There is some pretty exciting progress happening at the new Enjoy site. Everyday sees new changes and more people working on this exciting project.

Hits & Misses: Fall planters & free lunches
Question of the Week: I have lumps in my lawn where I noticed moths earlier this season. Are they related?
Science & Technology: Big drinkers

Aquaponics is not a term that’s familiar to a lot of people. But it just might become a part of our everyday lexicon within a few years. What is it exactly? Well, it’s a system of growing plants and fish in the same tank under natural or supplementary light. The system is brilliantly simple. Food is provided for the fish, the fish waste feeds the plants, and the lights provide energy for the plants to grow. What that results in is the ability to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, basil—and a myriad of other plants—along with, of course, fish. A lot of research has been done on aquaponics at the Crop Diversification Centre in Brooks, Alberta, and an aquaponics unit is currently being housed at the University of Alberta. I have to say, besides being exciting and innovative, aquaponics just might change the way we feed the world.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Fall Planters
Is it ever too late in the season to add plants to your yard? I don’t think so. Even in late August and September there are plenty of large, fully flowering containers here, just waiting to be plunked onto decks and patios. It really is as easy as picking your favourite container, dropping it in place and enjoying!

Miss: Free Lunches
Summer evenings spent munching food on a restaurant patio is, unfortunately, not just for people. Last week, I was enjoying a nice snack on the patio of a local restaurant when I noticed a bunch of poplar borers tunnelling through the trunks of the Swedish columnar aspens that lined the dining area. When I pointed out the damage to the restaurant manager, he was surprised and a little distraught over the damage that the borers were causing. And with good reason. Poplar borers, left unchecked, will kill poplars rather quickly. Nothing quite like diners that not only don’t pay but also trash the place before they move on.

Question of the Week
I have lumps in my lawn where I noticed moths earlier this season. Are they related?
They sure are. You have sod webworms. The adults take the form of buff-coloured moths that fly in a distinctive zigzag pattern and lay eggs in the grass. It’s those larvae that then feed on the roots and cause a lumpy appearance in the lawn (you may also notice webbing in the grass.) Eventually, sod webworms can cause large, dead patches of lawn. To make your lawn less desirable to the moths, remove thatch and aerate. BTK (Bacillus thuringiensis) a biological control or Sevin (active ingredient carbaryl) can be used as a soil drench to kill the larvae. For best results, treatment should be done in the evening when the larvae are most active. However, before applying any pest-control product, always read the label.

Science & Technology
Big Drinkers
Just how thirsty are petunias? Researchers at the University of Georgia tested two petunia varieties, ‘Single Dreams Pink’ and ‘Prostrate Easy Wave Pink,’ and found that both varieties absorbed more water when grown in larger pots. Makes sense to me. The bigger the pots, the bigger the plants grow and the more water the plants use. What I found most interesting, however, was the maximum amount of water that each variety (grown in a 15 cm pot) absorbed. A thirsty Single Dreams Pink would drink 109 ml per day, whereas a Prostrate Easy Wave Pink needed just about double that amount—209 ml per day.

Did You Know?
Garlic is extremely cold tolerant and is best planted in the fall.

“Pray to God for a good harvest, but don’t stop hoeing.”
—Bohemian Proverb

first published August 13, 2009

There is a new and powerful weed killer on the market. And not only does it cause the cell walls of root tips to grow abnormally and then break, it also renders those affected cells void of their cell nuclei—the genes of life itself.

So what is the name of this deadly herbicide, you ask? It’s called—drum roll, please—corn! Yes, the same corn you find in your breakfast cereal, tacos and popcorn. Good old-fashioned, garden-variety corn.

Now don’t get me wrong, you can’t dump a bag of Doritos into your garden and expect weeds to start imploding left, right and centre. However, there is a component in corn that’s been shown to inhibit the seed germination of numerous species of plants. That component is called corn gluten.

Gluten, a by-product of the milling process, is a mixture of proteins that gives dough its elastic quality. And while, technically, the term gluten is reserved for wheat and its next-of-kin grassy relatives, researchers have taken the liberty of giving the gummy stuff in corn the same name.

Call it what you will, the corn gluten/herbicide connection was an unexpected and fortuitous discovery by researchers at Iowa State University, back in 1986. The researchers were trying to introduce a fungal disease into a plot of turf grass and were using corn meal to feed the fungus. However, not only did the corn meal feed the fungus, it also managed to kill most of the newly planted grass seed. With that, it wasn’t long before researchers connected the dots between the corn gluten and the dead grass seedlings. With that, a seedling-killing machine was born.

Today, corn gluten is packaged and sold, somewhat ironically, as a dandelion-control product for lawns. Confused? Well let me explain. Since corn gluten only kills certain seeds shortly after they germinate, there’s little risk of it harming an established lawn. Unfortunately, that also means that established dandelion are also safe from the affects of gluten and that only the seedlings of dandelions will be destroyed.

