Hits & Misses: Planned buying & still cutting away
Question of the Week: Is it too late to plant annuals?
Science & Technology: Crying the blues

If I hadn’t been cutting through Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton last Friday, I’d have missed out on The Works art festival displays. I’d just completed my regular CBC gardening open-line radio program and was on route to my car. That’s when I noticed four vehicles erratically parked on the fringe of the square and wondered how those people had scored prime parking real estate. But as I squeezed by the cars, I realized they were works of art—botanical ones! Each vehicle was filled to the top of its dashboard with soil. Spruce and poplar saplings were growing happily in the vehicles’ cozy interior landscapes. I doubt any car companies have considered vehicular greenhouses, but given the impact vehicles have on the environment, producing cars that generate oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide might not be a bad idea.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Planned Buying
Our gardening books did particularly well at the greenhouse last weekend. In fact, people were buying stacks of them. Now, I could say the reason was because the author (me, of course) was there to sign copies. But, alas, I know the real reason was that they were one heck of a bargain. Most people I talked to planned on giving the books as birthday or Christmas gifts. Boy, are they organized. Personally, I consider it planning ahead if I buy a gift the day before.

Miss: Still Cutting Away
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, cutworms have been on the attack. In fact, my sister-in-law Valerie, who kindly donates some of her pickles to me each year, reports cutworms have devastated her cucumber patch. Cutworms are particularly bad in our region this year thanks to last year’s warm, dry fall. That type of weather makes flight easier for the female moths and increases survival of eggs, which the moths typically deposit in or on loose soil during late afternoons in early fall. Considering that one female army cutworm moth can lay 1,000 to 3,000 eggs, it’s easy to see how cutworms can become such a nuisance. Valerie has re-sown her cucumbers. Needless to say, I’m hoping for a long, hot summer and an abundant harvest of pickles…I mean cucumbers.

Question of the Week
Is it too late to plant annuals?
No, it’s not too late. But you will want to make sure you’re not buying overgrown bedding plants because they’ll be rootbound and won’t perform. What you want to look for at this time of the year are large, fully branched plants that are blooming or have lots of buds that are ready to open. That way, you won’t have to wait for results. The other option is to buy pre-planted patio containers that’ll add instant lushness to your yard. And don’t forget about vegetable containers—they’ll look great and likely be ready to harvest.

Science & Technology
Crying the Blues
When red roses turn blue, it’s enough to make you cry—especially if you’ve just shelled out for a dozen long stems. That undesirable characteristic (called bluing) has a lot to do with the chemistry of the aging petals. The older the flowers, the higher pH levels in the plant cells—that in turn break down certain proteins—the higher the degree of bluing. A certain amount of bluing is inevitable as roses age. But if you buy high-quality, fresh roses and keep them cool, it will prevent both you and the roses from developing a serious case of the blues.

Did You Know?
Workers in the pineapple industry wear rubber gloves to protect their skin from an enzyme in the plant stems called bromelain, which can digest protein.

“Canada is an interesting place, the rest of the world thinks so, even if Canadians don’t.”
–Terence M. Green

Structurally, the Enjoy Centre has become a pretty concrete vision. But, unless you’ve been part of the planning process (as I have), a complete picture of how the components within the centre will operate probably isn’t as clear, yet. To help with that visualization, we’ve started offering some sneak peeks to staff, family and friends—the first of which was Tuesday evening. More than 100 people met at the Enjoy Centre to hear about the services our partner, Health Hub Holdings, will offer. Each of the three businesses they’ll operate will add to the overall Enjoy Centre experience. Catering to both mind and body, is the Water Garden (with thermal spa, esthetic services and a holistic clinic), Terra Café featuring healthy, local fare with seating for 160 and, last but not least, the artisan bakery where you’ll find organic products made in the European tradition. All our partners are excited about the unique services and experiences they’ll offer everyone who comes to the Enjoy Centre, and so are we. To learn more about services the Health Hub will be offering, visit their website.

