On May 6, 2008 at 9 am, the Speaking of Women’s Health Media Launch will be taking place in the front greenhouse at Hole’s. Over 200 people are are expected to this catered event that will feature a reception, tours and a jazz duo and a short formal program.

First published April 10, 2008

The United Nations has declared 2008 as the Year of the Potato. Now while this may seem like an odd declaration, the UN recognizes the important role that potatoes play in feeding the world. In fact, potatoes rank forth in worldwide human consumption (behind wheat, corn and rice) and take first place for nutritional value per hectare. So in homage to the humble potato, I think planting a tuber or two in your yard this year would be a fitting tribute.

Because potatoes are indigenous to the mountainous regions of Peru, they are well adapted to capricious weather and are, therefore, easy to grow. Even during years when poor weather wreaks havoc with many other garden vegetables, potatoes almost always produce a reasonable yield. But unlike in Peru, where their International Potato Centre stores some 4,200 potato varieties, our choices are somewhat more limited on the Prairies.

If you are looking for a good all-around potato, there are several options, but I think the red-skinned variety called ‘Norland’ is still one of the best. Having said that, there are plenty of novelty varieties for those who prefer a more exotic spud. ‘Russian Blue,’ for example, has deep-purple skin and purple flesh. If golden flesh is more your thing, ‘Yukon Gold’ looks buttery yellow—even without the added calories of the real deal.

Regardless of the varieties you choose, always start with certified seed potatoes—not table potatoes from the grocery store. Certified seed potatoes are government inspected and, therefore, free of the most serious plant diseases. Besides that, table potatoes are occasionally treated with sprout inhibitor, which is not a particularly desirable trait for a seed potato.

To cut or not to cut seed potatoes: that is the question. Having spent countless hours in my youth cutting ton after ton of medium-sized tubers in half and large tubers into thirds or quarters, my feeling is that it just isn’t worth the effort. Quartering a large tuber provides four seed pieces and, thus, four plants. But what you end up with at harvest time is fewer but bigger potatoes instead of a greater number of smaller ones. Seeing as more people like gourmet-sized potatoes anyway, my recommendation is to plant the tubers whole. Besides, tubers run a greater risk of succumbing to disease when their protective skin is cut. Too bad small potatoes weren’t in vogue when I was a kid. It would have saved me a lot of tedious work and a few bloodied fingers!

Potatoes grow equally well planted in a garden or in containers, but I like using potatoes barrels filled with soilless mixture because harvesting is so much easier and the spuds come out clean as a whistle. Whichever method you choose, you’ll need to give your potato plants as much sunlight as possible. Potatoes will tolerate a bit of shade, but the less direct sunlight means a smaller yield.

Potatoes are rather heavy feeders and will enjoy a 15-15-30 water-soluble fertilizer applied at planting time. Composts and well-rotted manures will also provide all of the nutrients that potatoes require, but don’t be overzealous when applying them. When too much nitrogen-rich compost or manure is added to the potato patch, the result is a lot of leafy growth and very few tubers. More nitrogen is not better when it comes to potatoes.

While it’s great that the UN has raised the profile of the potato in 2008, many of Alberta’s potato growers won’t be sharing in the celebration. Ironically, as the red carpet is being rolled out around the world for the potato, a nasty pest called the Potato Cyst nematode has shown up in Alberta. Even though the nematode was found only in two samples on two Alberta farms—and over 2000 tests since then have proven negative—the mere presence of nematode in a couple of fields is causing a crisis equivalent to what the cattle ranchers faced with the BSE crisis. Unlike BSE, this worm-like pest causes no ill effects for humans and is not present in any of our table potatoes but it has effectively shut down the export of seed potatoes inter-provincially and internationally.

Hopefully, the nematode storm will blow over sooner rather than later and seed potato growers will still be in business when it does. From Peru to the Prairies the potato’s health has a huge affect on ours.