So will corn gluten transform a dandelion-infested lawn into a bowling green overnight? Well, not exactly. Corn gluten is nowhere near as powerful as some of the commercially available lawn herbicides and tends to biodegrade rather quickly in soil. The result is that corn gluten is much better at killing dandelion seedlings in the lab than it is at killing them in the lawn. But with regular applications of corn gluten over a period of two or three years, the number of dandelions taking up residence in your lawn will decrease noticeably. And part of the reason for the decline in dandelions is not related entirely to the herbicidal properties of corn gluten but rather to the fact that gluten is about 10 per cent nitrogen by weight. Nitrogen feeds the grass, which is then better able to out-compete dandelion seedlings for space.
With the ban on conventional weed-and-feed products taking effect next year, corn gluten may be the lawn-care product of choice. And while it may not be the perfect solution for dandelions it is a good alternative.

So let’s see… We now have a plant that feeds us, sweetens our drinks, powers our cars and kills our weeds. Am I the only one getting a bit creeped out?

Enjoy gardening!

For more great gardening info, check out Hole’s Greenhouses on Facebook. You don’t have to be a member to visit, but if you are, be sure to sign on as a fan.

Hits & Misses: Trade offs & synchronized quitters
Question of the Week: How do I get rid of the dog spots on my lawn?
Science & Technology: Stress eating

Most people consider rice, wheat and corn the basics for a good breakfast cereal. For me, however, they are the basis for good biodegradable plant pots. Over the past few years, we’ve been experimenting with a variety of biodegradable pots constructed of plant by-products, the hope being that they will replace our plastic pots. Biodegradable pots can either be tossed into the composter, or the plant and pot can be planted directly into the garden. The early leader in the biodegradable pot race seems to be rice, with wheat not too far behind. A few years ago, however, we tried some pots composed almost entirely of processed chicken feathers. Unfortunately, when the pots were wet they smelled like, well, wet chickens…which does tend to dominate the delicate fragrances of some flowers.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Trade Offs
The terms gardening and enjoyment should be synonymous, for the most part. But it’s tough to enjoy the garden when plagues of mosquitoes are buzzing around your ears. This year though—for the first time I can remember—I was able sit on my back deck in mid August and not get a single mosquito bite. Yes, I know that a lack of mosquitoes and drought are inextricably linked, but the bad growing conditions are a heck of a lot easier to take without that incessant buzz.

Miss: Synchronized Quitters
In the greenhouse, pH and EC (electrical conductivity) meters are essential tools for growing crops well. In a nutshell, pH meters are used to determine if a soil has the right acid/base balance (which varies depending on the crop), while EC measures soil salt concentrations. If we drift too far one way or the other with pH and EC, crop quality diminishes. Now the problem this week is that all three of our pH/EC meters decided to quit simultaneously. And since we can’t be without our meters for long, we had to order—and wait for—replacements. Hmm…perhaps I’m looking at the meters too negatively. After all, a broken clock is always right twice a day.

Question of the Week
How do I get rid of the dog spots on my lawn?
To repair damage caused by pet urine or salt, you need to remove the dead grass by raking it and then flush with water. Next, use a grass repair kit (which has grass seed embedded in a growing medium), or apply a 1-cm layer of peat moss and then scatter grass seed on top. Consistent moisture is needed for grass seed to germinate, so water at least once per day for the first two weeks. Then water twice per week until the grass is well established. Damaged areas will disappear as grass grows in.

Man’s best friend isn’t necessarily
his lawn’s best friend.

Science & Technology
Stress Eating
Researchers from the University of California have determined that drought-stressed tomato plants can produce fruit with superior flavour, aroma, appearance, texture and overall fruit quality. The experiment was conducted on only one variety (‘Early Girl’), so one must be careful when extrapolating the results. But it’s interesting research nonetheless. Do note, however, that maintaining your tomato plants’ high soil-moisture levels will result in more extra-large fruit and less damage from sunburn and blossom end rot.

When it comes to tomatoes and dry conditions,
the silver lining may be their taste.

Did You Know?
Seventy-five percent of a macadamia nut’’ dry weight is oil.

“Travelling is almost like talking with men of other centuries.”
—René Descartes

first published July 30, 2009

It’s time for the summer edition of “Walk the Crop,” the article where I take you for an editorial tour of the greenhouses and give you a behind-the-scenes look at what’s growing. Here we go…

The first stop is Greenhouse 1, where an extra application of shade compound has made things a little less sunny than normal. Shade compounds are best compared to white paints that can be sprayed onto glass or plastic to reflect a portion of the incoming solar radiation. By restricting the solar radiation that enters the greenhouse, less heat gets trapped inside, and tender crops don’t end up parboiled. It would be nice not to have to make the adjustment, but thanks to the tilt of our planet and our northern latitude, it isn’t possible: too much sunlight enters the greenhouses during the summer, while too little enters in the winter. Since the earth isn’t likely to straighten up anytime soon, the summer shade compound gets stored on Shelf A, and the winter grow lights make a home on Shelf B.