Hits & Misses: Gopher-proof plants & less than a beauty
Question of the Week: How can I get rid of the non-fairy ring mushrooms on my lawn?
Science & Technology: Fine-tuned testing

It’s nice to tune in to the World Cup, see that lush turf and know the grass seed came from the Canadian prairies—Manitoba to be exact. Soccer isn’t one of the sports I’ve played, so there are nuances of the game I don’t fully understand. For example, as hard as I try, I can’t figure out what’s causing some of the world’s best players to suddenly fall and then roll on the turf with grimaces on their faces? In these instances, as far as I can tell, no obvious collisions have happened nor have the soccer players turned their ankles or otherwise injured themselves. Perhaps there’s something wrong with our Canuck grass—like the blades are so stiff and strong that they’re tripping the players? Then again, maybe the grass isn’t to blame because, for some strange reason, complete recovery seems to happen in about 10 seconds—usually just after the referee shows something called a Yellow Card…

Hits & Misses
Hit: Gopher-proof Plants
The sign welcoming everyone at the south entrance of St. Albert has an integrated planter with a sloping flowerbed in front. And every year that we plant this bed, Richardson’s ground squirrels (a.k.a. gophers) test the plants to see which ones suit their discerning tastes. After years of trialing a wide range of gopher-proof bedding plants, we’ve discovered geraniums and dusty millers are quite possibly the only plants those little brown critters don’t touch. Some argue the gophers hate the taste of geraniums and dusty millers, but I believe they’ve finally found the right décor to complement their pasture.

Miss: Less than a Beauty
There are good reasons heirloom tomato varieties have been handed down from generation to generation, but beauty is seldom one of them. ‘Black Russian’ is an excellent example. As I walked through the greenhouse on the weekend, I really noticed how their thin, purple-tinged leaves stood out. But imperfect foliage and fruit are the trademark of heirloom tomatoes, so you need to look beyond the visual shortcomings and focus on the often-superior flavour and texture of these fruits.

Question of the Week
How can I get rid of the non-fairy ring mushrooms on my lawn?
Actually, you don’t need to worry about mushrooms. Unlike fairy rings, they won’t harm your lawn, besides which there aren’t fungicides for killing them. They often appear after rainy weather or when humidity is high and then cease to grow when conditions change. While you wait, consider removing the actively growing mushrooms before you mow. Otherwise they can leave quite a mess.

Science & Technology
Fine-tuned Testing
Precision fertilizer application for crops such as potatoes isn’t something most gardeners worry about. But for commercial potato growers, misapplication can cost a lot of money. That’s why they use the petiole sap test, developed to assess nutrient requirements. By extracting and analyzing a little sap from potato petioles (stems that the leaves attach to), growers can get a fairly accurate measure of the plants’ nitrogen levels. The exact amount of fertilizer needed can then be applied. This new technology isn’t available as a home test, but who knows? Maybe an inexpensive, quick potato sap tester will become a reality in the next few years.

Did You Know?
Kiwi fruits have more vitamin C than oranges and more potassium than bananas.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
–Thomas Edison

It’s no surprise that temperature management has always been critical to greenhouse operation. At the Enjoy Centre, the new challenge is the retail greenhouse. To help manage the environment, the height of the retail greenhouse roof (9 m at the peak) ensures that the rate at which air heats will be slower than with lower ceilings. There are also roof vents to exhaust the warm air, but there won’t be traditional air conditioning. Nevertheless, the temperature will remain very comfortable with the help of the air-handling unit we chose as part of the centre’s energy efficient design.

The unit arrived last week and basically looks like a big metal box. Inside are high-volume, low-velocity fans capable of moving air at a rate of 18,000 cubic feet per minute (510 cubic metres). Under the glass of the retail greenhouse, it will be able to bring in fresh air at a rate of 7,000 cfm (198 cubic metres). As a visual aid, that’s about equivalent to the interior volume of a 1,400 sq ft (126 sq m) home. It’s a variable system that can run at maximum capacity on hot days or not at all. The air-handling unit can also be used to help regulate the environment when the in-floor hot water heating is running.