Hits & Miss: Sweet treat & winter
Question of the Week: Will the flowerbuds on my fruit trees survive the snow?
Science & Technology: Laser pruners
The Path to Enjoy 2009: Equip

Last week, I dragged my very unenthusiastic wife to a horror movie called The Ruins. Did I mention she was skeptical? It’s worth repeating. Even when I explained that the film was in fact a love story (well…love in the sense that it was about plants that loved eating people), she remained unmoved. As it turned out, The Ruins was definitely a capital ‘B’ movie, but the macabre notion of humans being eaten by plants was just too intriguing to resist. Or so I hoped. As we walked out of the theatre and I asked my wife what she thought, she said that the only thing ruined was her evening.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Sweet Treat
Our roses are incredible this year. They are big, bold and have a tremendous number of blooms. And although I hope they will sell quickly and early in the season, there is nothing like walking into a greenhouse jammed with hundreds of blooming roses and breathing in that sweet fragrance.

Miss: Winter
This is—undoubtedly—the worst late-spring weather I have ever experienced. Somehow, blowing snow and sub-freezing temperatures just have a way of killing the gardening spirit. Of course, the only redeemable quality of this winter weather is that it brings some much-needed moisture. Still, is it too much to ask that it be in the form of rain?

Jim reveals our pansies tucked under a wintery blanket this past week.

Question of the Week
A number of people are asking if the flowers on their fruit trees will survive the recent cold and snow. The short answer is yes. Because most of the flowerbuds were still at the tight green stage, they should be just fine. As long as the weather behaves itself in the next few weeks, you can resume dreaming about the summer fruit harvest.

Tight, green blossoms on fruit trees usually don’t get damaged by cold weather.

Science &Technology
Laser pruners
I was just reading an article in the latest issue of Greenhouse Canada magazine that described how some researchers at Niagara College are experimenting with using lasers to trim plants. Unlike knives and other pruning tools that can spread plant diseases, lasers simply burn off plant stems, which significantly reduces the chance of plant-to-plant disease transmission. Obviously, there are a lot of cost and safety issues that need to be resolved, but the future of pruning looks…bright.

The Path to Enjoy 2009
Equip
We have given our architects a big challenge. Design a greenhouse that will not only be able to grow our crops with the latest technology, but also be suitable for every other imaginable use other than growing. And why not? A greenhouse is a marvelous structure that can have multi-purposes, as long as we don’t limit our thinking. How about a convention centre, a classroom, a fitness area, an art gallery, an energy collector or even a racetrack? We want a building that’s adaptable to all these things and more. Is it reasonable? Let see what our architects can do.

Upcoming…
CBC Radio 740 AM Wildrose Country, 1:00 p.m.
Jim kicks off the radio call-in season Friday, April 25 and the following Friday, May 2. After that, he can be heard every second Friday, beginning May 16.

Did You Know?
The short, sharp, abrupt point on the tips of plants, such as snake plant (Sanseveria trifasciata) is called a mucro. Now you know what to swear at when you get poked in the eye.

“If water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, then ice is H2O squared.”
–Lily Tomlin

When Does a Low Price Cost too Much?
Producers, consumers and retailers have all been affected by the continuing demand to keep prices as low as possible. At first glance, low prices may seem like a benefit, but if you take a closer look at the drive to lower the cost of production in order to produce a cheaper product, you may actually discover that low costs end up costing us all too much in the long run. Producing poorly made products of substandard materials creates a society that needs to buy more often to replace low quality—something I’ve never believed is acceptable. The best example I can relate has to do with hand pruners. We have always sold and used Felco brand pruners, but a number of years ago, a sales rep offered us a knockoff at a lower cost. Trying to convince me, he said, “As a retailer, why would you want to sell a customer a tool they never have to replace?”
I replied, “Because in the end, it’s more costly than purchasing a good-quality product to start with.” As my mother often said, “Only the rich can afford to buy cheap things.”

First published April 17, 2008

It’s a mixed blessing watching the last remnants of snow finally disappear from my yard. On the one hand, the receding snow has solved the mystery of my missing rake, but on the other hand, the lawn looks like a matted mess. While snow is cursed by many, one can’t argue about the miraculous job it does of concealing last fall’s mess. Everyone’s yard and garden looks perfect with a thick blank of snow, but as the old saying goes, “You don’t know who is swimming naked until the tide rolls out.”