Looking toward Greenhouse 5, I can see a crowd gathering around our big, yellow potting machine. As it fires up, I see the first of the poinsettias (yes, poinsettias) moving down the conveyor belt, toward the far end of the greenhouse. Poinsettias are a summer crop for growers because the cuttings require nearly five months of TLC to develop into fully flowered plants by Christm….er…that time of year we dare not mention. Poinsettias are an easy crop to grow poorly and a tough crop to grow well, which is why over the course of the season, they’ll undergo more poking, prodding, and testing than an Olympic athlete.

From Greenhouse 5, I find an excuse to head out to the coldframes. It is a deviation from moving through the greenhouses in a sequential fashion, but I’m feeling a little rebellious and know I’ll find hanging baskets of tumbler tomatoes there. I also know that most of those baskets will have one or two ripe, cherry-sized, fruit that someone has to eat, lest they go to waste. Pulling a tomato straight off the vine and popping it in your mouth may not be life’s greatest pleasure, but it definitely makes the shortlist in my opinion.

From pleasure, to pain. I circle back into the main greenhouses and down to Greenhouse 17 where the last few Thunbergia (black-eyed Susan) are sitting. Thunbergia are excellent annuals for pots because they grow rapidly, produce tons of flowers, and vines like crazy. And therein lies the problem. Their aggressive growth habit resulted in a mass of vines that were virtually impossible to untangle as they grew into their neighbouring pots. The growers nearly went crazy this year trying to separate these avaricious plants without damaging vines in the process. Fortunately, Thunbergia recovers well, but for a few weeks, the greenhouse floor looked like a battle zone of leaf and stem shrapnel.

Having found everything as it should be, I round out the tour by finding a home for a white spruce seedling that my daughter “rescued” from the garden and transplanted into an old, blue juice cup. After a little looking around, I decide that Greenhouse 11 is the answer. One white spruce in a sea of red poinsettias might look a little odd, but then again, a boreal spruce and a tropical poinsettia have a certain kindred spirit at a particular time of year. Merry gardening!

For more great gardening info, check out Hole’s Greenhouses on Facebook. You don’t have to be a member to visit, but if you are, be sure to sign on as a fan.

Hits & Misses: Experimentation & bitter truths
Question of the Week: Why are the buds on my rose bushes drying and not opening up?
Science & Technology: Smile, though your heart is aching

A lot of gardeners are confused about the Federal Government’s Renovation Tax Credit Program. In other words, does it or does it not apply to landscape plants? Well, the answer is yes and no. Annual plants aren’t covered, but perennials, trees, shrubs and sod are. The tax credit is 15% of the total eligible material. Purchases from $1000 to $10,000 are covered…just make sure that you keep your receipts for proof of purchase.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Experimentation
We are experimenting with a ton of new petunia and calibrachoa varieties in the greenhouses. Each variety will receive a plethora of different treatments to see what conditions produce the best growth characteristics. Some of the treatments have yielded some truly outstanding, dense, fully flowered pots of plants, while other treatments have yielded floppy, weak plants that are fit only for the compost bin. It’s very interesting to see just how much the greenhouse environment affects plant quality. In fact, two identical varieties can sometimes look like two different species entirely, depending upon how each was grown.

Miss: Bitter Truths
I love honeyberries or haskap, as they are often referred to. This plant’s rich-blue, hourglass-shaped berries make excellent jam, but it’s taken a lot of breeding work to develop the sweet-tasting fruit we all love. The other day, I had the misfortune of popping back a berry from one of the early breeding lines, and it was horrible! It took several glasses of water and mug of coffee to rid my mouth of the extremely bitter flavour. Perhaps if I hadn’t been paying attention to my stomach, I would have noticed that even the birds had given these berries a wide berth.

Question of the Week
Why are the buds on my rose bushes drying and not opening up?
It could be that there are thrips in your shrubs. These very tiny insects are difficult to see with the naked eye, so shake one of the rose buds over a white sheet of paper and look for tiny black insects. Unfortunately, once thrips get into flowers, there are few options for control other than snipping off the damaged buds and disposing of them. Yellow flowers are particularly prone to attack.

The black specks on these rose petals are thrips.

Science and Technology
Smile, Though Your Heart Is Aching
According to an article in Scientific American, there is a plant that literally forces people to smile. It is called hemlock water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata), also known as water celery. But the smile that this plant causes has no association with happiness. Oenanthe crocata contains highly toxic chemicals that can make facial muscles grimace into a pseudo grin. Apparently, it was given to criminals in Sardinia centuries ago as a macabre form of punishment prior to death. And you thought that gardening was all fun and games…

Did You Know?
Bletting is a process where particular fruits are allowed to go beyond ripening, to the point where they begin to decay and ferment. Bletting often increases sugars, while decreasing acids and tannins in fruit. Persimmons and quince are best after a bletting process.

On Holiday
Please note that Jim’s Notebook is taking a holiday next week but will return August 20. See you then!

“I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.”
—George Bernard Shaw