Physically, it’s hard to miss the mammoth 4 m tall and about 5 m long unit where it sits in the lower level. But in operation, it will be invisible to most people, as is the case with many of the energy efficiencies built into the Enjoy Centre.

Today and tomorrow paving will be on the south parking lot.

… and the glue-lam beams are being installed today.

– Post From My iPhone

Standard General working Saturday evening to get ready for Monday morning paving.

– Post From My iPhone

first published June 10, 2010

If someone referred to you as either a vegetable gardener or a rose gardener, you’d likely accept the moniker with a fair bit of pride. But what if I were to call you a crepuscular gardener? How would you feel then? Perhaps you’d be offended or conjure up images of strange-looking people lurking in gardens. Well, rest assured, there’s no offense intended. In fact, you might like the moniker and already be living up to it without knowing so. The crepuscular hours—for those of you who don’t know—are the twilight hours that bookend the day. For people whose daytime lives are busy, it’s the only time they can enjoy their gardens.

OK, perhaps your life’s not quite that hectic. Maybe despite work, volunteer obligations or kids that need shuttling you can find time to enjoy your garden outside the twilight hours. In any case, I think it’s worthwhile for most people to allot a little outdoor space to create a garden that comes to life in the tranquil hours of the evenings and early mornings. Here’s what you need to know.

To get the most out of the end of the day, focus on plants that come to life as the sun sets. Luminous silver foliage or white flowers reflect the moonlight and emit an almost iridescent glow after the sun sets. Obvious favourites are ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas for their globular white flowerheads, or silver mounds (Artemisia schmidtiana) for their textural foliage. Both choices provide great reflective surfaces for moonbeams. Even yellow flowers, such as those on evening primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa), capture enough moonlight to really showcase their beauty. As their common name suggests, the blooms open in the evening.

Looking their best in twilight is a survival mechanism for some plants, so take advantage of these varieties. A good example is the white-flowered Yucca glauca, which is native to both southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. It relies on a species of night-flying moth that hones in on moon-illuminated flowers for pollination.

While optical appeal is great to have in the evening, so too is fragrance. Plants such as heliotrope and evening scented stocks save up their fragrance during the day and release a cocktail of perfumes in the early evening. For both scent and sight, you can’t go wrong with tall, white nicotiana, which emits a jasmine-like fragrance as the sun disappears.

As nice as warm summer evenings can be, early mornings are equally rewarding in my opinion. During those hours, crepuscular rays—streams of light that seem to come from a single point—cast amazing shadows, particularly through feathery trees and shrubs such as larches or cutleaf stephanandras. As well, intensely coloured foliage plants such as coleus display their palettes best in the early morning. As the low-angle, early-morning sunlight passes through their foliage, they are beautifully translucent.

Don’t forget when planning your garden that gentle sounds and twilight go hand in hand. I don’t know why, but the sound of trickling fountains and rustling leaves come to life when the sun comes up and when it disappears over the horizon. Perhaps we tune into sound more as sunlight levels drop. Whatever the reason, don’t forget about the soothing qualities of sound. To complete your twilight space, don’t forget to accessorize with a few solar lights and some strategically placed comfy seating.

I could drone on about the merits of enjoying gardens during twilight hours just like a teenager prattling about the genius of the vampire-themed Twilight movies. Hey, come to think of it, associating with bloodsuckers is something crepuscular gardeners and Twilight fans have in common. The tall, muscular and good-looking ones may be more entertaining but, at least, mosquitoes can be easily swatted off necks.

In the plant-growing business, water is a necessity. But because it’s also a precious resource, one of our objectives at the Enjoy Centre is to minimize the amount of water we need to grow plants. Reduce, reuse and recycle—each will come into play. A rainwater collection tank will take care of our watering needs (providing there’s enough precipitation). A floor in the south production greenhouse is designed to flood with water, which will then flow back to a recirculation tank. To our customers, the most visible part of the new watering system will be the aluminum flood tables. They’ll simply fill with water from the storage tank and then drain. That drained water will then be filtered, stored and reused. It’s an efficient system that allows plants to receive more consistent moisture than they would with overhead watering. We’re trying out some tables this year. Next time you’re at the greenhouse, see if you can spot one among the wooden benches in our bedding plant area.

