are full of insects.
Tree Tanglefoot has been OMRI certified for use in organic gardening and also works for gypsy moths, caterpillars, ants, root weevils, moths, and cutworms.
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Canada Blooms
March 16-20, 2011
The theme of this year's Flower and Garden Festival celebrates the rhythms of music, gardens, time, and life itself! The vibrant, oh-so-fresh magnolia, which appears on posters and newsletters, symbolizes nobility and love of nature the very essence of Canada Blooms.
Artistic Director Colomba Fuller says exciting plans are underway for this year's festival, which is celebrating 15 spectacular years of passionate landscaping displays and floral design. Experience the Green for Life project, a testament to group cooperation, where over 40 members of Landscape Ontario join together to create a stunning entrance garden. Explore breath-taking creations from Canada's Professional Florists and Tour Canada's Largest Floral Competition showcasing wondrous, creative displays from Ontario and around the world!
Find out more....
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I don't get too carried away with this, but I am sure to do the following before heavy, heavy frost:
When I attended an industry trade show I was introduced to this new product by the originator of it - while he explained how this rake was different from any other that I had ever owned, he stood on it and twisted it back to demonstrate that it has a 'memory' like no other rake on the market.'
Friday, October 15 and Saturday, October 16