So to avoid the uncomfortable naked feeling that snowmelt causes, here are few things you can do while you’re waiting for the yard to green up. A good place to start is with some light raking, providing that you don’t get too ambitious. Raking icy or wet spots on your lawn is not a good idea because the crowns (the junction between roots and the grass blades) can be easily damaged. Although the grass will heal, bare patches are prime real estate for weeds that want to gain a foothold. When it comes to lawn rejuvenation, patience is definitely a virtue.

What lies beneath
Unfortunately, patience is what most of us don’t have when we see a blanket of snow mould growing on the lawn. Because it becomes well established the previous fall and grows beneath the cover of snow, this annoying fungus holds the dubious distinction of being the first yard pest to feel our wrath each spring. But to be honest, even though we hate snow mould, is more of a cosmetic pest than it is a serious lawn pest. By July, its damage is repaired and the mould is long forgotten. The worst thing about snow mould, however, is that it is an allergen that causes many a stuffy nose and congested chest. Fortunately, snow mould doesn’t seem to be as prevalent this year as it did last year, so allergy sufferers may be in luck. If you really can’t stand to look at it though, a light raking will get rid of the ‘fluff’—just not the pest itself.

Common questions
Can one clean up the old, dead perennial growth from last year without causing any harm to this year’s growth? Yes, but not unconditionally. Cleaning up the old, dead leaves of perennials, such as hostas or peonies, won’t damage your plants per se, but stomping around on the wet soil around the base of the plants will compact the soil and damage roots. So if the soil in your perennial bed is wet, and if looking at dead hosta leaves is driving you crazy, strategically placing some temporary plywood to stand on will prevent your boots from turning soil into root-damaging concrete.

Is it too early to prune? Although the proper time for pruning trees and shrubs varies with the plant species, the best time for pruning broken branches is as soon as you notice them. The only exception, of course, is American elms, which cannot be pruned from April until October because of the risk of Dutch elm disease. Having said that, any large or inaccessible branches are best left to the professional arborists to remove. Broken plant limbs are one thing; broken human limbs are quite another.

When should I start watering? It’s not really a question of when to water so much as it is a question of where and what to water. Only water areas where the ground is thawed (possibly next your home’s foundation) and even then, only water if there are plants that are breaking dormancy. For example, if you have a ubiquitous cedar or two planted next to the front door under the eaves where the snow is long gone and where the neighbourhood cats leave you ‘presents,’ feel free to give said cedar a good soaking.

Its important to remember that the spring yard cleanup issue is as much about mental health as it is about plant health. I must admit that I break the rules a bit when it comes to raking the lawn because I can only stand to look at matted tree leaves on dead grass for so long. I guess you could say that in my yard, exuberance usually wins out over restraint when the tide rolls out.

This week everyone is busily putting the finishing touches on the Summer Edition of Enjoy Gardening. Jim’s Notebook will be back next week.

In the mean time we leave you with the cover of the upcoming magazine…

First published April 3, 2008

When one thinks of horticultural research, the stereotypical image that likely comes to mind is of a lab coat-clad scientist, standing among a sea of greenhouse plants.

There is, however, another category of ‘researchers’ who typically don’t have a lot of formal training in the science of horticulture but who, unquestionably, play a huge role in the advancement of horticultural knowledge. These people are, for lack of a better term, home garden researchers—individuals who love nothing more than spending their days experimenting with plants in their own backyards. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to meet dozens of them when I spoke at the Gardenscape show in Saskatoon.

The three-day event show draws some 24,000 gardeners, all of whom have a passion for growing plants and sharing their knowledge with anyone who cares to listen. Many of these avid gardeners truly are researchers in their own right. From Saskatoon, down to Regina, over to Prince Albert and all points in between, gardeners right across Saskatchewan are experimenting with a myriad of fruits, vegetables, annuals and perennials—some of which may even become good breeding stock.

