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Done - Enjoy the Winter Off.
Well it is over.
The gardening season that is.
The sure sign that things are over and done is the digging of the leeks. That was this afternoon. And I planted the last of my garlic, which will be ready for picking in July.
Don't you wish that more veggie garden produce was on this cycle? Plant in the late fall, harvest in early summer. Come May everything - and I mean everything - seems to need planting and come August/September most everything needs to be harvested. Maybe I am getting old and cranky, but spreading out the 'garden activity' over the entire 9 month season would be a treat.
That is all that I am saying.
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Christmas List
Now, you may be thinking of the gardeners on your Christmas list. Rather than tell you what every gardener wants and needs, like virtually anything in the Mark's Choice line up at Home Hardware - because every item was designed with the dedicated gardener in mind.
No, rather than tell you that if you cannot make a selection from over 100 quality gardening products, many made in Canada and all of them 'torture tested' in my 10 acre garden I will suggest something else.
I would like to challenge you to think outside of the gardening box.
Think about the person that each gardener IS and let me suggest that almost no one that gardens limits their life interests to gardening. Instead, gardening is an extension of a broader base of interests that often includes birding, hiking, flower arranging, painting and a keen interest in local history.
I learned this last spring when I visited Pincher Creek in Alberta, the National Award winner of the 'Community Involvement Award' for Communities in Bloom. I noticed as they toured me around the town that the volunteers at the Veterans memorial garden and the 'Seniors' fish pond and the historic village and the community gardens were the same people.
The lesson here is to think of the gardeners on your list not just as gardeners, the way that you might think of sailors as people who sail and golfers as people who golf. No. Gardeners are conservationists, outdoor enthusiasts and generally quite social by nature.
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This is Christmas Month
My daughter Emma, who lives in London England, has always claimed February as HER birthday month.
I think that she learned this from Baby Jesus, whose birthday we begin celebrating with songs ('carols') in late November. Advent, as they like to say, is 4 weeks. It is another way of saying that this is Jesus' birthday month.
Enjoy it, whatever your faith background and belief.
And remember that we are all on the same page with the 'peace on earth' stuff.
Eat well, stay well, hug the ones you love and enjoy some peace on your slice of earth.
Merry Christmas,
Mark
p.s. many thanks to all who responded to my last newsletter message about the dreadful noise and pollution machines otherwise known as 'gas powered leaf blowers'. Your emails were poignant and fun. Only one of you told me that you like your leaf blower and he is a good friend from Bellville who was just trying to pull my chain. I know that, in his heart, he hates leaf blowers too. Good work Garth!
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Deer Control in the Winter Months
In speaking to Home Hardware customers over the years, I have come to understand the difficulties in maintaining your defense against hungry herbivores.
Deer, rabbits, squirrels, and ground hogs are difficult to repel in the nicest of climates, but when you factor in the cold, this is when all strategies are put to the test. Although the animals tend to fatten up before the first snow fall, the cold and snow quickly deplete precious calories and hide nutritious treasures in their natural environments.
When you consider deer preferred vs. deer resistant plants, people tend to draw a fine line that separates what they like from what they don't. This is definitely not the case. The argument for deer resistant plants should involve the introduction of a broad spectrum line of plants which has daffodils on one end and tulips on the other. Deer and other animals will move up and down this line due to simple environmental variables such as climate, available food source, animal population, and geographical space. These are only a few variables that influence deer and other animal to feed on plants.
The more urgent any one of these variables is, the more likely the animals will move along the spectrum line to a plant or shrub that no one thought they would eat. We make the same choices every day. Would you rather have filet mignon or a hamburger? Or for the vegetarians out there that choice between a beautifully made salad and a plate of celery sticks?
As home owners, just remember in desperate times, deer and other animals will eat almost anything to survive.
So when you're done raking that last leaf, be sure to put an extra application of my favourite repellent, Bobbex, on your shrubs and/or re-check your fencing before the temperature remains below freezing.
In my experience there is nothing as effective.
For more info.
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Speaking of 'social' it is true that gardening cures shyness. Get a bunch of plant lovers together and you have a conversation, every time. 
Since I last talked to you I have joined Twitter. Each day there is a tweet or two of some significance and to be consistent with Twitter content, sometimes of not much significance at all. It is all in fun and in the name of continuing education.
With all of this talk about twitter I have been giving more attention to my Facebook fan page. Have a look. And enter to win a signed copy of my newest book The Canadian Garden Primer. It is such a cool book. 
Look for our upcoming contest to win another book. 
As a hostess gift, as a 'stocking stuffer' or as a stand-alone gift for anyone, young and old and in between - you really cannot go wrong. Not with a good quality amaryllis anyway. 
Join me December 1st from noon to 1:30pm at the Opera House in downtown Gravenhurst. Hosted by Gravenhurst Home Hardware, I will be sharing my thoughts on gardening and discussing my experiences in the industry. There will be lots of time to chat with the audience and take your questions.
The Windsor Hockey Heritage Society in partnership with the Town of Windsor, King's Edgehill School, Windsor Home Hardware and Howard Dill Enterprises (Long Pond) are working together to create an exciting fundraiser for the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society.
