Hits & Misses: Brave birds & biting cold
Question of the Week: I need to sod my yard and plant trees and shrubs this spring. Which should I do first?
The Business: Special delivery

Ah…there’s nothing like record-low temperatures to get one dreaming about spring. Right now we’re on the cusp of sending our spring 2010 edition of Enjoy Gardening to press. Our editor extraordinaire, Carmen Hrynchuk, and her team have been working flat out to finalize all the details before handing the magazine over to the printers. It should arrive on store shelves across the country in late January or early February. Here’s a sneak peek at the cover.

In case you’re wondering, the cute golden bear on the cover is McGregor; the guy in the corner is me. Yes, people have already alluded to the similarities between the two of us. “Hey, you played football for the Golden Bears and spent most of that time sitting on your rear end looking just as dejected.” Funny…very funny.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Brave Birds
The other day I watched birds, a blue jay in particular, feed in my neighbour’s yard. What fascinated me was how the jay happily flew about in total disregard of the record low daytime temperature of –40°C! The paradox is that a bird’s body temperature is, on average, a balmy 40°C. How birds can manage to maintain their body temperatures when it’s that cold is beyond me. But it was an uplifting experience to see a robust blue jay flitting about the yard, seemingly oblivious to the frigid Arctic air. Let’s keep the feeders full!

Miss: Biting Cold
The cold is definitely the miss of the week. In fact, if last weekend’s temperatures had held, we’d have been forced to completely shut down poinsettia deliveries this week. That’s because the plants wouldn’t have survived the short trip from the vans to homes and offices, even with double bagging. Fortunately, the weather is improving, and the poinsettia frostbite risk has diminished considerably.

The Business
Special Delivery
Speaking of poinsettias, ‘tis the season for our delivery department to be really busy. We normally have one delivery truck on the road, but for the Christmas season that jumps to five. From the beginning of December, our five drivers and their swampers average 125 separate stops a day. However, the total number of poinsettias, floral and indoor arrangements each day is usually twice that number—and sometimes even three or four times. The entire process is an amazing feat of logistics. First, orders are taken. Then, poinsettias are picked from the growing range, bagged, tagged, and sorted into the appropriate delivery quadrant. Of course, the final step is the actual delivery. For me, finding all those addresses would be a Christmas miracle. But, fortunately, it’s not my responsibility, and our staff does a great job.

Question of the Week
I need to sod my yard and plant trees and shrubs this spring. Which should I do first?
Practically speaking, it’s much easier to plant the trees and shrubs first. That’s because you’ll need to dig a hole that is one-and-a-half times the depth and twice the diameter of the plant container. You also need to amend the soil in the planting hole. We recommend one part topsoil, one part peat moss and one part compost or manure. Then when you place the sod, keep a grass-free area around each plant that’s at least twice the diameter of the container.

Did You Know?
Sodium and potassium salts from kelp are used for industrial purposes.

“Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.”
–John D. Rockefeller Jr.