The stories I heard from people at this event began like many of the stories I’ve heard from people right across the country. The most common story told starts with a grandparent or great grandparent bringing over a plant from the old country and transplanting it on the farm or in the backyard. Many of the Old World plants don’t find their new home very hospitable and die in their adopted country, but a few prove their mettle and endure our harsh prairie winters. These new heirloom varieties often become family favourites or, on some occasions, good breeding stock for new heirloom varieties. Sometimes the final chapter of their lives is bittersweet because the next generation doesn’t share the same passion that Granddad had for tomatoes or apples. But sometimes Granddad’s plants are as revered as the family pet and some truly great varieties find their way into the commercial marketplace. Outstanding fruit such as the ‘Thiessen’ Saskatoon was discovered on a riverbank in Saskatoon, and North America’s best-selling cherry tree was found growing in a farmyard north of Edmonton. The ‘Mortgage Lifter’ tomato was an heirloom variety that a home gardener in the U.S. bred and sold using the proceeds to pay off his mortgage.

So while I have the utmost respect for those individuals who spend a good many years studying at university to become plant breeders, I must admit that I have a soft spot for those intrepid garden researchers from places like Prince Albert or Buchanan, Saskatchewan. White lab coats and Granddad’s gum boots may be a fashion faux pas, but sometimes the combination doesn’t look too bad.

Hits & Misses: Consistency & disappearing perennials
Question of the Week: Which rose varieties make a great hedge?
Science & Technology: Surveying the Pollinators

Rat tail radish may not sound like a particularly appetizing vegetable, but I’m staring at a package of it on my desk as I write this week’s notebook. The seed comes courtesy of Vera Komadoski from Rosetown, Saskatchewan, a wonderful lady I met at the Gardenscape show in Saskatoon. When Vera and I talked a few weeks ago, she mentioned how much she loved the flavour of rat tail radish. Apparently, one doesn’t eat the roots; it’s the long, rat tail-like seed pods that are used to spice up stir-fries and the like. Now that I have the seed in hand, I just have to find a spot to plant them.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Consistency
Uniformity and consistency are two words that greenhouse growers hold dear to their hearts. Growers want nothing more than to have basket after basket and pot after pot of a particular plant variety perform exactly the same—regardless of whether or not it was the first one transplanted or the five hundredth. Variability is a desirable trait between varieties but never a good trait within a single variety. This year the uniformity within varieties is the best I’ve ever seen, which I think is a reflection of the quality of the cuttings we grew this year. Whatever the reason, it’s good to know that the five hundredth pot of cannas will keep customer five hundred just as happy as the first canna made customer number one.

Miss: Disappearing perennials
The mystery of the disappearing perennials from our coldframes was solved recently. For the past couple of weeks, a rather cute but voracious gopher has been making regular visits and enjoying the vast buffet of plants. “Gopher” is really a misnomer for this sneaky little rodent; the proper common name is Richardson’s ground squirrel, although if you want to be scientifically accurate, the Latin name is Spermophilus richardsonii. The genus name, Spermophilus, has nothing to do with reproductive prowess (although these rodents do produce a prodigious number of offspring); Spermophilus means “lover of seeds.” I think that lover of perennials might be equally apt. To my way of thinking, if it’s Richardson’s ground squirrel, then Richardson is more than welcome to come and pick up his pet.

Question of the Week
I’m planning my landscape and I’d really like a hedge that’s a bit different. I’ve chosen to go with roses. Which varieties are best for this purpose?

For a short hedge, use varieties from the Pavement series. If you want a larger hedge, try red or white Rugosa, or ‘Scabrosa’. I’m partial to informal hedges. What I mean by that is plants grown in a row but not right up against each other. For a rose hedge of this type, I really like ‘Adelaide Hoodless’, ‘Morden Blush’ or ‘Morden Centennial’ roses. Just remember that to create a formal hedge, you have to prune often and this means less flowers.

Science & Technology
Surveying the Pollinators
I believe that home gardeners are the single biggest untapped resource in the horticultural research field, so I was really interested to hear about Pollination Canada. It’s a new program aimed at surveying the over 1000 species of pollinating insects in our vast country. By observing pollinators (something gardeners just seem to do naturally anyway) and participating in the survey, gardeners can contribute to valuable information collection and ultimately analysis. The survey is available on line at www.pollinationcanada.ca.
The following quote may have been falsely attributed to Albert Einstein, but it does pose a thought-provoking idea: “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.” Get out there and count those bugs!

Trend SpottingBeauty meets energy efficiency! These solar powered lanterns were so popular last year that the company producing it has introduced a couple of new designs.

