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The Voice of Youth: a voice of hope.
She speaks for us all.
In the news just last week was the announcement that a Canadian, 21 year old H�l�ne Campbell, had reached her 6 month anniversary of breathing with 2 new lungs. From the article in the Globe and Mail article, my favourite quote:
"I think we live in a wonderful world where people are willing to act on something like this [organ donation] - a selfless act that can help save others' lives and I am just so blessed by this amazing support and it's such an incredible inspiration to me.
And it shows me how much we are loved.
I value faith and I believe there is a God taking care of us and it really shines through in this whole situation, how just everyone has jumped on board."
My response to this is to suggest that the 'inspiration' cuts both ways. As inspired as H�l�ne is by the generosity of someone who donated their organs after they died, I am moved by her conviction. Who strings words together like this? 'Wonderful world', 'selfless act', 'amazing support', 'I value faith and believe in God'. This is 2012 and we don't hear this very often in popular media.
Our youth are often painted as basement dwelling, obsessive video playing, on-strike for a cheaper [or free!] education, generation of freeloaders who refuse to leave home.
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Harvest / Don't Harvest
Harvest.
Tomatoes still on the vine? Peppers? Potatoes in the ground? Get them harvested before a killing frost finishes them for you.
A tomato plant can be hung in your garage for a week or two [depending on night time frost] where it will ripen remaining fruit. If you still have tomatoes on the 'vine' after a couple of weeks remove them, green ones included, and put them in the basement in the dark, sitting up on an old rake [off of a hard surface] so that air circulates around them.
They will ripen over time. They won't be as tasty as the garden fresh ones, but much better than store bought ones from the greenhouse or strip mined in the states.
Don't harvest.
There are some winter vegetables that actually improve flavour as the cold weather arrives. Parsnips, leeks, carrots, kale and cabbage would be a few of them.
Others, that are tolerant of light frost, but do not 'improve' with frost necessarily but can remain in the garden for the time being if you don't have somewhere to put them indoors just yet. These include winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower and pumpkins.
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Bulbs, Tropicals and Pruning
Bulbs.
All bulbs can be planted now, for a great spring show of colour. Later in October your narcissus and daffodils should have been planted but tulips and hyacinths are fine with a late season planting. My Dad was known, in his day, to plant tulips the day before Christmas and they came up in spring nicely.
Tropical plants indoors.
You mean that you haven't brought your tropical plants indoors yet? Well, neither have I. Too busy, that is my excuse. Time to get to it though, if you want to enjoy reasonable performance in your home over the next few months. Wash them down with Green Earth insecticidal soap before you bring them indoors just to be sure that you are not importing any bug problems from outdoors to in.
Prune.
This is a great time of year to prune cedars [including cedar hedges], junipers and the like. For details go to my 2 part series that I wrote for the Toronto Star recently (part 1 and part 2).
It is too early to winterize your roses, wrap evergreens to protect from winter sun, wind and salt spray, protect fruit trees from rodent damage, etc. I will cover all of these tasks in detail in my next newsletter, which you will receive about October 26th.
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North American Native Plant Society
Annual General Meeting
Date: October 20, 2012
Location: Markham Council Chamber, Markham Civic Centre
Time: 11:45am - 4:00pm
Plant sale, refreshments, President's address, new board members announced, the latest excursions, restoration activities, garden awards, volunteer awards, meet & mingle.
For more information
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I have seen the other side. This past summer I hired 2 intern students to help me with my work: Marette helped in my 10 acre garden and with my writing at the office. Melissa helped to shepherd the new organisation, Trees For Life, the Urban Tree Coalition through our first stages of development [more on that in a future newsletter]. 
October is an outstanding month in the garden.
There is no need to hurt your back or strain your pocketbook. Rake the leaves from your lawn onto your garden. They can be up to 12 inches/25 cm thick when dry and not do any damage. 
As I travel across Canada with Home Hardware, I have noticed a growing trend among gardeners - en masse planting of bold coloured plants. 
Last month we invited you to submit your 'interesting' carrot photos. We selected our 3 favourites and the winners received a signed copy of my gardening book, Canadian Lawn & Garden Secrets. 
My Facebook contest for September was such a hit; I've decided to extend the contest for the month of October. 
In the January edition of my E-newsletter I asked you to submit your 'amusing' garden stories. I was overwhelmed by the great response. 
I hear from many gardeners who are not sure when to harvest their home-grown vegetables. A few simple tips will help take the guess work out of harvest time.
The Landscape Ontario Waterloo Chapter is helping a local high school go big and go green, with The School Greening Project, a program implemented for the new school year that aims to educate students on the importance of green spaces, and the positive environmental impact a few changes can make.
Do you have a 'gardening' event you would like to promote? I would be happy to include your event listing in my monthly E-newsletter. 
Date: October 4, 2012
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2012
Date: October 24, 2012