A flood table placement option for the retail greenhouse is shown in the drawing
above. A flood table being tested this year is shown below.

Hits & Misses: Super dads & subterranean attacks
Question of the Week: How tall can a tomato plant grow?
Science & Technology: Deep-rooted insight

Playing the mad scientist always intrigues me. So, I was in my element last week experimenting with fertilizer and a product called PurGro. It’s a naturally occurring rock adept at absorbing and holding on to nutrients, which makes it an ideal soil amendment. In my experiment, I dissolved 20–20–20 fertilizer in a bucket of water and dumped in a jug of PurGro. Then, once the fertilizer solution was absorbed, I worked the rock granules into the soil of some of my flower containers. My theory is that the fertilizer-saturated granules will act as a slow-release nutrient source and keep the plants vigorous and well fed for most of the season. I’m not suggesting you try this at home; it’s strictly experimental. But in a couple of months I’ll let you know if it was successful. Another thing I don’t recommend is using the laundry room sink as a pseudo science lab. Let’s just say not everyone in our household grasps the importance of scientific exploration.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Super Dads
Father’s Day always generates a lot of tomato sales. In the gift-giving department what could be better than the chance to produce garden-fresh tomato slices to top pizza (my favourite way to enjoy tomatoes). If you have a super dad, give him an outstanding tomato such as ‘Super Fantastic,’ ‘Super Steak’ or ‘Super Tasty.’ Of course, if things have soured a bit with Dad (maybe he carried out experiments in the laundry room), a ‘Lemon Boy’ might be the tomato of choice…

Miss: Subterranean Attacks
Cutworms are coming on like gangbusters this week. This year they’re late to emerge because of the cooler-than-normal weather, but have now woken up from their slumber. The first sign of cutworm activity is usually a bunch of plants napping on their sides. That’s because cutworms, of which there are several species, hide beneath the soil surface where they chew on plants often severing the stems. Lettuce is particularly prone to cutworm attack, so be vigilant. Carefully till the soil around your plants with a hoe to expose the cutworms and then destroy them. If you have a severe problem, spray the soil with a permethrin-based product in the evening, which is when cutworms are near the surface.

Question of the week
How tall can a tomato plant grow?
If the growing season were long enough, an indeterminate tomato plant (as opposed to a determinate variety that stops growing at a certain height) could reach 9 m or better. In practice, indeterminate garden varieties tend to reach 1–1.5 m in a growing season. But the ‘Tomaccio,’ a new cherry tomato we have this year, will grow 4 m in a warm growing season. We’ll see if they reach those heights this summer.

Science & Technology
Deep-rooted Insight
The conventional image many people have of a tree’s root system probably resembles that of a carrot: one deep taproot with a few fibrous roots attached on the sides. However, a survey in England of 4,000 trees (blown down some time ago by a hurricane) showed that taproots occurred in only 2.5 percent of the surveyed trees. The remainder had mostly lateral roots that occupied the top few feet of the soil.

Did You Know?
Aloe vera (used for dressing small cuts and abrasions) contains an enzyme called bradykinase, which destroys bradykinin—a chemical in our bodies that produces pain.

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”
–Jim Valvano

Many of the business partnerships we’re developing at the Enjoy Centre are new, while others are extensions of ones we already have. The latter scenario is the case with 18 Karat, a Vancouver-based company that designs and distributes products for the home and body. We carry some of their line now, but due to space restrictions, only a limited range. At the Enjoy Centre, retail space dedicated specifically to 18 Karat means we will be featuring more of their décor items and furniture.

Company representatives, including President Maureen Welton, were in St. Albert recently. It wasn’t their first visit here, but it was the only time they’ve seen us during our busy spring season and their first chance to tour the Enjoy Centre. After seeing where their product would be featured Maureen said, “I just have to tell you I’m loving this space.” She’s also excited that when customers move up the travelator they’ll be treated to an adjacent view of a spectacular 18 Karat display area. That enthusiasm is shared; we can’t wait to see the retail space filled with displays.