Did You Know?
Vermicomposting is a term used to describe the process where worms convert organic waste into nutrient rich worm castings. Vermi means worm, which (rather unappetizingly) is where the pasta vermicelli gets its name.

“Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than Emperors.”
–Mary Cantwell

Bill Hole’s State of the Industry

I remember working summers at the City Market when I was 12 or 13 years old. Every Saturday morning we would load up the half-ton with our best vegetables and Dad would drop my brother and I off at the market to work a 7:00 am to 2:00 pm shift. Dad and Mom were always trying new vegetable varieties that would yield more, taste better, or out perform the traditional types. And because tradition was king at the market, it became a bit of a contentious issue for Jim and me. The hybrid tomato varieties we grew were a prime example. They were superior in so many ways that we made a point of telling people about them and encouraged customers to visit our greenhouse in the spring so that they could buy plants for their own gardens. One summer I was surprised to discover that one of the other vendors was selling the same varieties we had grown the previous year. In fact, she was selling every tomato variety we had grown. But how could this be? How could she know what we grew? Then we caught on. Every time a customer would ask for one of these new varieties, such as ‘Bounty,’ this lady would—without fail—reach under her table and creatively (if not carefully) craft a handwritten tag: “TOMATOE BOWTY.”

first published March 27, 2008

At one time, the only thing ‘carbon credit’ meant to me was that I was the one who took the blame for burning the bacon. Fortunately, times have changed, and today, most of us associate carbon credits with offsetting the burning of fossil fuel by doing something that contributes to the sequestering of atmospheric carbon. And as many gardeners know, just planting a garden inches us one step closer to emerging on the plus side of the carbon credit equation.

So how does gardening figure into the whole carbon credit issue? Well, the ‘plant a tree; save the planet’ principle, although simplistic, has a fair bit of merit. A tree is about 45 per cent carbon (based on dry weight). Therefore, a 100 kilogram tree contains about 45 kilograms of carbon that’s not floating around in our atmosphere as carbon dioxide or other carbon compounds. Trees draw in carbon dioxide from the air that we breath and, with the aid of the sun’s energy, convert the carbon dioxide into a myriad of compounds—everything from wood to sugars. The bigger the tree, the more carbon that’s tied up or sequestered in its tissues. Of course, if you ever decided to cut down your tree and have a campfire, a lot of that sequestered carbon would become free again while you roasted your hot dogs and marshmallows.

Trees aren’t the only plants that pull carbon dioxide from the air; all plants (with the exception of a very few) need carbon dioxide to grow. But if you take a plant such as a marigold and compare it to a tree, the carbon sequestration equation becomes a little more complex. Annual plants, just like trees, absorb carbon dioxide during the growing season. But unlike trees that hold carbon in their roots, trunk and branches for years, the marigold dies and begins to decompose after the first fall frost. As soil microbes decompose the dead marigold, a good portion of the sequestered carbon is released back into the air as carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, a significant amount of carbon still remains trapped in the soil as organic matter because in cooler climates like ours, decomposition takes a longer time, thus allowing organic matter to build up.

The basic principle to keep in mind is when it comes to keeping carbon out of the air we breathe, sowing or transplanting any plant is always better than not planting at all.

The other side of the carbon credit/gardening issue is not just the trapping of carbon in your yard; it’s the offsetting of food transportation. Since a lot of our food travels an average of 2000 km getting to our tables, it takes a fair bit of truck fuel to keep us well fed.

Considering that a simple three metre by three metre potato patch could provide all the calories necessary to keep an average adult fairly full for a couple of weeks, planting a vegetable garden is an old idea that’s on the verge of making a comeback. At one time, a lot of people ‘had to’ grow a garden to feed the family. Today, the ‘want to’ gardeners of edible crops are making a conscientious, environmental choice to grow more of what they eat. Transporting food a few metres rather than a few thousand kilometres just makes sense.

So is gardening the solution to all of our atmospheric carbon issues? Hardly. But it is one small but very positive step that anyone with a bit of outdoor space can take. If you, like many others, are feeling guilty that you aren’t doing your part to keep carbon out of the air, a poplar, a potato and a shovel are as good a place as any to start.